4 ms·

How many hinges have broken since the DS first came out? Or rather, the GBA SP? Why don't they just make a sturdier hinge? I don't think that's enough to expla

by Jach 13y ago

How many hinges have broken since the DS first came out? Or rather, the GBA SP? Why don't they just make a sturdier hinge? I don't think that's enough to explain the epic fail that is this design. It's more than just the lack of a hinge. I can't think of a worse handheld design in the history of gaming.

minimaxir 13y ago
There are easily worse designs. How about a gaming console that required you to remove the battery when changing games? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device)
- Jach 13y ago
  I thought about the N-Gage, I'd say it's a close call. At least N-Gage had the excuse that it was trying to be a phone at the same time and had competing design goals, but they also improved over a lot of the flaws less than a year later with the QD. (And Nintendo improved the GBA with the SP and the DS fat with the DS Lite.) Now 10 years later Nintendo is stepping backwards... Mono speaker on a gaming device in 2013, seriously? There's also so little symmetry, at least the N-Gage has taco-symmetry...
  - orclev 13y ago
    Did you... did you just seriously try to defend the N-Gage? I'm pretty sure the N-Gage is universally considered a laughing stock in gaming circles, right up there with Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana.
pseudonym 13y ago
This model is explicitly being marketed to the age groups of 7 and under. As for "how many hinges have been broken", and "why don't they make a sturdier hinge": 1. I don't have any hard evidence, but if you do a search for "broken DS" or "broken 3DS" on eBay, an overwhelming majority of them are on there by reason of "broken hinge" 2. As to why not make a sturdier hinge, the other part of this particular console is to bring the 3DS down into a cheaper price range in time for Pokemon-- which is why they additionally stripped it of the 3D and replaced the stereo speaker with a mono one. I'm not personally a fan of the design, but in the short amount of time since it's been announced, I've seen a pretty impressive number of "I'd buy that"s from people on various forums, so I don't think this is as much of an "epic fail" as you think it is. Don't confuse "bad design" with "not marketed towards me".
- dubfan 13y ago
  I used to work in customer service at Nintendo. I didn't keep any statistics but I wouldn't be surprised if the most common reason for a DS repair was a broken hinge.
jerf 13y ago
As the saying goes, when you build something foolproof, Nature builds a bigger fool. They are good quality hinges, it's just that you basically can't build a hinge that will stand up to a careless child without itself being a danger. Remember how a kid works; they start by treating it gingerly, then getting progressively more careless as long as it doesn't seem to hurt anything. A stronger hinge just means that they get to be slightly more careless before it breaks. "I can't think of a worse handheld design in the history of gaming." Not... really, no. The N-Gage required you to remove the battery compartment to change games. The Virtual Boy... well, pretty much everything about the Virtual Boy. The Sega Nomad, as neat an idea as it was, chewed through batteries in two hours, making it a handheld system in name only. You can get some other entertaining examples out of the big names, too.

by Jach 13y ago

minimaxir 13y ago

There are easily worse designs. How about a gaming console that required you to remove the battery when changing games? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device)

Jach 13y ago
I thought about the N-Gage, I'd say it's a close call. At least N-Gage had the excuse that it was trying to be a phone at the same time and had competing design goals, but they also improved over a lot of the flaws less than a year later with the QD. (And Nintendo improved the GBA with the SP and the DS fat with the DS Lite.) Now 10 years later Nintendo is stepping backwards... Mono speaker on a gaming device in 2013, seriously? There's also so little symmetry, at least the N-Gage has taco-symmetry...
- orclev 13y ago
  Did you... did you just seriously try to defend the N-Gage? I'm pretty sure the N-Gage is universally considered a laughing stock in gaming circles, right up there with Duke Nukem Forever and Daikatana.

pseudonym 13y ago

This model is explicitly being marketed to the age groups of 7 and under. As for "how many hinges have been broken", and "why don't they make a sturdier hinge": 1. I don't have any hard evidence, but if you do a search for "broken DS" or "broken 3DS" on eBay, an overwhelming majority of them are on there by reason of "broken hinge" 2. As to why not make a sturdier hinge, the other part of this particular console is to bring the 3DS down into a cheaper price range in time for Pokemon-- which is why they additionally stripped it of the 3D and replaced the stereo speaker with a mono one. I'm not personally a fan of the design, but in the short amount of time since it's been announced, I've seen a pretty impressive number of "I'd buy that"s from people on various forums, so I don't think this is as much of an "epic fail" as you think it is. Don't confuse "bad design" with "not marketed towards me".

dubfan 13y ago
I used to work in customer service at Nintendo. I didn't keep any statistics but I wouldn't be surprised if the most common reason for a DS repair was a broken hinge.

jerf 13y ago

As the saying goes, when you build something foolproof, Nature builds a bigger fool. They are good quality hinges, it's just that you basically can't build a hinge that will stand up to a careless child without itself being a danger. Remember how a kid works; they start by treating it gingerly, then getting progressively more careless as long as it doesn't seem to hurt anything. A stronger hinge just means that they get to be slightly more careless before it breaks. "I can't think of a worse handheld design in the history of gaming." Not... really, no. The N-Gage required you to remove the battery compartment to change games. The Virtual Boy... well, pretty much everything about the Virtual Boy. The Sega Nomad, as neat an idea as it was, chewed through batteries in two hours, making it a handheld system in name only. You can get some other entertaining examples out of the big names, too.