Nintendo DS to Feature Wireless Connectivity?

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "As reported by GameSpot, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata indicated in a recent interview (Japanese-language) that the company's upcoming dual-screen portable (previously covered on Slashdot) will feature wireless Bluetooth-esque connectivity for multiplayer gaming. Iwata goes on in the interview to describe the Nintendo DS as a 'unique' machine, noting that 'not everybody will understand it right away. There might only be 10 to 15 people applauding during its unveiling at the E3, but they'll understand it once they touch it. At the least, it should serve as a hint towards [our] next-generation console.'" Although we've covered Iwata interviews recently, this now makes a little more sense given the context of the DS announcement.

Comments

Thats the ticket

[redune45]

I just read an interview on IGN yesterday with Nintendo of America's vice president of corporate affairs Perrin Kaplan.
He hinted that the DS would have some fancy features other than just the dual screens. Good to see that there may actually be meat behind this little handheld.

Re:Thats the ticket

[The Detriment]

It will have to have some "meat behind it" in order to compete with the Sony PSP.

I'm very interested to see the philosophies that drive both the DS and the PSP.

Re:Thats the ticket

[oGMo]

Yeah, I recall IGN mentioning something about that, too.

;-)

As I predicted

[Apreche]

I knew it would have wireless to be awesome. However, to be even more awesome both screens have to seperate from each other. If two people can play one game with one system and one cartridge and the two halves of the system connect wirelessly it will be the king of handhelds. Imagine the possibilities that before were difficult. Like battleship for instance.

I'm definitely buying one. At best it rules and I get my moneys worth. At worst its another Virtual Boy and I can be that one guy who still has a working Virtual boy. It's a win/win situation.

Re:As I predicted

[Babbster]

If the rumor is true that the second screen is a touchscreen, then two people on one console isn't even close to the goal. Of course, IMO, two players on a single handheld console is a just plain silly thing to attempt, unless it involves passing the handheld to the next player - RF wireless and decent prices should take care of multiplayer.

As far as imagining the possibilities, I can't bring myself to care much about wireless multiplayer (I don't play multiplayer-friendly games on GBA), but I'm pretty excited about the idea of two-screen games, assuming they've got developers on board. There are many functions, like maps, inventories, text dialogs, etc. that would be much improved being shunted off to a second screen. RPGs, in particular, can gain huge benefits from a second screen. Since GBA has become the main RPG machine for many, I would think improvements in that area would be well received.

So many handheld from same company

[superpulpsicle]

Is it me or is nintendo seriously lacking competition in the handheld arena... to the point where they now release a new system just to fight among themselves. As if regular gameboy, gameboy color, gameboy advance isn't enough.

Don't worry Sony will come by and clean up this mess.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[Matchstick]

Bad comparison. The GBC doesn't "fight with" the GBA any more than the PS1 fights with the PS2.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[burns210]

o please. that is like saying the super nintedo was released to compete with the regular nintendo. it wasn't, it was released to REPLACE IT. Just like the gb color(pocket?) replaced the gb pocket, the advanced replaced the color, the advanced SP replaced the advanced. Each being a better handheld system than the one before it.

NOW, for the first time, Nintendo is releasing a system that is unlike any handheld we have see, and they do this in such a way that, if all hell falls on them, they can 'revert' to the amazingly great gameboy advanced sp.

And no, the sony handheld won't kick anyone's ass. A $200-250 consol versus a sub $100 with a library of games 100 times the size of sony's new system? Please.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[MMaestro]

I've said it in a previous post but heres the short form...

The Gameboy's biggest competitors in the handheld gaming history (lite) :

Game Gear : Color screen. Nuff said.
Wonderswan : Received Final Fantasy remakes (basicly selling an instant 5000+ units just for that). Again, had color screen and better resolution.
NeoGeo Pocket Color : The little system that should've but didn't. A little joystick instead of a D-pad (FINALLY, lets see this happen some more), top notch SNK games like Metal Slug, and a battery life which outdid the Gameboy Advance's (not the SP's though.)

Just because Sony is trying its hand at the handheld business doesn't mean they'll succeed either. So far the score is something like 5+ wins - 0 losses - 1 tie with Game Gear which did "fairly" well (debatable).

Unless Sony can fit powerful hardware (a la Xbox sans the size), a SERIOUS gaming library (having all the third-party developer support in the world is useless if all the games are crappy and come out late), and a good launch success (the PS2 launch(es) couldn't have gotten worse) while fitting everything in a slick, cool handheld (ie. not N-Gage looking) yeah they have a CHANCE. Oh and, don't forget Tetris.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[BigDork1001]

The DS isn't being made to compete with the PSP. I'm sure that Nintendo is also working on a next generation handheld as well that will be released to compete with the PSP.

The DS is probably going to be from the GBA generation.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[PainKilleR-CE]

Sony has proven before that they can sell an expensive piece of hardware on the strength of VERY (VERY) few decent games.

Sony hasn't proven anything in this market. Everyone that's tried to compete against Nintendo with a more expensive product (usually technically superior), in this market, has failed.

