Hey Gameboy ****** *******s

[Norm In Norman]

So, I'm thinking about getting one for the boy's birthday. Should I get the advance or the micro? I'm not spending the extra $50 for the DS (I don't think, unless there is a compelling reason to). Where is the best place to buy one with a bundle? What games should I get? I know he'll want SuperMarioBrothers. I saw a regular gameboy bundled with some sort of pacman game and a case/earbuds for $99 at Sam's. I dunno if the pacman game sucks or not.

Is there some site I can go to read about these things without having to be a hard core gamer type of person?

[achiro]

Get the DS. It is SO much better! Really, it's only 50 bucks...you will thank me later.

My son's gameboy advanced doesn't have a plug for earphones so unless thats changed you will get to listen to some dumbass music the whole time he plays it.

[achiro]

Oh, and the ds will play that GB advanced games as well so you can go to those game trader places and pick up games for $10 or so.

I would recommend you go to an EB games or Gamestop and check them out for yourself. The graphics are much better, you can see the screen much better, its just plain better.;)

[Norm In Norman]

The micro has a headphone jack and the newer advance needs an adapter but you can hook headphones to it also.

This is one of the many times where the "oooo that's cool" part of my brain is in conflict with the "damn, I could buy stuff with that extra $50" part of my brain. Sure, the ds blows the others out of the water with features, but with that extra $40/50 I could buy 2 or 3 more games.

And this is pretty cool to me, although I dunno if i could even press the buttons:

http://www.pocketnow.com/html/portal/reviews/0000000704/review/inhand.jpg

[OUDoc]

We've had 4 DS's (my son with Autism seems to find them and snap the extra screen off). Both kids love it. It plays most of the entire library of games and has some of the better games available. If you're dead set against the DS, I'd get the SP (we only have 2 of those :) ). The rechargable batteries are nice.

[Norm In Norman]

OK, are the extra features really that much more worth it? Honestly, the main thing at first he'll want is to play supermario brothers. He loves that game. How is the battery life compare between the newer advance and the ds?

[OUDoc]

Never had a problem with either. We charge them overnight and they run fine all day.

The DS has some cool touch screen features that make the games a little different. Worth it? I don't know. I like them better because they're easier to hold since they're bigger. The screens are bigger, too.

[Norm In Norman]

I would think the 2 screens on the DS would really reduce battery life.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

You buy him whatever he wants.

And then feed him cake.

And then buy him a pony.

Make him sad, in any way, and you'll have to deal with me. :mack:

[OUDoc]

It doesn't seem to do that. The more I think about it, the more I'd recommend the DS. The Boy will eventually want one anyway, and the games on TV are usually DS games.

[Vaevictis]

How old is the kid?

A younger one (< 8 ), I'd be inclined to go with a GBA SP -- no stylus to lose, no touch screen to scratch up with that stylus, etc.

An older one (> 10), I'd be inclined with the DS; a kid that age can work if he wants extra games badly enough.

In between, it's a toss-up.

Does the kid have a little brother/sister/friend you can ask? Whenever my parents had to buy for my cousins, or for Toys for Tots or something, they'd drag my butt to the Toys R' Us and have me pick stuff for them.

EDIT: However, as Doc says, going forward, all the best games in the future will probably be DS games. Are you willing to have the kid pining over the DS in say, 12-18 months?

[Norm In Norman]

He'll be 6, and I doubt he'll be pining for anything. He really doesn't ever want much, probably because we give him too much. I was thinking I could get more longevity out of the DS because of the new games. The DS just seems somehow more adult than the other. This could be good too, because maybe I'll use it.

Now I'm leaning more towards the DS. i see stuff like voice recognition, future internet support, touch screen and it makes it hard for me not to spend more money.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

You'd better be leaning towards whatever he wants.

You listening to me?

[Norm In Norman]

You buy him whatever he wants.

And then feed him cake.

And then buy him a pony.

Make him sad, in any way, and you'll have to deal with me. :mack:
So I asked him how many gifts he wanted for his birthday. I'm thinking most kids would say something like 100. He says "I guess 3 would be enough." so then I ask him which ones he would like and he says "I don't know. Maybe you should surprise me."

[Norm In Norman]

You'd better be leaning towards whatever he wants.

You listening to me?
See? He wants to be surprised.

[achiro]

The guy at eb games told us that the battery life is significantly better on the DS, seems like he said 20 hours, more with the older games that only use one screen. My son is 6 and we are going to get the DS, just trying to decide if its gonna be now or for something special, like Christmas or his Birthday in Jan.

[OUDoc]

Now I'm leaning more towards the DS. i see stuff like voice recognition, future internet support, touch screen and it makes it hard for me not to spend more money.
With the DS, my 14 yo occassionally plays Mario Cart against one of his friends using our wireless router. Since I don't use the wireless on the DS, I forgot it even did that.

[Norm In Norman]

I think i heard they are going to have a version of Opera for it so you can surf the innerweb.

[Norm In Norman]

Hmmmm...
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=nintendo+ds+rules&word2=nintendo+ds+sucks

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

So I asked him how many gifts he wanted for his birthday. I'm thinking most kids would say something like 100. He says "I guess 3 would be enough." so then I ask him which ones he would like and he says "I don't know. Maybe you should surprise me."

OMG...he is so cute.

See why I love him so, people?

[Vaevictis]

So I asked him how many gifts he wanted for his birthday. I'm thinking most kids would say something like 100. He says "I guess 3 would be enough."

