DS Lite Price, Launch Date Announced

Kotaku has word on the launch date and price point for the DS Lite, the second version of Nintendo's popular handheld console. From the article: "Nintendo today launched a thousand smiles when they finally confirmed that the DS Lite, svelte brother to the bulky, yet handsome DS, will indeed be coming to the States. The DS Lite will officially go on sale here on June 11 for a mere $130. The only official color announced thus far is that finger print ready white that seems so popular among the iPod set."

Comments

Simple solution

[baldass_newbie]

The only official color announced thus far is that finger print ready white that seems so popular among the iPod set.

Just wipe your hands between eating Cheetos and playing your DS Lite. Tough concept requiring self restraint, but it works.

Re:What the.....

[gabebear]

Yes, http://kineox.free.fr/DS/

and now that they have XIP and WiFi working it is starting to be a bit useful.

Second in the family

[klausboop]

I am going to buy a DS Lite for myself. I frequently borrow my son's now, and having two in the house will allow us to do the local area multiplayer built into most of our favorite games. I think Nintendo is going to have some significant market success on this one, especially if lots of families have similar plans, where there's already a DS in the house and they'll use the Lite as a reason to get a second one, not to upgrade and get rid of the old one but to have more than one in the house.

On another note, I wonder if they'll continue to manufacture the current Nintendo DS and offer it at a lower price than the Lite, or if they'll discontinue the current DS? Look at the GBA -> SP -> Micro release cycle...they did stop making the GBA but it looks like the SP and Micro might both be manufactured, with the SP at $79 and the Micro at $99.

Form and Function

[dancingmad]

The DS Lite is an amazing little machine. It combines the sexiness of Apples machines along with the sturdiness of Nintendo's.

I have a white I bought here in Japan (it matches my cell phone, iBook, and iPod), but the Navy Blue seems to be far and away the most popular color. However, I keep the white one in a case and while it does get a little smudgy, it hasn't got really dirty by any stretch of the imagination. And while it sees far more physical use than my iPod (which is in a pretty sturdy case) or my iBook (which is not moved very often and hooked up to an external keyboard and mouse) it is scratch free.

Compared to the phat DS it's amazing (I had one of those before selling it on Yahoo Japan's auction site shortly before the Lite came out) and while the former felt like a hand abortion, this one is light and absouletely a blast to use.

I have no doubt that at least Navy Blue is coming out in the U.S.; it's far too popular not to. The only issue is that when the Lite launched here, the two blue models were delayed by a week or two, because of manufacturing errors, so they launched later than the white machine.

Moreover, the brighter screens are great. Games that I only played on the phat DS, like Kirby, Jump Superstars, and Dragonquest Slime look really vibrant on the new screen(s).

Anyone looking to get one should defintely invest in a semi-decent case and screen protectors (especially for the bottom touch screen).

PSP vs. unlocked DS

[tepples]

PSP homebrew doesn't require more than a memory card and GTA (in some cases)

"Some cases" that involve GTA, an M-rated game, require the user to 1. live in an area where GTA is not banned and 2. be at least 17, which leaves high school underclassmen out of the PSP homebrew scene. Besides, "some cases" are rapidly ending with the new 2.70 firmware that makes the GTA bug no longer exploitable.

For the price of a PSP Value Pack, you can mail-order a completely unlocked DS with a memory card 8 times as big and with one game. However, some batches of DS Lite units have had problems with bridging SL1 to flash the DS's equivalent of the Xbox TSOP. Or if you're more interested in Hollywood movies than homebrew, you can still get a $130 DS and a $120 portable DVD player (with a bigger screen than the PSP) for that price.

It's best to wait

[the dark hero]

If it's one thing i've learned about Nintendo it is to wait. I bought tbe original GBA. I sold that and got a GBA SP. The DS Comes out and soon after the updated GBA SP. Now the DS Lite hits the shelves in June. After all of the Gameboys, Pockets, Colors, Advances and SPs that I have gone through I'm ready to just sit back and wait for the Black DS Lite that will match my cell phone and iPod nano. Perhaps a price drop will be in place by then.