That being said, it will only take a couple of games to get me to buy one, I know myself too well to think otherwise. Will it replace my GBA-SP? That's unlikely, at least for a while, since I have a decent library of games for the system at this point, but it is likely that it will sit beside it if Sony can bring together a decent library of their own.

No one can hold a market forever, but this market in particular has been tricky for anyone to enter, and we're at a point now where there are a fair number of poor competitors that just didn't understand the market before they entered. Whether Sony will put themselves among them remains to be seen. The DS from Nintendo is in the same position for different reasons. The primary feature of the DS is unproven, and most people won't understand it until they see the real thing in action.

Re:So many handheld from same company

[PainKilleR-CE]

Sony still sold out on the damn thing with every early shipment. It's easy to forget that while gamers measure such things based on how much fun they had, Sony (and any other company) measures them based on how much money they make. :)

and how do you think the shareholders at Sony were feeling when they saw PS2s going for $500 on eBay? If supply is so bad that a buyer can resell for a $200 mark-up, and you've got people on a waiting list all across the country for 6 months, what you see is not money coming in, but instead money going down the drain.

That being said, at this point the only reason they care about the PS2 launch is to avoid making the same mistake again.

It's been posted before

[metroid composite]

And I've lost the original post, but there's theories that this is an attempt to bully the PSP out of the market. Suppose Nintendo releases nothing and it looks something like this

GBA: 80%
PSP: 18%
other: 2%

Looks like Sony's eating into the market share. However, if they release the DS at the same time as the PSP taking the wind out of their launch sails it might come out more like:

GBA: 80%
PSP: 11%
DS: 7%
other: 2%

Now things look a lot more shaky for the PSP, and Nintendo has said themselves that the GBA will not be replaced so PSP and DS both fail and GBA continues its dominance.

It's a kamakazie system that tries a lot new ideas, and if those ideas take off then great, and if they don't...well it still served its purpose.

Re:Cost?

[FortissimoWily]

"It will probably fail because I don't see how they will keep the cost down enough to justify it."
Well, going by what Japanese retailers have said recently, the DS will cost around $150 to $180. That's a pretty good price compared to what will be it's closest 'rival', the Sony PSP (despite the DS not being put out to compete with it), which has been confirmed (by Japanese retailer speculations, but more importantly, by Sony Europe) to cost between $350 to $450.

"I realize I'm just reiterating everything that was said the last time this came up, but I think we're now starting to see how feature-packed this may become."
Indeed. The touch-screen also sounds interesting - I'd like to see what developers can pull off with that.

"So the question is, will it be bloated?"
The question is, has there ever been a bloated Nintendo handheld? They've all been good at what they do, and as small as comfortably possible given the technology of the times (although, in retrospect, the original Game Boy looks large, it will still fit in a pocket).

shutter glasses

[Bastian]

I have no idea what the screen layout is going to be like, but if they're side by side it would be neat if they had a lightweight shutter glasses peripheral or polarized screen covers along with polarized glasses so you could have Virtual Boy the way it should have been.

Iwata makes a lot of sense

[pommaq]

Some choice quotes from the linked interview (thanks to babelfish):

You say that it evolves graphics and should have kept making function complicated "golden law of success" is the collapse red sandal wood.
I think Iwata says that design is a natural evolution from graphics, and that the DS will be collapsible and come in a nice wood finish. Bold move, in this age of clean, plastic designs! I had assumed it would look more like the SP, but we all know that big N aren't satisfied with jumping on bandwagons. I agree with Iwata here, the design needs to convey a more adult sense of purpose, so it doesn't have to compete with the GBA.

The creator having suffered hardship 100 times, 100 times it can sell, instead of, in the circumstance that, even even maintenance of the status quo it is difficult, in the former route which wastes time and energy, as for future of the game as for without being it is clear.
From this quote, I gather the DS will break easily. Iwata suggests that once you've bought a DS, you'll readily buy 100 more if they keep breaking (indicating that it will be a cheap unit, I suppose). I'm not so sure about this strategy, as Iwata says it will probably be a waste of time and energy to try and repair them yourself - but I'm still concerned about the cost. Time will have to tell on that one.

Very useful information! Hopefully slashdot can keep posting interviews like these. This really helped shed some light on Nintendo's strategy with the DS.

I reserve comment

[tprime]

Honestly, over the time that Nintendo has been in existance and in gaming they have established quite a track record. I am willing to give them a chance because nothing they have done in their console/handheld history has been really bad (Virtual Boy was revolutionary, but was just released before the technology was ready). The marketing folks at Nintendo are smart, I am sure that the new DS will NOT compete with the GBA, but will occupy any market share that Sony was aiming at. In that case, even if the handheld sells slowly, it will take a lot of people out of the market for the PSP before it gains steam.

Nintendo knows that the worst thing that can happen in the next year is for Sony to gain a foothold in the mobile market with the PSP, NOA's monopoly of the handheld market is what kept them around when the Gamecube wasn't selling well.

Re:Cost?

[iocat]

The fact that you confused the DS and Virtual Boy is probably telling...