The Nintendo DS has been a great time waster for me. On the bus, during work, during school, after I quit work, after I dropped out of school, and long after I could no longer afford to ride the bus, I still love to pick it up and play it. Its probably the system that does the best job of distracting me from the horror of my own existence for an hour or two now and then.
But in all seriousness, I love it. Although it just so happens that one of my favorite games on the system is in fact not a game at all. And I would not reccomend it to gamers. Read more to find out what it is.
The non-game I'm talking about would be the Korg DS-10 Synthesizer Emulator. Or synthesizer synthesizer (cause it synthesizes the function of a synthesizer! Haha, get it?). To anyone buying a portable system today, I'd reccomend the DS (along with the Neo-geo Pocket Colour, but thats another VERY LONG post) because of its awesome selection of games, inclding 2D and music games. Which I love. But the KORG DS-10 is not a music game, at least not one in the sense that Guitar Hero: On Tour or Elite Beat Agents are. Actually, the DS-10 Might be completely unique in videogame history in that it is probably the ONLY game that is also a real musical instrument. The guitar hero guitar or Donkey Kong bongos don't count. Why did I decide this? Simple. No one could ever seriously write a song or put on a concert using a rock band mic or DJ Hero controller ever. But they could with the DS-10.
But its this same uniqueness that makes the "game" so hard to reccomend to people, even though I absofuckinglutely love recommending games to anyone who will listen to me. The DS-10 has no tutorial to speak of, zero learning curve, and no one to hold your hand and walk you through how to make music. It is, for all intents and purposes, a REAL synthesizer. And you will be just as confused sitting down in front of it as you would sitting down in front of a real synth.
Which is why I'd only suggest a purchase to people who have either played a synthesizer, or have some other musical background. I've played guitar and bass for years, and buying my copy of the DS-10 at a used game store for 9$ has inadvertently led to me drooling over pages on musiciansfriend.com advertising KORG Radias synths on sale at $1199.00. USD. It took a long time to get used to, but I am now familliar with what once were esoteric terms such as LFO filters and oscillators. And thats a good thing.
For all you DSi owners out there, good news! A new version was recently released here in the west, which takes advantage of the DSi's surplus processing power and doubles the number of synths and drum machines (among other things) to give you more features. Owners of a DS or DS Lite can really just stick with the old versions though.
Anyways, I'll embed a few videos here to show you what people have managed to do with the DS-10, but just don't expect to be able to buy a copy and start immediately generating your own masterpeices. This may sound condescending, but for a while the "game" will probably just frustrate you.
-futtigue
But in all seriousness, I love it. Although it just so happens that one of my favorite games on the system is in fact not a game at all. And I would not reccomend it to gamers. Read more to find out what it is.
The non-game I'm talking about would be the Korg DS-10 Synthesizer Emulator. Or synthesizer synthesizer (cause it synthesizes the function of a synthesizer! Haha, get it?). To anyone buying a portable system today, I'd reccomend the DS (along with the Neo-geo Pocket Colour, but thats another VERY LONG post) because of its awesome selection of games, inclding 2D and music games. Which I love. But the KORG DS-10 is not a music game, at least not one in the sense that Guitar Hero: On Tour or Elite Beat Agents are. Actually, the DS-10 Might be completely unique in videogame history in that it is probably the ONLY game that is also a real musical instrument. The guitar hero guitar or Donkey Kong bongos don't count. Why did I decide this? Simple. No one could ever seriously write a song or put on a concert using a rock band mic or DJ Hero controller ever. But they could with the DS-10.
But its this same uniqueness that makes the "game" so hard to reccomend to people, even though I absofuckinglutely love recommending games to anyone who will listen to me. The DS-10 has no tutorial to speak of, zero learning curve, and no one to hold your hand and walk you through how to make music. It is, for all intents and purposes, a REAL synthesizer. And you will be just as confused sitting down in front of it as you would sitting down in front of a real synth.
Which is why I'd only suggest a purchase to people who have either played a synthesizer, or have some other musical background. I've played guitar and bass for years, and buying my copy of the DS-10 at a used game store for 9$ has inadvertently led to me drooling over pages on musiciansfriend.com advertising KORG Radias synths on sale at $1199.00. USD. It took a long time to get used to, but I am now familliar with what once were esoteric terms such as LFO filters and oscillators. And thats a good thing.For all you DSi owners out there, good news! A new version was recently released here in the west, which takes advantage of the DSi's surplus processing power and doubles the number of synths and drum machines (among other things) to give you more features. Owners of a DS or DS Lite can really just stick with the old versions though.
Anyways, I'll embed a few videos here to show you what people have managed to do with the DS-10, but just don't expect to be able to buy a copy and start immediately generating your own masterpeices. This may sound condescending, but for a while the "game" will probably just frustrate you.
-futtigue
Nice, I've heard of this. I'm playing a synthesizer myself, but I don't own a DS, but a PSP instead... so I see myself rather playing Dead or Alive Paradise (to hell with DoA:P T_T;;) and Project Diva probably... still nice review :).
ReplyDeleteAoi.