Shame: 'Guitar Hero On Tour' Grip for Nintendo DS

Description

The Guitar Hero On Tour grip is a mechanism that comes with the game Guitar Hero On Tour. The game is for the Nintendo DS and falls into the simulator game genre where players play a virtual guitar by hitting the notes that come down the screen. They hold the correct coloured ‘note’ on the grip and ‘strum’ the note on the DS screen.

The grip consists of:

·         The main base

·         Strap

·         Four coloured buttons or ‘notes’

·         Plectrum

·         Dock

The grip is approximately (H, W, D) 80 x 95 x 29 (mm) and weighs 0.1kg.

The Product: What Makes It Bad?

 

To begin with, the grip is designed to slot into the back on the DS via a dock. Because there are multiple versions of the DS out, the grip has to come with an adapter so that it may dock with older versions of the DS, such as my own. At first this is a straight forward process, although slightly time consuming as rather than simply having the adapter slip easily on, you have to undo some screws, place the adaptor on, then tighten the screws again. However, after a couple of times using the adaptor and having to take it off because my sisters DS doesn’t require the adaptor, the screws wore away extremely quickly and now one of them does not screw in at all. This has more or less ruined the entire docking process and can only be achieved now holding the adaptor in place then quickly sliding it in to the DS, without it coming off.

Attention and Affordance

On first looking at the grip, it appears slightly confusing as to how it docks with the DS and how you are supposed to hold it once it’s in place. Also if you are left handed, it’s difficult to figure out how to change the options so that you can play comfortably.

Mapping

The buttons which are used for ‘notes’ in the game are easily identifiable due to their colours and shape. At first the buttons seem well placed, however when it comes to playing the game, it quickly becomes uncomfortable and annoying to handle. The buttons are too small and too close together, leading to bad game play experience and strenuous fingers.

The grip itself is designed in too smaller fashion. It’s true that the grip is designed to portable, so that it can be played anywhere, but the grip needs to be bigger. For children with smaller hands, it would probably accommodate to well, but in consideration to older audiences, the grip fails to perform. Your fingers go over the top of the buttons, which means you have to curl them back in order to hit the notes. Strangely however, the button that the little finger is responsible for pressing is too far for it to reach. This leads to bad game play experience and stress of the fingers.

When you first enter the game, a health warning appears telling the user to keep their wrist straight when playing. But when it comes down to it, it’s extremely difficult to actually keep you wrist straight when playing, unless you’re holding you entire arm out to the side which soon becomes too difficult a position to maintain. The designers clearly did not take into consideration the mapping of the entire grip so that it would comfortable to play without having to hold you limbs up in awkward ways.

Aesthetics

In terms of looks, the grip doesn’t look very attractive at all when attached to the bottom of the DS. The strap is far too large for such a small piece of equipment and also the adaptor prevents the grip from docking fully with the DS, leave gaps between the grip and the DS.

The plectrum that comes with the grip is bland and boring, in no way representing the game. Not only this, but after being used a few times, the stylus at the end of the plectrum for use on the touch screen has more or less broken off and the plastic body of the plectrum has been damaged by simply just playing the game.

Conclusion

In conclusion to this product analysis, I personally would not recommend this version of the game to DS users, instead directing them to later versions of the game that have been developed in ways that hopefully lead to better user experience. However it’s difficult to give this product such a bad review, considering it was the first of its kind to enter the market.

Fame: Gear4 Street Party 4 iPod Dock

Description

The Street Party 4 iPod dock designed by Gear4 is a speaker system that plays music off of iPods. It consists of:

·         One fold out front dock

·         Two internal speakers

·         Two internal bass ports

·         Sliding on/off switch

·         Volume controls

·         AUX and DC port

·         Power indication light

The dock is approximately (H, W, D) 141x241x33(mm), weighing around 580 grams and is compatible with seventeen different formats of iPods. The dock can either be powered by 4x AAA batteries or through a mains adaptor. This report will be analysing the systems sound output and user experience.

The Product: What makes it good?

The Gear4 dock is designed to be above all a portable speaker system for iPods. The name given ‘Street Party 4’ aims to convey this as a system that you can take anywhere you like, to places where main supplies are not available (such as streets). To reinforce this products portability capabilities, the dock can be powered by batteries to allow functioning in any location. Not only this, but the dock is light weight, slimly designed and allows for the dock to be folded into the rest of the product to provide a very smooth, sleek, easy to carry object.

Consistency

The docks’ functioning applies generally to other iPod docks in today’s sound industry and to the more basic functionality. Located on the front of the system is the iPod dock. For the user, i

t is easy to tell how to insert the iPod onto the dock, simply push the iPods dock down onto the base dock.

The power switch is located on the back of the dock, which may be difficult to find on first attempt, but is clearly recognizable afterwards. It also functions in a general consistent way the most on/off switch work. The switch slides from left to right to turn the system on or off. The sides are labelled ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’, but there is also a LED on the front of the dock which turns on when the entire system is powered.

The mapping of the volume controls is suitably placed on the top of the dock to provide easy access. The volume controls are concise in that they are linked together and it can be easily identified which button turns the volume up and which one down. The ports for this dock are also located where most other products feature theirs, which is on the back on the dock. Again these are clearly labelled. The sound system clearly displays great affordance by being a relatively simple product to use from taking it straight out the box.

User Shortcuts

Upon docking you iPod with the speaker system, instead of the user having to go through and manually choose which music to play, the dock automatically plays the first playlist provided on the iPod. This means that the users’ time between docking the iPod and their music playing is reduced to the minimal time possible, providing better user experience. If the user does not want the default playlist to play, then they can easily navigate to music of their choice.

The volume controls also provide a user shortcut. When either of the volume buttons are held, the volume is increased/decreased at a much greater rate compared to pressing the button repeatedly.

Feedback

The dock provides feedback to users in a couple of ways. Firstly when the power is activated, the user is provided with a lit up LED on the front of the dock to show that the system is receiving power. Also if the iPod is already docked, the user will be greeted with sound feedback coming from the iPods music.

Control

In no way does the system feel like it is taking control away from its user. The system is only a simple one, but it ensures that it only outputs functions that are directly inputted by users. The dock may power down by itself due to low power supply, but this would be a result of either the batteries or mains, not the system itself.

Aesthetics

The speaker system is designed to be very portable as mentioned earlier and therefore is given a very sleek, shiny look to reinforce this. The system consists of three main parts, the front, back and dock. The back on the dock is comprised of a shiny, black, plastic, curved plate that reaches over the top and bottom of the dock. Its texture is smooth and cool and the power switch plus ports are embedded well into the system.

The front is where the speakers and dock are held. The entire speaker system is well protected by plastic grating that does not imbue the sound at all. The dock is foldable, so that it may sit within the system when not in use making it more portable and easy to store. When unfolded, the base of the dock does not stick out very far from the body to greater improve aesthetics. The dock also acts as a stand for the entire system which is very cleverly done and therefore means that there is no need for any extra material to be added to the design.

Sound Output

Usually the main reason why people buy a speaker system is because they want sound, therefore it is only suiting that the sound output is analysed. For such a small speaker system, it provides excellent, room filling sound. Although it wouldn’t be fitting for larger rooms/halls or big outdoor areas, it certainly does the job for the average bedroom or lounge. It provides an impressive volume level, but can seem strained when performing at maximum volume.

Conclusion

The Gear4 Street Party 4 iPod dock speaker system is an excellent purchase for users who are wishing for a simple speaker system that is sleek, portable and outputs a decent amount of sound.