PixlBit

I tried it, but I quit after a few hours. The combat was fun, sort of, but I thought the controls were really convoluted and the level design was really boring.

I like a lot of things about Ni No Kuni, but I decided to stop playing it after 10 hours or so. I couldn't get past the slow pacing and hand-holding. In my opinion, it's one of those sad games with amazing potential brought down by a few poor design choices.

Great suggestions, everyone. Definitely a few things I didn't think about. Thank you! If I remember, I'll post after Christmas about how well he received them.

I've come so close several times to buying Demon's Souls because of all the praise I've heard, but I've always stopped myself. I know myself well enough to know I get frustrated pretty easily and would probably hate it. But I'm still curious. I suppose it's cheap enough, it wouldn't hurt to try it. Or maybe I should try Dark Souls first.

Definitely agreed, Nick. Adding HDMI and DualShock 3 compatibility to the regular Vita would offer the best of both worlds. Then new buyers could weigh how important the portability aspect is and decide whether or not to spend the extra $100 to have it.

If I were to speculate why Sony hasn't already done this, I would guess it's because the profit margins are already too thin to think about adding even more components (which I'd venture is the same reason behind the switch from the OLED to LCD screen).

Two and a half hours was a bit excessive, but I can't deny the satisfaction I got from finally winning! That said, I'm definitely on board for casual. Hopefully it doesn't swing the difficulty too far in the opposite direction.

Knowing our luck, the next mission will require us to blow up a bridge full of dogs while repairing something and being shot on by snipers.

Great list and analysis. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Based on the feedback I've received, I see now I could've stated my thesis more clearly (or chosen a different headline). The purpose of the editorial wasn't to explain why I think the 2DS will or won't sell. It actually wasn't my intent to make a prediction about sales one way or the other (although, in fact, I think the 2DS is going to sell very well).

That said, a lot of products sell well despite not being very good products. The purpose of this piece was simply to explain why I don't think the 2DS is a very good product, which I tried to do by walking you through my thought process for why I don't personally want to buy one either for me or for my kids.

Several of you seem to have reached a different conclusion, and of course that's perfectly OK. I'm glad Nintendo is making a product that works for you as well as the original 3DS works for me.

Oh, agreed. My comment wasn't intended to weigh in on the piracy debate but rather to add more information about how insurance covers games.

My whole collection was stolen about 7 years ago, and my insurance company worked with a distributor to replace the titles still in print. There's the problem for a collector, though: still in print. Nothing from the previous generation was replaced. I got cash for the replacement value of the older titles, but it was a one-size-fits-all formula (i.e., I got the same amount for Tomb Raider II and Suikoden II).

Long story short, with insurance, you'll be at least partially covered. Then you've just got to determine your priorities from there.