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E3 - First Nintendo DS Pic
Ravi Hiranand writes "Steven Kent has a look at the Nintendo DS -- along with what appears to be the first picture of the unit (which doesn't look anything like any of the wild rumours suggested it might!). It's still unclear whether the game pictured (a Mario Kart title!) is really a DS game or whether the whole thing is just a render, but the image is credited to Nintendo, so it appears to be genuine..."
1) The article said there would be a separate
:)
cart slot for GBA games, dunno if they'll still
support GB/GBC games (there's no reason not too,
other than adding a Z80 somewhere...)
2) I would think that it would be around 10 hours
or so if they do it right. I for one liked the
SP scheme of recharging every once in a while
instead of having to find batteries (easier to
find an outlet).
3) If the leaked specs are to be believed, the
main processor will be an ARM9 (I forget the
speed, but much faster than the GBA's ARM7).
According to the same specs, there'll be a
ARM7 co-processor as well.
I can't wait to see it RE'd and homebrew tools
come out!
That would be Yoshi.
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This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along.
I googled after some specs for nintendo DS
[...] the system will have two processors, with an ARM-9 CPU running at 67MHz and an ARM-7 unit running at 33MHz. Retail DS devices will have 4Mb of main RAM (while debug development units will have double that), with additional chunks of cache and shared RAM for the processors and 656Kb of video RAM. [...] The system will possess decent 2D capabilities, but it also has a 3D graphics system which, the spec. claims, is capable of drawing 120,000 polygons per second, representing a fill-rate of 30 million pixels per second. [...] Wi-Fi [802.11] and, touch panel input device.
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
Just a nit: Miyamoto is the game guy. He probably has little to anything to do with the development of their hardware platforms.
Errr, yes it did:
"DS has separate slots for current Game Boy Advance cartridges and new, smaller DS game cards."
RTFA, always RTFA.
I'm not cool enough to have a
In this case, the ARM 7 is the GBA's processor (with some slight modifications to serve as a stripped-down Z80 for GB/GBC compatibility, IIRC). When running GB/GBC/GBA titles, it'll be doing all the work. And when running DS titles, it'll serve as a co-processor for a little extra oomph.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
I know that the "looks" of devices have hurt sales in the past (E.g. the toy-look of the GC), however, any reasonable gamer knows that:
Success == Good Games == High User Base = Developer Support = More Variety (*).
Think about this:
* N64-like capabilites in a small form factor
* 4 face buttons
* Bluetooth
* Backwards compatibility (games are available NOW!)
* MSRP of $150 ($100 less than PSP) (everyone knows that the target pricepoint is $99-$75 for handhelds - clever manufacturing, economies of scale and semiconductor improvements will make this possible in a couple of years)
* Innovative interface
This is a pretty good deal to me even if it doesn't look cool or hip. The only big if is the choice of storage (Maybe it's N64 all over again...BUT... again... portable optical media on a handeld is a big gamble too... big risks == big payoff)
I'd love the PSP to be good competition to the DS/GBA, bc it benefits all gamers!
But let's just make better judgement calls before announcing that some product is going to get crushed.
On the business side...
At 95% Nintendo's market share on the handheld market can only go down, but, it's time to make sound decisions.
* Minimize loss on main console
(Sony is coming in and it's going to be willing to take a loss to gain market share agressively)
* Focus on quality games
* Keep 3rd parties happy
* Clever marketing
Oh well... this is going to be an interesting week... happy speculation....
Yes it really does. Just look at this.
it's gameboy, not gameboy advance :P
Miyamoto has designed the controllers at least since the SNES days. Look at the controllers for the systems - designed around the games Miyamoto was working on at the time.
Miyamoto also supposedly had a big say in the N64 using cartridges - he didn't think Mario 64 would be nearly as good as it was if it had long load times.
There is no dedicated 3D hardware in the DS. But the ARM 9 is powerful enough to push polygons at roughly N64 levels - which can be found in the leaked specs document floating around online.
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Hey guys, I can't find this posted anywhere, but this is *good stuff*, DS Screenshots and renderings. Enjoy.