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Power Usage of DS for certain games/WFC

Linkachu

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
It's clear enough now that certain games and actions on the DS drain it much faster than others. For games, it seems that when I'm activitly playing Nintendogs or Animal Crossing Wild World I'm recharging more often (and not simply because I'm playing longer). Animal Crossing WW plus the Wifi Connection seems to drain it even quicker. I couldn't have recharged my DS anymore than four/five days ago when I was forced to recharge it yet again the day before yesterday.

This isn't me complaining about the battery life or being surprised by the extra power usage - they stated from the get-go that the WFC would use more for obvious reasons. I'm just wondering if there are any official statements (like percentages) that detail how much extra battery power certain games or actions on the DS take up (most notably the WFC).
 
Doctor Oak

Doctor Oak

Staff member
Overlord
It was stated from before the thing launched that using WiFi at all (Online or Locally) would be a big drain on the battery, so obviously playing Animal Crossing is going to slaughter it if you spend ages online. Similarly with Mario Kart.

Also, I'd say that it's also quite likely that use of the 3D technology in the DS puts a drain on it too, as opposed to the 2D technology that is generally very little more than emulating a GBA game with DS features. 3D simply requires more power from the processors and therefore more battery power.

Although considering that you can easily get a good 10+ hours of normal gaming and a good 7+ hours of high-load or online gaming from the DS - it's hardly something worth worrying about. I rarely need to charge my DS more than once every fortnight. Admittedly, i'm not addicted to playing AC or anything so I only play it every so often - but once a week is probably enough to cope with an hour a day on AC.
 
Linkachu

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Although considering that you can easily get a good 10+ hours of normal gaming and a good 7+ hours of high-load or online gaming from the DS - it's hardly something worth worrying about.
Click to expand...

It's curiosity much less worry :p

I have a perfect example of the 2D vs 3D comparison. According to my brother, he can play Castlevania DS for about 13 hours but AC WW for much, much less (6 or 7 roughly, about what you said). Makes sense really, and yeah, compared to PSP that's still a great battery life.

Either way, I'd be very happy if the DS lite had a stronger battery. I'll need it to support my growing WFC usage over the next year ^^
 
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