Gaming Do you think the DS touch screen was a gimmick?

[BORTZ]

After have a Nintendo DS be my trusty companion for the past 5 years (wow thats a long run), i am remembering the hype about the DS having a touch screen.
It was all the rage before it hit the streets.
The DS had Wifi, TWO effing screens, and ITZ AS POWRFULL AZ TEH N64
Well kind till we learned that it wasnt and Super Mario 64 had tons of texture swaps to make it work better on a downscaled system.

But the selling point the duel screens. And the bottom one was a touchscreen.
It was awesome. I put many hours into the Super Mario 64 DS minigames.

And then the first 200 games show up to the party.
Its like the devs forgot that the DS has physical buttons! it was awful!
But i believe that as it went on the DS Devs got much smarter and started progamming for good Duel Screen games.

So what do you think? I believe that the DS redeemed itself for having a Touch screen and it not just being a gimmick to sell it.

 

[Nathan Drake]

The touchscreen was the core gimmick. Every system has a gimmick that acts as the selling point. Some are just far better than others. The touchscreen was the first DS gimmick. Innovative? To a certain degree, yes. Necessary? By all means no.

When the touchscreen started to lose some of the pizazz, suddenly we see the DSi with all kinds of new gimmicks such as cameras, a new menu system, DSiware, etc.

Of course, I consider anything past playing the games with buttons to be a gimmick. If it is an extra that is trying to be turned into a selling point, it's a gimmick. I still enjoy the touchscreen for games such as Picross, Picross 3D, EBA, etc., but that doesn't mean it had to be used that way. One could have easily created a button interface that was easy to use with at least the first two of the three titles I mentioned.

 

[.Chris]

I remember the "motto"...

"Touch is good"

 

[m3rox]

The touchscreen was the core gimmick. Every system has a gimmick that acts as the selling point. Some are just far better than others. The touchscreen was the first DS gimmick. Innovative? To a certain degree, yes. Necessary? By all means no.

When the touchscreen started to lose some of the pizazz, suddenly we see the DSi with all kinds of new gimmicks such as cameras, a new menu system, DSiware, etc.

Of course, I consider anything past playing the games with buttons to be a gimmick. If it is an extra that is trying to be turned into a selling point, it's a gimmick. I still enjoy the touchscreen for games such as Picross, Picross 3D, EBA, etc., but that doesn't mean it had to be used that way. One could have easily created a button interface that was easy to use with at least the first two of the three titles I mentioned.

EBA and Picross 3D would have been incredibly difficult to play with buttons.

 

[geminisama]

I sure do. Always disliked it. I got the DS, as the next Nintendo hand held, not exactly for the dual screens, or touch controls.

 

[Deleted_171835]

The DS touch screen is a gimmick.
It was a nifty addition to games. It made FPS games a whole lot easier to play on the DS, instead of aiming using the D-Pad. I agree with you Bortz that developers "forgot" that the DS had physical buttons and only used the touch screen in the beginning. It will probably be the same for the 3DS, too. Developers will try to cash in on the 3D effect and release games with shoddy 3D effects.

 

[yuyuyup]

The Nintendo DS is the greatest videogame system of all time and touchscreen controls revolutionized gaming.

 

[Schizoanalysis]

Professor Layton needed the touch screen...

So, I say... "necessary!"

 

[Randamin]

To a certain extent the DS touchscreen did have its uses but it was inadequate for
things such as typing because a stylus was required because of not being large
enough for a decent virtual keyboard.

Still the pressure sensitive touchscreen of the ds phat and ds lite could have had
its place in official games especially a drawing such as its used in the Colors
homebrew.

 

[Mesiskope]

It was a gimmick, accept it and move on.
just like 3d in the 3ds.

 

[Nathan Drake]

To everybody who says the touchscreen is not a gimmick, are you aware of what a gimmick is?

It isn't not a gimmick because a handful of games need it. Those are just games that utilize the gimmick. It wasn't necessary at all. I've had as much, if not more fun playing games with the buttons rather than the touchscreen controls. If it isn't necessary and is used as a selling point, it's a gimmick.

3D in the 3DS is a gimmick too. All because some games will "need" it for full effectiveness, it isn't necessary.

The GBA was the last true gaming handheld that relied on quality to sell and not on gimmicks. Some games had gimmicks (Boktai for example), but they weren't part of the system and were made independently of Nintendo.

It isn't about the games anymore, it's about everything else the handheld can do. The games seem to have become secondary anymore.

 

[dsfanatic5]

It's important to realize that just because something is a gimmick, doesn't mean that it's bad, or can't be a major factor in gameplay. Some of the best games I've played revolve around a new gimmick with every release (Zelda anyone?).

WarioWare Twisted! for the GBA was a complete gimmick, but it was one of the best GBA games I've played. The Wii is probably the worst gimmick for me, since almost every normal game adapted to the Wiimote leaves me wanting a normal controller.

The touch-screen on the DS, however, has been a crucial part of my ejoyment with the system. I'm not afraid to admit that I spend a lot of time playing Solitaire in Clubhouse Games, and the touch-screen is perfect for my enjoyment. Like the Wii, there are lots of DS games that use the touch-screen simply "for the sake of it," and one should expect those games to underwhelm. Sure it's a gimmick, like the 3D in the 3DS, but it's going to work, much like all the gimmicks in the past.

 

[tombot]

But the selling point the duel screens

Duel screens?

Dueling screens! HAVE AT YOU!

(I knew you meant "dual" screens, but that was ripe for parody.)

 

[thieves like us]

if the touch screen is being considered a gimmick, are not the two displays as well? nintendo could have just as easily created a system with a larger display where the displayed information was split (or not) depending on the game.

if there were not a lot of uses, I would consider it a gimmick. however, considering the number of titles that use it (and use it well), I think not. the microphone is more gimmicky than the touch screen and not too many titles use it.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

The Nintendo DS is the greatest videogame system of all time and touchscreen controls revolutionized gaming.

lol no.


Anyways, I hate touch screen. I prefer traditional controls. One of the reasons why I think gaming on iPhone/iPod is incredibly stupid.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

I voted yes, only because it had such potential, yet no one exploited that said potential. The touch screen IMO could have been so much more than just an alternate control scheme to replace the D-pad/buttons.

Some games did live up to my expectations in this aspect but they were VERY few and far between.

 

[abrack08]

I love the DS, but the touch screen is definitely a gimmick, by the dictionary definition of the word. I also prefer using buttons to the touch screen whenever there are multiple options available, other than a few games (Picross and Layton are the only games I can think of where I was GLAD I had a touch screen. The touch screen ruined the first Scribblenauts.)

 

[moodswinger]

I think the idea of having a touch screen was because Ninty want us gamers to have different type of gameplay. At least that's what I think. A lot of games would be so hard to play without it. Convenience and a different experience.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

I think the idea of having a touch screen was because Ninty want us gamers to have different type of gameplay. At least that's what I think. A lot of games would be so hard to play without it. Convenience and a different experience.

I can only count on one hand the number of games that absolutely couldn't do without a touch screen, or would be difficult without it.

 

[moodswinger]

@Twin, I'm gonna bet that those games are really worth playing.