Maybe the kid just knows that there's a finite amount of money to be spent on this, and that he can have 100 sucky gifts or 2-3 good ones? :) Man, I know I did at that age.

My parents beat in "proper allocation of resources" at a young age. I go to my parents at about four, and say I'd like to have a little brother. Their response was, "We can only afford to spend so much money at Christmas, and if you have a brother, it will be split between two." I stopped wanting a little brother real quick, I'll tell you what.

[Norm In Norman]

Maybe the kid just knows that there's a finite amount of money to be spent on this, and that he can have 100 sucky gifts or 2-3 good ones? :) Man, I know I did at that age.

My parents beat in "proper allocation of resources" at a young age. I go to my parents at about four, and say I'd like to have a little brother. Their response was, "We can only afford to spend so much money at Christmas, and if you have a brother, it will be split between two." I stopped wanting a little brother real quick, I'll tell you what.
Not really. He just doesn't want stuff. He got a $1.50 big pencil from DC a month ago with all the presidents on it and he's still playing with that. He really has no idea how much a gameboy costs in relation to other things. I think the only reason he asked for one before is because one of his friends has one.

I, on the other hand, always wanted stuff. I was always asking for star wars toys and bicycle parts and things like that. it's great shopping for him because I basically just pick cool stuff that I would have wanted if I were a kid and he likes it.

[Vaevictis]

Your kid is strange then. A kid who doesn't want stuff? That's just not normal. :)

[skycat]

Being Norm's kid, he probably associates all of the major retailers with evil.

[Vaevictis]

Smart kid then. ;)

[Mrs. Norm]

Being Norm's kid, he probably associates all of the major retailers with evil.

He HATES going "shopping". He hates Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and especially Sam's.

I went on a field trip with him last October. We were driving past a Wal-Mart and the boy looks out the window and says, "Hey guys, do you see the Wal-Mart? My dad hates that place!" All of the kids were laughing.

As far as the gameboy, though, he really wants that. He wouldn't care which place we got it from.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

I credit Mrs. Norm for this precious child.

Norm just lucked out.

:D

[Norm In Norman]

I don't luck out.

[Vaevictis]

I am so waiting for one of the fems to go...

"ARE YOU SAYING YOU AREN'T FEELING LUCKY ABOUT HAVING THAT KID!?"

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

It won't be me.

I've seen them together and I know Norm loves The Boy.

Almost as much as I do. :D

[Vaevictis]

Well, from what I'm told, that would be just his luck, right? ;)

[Norm In Norman]

Nah, I'm just thinking he's more of a counter balance. He's not here because I'm lucky, he's here because I'm unlucky and something has to balance that out in the grand scheme of things.

[Pricetag]

Go with the DS, for all the reasons already mentioned as well as the fact that you don't want to jump into it a generation behind this late in the game. Sure, the number of GBA games is huge, but the number of new games will begin to peter out, and soon.

When he gets a couple of years older, the kids will know what's the coolest thing to have, and they'll be brutal about making sure the kids who have the older version know it.

[GottaHavePride]

When he gets a couple of years older, the kids will know what's the coolest thing to have, and they'll be brutal about making sure the kids who have the older version know it.

Yeah, they'll be totally busting on that one kid that doesn't have a Sony PSP. ;)

[Norm In Norman]

We are going with the DS lite. Now I just have to find classic super mario brothers for it. That's a little harder than you would think. I may have to get it on ebay, which is not something I normally do.

[Norm In Norman]

The boy got his DS lite on friday HOLY CRAP it is cool. New Super Mario Brothers is friggin' awesome. It's a bit easier than the old one but has a lot more to it. it also comes with about 20 mini games. Some of those are pretty good too. One of them you have to blow into the mic to try and make something fly up into the air. It appears they tried their best to incorporate every feature of the DS lite into that game. Heck, in the regular game when you go down a tunnel the screen changes to the bottom screen and when you go back up it changes back to the top. And when you are playing there you can get power ups that you can touch using the touch screen. There is even a power up that makes mario as tall as the screen for a little while and he destroys EVERYTHING in his path. Heck, it destroys the tunnels and you can't go down them any more.

The screens are bright, the touch screen works well - I haven't seen much of a flaw with it yet. You can download demos from inside best buy and inside other gaming places like gamestop. Also (for NSMB at least) you can play 2 players even if the other person doesn't own the game. I guess it downloads it temporarily on the other person's DS.

I might ask Santa for one christmas.

[Sooner_Bob]

This info has been very helpful . . . our oldest is supposedly wanting a Gameboy or something similar for Christmas.

[Norm In Norman]

With it and NSMB, it is worth the extra money. 100% worth it. And I'm cheap, so that should mean something.

I'm actually thinking about buying some Brain Games or whatever they are claled. they look neat.

[NormanPride]

badger can't live without Brain Age, and Big Brain Academy is supposed to be just as cool.

Personally, I love the touch screen. It's been used effectively in a bunch of different games. And with the friend codes on the DS, even if you go on a trip, you can still play games with your son if you have wireless internet. :D

[Norm In Norman]

Friend codes?

[Rusher]

Get him a PS3. He wouldn't want the rest of the 2 :D

[NormanPride]

Friend codes?

Yeah. It's a way of tracking players you like playing with. So no matter where you are, you can find your "friends" online and play with them. I think each game generates a unique code so you can track people.

[achiro]

Geeza, I'm gonna have to read up on the directions for my sons now, I had no idea it would do all that stuff.:twinkies: