New DS to release this year? Update pg2

Sarge · Last edited by Sarge on Mon Sep 29, 2008 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

According to this Reuters report, the Nikkei’s reported this morning that Nintendo is to release a new DS this year.

The hardware upgrade is to feature a built in camera, support for SD cards, music playback capabilities, and improved Wi-Fi support. The system’s screens will also be bigger.

The piece apparently said that the new version will continue with its feature of having two touch-screens, so there’s a chance that rumour of a second touch-panel being included in the upgrade are true.

The console will have improved Wi-Fi support, increasing the system’s use as an information terminal, allowing owners to get news and product information at retailers and train stations. Nintendo currently has such a service on test under the name Nintendo Spot.

Pricing for the new model will be below 20,000 yen, says the report.

More through the link.

clicky

Hmmmm. I'll wait for confirmation. The SD card support and twin-screen input in particular don't quite ring true.

Website

Surely if it had bigger screens some DS games would either have black edges or look distorted?

It'd make Ouendan a lot easier. I call bull.

I'd love a larger screen and if they can keep the same dimensions but larger I don't see to much of a problem. The screen size is the only issue I have with the DS so any solution would be welcome.

Needs better speakers, too. In noisy environs the present speakers are awful.

I'd love a DS with all these new features rather than just a physical redesign, Music and Camera inclusion would be great. I'm all for it!

A better d-pad is needed more than anything else, even the 'fat' DS's clicky d-pad was better than the current one.

IronHide wrote:A better d-pad is needed more than anything else, even the 'fat' DS's clicky d-pad was better than the current one.

It's not too bad, just bad when you want to move diagonally.

Hmm, off the top of my head, Spectrobes wouldn't work with a changed screen size, there's probably others too. Can't see them introducing SD card support either surely that'd just encourage the pirates.

I'd definitely buy any redesign they brought out though.

Bigger screens but at the same resolution? I'd rather keep my DS Lite. There is also no way they will fundamentally change the system by putting in a second touch screen. That is unless they have some kind of MS style mandate where all games that use a second touch screen can be played on a normal DS fat or Lite.

Sounds interesting, I'm not sure I'd want to upgrade from my Lite though (especially if they removed the GBA slot). The only thing which would really tempt me would be if they allowed you to play Virtual Console games on it via the SD card but I think that type of thing will be reserved for the next DS rather than for a hardware upgrade.

If I were designing a new model I would:

Shrink the size. Looking at the lite, it seems you could shave at least 1.5cm off the width and a bit off the length.
Include multimedia features, with music and video stored on internal solid state 8GB flash drive.
Enlarge the upper sceen and increase resolution for video playback (you would have the option of not using the extra screen space for games in case it messed up something).
Web browser built in.
USB connector for uploading stuff from your PC.

Basically just a normal DS but smaller, sleeker and with music and video playback. Also, when wifi is available, the big upper screen and touch screen acted as mouse/keyboard would work pretty well.

Sounds like a pipe-dream.

Last edited by Carlos on Sun Sep 28, 2008 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You wont be seeing any internal memory or SD card support any time soon. Someone will hack it and find a way of running ROMs from the flash.

@Alvin: You use the DS speakers in noisy environments? Ever heard of earphones?

Hmm. I'll believe it when I see it.

It's not like the DSlite needs a replacement. It might not be selling 100k a week in Japan anymore, but it's still performing phenomenally for a device that has already sold 20 million. And of course it's still the best-selling hardware in the west.

If the rumours are true it might just be a supplemental product (more of a GB Micro than an SP) to try and attract a different market. And I imagine Nintendo would expect a decent proportion of people to upgrade their DS a second time.

These things are totally un Nintendo that they have to be fake. I'll believe it when I see it in the shops next to the slim line 360s.

I still can't see nintendo coming out with a new version of DS with bigger screens unless it is a whole new platform e.g. the DS 2

Last edited by Jax on Sun Sep 28, 2008 7:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Can you get smaller than the DS Lite without it getting fiddly?

Making it smaller is just pointless, i think.

Having a larger screen could maybe make some games look worse, or have the edges cut off.

I agree with kuliand, wait until the next Nintendo handheld.

Jaxley wrote:Can you get smaller than the DS Lite without it getting fiddly?

Who said they were making it smaller?

New DS to release this year? Update pg2

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