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Can Nintendo Really Be Planning Another DS Variant?
itwbennett writes "'There was a lot of talk yesterday about an article in the Japanese publication Nikkei which claimed that Nintendo was readying a new iteration of its DS line of handheld gaming systems,' writes blogger Peter Smith. 'The report claims the new unit will have 4" screens (the current unit has 3.25" screens) and is designed for older gamers who have trouble seeing the small screens of the current DSi. This new model is otherwise identical to the existing DSi and will ship by end of year in Japan.' As an 'older gamer' himself, Smith calls on Nintendo to stop this annual upgrade madness and do something truly innovative for a change, and he calls on gamers to put some pressure on Nintendo and not buy the new DS."
I have asked nintendo in their surveys for such an improvement. Nice to see they listen.
I would really like if you didn't do this, but as long as its still compatible you should be ok. You were there when Sega pulled the constant hardware change and killed their own hardware sector. I kinda like you Nintendo so keep it compatible and the bitching will be a minimum.
Your Fan,
bertoelcon
Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
This comment made me laugh, no insult intended, because I really can't tell if you are being straightforward or being terribly sarcastic.
I've seen so many console wars in various forums that I just can't tell anymore.
I think the sound capabilities leaves a lot to wish for.
The DSi has a much improved DAC, allows 16 simultaneous mono voices in hardware (I think, it could be 8 mono)
3D capability leaves a lot to wish for.
True, but it was done this way due to battery reasons. When someone writes a software renderer for DSi, we'll likely see a pretty big jump in graphics (for DSi only)
The DS lite (which plenty of us have bought ..) don't do diagonal upper-right movements very well.
What?
Personally I would from the beginning had preferred one screen with the total resolution of the current two there the developers themselves could had decided how they wanted to use it. And of course better 3D capabilities.
Then you would have a PSP. The second screen is an artifact of the design of the system. I think Nintendo really wanted a clamshell, because it makes the system far more portable. You don't need a case, and can slip one into your pocket without ruining the screen. I own a DS, DSi, and PSP. The PSP remains at home, while the DSi comes with me wherever I go. Reason being that it doesn't require a case, and is a good deal smaller.
Also in the case of the DSi I guess one could argue that at least the loss of the GBA slot is something "wrong" with it. That and the very high price, the DS has been around for like 5 years but still kinda cost as much since each new version starts off at a slightly higher price the the current one.
DSi is Nintendo's new handheld. It has 4x the power of the DS, and is a significantly better system in every way. It's a fair price to pay for the new system. The problem is the lack of DSi exclusive games, because Nintendo is currently selling it as a new DS. This is really not the case. Next year, we will likely see the rise of the DSi, after there's an established market. I think Nintendo is just rolling it out slowly because they don't need to rush, and they don't want people to feel cheated.
Last night I spent the better half of the evening replacing the busted shell of my daughter's Nintendo DS Lite which took a hard fall and the hinges busted leaving the screen dangling by the wires. For the $12 for a new shell, it is well worth it to repair the unit.
The DS is an excellent piece of equipment. It's small, but not too small. It's light, but heavy enough to be comfortable. It has great battery life and even my original Nintendo DS (pre-lite) still functions for hours on a single charge.
If I were to make any improvements to the DS, I would make the charger USB based and make it so that save games and such could be backed up similar to the iPhone.
There is a fantastic software library for the DS with hundreds if not thousands of titles. The unit still plays Gameboy Advance games and was even quite entertaining to play guitar hero on.
In fact, game play on the DS is wonderful. I've never stopped enjoying playing on the unit. From Mario to Final Fantasy it's an awesome unit. What I'm most surprised about is that no one has developed a gyro/motion sensor that would fit into the advance cartridge slot to make games more Wii like.
The only thing that a "Revolutionary New Design" would bring would be the need to buy higher resolution versions of the same titles. Fact is, for the screen size, the games are more than good enough already. Using classic address hacking methods (similar to the original 8086 LIM/EMS extensions) it's possible to make games bigger and bigger.
I haven't felt an urge to buy a DSi since it doesn't appear to offer anything over what I already have. It might be different if the game store were more like Apple's so that I could install the same game on both of my kids' devices, but for now, switching game cards between devices is good enough.
The Playstation Portable is a much more advanced device and still to this day, I've yet to see any games for it that make me say "Wow I need that". I'm sure that Nintendo could probably build a market for new games on a new device, but really, what's the point? Nintendo makes far more money off of licensing than off of the console. The more games that get sold, the more they make. The console can actually be sold at a loss (like they would actually need to hehe) and they'd still get rich.
I hope that if they ever do come out with a successor to the DS, they make it so that DS games play without any problems. I think if it came down to choosing a new Nintendo device which couldn't play the old games, I'd just get the kids iPod Touches instead.
Now all we need is Pokemon or Bakugan for iPhone.