Nintendo Announces a New DS

Posted on Tuesday 31st January 2006 at 02:06 by laszlow

The DS Lite, boasting a sleek white casing 2/3 the size of the original, was announced on Nintendo of Japan's website four days ago*. The new DS also possesses slightly different button placement (check out the link for a comparison) and four adjustable levels of screen brightness in addition to the 20%-lighter body.

This is hardly a surprise, as Nintendo has already released four versions of the Game Boy Advance over its somewhat short lifespan (counting the orignal and backlit reissues of the SP as two seperate versions), and most Nintendo fans had correctly assumed that it was only a matter of time before some new incarnation of Nintendo's strong-selling handheld was released. The DS Lite boasts a different look and some new features, and while it certainly isn't as drastic a new design as the Game Boy Advance SP was, it will probably bolster the sales of the already massively popular DS (Japanese retailers have resorted to importing American DS hardware to meet demand) to new heights.

As a person who really wants a DS but does not yet own one, if this means that any incarnation of the DS gets cheaper, I'm going for it. The new DS might look like an iPod, but it sure looks nice.

*I was intending to post this information as early as four days ago, but CoN's server troubles prevented me from doing so. Sure, this story is a smidgeon late, but I felt like it was interesting enough to post anyhow.

Source: Revolution Report

Posted in: Gaming Industry News

Written by	laszlow
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	Member Since: 2003-10-16
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Comments

karasuman	Comment 1: 2006-01-31 04:14
	Beat me to it. I had this all written up, but with less information. I still don't want a DS, though cheapness makes it more attractive. I don't want a handheld that I can't use to play Final Fantasy Adventure or the GBC Zelda games.
ultimage	Comment 2: 2006-01-31 09:01
	Can ou say "cash grab"? And I'm supposing the screen will be teeny tiny just like the gameboy micro? Honestly I don't see the point in playing games on screens that small, especially if it's an RPG where there's lots of reading required. Though it would be interesting to hear about these new features. I'll still probably end up getting one at some point, but likely a cheaper used version of the original DS.
Barrylocke	Comment 3: 2006-01-31 12:31
	This is good. The DS Lite might not be at hot buy, but since it should make the DS cheaper, I can buy one sooner The DS Lite does seem to be okay, but I probably won't get one.
laszlow	Comment 4: 2006-01-31 13:55
	Ultimage: First of all, of course it's a cash grab. The GBA SP and Micro were both rather wildly successful cash grabs, so pretty much everyone expected something like this out of Nintendo. Second of all, check the link. The size comparison there is accurate - the Lite's screen sizes are almost the same as the original. Karasuman: First of all, I'm with you on the GB/GBC capability, as I would never want to give up playing Tetris, DK '94, or the GBC Zelda games, but I figure I might as well keep my beloved SP the day I get a DS. The DS library is getting to good for me to ignore, personally. Second of all, ZH beat me to posting the Mother 3 info similarly. I couldn't access CoN at the time, so I wrote up the article, but when CoN came back, ZH had posted using the exact same source I used. Shazbot.
Dark Paladin	Comment 5: 2006-01-31 21:06
	All this for a brightness control knob seems a bit much. Protecting the screen and a backlight made the SP worth it if you didn't have a GBA already, but the new DS doesn't seem to do enough. Though, hey, it's better than the nothing additions the new SNES, the PSO, and the thin PS2 gave.
Glenn Magus Harvey	Comment 6: 2006-02-01 00:24
	Quote (laszlow) (Japanese retailers have resorted to importing American DS hardware to meet demand) Now this is the hardest thing to believe in your post. But yeah, I guess the rule with consoles is different from the rule with games. You as a company don't want to backlog the market by producing a shortage of consoles (and by "consoles" I include handheld systems), so it's more okay to produce a product to compete with yourself.
TornadoOfSouls	Comment 7: 2006-02-01 04:13
	This looks slick, I've been meaning to buy a DS but have never really had the cash too. Maybe this will change things.
GamblingCat	Comment 8: 2006-02-02 01:15
	I already new they were going to make a new DS, my original thought: DS-SP 1/2 the size at twice the price!
BASSsic	Comment 9: 2006-02-03 00:01
	Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 31st January 2006 19:24) Quote (laszlow) (Japanese retailers have resorted to importing American DS hardware to meet demand) Now this is the hardest thing to believe in your post. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/japa...mand-149864.php Ed. - And the DSLite is set to follow that trend; http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/only-in-japan...apan-152515.php
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