Rumor: Europe to get books on its DSes?
by Chris Greenhough 
{ Jan 29th 2008 at 10:30PM }
Fortunately, Siliconera's hawk-eyed Spencer Yip spotted something for DS owners, tucked away near the bottom of the list: DS Novel. It's only listed for Europe currently, but could this be an English language localization of DS Bungaku Zenshuu, the non-game that crammed 100 Japanese literary classics onto a single DS cart? Spencer certainly thinks so, and we're struggling to imagine what else it could be.
If this guess turns out to be correct, would you embrace this as a revolution in reading, or stick to traditional, more dog-eared methods? More to the point, which books would you want to read on your DS?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AnOffday @ Jan 29th 2008 11:23PM
I'd actually consider this. Sounds cool, but they should be around 10-15 dollars. I'm not going to spend 30 dollars on a book.
Raru @ Jan 30th 2008 2:01AM
If its 100+ books it would be cool.
However,I can put any book that is in text, word, PDF, Manga, normal comics I can already put on my DS. Pretty much any media format, thanks to my R4DS, with PDF fill, comic book DS.
Its great, I read manga, western comics, listen to audio books, or read ones that have PDF or word formats.
I would still get this anyway however if it is the 100+ stories, that just too cool to pass up
Raru @ Jan 30th 2008 2:05AM
Sigh, that first paragraph should read " I can put any book that is in text, pdf or word format on to my DS with Comic Book DS, and PDF Fill and the R4DS. I use it for Manga mostly, but it works just fine with other media formats."
Its late I need sleep.
ALH @ Jan 30th 2008 6:12AM
How did you get comic book DS? When i tried to download it it said i needed some patch, then when i went to the site it didnt exist anymore.
Also PDFs! I didnt know the DS could do those!
Jared @ Jan 30th 2008 2:20AM
How about Ender's Game? I'd read that.
I'd pay $30 for 100 literary classics. But not Moby Dick (which spends an entire chapter describing the whiteness of the whale). How about some modern classics? Shogun, The Old Man and the Sea, The Sword of Shannara/Lord of the Rings, etc. I'm not advocating these exact works be on there, but you get the idea.
Jon @ Jan 30th 2008 3:18AM
100 books in a single cart is very do-able. I have hundreds on my PDA phone that take up less than 80MB space.
But I would not want to read on my DSL. Screens are too small.
Pete @ Jan 30th 2008 4:07AM
Yeah like the guy above I already use my DS to read books, got loads on there. All the Harry Potters (with legal books on shelf at home of course) and loads of short stories etc. But I guess it would be cool to get 100 books that Nintendo think are good :S
Nigeria @ Jan 30th 2008 6:06AM
If they do localise this, would it include Japanese literature or European Literature?
And what constitutes a classic?
I'd be disappointed if it was filled with books like Ulysses, and the like. Choices like that would be too easy and safe.
I hope they pick somewhat forgotten authors and books. And they throw in some modern books.
This development excites me.
ALH @ Jan 30th 2008 6:10AM
my R4 is currently filled with an entire transcript of the ' ted the caver' site, a bunch of creepypasta, a bunch of clive barker and ' i am legend'
For some reason scrolling down endlessly on a small screen in the middle of the night is a potentially terrifying experience :D
iSi @ Jan 30th 2008 10:07AM
PDF on DS? i can only use txt...
where do i get this from? already searched for pdf fill...
Matdredalia @ Jan 30th 2008 8:39AM
Like Raru, I can use my R4 and various home-brew apps to get my read on.
However, due to ease of upload, I usually wind up reading eBooks on my iPod. However, once I finally win the war between Micro SD cards & my PC...I'd love to read them on the DS, 'cause it's got MUCH larger screens than teh iPod.
ArmiMaan @ Jan 30th 2008 11:10AM
I wouldn't mind getting something like this, depending on the selection of books. I doubt there'd be anything too modern, and most likely it'd be filled with stuff some university professor considered part of the literary "canon". Personally, if it had the things like The Odyssey/Iliad, Beowulf, Arabian Nights, Arthurian legends, and ancient mythological/fairy tale stuff, I'd buy it day and date.
Anyone know what kinds of books were in the Japanese version? Were there any licensed texts, or was it all public domain books?
Benjamin L. @ Jan 30th 2008 12:59PM
Definitely, if the material is something I like reading. It'd be nice if they brought out more than one volume.
Raru @ Jan 30th 2008 1:33PM
Ok I have gotten several requests from people about PDFs and Comic Book DS. Im at work right now, but when I get home later today (1/30/08 7ish EST) I'll be more then happay to explain the process of putting PDFs on to your DS. Look for my post later in this thread.
Raru @ Jan 30th 2008 9:41PM
PDFs on your DS Made Easy By Raru Aru
Things you will need:
1. A Nintendo DS or DS lite.
2. A computer
3. An R4DS or Similar Card
Programs you will need:
A. Comic Book DS (Free)
B. PDF Fill (Free)
C. Pictoad (Free)
Files you will need.
1A. A PDF of Any Size, but try to start small.
Step 1. Create a Folder any name will do, this is where we will place the PDF. Once the PDF is in the new folder open PDF Fill and select " Convert PDF to Images ".
This will create a number of Image files in that folder equal to the number of pages in the PDF. You will have the option to select the type of image file and resolution, I have not played around with this too much, but I always Pick
.PNG and keep the resolution at 144, but you can mess around with it if you like. Also PDF Fill will name each file after the name of the PDF file, so if its a long one you may want to change it to something shorter. For example "The Tell Tale heart" would be better named "TellTale" otherwise it is going to be a very messy directory.
This will take a little time, a few minutes depending on the size of the PDF. Once its done move on to step 2.
Step 2. You can move the PDF back to where ever you keep your PDF files, or just delete it now. All we need are the files that PDF Fill made now.
Open Pictoad and select the directory/folder where all the files are and then select proceed. In a few minutes it will spit out one file to the directory/folder of your choice. This new file will be readable by Comic Book, and is the contents of your PDF. You need to go in to options to select the file path before you run the conversion so you know where the file will end up.
A very hand thing indeed.
--=-=-=-=-
You can also use pictoad to turn your DS in to a Nice Image Viewer by selecting individual files or whole folders for conversion to be read by comic book DS.
If you have any questions feel free to email me at
NemuAff@gmail.com
Also I would be more then happy to put all the files needed or at least links to them up if someone were to provide the webspace. PDF fill can be freely downloaded, but Comic Book DS and Pictoad have become somewhat more rare on the internet.
RootiePatootie @ Jan 31st 2008 4:16PM
I'm a huge fan of ebooks. I bought a Rocket eBook device in early 1999, shortly after it came out. I've good eyesight, thankfully, and I've tried reading on my Palm Pilot and other PDAs. UGH. So I cannot even imagine trying to read on a DS. I'd give it a look-see, for sure, but I don't think this will fly.
Raru @ Jan 31st 2008 7:35PM
I'll try and get some screen pics, its really not bad at all for reading, with Comicbook DS you can even turn the DS Sideways and read like a real book if you want.