DS Daily: Ha, what a noob
by Phil Larsen 
{ Jul 30th 2008 at 9:00AM }
And yet ... it's still pretty funny watching non-gamers try their hand at even the simplest casual games and screw up royally. Sure, kindly old Grandpa and naive little sister are exactly the kind of people the DS attracts, but do you still feel slight twinges of amusement when they have trouble completing the most basic of tasks? We love the whole worldwide DS craze and all, but are the hardcore among us (that is, the hardcore that got so upset over a two-hour presentation) chortling silently, basking in gaming omnipotence when it comes to touchscreen prowess? Share your amusing anecdotes with the rest of us!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nigeria: SSBB: 0731-6347-2110 @ Jul 30th 2008 9:18AM
A "friend" of mine used my pink DS phat as a knuckleduster; goodbye top screen. It still pisses me off to this day.
Oh, also, my cousin and her Mario Kart. It's adorable watching her tilt her DS in the air as if it's an actual steering wheel. I remember doing that when I was a little boy with my Mega Drive.
Ashley @ Jul 30th 2008 5:28PM
What's a knuckle duster?
deft @ Jul 30th 2008 9:44AM
People who think that the upper screen will magically develop touch-screen capabilities although they were told a couple of times NOT to mess around with the stylus and the top screen.
IMO, that happens all the time.
Kind of annoying, but the frustrated look on people's faces (the one trying to play, as well as the owner of the precious device) is priceless :D
Char6296 @ Jul 30th 2008 10:33AM
Hmm... I laugh when my mum is on Brain Training and like "What? How do I-" And then we show her that you have to hold it sideways and use the stylus. Also, it's funny watching my grandparents working out the workings of the said game. (No I don't like Brain Training, it was free as part of a bundle with my DS.)
ozroller @ Jul 30th 2008 10:41AM
It drives me nuts that no matter how many times I tell people otherwise, they continue to try and touch the top screen. NOT-A-TOUCH-SCREEN!
Char6296 @ Jul 30th 2008 12:35PM
How about sticky notes?
Broco Lee @ Jul 30th 2008 12:09PM
When i brought my first ds (I still have it, its like a war veteran, i have tu turn it on and off with a screwdriver xd), i had a lot of work on that week so i left it at home with the two games i bought: SMB and Trauma Center.
My little brother took it and started to play. With mario he was fine, but with trauma center it was a hell different story, he even cried (he is 5yo). So i thught: "pfff, n00b" and i tried to play it... I managed to pass a few level to fail misserably later.
Since then i don´t laugh (Soooooo much) at newbies
Jacksons @ Jul 30th 2008 1:32PM
Same cousin, two blunders. First, she insists the DS needs to be recharged because she was turning the volume to max instead of using the power switch. To be fair, the last Nintendo portable she owned was the GBA, and that's where the power switch was on that. But then she spent a good minute scratching her head over how to open the PSP 2000's UMD tray; she owns the older model which has a release. Old habits are hard to break, apparently.
Ashley @ Jul 30th 2008 5:28PM
Ah. I had that same problem trying to find the on switch when I first bought the DS and then trying to find the stylus and then trying to figure out what "sleep mode" was and which button I pushed to put it on that.
Manuals? Why should I read a manual when I have this shiny new DS in front of me and Pokemon Emerald ready to go?
deft @ Jul 30th 2008 2:14PM
Lol, that's funny, but in a way it's not a noobish behaviour because she tried to use knowledge she already had.
One of my buddies got himself a PSP a few months back, together with Final Fantasy Tactics.
His girlfriend tries to help him by unwrapping all the merchandise. Then she gets her hands on the FFT
UMD itself.
Trying to pry the UMD's plastic shelling open with the aid of her fingernails, she goes:
"How do I get that tiny disc out of the $#!7 case?!"
BlackDS @ Jul 30th 2008 6:51PM
I don't believe for a second that Nicole Kidman actually plays with a DS Lite. Hell, she uses any excuse to NOT have to come into contact with ordinary people. I own a DS Lite in spite of Nicole Kidman.
What was Nintendo thinking?
Why not use Jessica Alba? Jessica plays Brain Age during her filming, she's a believeable celebrity spokesperson because she already uses the DS Lite.
I guess maybe Nintendo couldn't afford her. Or someone at Nintendo's ad agency just likes Kidman.
Peace.
Ethan @ Aug 1st 2008 7:26AM
Kidman is definitely more expensive than Alba.
aj @ Jul 31st 2008 12:32AM
I don't see why n00bism is such a negative thing. No one was born with complete and ultimate knowledge of everything, ever.
Have patience, explain things to people who don't know something, and enjoy it with them.
Ethan @ Aug 1st 2008 7:30AM
Not much, really. I gave my Dad 'Zelda: Link's Awakening' and he couldn't for the life of him work out which character he was. He did it, then moved across the screen and lost it again.
My Gran playing Wii sports and having to move the cursor the the little a icon on the menu screens and press A whilst on it rather than simply pressing A. I explained several times, and she seemed to understand, but kept doing it. Might be a little more than being a noob going on there.
SephFinale @ Aug 8th 2008 12:31PM
Lol...my mother used to play NES and SNES games...that's how I've played Illusion of Gaia. And she also played Maple Story with me a while back before the 11 year-olds hit the game. She plays Wii games, and I think a few times she's told me that the DS's screens are too small for her to see to know what she's doing, but I find that a lie since she does hand-made lace which requires one to mess with small threads.
On another note, I lol at people who are inept with technology. >:3