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DS Book Collection allowing you to be nerdier than ever before this Boxing Day photo

If you felt that being a hardcore gamer just isn't uncool enough these days (hell, everyone has a DS now), then perhaps you'll be looking to raise  the nerd stakes considerably by acquiring the 100 Classic Book Collection for DS.

Yes, starting from Boxing Day (December 26 to you non-UK chaps), you can get your hands on 100 classic plays and novels, crammed into a single DS cart. By classic, we do of course mean copyright-free. That also means no Harry f*cking Potter ... thank God.

As if you couldn't already guess the central gimmick, the idea is to hold the DS sideways, mimicking a book, and you can flick through pages with the stylus. There are to be search and bookmark functions, and additional literature will be made available in Wi-Fi download form. 

Amazon has the full list of titles included, but for an idea of what you'd be getting into, there will be Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte, Hardy and Austen, as well as less dreary stuff like Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne.  

For the amount and variety of books that come included, an asking price of £17.99 looks like an amazing deal to me. I must say, this is actually a great idea.


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27 comments | showing # 1 to 27

pendelton21's Avatar
pendelton21 at 12/01/2008 09:12
What the hell is Boxing Day? You Europeans so crazy...
Char Aznable's Avatar
Char Aznable at 12/01/2008 09:15
That's actually pretty fucking awesome. Books, woo!
the Golden Avatar's Avatar
the Golden Avatar at 12/01/2008 09:16
It's a great idea, but I've never been able to read books electronically. It just feels wrong and becomes a strain after awhile.

Also, we need Boxing Day in the US, but instead of December's Black Friday or the more traditional day of charity, it should be a day when you can beat the shit out of anyone and everyone without retribution.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 12/01/2008 09:18
Moonbooks beat them to it. Rather convenient that this news breaks at the same time the owner of that site announces that Moonbooks was shut down due to DoS assaults.
njsykora's Avatar
njsykora at 12/01/2008 09:20
That's actually a pretty good idea, given that £18 is about the price of a standard hardback these days it could possibly become a decent avenue for book publishing at some point.

Highly unlikely that that'll happen though. Would be nice though.
PhazonYoshi's Avatar
PhazonYoshi at 12/01/2008 09:30
Pendle, boxing day is the day after Christmas, meaning you no longer have to be polite, and can box the shit out of your granny for buying you socks again.
Jim Sterling's Avatar
Jim Sterling at 12/01/2008 09:39
Boxing Day is so called because, many decades ago, the day after Christmas was the day for opening presents. Christmas Day itself was devoted entirely to the family and the dinner stuff. They waited a day before the materialistic shit.

Now is no longer the case, but we keep the day because, hey, everyone likes an extra day of old family movies on TV.
mix's Avatar
mix at 12/01/2008 09:40
Kind of a neat idea as $19.99 is the price of a single book anyways.
the Golden Avatar's Avatar
the Golden Avatar at 12/01/2008 09:44
@mix

Where do you buy your books? Either that's an on sale hardback or a drastically marked up paperback. Slightly marked up trade?
Solgrim's Avatar
Solgrim at 12/01/2008 09:48
Power Glove

A novel by Frank Hardy
gamesronlygames's Avatar
gamesronlygames at 12/01/2008 10:01
We dont celebrate St. Stephen's day, Christmas, or boxing day here for the most part. Boxing day is a day for over indulgent greedy folk to box eachothers ears for sale items, or trample kindly old men.
Demtor's Avatar
Demtor at 12/01/2008 10:04
Yikes, classics? You mean the stuff they make you read in school where everyone learns to hate reading?

That list needs R.A. Salvatore and George R. R. Martin >:-(
Demtor's Avatar
Demtor at 12/01/2008 10:06
That is to say... they could save some would be readers from boring themselves to death.
Drakonikarma's Avatar
Drakonikarma at 12/01/2008 10:08
NEEDS MOAR H.P LOVECRAFT!
the Golden Avatar's Avatar
the Golden Avatar at 12/01/2008 10:16
@Demtor

It's just the choice of "classics." Some are good (The Idiot, War and Peace) and some are terrible (The Old Man and the Sea). Unfortunately, the terrible ones are usually taught.
falinter's Avatar
falinter at 12/01/2008 10:33
digital books? what is the world coming to!
exodus1925's Avatar
exodus1925 at 12/01/2008 10:34
Wait, a clever idea using the DS' full potential?
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar
DinnertimeNinja at 12/01/2008 11:22
"Wait, a clever idea using the DS' full potential?"


Are you joking? So you're saying the DS' "full potential" is displaying static images of text?

It's a sad state of affairs when something as simple as this gets more attention and praise than the last 50 DS games released.

GIVE ME SOMETHING TO PLAY ON MY DS, NINTENDO!
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar
DinnertimeNinja at 12/01/2008 11:26
Oh, and 17.99 GBP is actually equal to about 26 US Dollars.

If you're paying that much for a single book (as many of you say you are), then you're doing it wrong.
Grasshopper7's Avatar
Grasshopper7 at 12/01/2008 11:34
I think it's a cool idea. The touch screen always made the DS pretty versatile, I'm surprised they didn't do this earlier.
electrokinetica's Avatar
electrokinetica at 12/01/2008 12:21
American post-Thanksgiving "Black Friday" == Canadian post-Christmas "Boxing Day". There is some history in there, but w/e.

This has long been an ability of many DS flash carts. Yes, OMG. Flash carts for things other than NOT games? Yes. My prefered tool is DSLibris. Great for Creative Commons works an not just public domain stuffs.
pendelton21's Avatar
pendelton21 at 12/01/2008 12:45
@Jim

Sounds like fun.
welkstar's Avatar
welkstar at 12/01/2008 13:58
Why has it taken this long for something like this to arrive? I want my DS to become a Kindle post-haste!
el_chack's Avatar
el_chack at 12/01/2008 18:37
It took too much time for developers to release this software, the Nintendo DS is perfect for apps like this one!

Do you think there is a chance for an American release?
ZekeThePlumber's Avatar
ZekeThePlumber at 12/01/2008 18:44
I used to use my R4 to read some short stories that I converted to .txt. I'm all for this. Damn cheap too.
Sam Spectre's Avatar
Sam Spectre at 12/01/2008 20:34
....I love Harry Potter
renamecor's Avatar
renamecor at 02/02/2009 03:43
DS as a book reader - long overdue.

I do believe that the 100 classic titles will be coming to US shores with titles more relevant to the US market.

I don't know when though, but there is another review at ;

http://www.ndsbooks.co.uk/

Worth a read, and their news section/news letter might keep you up to date on the US issue.
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