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

could you be any more vague?

[peteshaw]

I mean, the new nintendo handheld is news, but the potential working name that might be used is kind of stretching it a little bit, don't you think?

Re:could you be any more vague?

[neverkevin]

Well it is probably more then just a potential working name if someone actually went through the trouble of making an image and changing the website. Of course, it doesn't mean that it will be the final name.

Re:Nitro?

[Lord Graga]

True, as in Dual-Screen... makes more sense than SP, which is still a mystery name to me!

With this name

[AtariAmarok]

With a name like Nitro, kiss your chance of carrying it onto airplane flights goodbye. "Nintendo Small Travel Pillow" would have worked for that.

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

Numbering systems is lame and unimaginitive

[Man In Black]

Frankly, I think "Playstation 2" is the least interesting name for a console yet. What happened to the days when companies actually thought of cool names for their systems, like the Genesis or Dreamcast?

Sony will undoubtedly continue their mindlessness by coming out with the PS3, but I really hope that Microsoft and Nintendo put a bit more thought into naming their systems.

Oh, and you missed a couple of Gameboy's in your list... there was also the Gameboy Pocket (smaller version of the B&W Gameboy), and of course, the most recently released Gameboy Advance SP. Of course, the DS/Nitro/Whatever has little in common with the Gameboy aside from the fact that they're both portable.

Re:Numbering systems is lame and unimaginitive

[Allison Geode]

...which would be a concise argument, if the gamecube weren't their first *original* name for US markets: Nintendo Entertainment System Super Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 64 (which was almost named "ultra") going with the gameboy, they're all still gameboys. except the one that fits in your pocket is labeled as such, and the one that had 56 color screen is called the game boy color, and so on and so forth... so its not numbers, but not terribly imaginitive, either. "its calles super so it must be better!" is about as lame as numbering it.... the only company that has consistently given a unique name to each console was sega: master system and genesis... saturn, dreamcast.

Re:Numbering systems is lame and unimaginitive

[IntergalacticWalrus]

There's a good reason for that type of naming, and it's called branding. You may find "Playstation 2" to be a sucky name (I do too), but for the masses, it means _everything_. The Playstation was extremely successful, so when people see "Playstation 2", they think "wow! like the already good Playstation, but newer and better than the original!!"

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.

are these 'slips' intentional?

[MBraynard]

I wonder if these kind of slips - "accidently" posting something up and them immediatly changing it, leaking specs to the press, etc., are really intentional and meant to get free advertising (aka 'earned media').

I've seen this done so often in the past it makes you wonder. And you would also think that with a company as large as N that the people working on the Nitro project and preparing a slideshow-type graphic would be different from the people running the website, and that someone would actually have to hand off that graphic and say 'please post this for about 30 minutes and send an anonymous email to that gaming website to bring it to their attention.'

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.

Re:Lawsuit?

[gasgesgos]

Sued by a city in West Virginia? If cities could sue for a company using a city name, about 50% of small businesses could be sued for that reason...
So, no, they aren't afraid of being sued over using a city's name for a development name... mostly because they can't be sued for that...

I wish I had mod points right now... :(

Wow that's awesome

[aztektum]

I definitively learned that Nintendo's new game device may or may not have a DS on the end of the name.

I have to go take a nap. *woofda*

Possible name...

[RyoShin]

They should just call it the Nintendo Two-Way, because you might be able to use the two screens for two-player stuff.

Why is everyone laughing?