New DS With Camera, Music and Larger Screen?

By Jorge Ba-oh 28.09.2008 24

An unconfirmed report from Japanese newspaper Nikkei discusses Nintendo's forthcoming DS model.

The report, also found on Monex, via the folk over at NeoGAF, discusses a supposed new DS that Nintendo are currently preparing to launch later this year in Japan. The king of portable gaming had previously denied speculation into a revision for the ever-popular dual screened machine, but now the next model is said to include:

  • Integrated Digital Camera for new types of games.
  • Music player function.
  • Larger, crisper screens.
  • Wireless connection power up
  • Exchange data using SD cards (integrated slot?)
  • Under 20,000 Yen at retail, to be released in late 2008 (Japan).
  • The newspaper feels that Nintendo wants to venture into the realm of digital imaging, music and video, an area of the electronics market that Apple and Sony currently grasp.

    At present it's likely that the story is true, but Nintendo hasn't, at time of writing, officially announced plans for a new DS model.

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    Sounds really nice Smilie

    I'll buy it if it was true.

    Sounds good.

    Sounds cool, but I'm skeptical...

    "Music player function.
    Exchange data using SD cards (integrated slot?)"
    If those two would be there, the DS would be SoftModded within a week tops.

    If it's gonna happen Japan only. 70% sure it's not though.

    edracon said:
    "Music player function.
    Exchange data using SD cards (integrated slot?)"
    If those two would be there, the DS would be SoftModded within a week tops.

    To be fair, Piracy is up to about the same level on the DS already, a revision wouldn't affect much.


    Interesting rumour, this certainly came out of nowhere, and it would certainly explain why Nintendo feel the need to hold two consecutive conferences in different regions this week. T'would be an important announcement.

    Whilst it is hard to say if any of this is true at this point, the new rumoured features certainly sound plausible. Nintendo have already experimented with Cameras and MP3 players on their handhelds, so they'd be easy to stick on.
    Whilst Larger Screens might mean a necessary upscaling on older DS games, if the GB Micro could shrink the screen size of GBA games and still render them completely playable, I can see the same kind of thing happening here. Can't say I noticed any problems with the wireless functions, but if they want to give them a boost, then fair enough.
    The SD card slot feature is the one that interests me the most though, could it be this that finally allows for a Portable Virtual Console? Of course, it's probably just for the Photos and Music storage, but one can hope. Transfer all Wii-downloaded post-N64 VC games and play them on the move? Yes please. Smilie

    Even with all these added features, Nintendo could just release an add-on for the DS Lite/Phat for Camera/Music/SD for current users as not to render them obsolete.Smilie

    I can see a lot of truth in this one.Smilie

    Awesome if true.

    Sounds very casual to me. You know, multimedia and music player functions are for the casuals, it has nothing to do with games.

    Larger screens? Um...isn't that just pixelating the games even more? Or is there updated graphics?

    This confuses me...

    i think it be best to save all that for DS2 and not DS+

    DS is selling so well they no need for a new model

    Wireless connection power up

    For a moment I thought this would let your battery charge through the wireless connection. Smilie
    Of course that's not possible yet. And I wouldn't want it.

    Nintendo diving into the multimedia market?
    Poposturous!!1!

    The "larger screen" bit automatically makes this a lie.

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    L said:
    I'll buy it if it was true.

    Me Too!

    Our member of the week

    i don\'t trust this. \"new types of games\" ? this would make the older ds incompatible with the new games, they\'ll never do this until a true successor (a complete hardware revision then) to the DS comes out. And i don\'t think they would already release by the end of the year their new handheld system as the DS is still selling strong all over the world and so many games are still to be released for it.

    Other than that, a DS with built in camera and music player could e possible, but these would not be used for games, only as new options accessible from the DS menu (along with pictochat, etc) i think.

    ( Edited 28.09.2008 11:01 by Kafei2006 )

    Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

    Thats sounds plausable, as its just a revision, the core specs are the same, and thus it dosnt split game compatibility.

    I dont see larger screen being that much of an improvement though, as resolution is fixed.
    Likewise, I'm happy with my Moonshell's media abilitys.

    A camera is nice, but I would have rather seen it as a GBA slot add-on. (then it could be used accross the EXISTING 10million DS install base, and be used for games).

    http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
    Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+

    If it\'s got a larger screen, it\'s probably not true, as it could bugger up older titles (could see the rest being true aside the screen size, though). I really can\'t see this with sales of DSL still going strong, but could be interesting...

    ( Edited 28.09.2008 12:50 by Mason )

    Camera = the quality would most likely suck...
    larger screen = pixelation
    music player = my ipod is much more convenient
    better wireless connection...could be ok but if the person you're playing has an old ds it won't be much use anywyay.
    price = more than DSL? ;-;

    So...meh...I wouldn't mind if this isn't true.

    Avoid Games Like the Plague, productivity++

    Maybe this is in preparation of the GameBoy Virtual Console that they talked about earlier?
    Didn't they want to allow you to download DMG games and play them on your DS?

    Would be cool if true. I'd love to see Skype on it using the camera and mic too. Nintendo are bound to be tinkering with the DS in some way even if this news isn't true.

    As Mason and Superlink have stated, a larger screen makes this unlikely. The DS 256-192 resolution, if stretched any further beyond its 3 inch size, simply would make the games look terrible.

    At the same time, if they bump up the resolution in addition to the screen size, it would still make existing DS games look poor on the new screen, and would make games made for the new system non-playable on old DS systems. The only thing that could likely make this work is if this is not just a DS redesign, but the successor to the DS.


    I could be wrong on this, but to this day, any redesign rumor that has mentioned larger screens hasn\'t turned out to be true.

    ( Edited 29.09.2008 23:13 by Jacob4000 )

    Or the sscreens are just very marginaly larger.
    Pixalation probably wouldnt be noticable if it was just 1CM bigger.
    (not that I\'d want the bigger size)

    \"better wireless connection...could be ok but if the person you\'re playing has an old ds it won\'t be much use anywyay.\"

    Not nesscerly true if it both broadcasts and recieves furthor.
    This is likely not for games anyway, but for services at specific points.

    It is, however, slightly odd.
    The DS already has a reasonable range for most purpose\'s.
    WiFiMax would be excelent, but I very much dought this is the case.

    ( Edited 28.09.2008 20:02 by Darkflame )

    http://www.fanficmaker.com <-- Tells some truly terrible tales.
    Last update; Mice,Plumbers,Animatronics and Airbenders. We also have the socials; Facebook & G+

    Darkflame said:
    Or the sscreens are just very marginaly larger.
    Pixalation probably wouldnt be noticable if it was just 1CM bigger.
    (not that I'd want the bigger size

    Exactly, what would be the point making it bigger at all? Especially if it would just decrease picture quality.

    So because of that alone I think the entire thing is a load of bologna.

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