I was playing both 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Sonic Colors on the Nintendo DS heavily today in my Game Room with the sound being routed to my surround speakers. I don't do this very often because I am always disturbed by little things like seeing a messy looking wire on the floor that travels between the DS and my receiver but whenever I do this, the inconvenience of it has always been worth it. I don't use the headphones when playing my handheld consoles at home so I most often settle for the flat, pathetic little built-in speakers. With handheld gaming being more prominent than ever these days, why is it that Nintendo (or perhaps even Sony) is not in a hurry to find a better and more effective internal audio solution for their handheld devices?
Handhelds should not require outside help to deliver the goods in the sound department.
So, Nintendo is giving us the glory of 3D gaming with their upcoming Nintendo 3DS but how come the upcoming device is not installed with a set of super powerful speakers? The concern is probably related to power consumption since handheld consoles are supposed to be able to sustain some prolonged battery life per charge but perhaps the solution here is to actually have a toggle option that could disable the speakers when the user decides to use headphones instead. I really don't mind having a handheld system that has an awesome built-in speakers even if it means that I have to hook it up to the wall if I choose to indulge in some aural bliss when I am playing it at the convenience of my home. Sound is an important part of the overall gaming experience and that fact is still true for handhelds - I really want to see some innovation in this area for handheld gaming in the near future.
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