Nintendo has declined to comment on a newspaper report detailing the supposed new Nintendo DS, growing speculation that the redesigned handheld is in fact legit.
UPDATE: Nintendo UK told CVG: "Nintendo has made no such announcement and will not comment on rumour and speculation."
The new DS, as reported by Japanese newspaper Nikkei, is said to have larger screens, improved wi-fi capabilities and functionality for a camera and a built-in MP3 player.
The redesigned handheld is said to cost around 20,000 yen as well, which is pretty much exactly the same as the retail price for the current DS Lite (£99.99).
The new camera and MP3 functionality would also move the portable further into competition with the PSP and iPhone - or at help persuade a few mums from buying them, anyway.
Nintendo said in a statement (translated by Kotaku.): "We are always developing new products. However, since nothing has been announced officially, we are unable to comment at this time."
News titan Reuters has since translated and reported the story, adding more weight to its chances of being real.
According to Nikkei, "Nintendo plans to offer several hundred thousand units in Japan before considering overseas sales."
The bigger screens are the deal breaker for us - the DS's diddy LCD's are starting to look extremely outdated. How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?
How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?
I'd translate that "us" as "gullible people" because I for one don't feel the need to buy a new version of something I already have just for a new feature. Homebrew will already play movies and mp3s, and the DS is hardly a convenient size or shape for a camera.
A chance for nintendo perhaps to crack down on all the piracy etc by breaking the flashcarts functionality? They would be stupid not to try it? but then, it does sell most of the consoles like the ps2
"How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?"
Because you're all idiots.
I've never been tricked into buying a redesigned handheld, Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour, Bought Gameboy Advanced, ignored the GBA SP and Micro, I bought the original (Phat) DS, never got a DS Lite and will certainly not bother with this new one. Just wait for the successor to the DS, I'd be surprise if it's not a year or 2 away from now.
"How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?"
Because you're all idiots.
I've never been tricked into buying a redesigned handheld, Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour, Bought Gameboy Advanced, ignored the GBA SP and Micro, I bought the original (Phat) DS, never got a DS Lite and will certainly not bother with this new one. Just wait for the successor to the DS, I'd be surprise if it's not a year or 2 away from now.
You still banging the same ropy old bird you met in school as well?
"How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?"
Because you're all idiots.
I've never been tricked into buying a redesigned handheld, Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour, Bought Gameboy Advanced, ignored the GBA SP and Micro, I bought the original (Phat) DS, never got a DS Lite and will certainly not bother with this new one. Just wait for the successor to the DS, I'd be surprise if it's not a year or 2 away from now.
Why dont you wait for version 2 Then you wont look cheap lugging your massive versions around when Version 3 is out
You do realise Gameboy Colour wasn't just a redesign of the original Gameboy right? There were quite a lot of games, infact all the games that were in colour, that would only work on the Gameboy Colour...which makes it a new console...not just a redesign.
Anyway DS are for girls...there is NOTHING decent to play on them anyway...Just like the Wii
The Gameboy Colour was different platform, not just a redesign.
Surely a larger screen would look a bit rubbish with the resolution current games run at. The Lite is a thing of beauty, keep the ideas for a real successor.
The Gameboy Colour was different platform, not just a redesign.
Surely a larger screen would look a bit rubbish with the resolution current games run at. The Lite is a thing of beauty, keep the ideas for a real successor.
Maybe this is the successor, otherwise l don't get the larger screens. remember the size difference between gbc and gba screens? they let you keep the original image size for the older gbc/gb games.
You do realise Gameboy Colour wasn't just a redesign of the original Gameboy right? There were quite a lot of games, infact all the games that were in colour, that would only work on the Gameboy Colour...which makes it a new console...not just a redesign.
Well I could play gameboy colour games on my original gameboy so it doesn't make any difference to me, you can't play GBA games on the GB, and you can't play DS games on a GBA, can you?
The Gameboy Colour was different platform, not just a redesign.
Surely a larger screen would look a bit rubbish with the resolution current games run at. The Lite is a thing of beauty, keep the ideas for a real successor.
Maybe this is the successor, otherwise l don't get the larger screens. remember the size difference between gbc and gba screens? they let you keep the original image size for the older gbc/gb games.
True, but if the DS touch screen relies on pixels to function (I assume it does) then a higher resolution wouldn't work well with current games surely, as the control would be all over the place.
If it was just widescreen I suppose it could work.
Hmm, not a very good point though is it? you buy the first model and then bitterly stick with it whilst superior versions are released that fix the initial flaws instead of hanging on and getting the better version at a later date.
"How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?"
Because you're all idiots.
I've never been tricked into buying a redesigned handheld, Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour, Bought Gameboy Advanced, ignored the GBA SP and Micro, I bought the original (Phat) DS, never got a DS Lite and will certainly not bother with this new one. Just wait for the successor to the DS, I'd be surprise if it's not a year or 2 away from now.
Your loss, the SP has a f**k load better screen than the GBA, and its back lit too. Same for DS, the better brightness really makes it superior.(as does the smaller and lighter chassis)
Your choice- Nintendo aren't forcing you to buy anything, but they are valid improvements.
If Nintendo re-releases the DS, I doubt it would be radically different to the DS Lite or DS Phat. Nintendo wouldn't do anything too drastic for a re-release of a four year old handheld, but there's always the chance they're working on their next gen handheld.
