DS Daily: Our good pal, the mic

Personally, I think it gets used for too many stupid things. I'm really tired of blowing into my mic.

I absolutely despise the mic. I don't even use it for Ace Attorney games (blasphemy, I know). It's at the point where I won't buy a game if the microphone is an important part of the gameplay.

I think it isn't used enough and when it is used, its just to blow into the mic. I think its because people don't get how to use it, they hold it inches from their face and yell/blow wildly, when its meant to work while being held at arms length, you can actually blow gently then.

This isn't just a small misconception either, one time I saw a short bit on G4 where they said that the "DS blows" because of how they use the microphone, then they showed Morgan Manjaw holding it directly in front of her ugly face and blowing hard like an idiot. People just need to take 2 seconds to see how it works, then they'd have no problems.

It's used to good effect in parts of Electroplankton. And there's the Brain Age red/yellow/brue thing... but otherwise it's not my favorite feature of the DS.

loved using the mic in PW ......since thats all i havebeen playing this week.......

Wario Ware-LOVED THE MIC GAMES......THAT GAME IS GENIUS

I liked using the mic...when it used to work. The internal mic stopped working, but an external headset w/ mic works no problem.

I think, if it's integrated well, it makes the game more immersive.

The DS mic is truly awful, and will surely go down as one of the worst gimmicks in the history of gaming. I absolutely love the DS, but the mic really lets it down. Like Phil I probably won't buy a game if the mic is involved in a big way.

Regardless of the fact that it's no fun whatsoever, it's just so impractical. It renders all games that use it totally unplayable on public transport, which is a pretty dumb idea for a handheld and even if I'm playing it in my bedroom, I'm not going to shout into a mic, people can hear me, it's embarrassing. Especially since you have to do it numerous times before the stupid thing actually registers.

And as for blowing into the mic; well, words really can't express my disgust for it. Hell, even casual gamers think it's lame. Worst gimmick ever. Who on earth at Nintendo thought blowing into a games console was fun? It isn't. It's appalling. I don't want any DS game to ever use it ever again.

I hate talking to my DS. At the end of Phoenix Wright I had to lock myself in the bathroom and turn on the sink before whispering "objection" into the microphone.

My real dog goes crazy when I'm trying to teach my nintendog tricks - he gets crazy jealous when I keep repeating it's name.

The mic can be decent, but a lot of people do suck at the blowing into it thing and the way it sucks at picking up blue in brainage is lame.

I think that the DS should be the Wii's mic. How about the DS will display your friends list and when ever you want to talk to someone on the Wii, just click the name on the DS. Keep in mind, the DS headset will also make this much easier.

After Professor Kageyama couldn't figure out the difference between me saying "black" and "blue," I almost pitched Brain Age into the canyon with the knight who couldn't pick his favorite color. The mic games in Raving Rabbids 2 were just bad and wrong. Frankly, the only game that made any fun use of the mic was Duck Amuck.

So no, unless a game has voice chat, the mic is just a joke.

Ah well, I'm sure there's some decent homebrew recording software out there that can make the little thing useful.

The mic is the worst idea for a game input, ever, and I refuse to buy any game that makes use of it.

On the tube, I used the DS mic to instruct my Nintendog to sit down. Every single passenger moved away from me.

The mic is absolutely terrible. I hate it. What's worse is developers keep using it! Please stop!

You don't even have to blow into the mic, just rub your finger on it for the same effect.

What they really need is the mic to record what people say while they're playing the game at certain moments, like when they're losing. Think the camera in Burnout Paradise.

I would love to get what the mic says when my mom plays a Tetris-like game, or my sister when she plays a Super Mario Bros game. It essentially becomes a giant curse-fest.

It served me very well in the new Advance Wars. I wish the old Animal Crossing had it too.

This question is really a consideration of gaming spaces. You are going to hate the microphone if your game space is a private one, because it makes your activity public (unless you're just blowing into it). I don't know of a game yet that understands that to effectively use the mic you need to make the game space broader than the console itself. You need to have a game space that includes the players. I envision a multi player game that creates a game space similar in form to that created by games like Cranium. The console is a passage into the game, the game exists where the players are. Unfortunately video games are dominated by the thought that the equipment is a portal for the player to enter the game's world instead of a portal for the game to enter the player's world. This limits them and kills their relevancy.

"...features of the hardware and also getting its milk money took." it's taken, not took :p

yeah, definitely not a fan. I can enjoy some blowing things... but I have to be away from people or I feel like a dolt. Like in Feel the Magic XY/XX there is a mini-game where you have to blow a boat across water. The boat responded fantastically and it was really satisfying. However, I wouldn't want to do that around people. And I would hate anything really audible... blowing isn't really audible.

don't forget homebrew music apps such as DSratch and Nitrotracker where you can use the mic to create your own samples on the fly. The mic is a real nice little addition to the console especially with sampling when out and about.