Nintendo DS Actually Nintendo Nitro?

Tim Butler writes "According to 1UP.com, Nintendo's official developer relations site offers an interesting clue as to what Nintendo's DS dual-screen handheld may be called at launch. Between the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo has a platform called 'Nitro' listed." Though this may be a previous working name and unrelated to the final moniker, 1UP's screenshot of the website is useful, since Nintendo has already changed the image back to read 'Nintendo DS'. We've previously covered what's currently known about the handheld's technical specs. Update: 03/10 22:22 GMT by S : MCV has spoken to a Nintendo representative, who claims "this is a reference to... [the project code name] before the working name Nintendo DS was decided", but the piece also notes: "The final official name for the Nintendo DS... is still to be confirmed."

Comments

Nintendo is afraid to use numbers

[superpulpsicle]

Nintendo technically should call it Gameboy 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. But they don't simply because they know there are too many damn versions out there. Even Gameboy alone has a bent screen version.

Gameboy
Gameboy color
Gameboy Advanced
Gameboy DS

Internal Code Name

[sarcastodon]

This has already been debunked. Sources are reporting that NITRO (besides being the dumbest name ever) was/is being used as the internal name while Nintendo worked on the machine. Similar to how the code name for the GameCube was Dolphin.

Re:Nitro?

[dewie]

I believe SP stands for Special Project, which was the internal working name at Nintendo. Apparently, they decided that it was good enough for the real thing.

Similarly, I think they should stick with DS as a name for the new system. It means something (Dual Screen, in case ya didn't know), unlike "Nitro" which doesn't mean anything, sounds stupid, and conveys an impression of dangerously high velocity.