Nintendo's track record shows they snub peripheral, non-game related functionality, so I don't think a camera or MP3 player is high on their priorities. Sure, it'd be nice that my DS could play music, but I've already got an iPod and phone that could do that. Homebrew proves the DS can play music, and it's one of those things you can bring up if you're into arguing with PSP fanboys, but really, outside of that, there's really no point - storage for music would make the price go up, and given Nintendo won't even provide decent storage for their current console I don't think that we'll be seeing any sort of sufficient-for-music storage on their next handheld.
And I don't think they'll tinker with screen aspect ratios or resolution: that would mean developers would have to make their games with two slightly different specced machines in mind. And it would look ugly if the DS 3 stretched the 4:3 resolution of all current DS games to 16:9
I'll be very surprised if Nintendo re-release the DS at all, let alone with the mentioned features.
And on the topic of Nintendo re-releasing their handhelds, you do have the choice not to buy them, as others have said, and I'm not sure if it's been pointed out yet, but the PSP has had more re-releases in a shorter span of time than the DS; so there's some food for thought too.
The bigger screens are the deal breaker for us - the DS's diddy LCD's are starting to look extremely outdated.
They look fine to me, not outdated at all.
We'll see.
Most mobile phones these days have bigger, better, brighter and crisper screens, so I can see their point. I agree that they look a bit old fashioned (which I love)
Not Nintendo's fault - technology moves on, and mobile devices have moved faster than most things in the last five years or so.
Perfect xmas preset fodder - these will be released in time to cause another Nintendo shortage xmas.
Isn't the usual Nintendo policy to do this sort of thing after Christmas?
Shift truck loads of DS's over the holiday period, and then announce a new revamped version just a couple of weeks later, thus shifting huge quantities of old stock before people realise its going to be superceded.
Just look how sales of the PS3's Sixaxis dies when they announced that they were going to release Dualshock 3.
Nintendo's track record shows they snub peripheral, non-game related functionality, so I don't think a camera or MP3 player is high on their priorities.
Sure about that? Consider the Gameboy camera, MP3 player for GBA/ds, Opera browser for wii/ds, tv tuner for ds in Japan etc.
They aren't well publicised but they do exist, but as for incorporating into a new ds I find that quite unlikely.
As for the screens I think its more likely they'll go the other way, like with the gameboy micro, but that would be quite difficult becaus eof the touch screen.
To me if this rumour is anything its a whole new console, not another redesign as I don't see much room for (realistic) improvement in the ds lite.
@YCshinobi There are some GBC games that don't work on the original GB but its a moot point as clearly you're happy with the games you've got.
Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour,
I do agree with you, however, Nintendo are not the biggest offenders of this.
Master system 2 Megadrive2 (+MegaCD2) PSone Playstation 2 Slim PSP S+L (and the newer slimmer and lighter one)
Nintendo have only done it with handhelds, and have only dont iti if it really helps the product (except GBA micro)
GBpocket, had a far superior screen to GBfat. some of the faster games were not playable on the GBfat. GB colour added, erm colour. GBAsp added a build in battery DSlite, has a more solid build, improved screen and battery life, and is more comfortable to play.
While in most cases, it is still not worth buying the newer model if you have the older one, it is still good to see products evolve, for people who have not yet bought them.
"How is it Nintendo always finds new ways to make us re-buy its products?"
Because you're all idiots.
I've never been tricked into buying a redesigned handheld, Nintendo have been doing this thing for years and I have always stuck with the original and just waited for the successor; which usually isn't far off from being released after the 3rd redesign. I Got the original Gameboy, didn't buy the GB pocket or GB colour, Bought Gameboy Advanced, ignored the GBA SP and Micro, I bought the original (Phat) DS, never got a DS Lite and will certainly not bother with this new one. Just wait for the successor to the DS, I'd be surprise if it's not a year or 2 away from now.
You still banging the same ropy old bird you met in school as well?
Nintendo's track record shows they snub peripheral, non-game related functionality, so I don't think a camera or MP3 player is high on their priorities.
Sure about that? Consider the Gameboy camera, MP3 player for GBA/ds, Opera browser for wii/ds, tv tuner for ds in Japan etc.
Everything you just mentioned were peripheral, optional add-ons, I was making the point that Nintendo don't tend to integrate such functionality in from the get-go. Maybe I'll be surprised, but despite the existence of those addons for the DS, I hardly ever see them in any local shops, or being used by anybody I know who owns a DS. As you yourself said, it is unlikely that they'll actually integrate these other features.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but most of those add-ons are either made by a contracted/licensed third party or Nintendo and another company in collaboration? Such as the Opera Browser - obviously, by Opera, and I'm pretty sure Panasonic was involved with the MP3 player as well. Anyway, if this is the case, then that shows Nintendo tend not to worry about those features and let (contracted) third parties work on those while they focus on the games.
Perfect xmas preset fodder - these will be released in time to cause another Nintendo shortage xmas.
Isn't the usual Nintendo policy to do this sort of thing after Christmas?
Shift truck loads of DS's over the holiday period, and then announce a new revamped version just a couple of weeks later, thus shifting huge quantities of old stock before people realise its going to be superceded.
Just look how sales of the PS3's Sixaxis dies when they announced that they were going to release Dualshock 3.
Uh, no, it's Nintendo's policy to re-release their handhelds when sales are down - as was the case with the DS Phat - and seeings as the DS Lite is still selling fairly well, Nintendo are probably too busy counting their money to bother redesigning their console.
If Nintendo re-released their handhelds each year, there'd be about 3 or 4 DSes out right now - sort of closing in on Sony's terrority now.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
