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New Nintendo DS to Include Camera, Music
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Mon Sep 29, 2008 09:03 AM
from the and-it-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.
from the and-it-fits-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.
BobB-nw writes "Watch out Apple, here comes Nintendo. Nintendo plans to launch a new version of its popular DS portable gaming device with a camera and music player function, according to a report in the Sunday edition of The Nikkei Business Daily. The new version will have better wireless capability for connecting to the Internet and will cost under $189, the report said. It will be offered first in Japan, it said. The DS first went on sale in 2004, and a second version, called the DS Lite, debuted two years later in 2006. Both have sold extremely well, with worldwide sales of the DS products at 77.5 million units as of the end of June this year."
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Submission: Nintendo to launch new DS with camera, music playe by Anonymous Coward
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Everything has an MP3 Player (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Everything has an MP3 Player (Score:5, Funny)
Except for the Zune.
Parent
Re:Everything has an MP3 Player (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Don't stop there... (Score:5, Funny)
Any piece of technology will advance until it has an MP3 player function.
And can send email, and run Linux.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
May actually be a real reason (Score:3, Interesting)
You joke, but actually you're onto something :
And an NES emulator
Once an SDK appears for whatever the platfrom, in addition to enabling MP3 support and running Linux (if not already supported, otherwise replace with *BSD), what are the two next thing that are compiled on absolutely whatever device ?
- A port of Doom/Quake/Duke/Unreal/whatever latest opensource is still within hardware perfs.
- A port of ZSnes/Gens/Mame/whatever emulator fits into the perfs of the machine.
(And only the perfs, even if the hardware control scheme
Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:5, Informative)
Calling the new DS "Gameboy DS" is incorrect. The GameBoy line of portables ended with the GameBoy Advance. The DS is known simply as the "Nintendo DS".
Re:Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:5, Interesting)
They threw Game Boy Advance backwards compatibility in there, though. If they were trying to call it something besides a Game Boy (successor), they sure stirred up a lot of confusion with that move.
Parent
Re:Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:4, Insightful)
They threw Game Boy Advance backwards compatibility in there, though. If they were trying to call it something besides a Game Boy (successor), they sure stirred up a lot of confusion with that move.
When the Nintendo GameCube was priced at $149.xx, some units were shipped with an accessory that ran Game Boy Advance games. Yet it was still called a GameCube.
Parent
Re:Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:4, Insightful)
They threw the backwards compatibility in simply because it was convenient (the DS has an ARM7 processor that can be clocked down to behave identical to GBA hardware) and because the folks who actually care about such compatibility will know to look for it. Amusingly enough, Slashdot is the only site that I've ever seen confuse the name of the system... this isn't the first time they've done it.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
GameBoy has connotations of a (male) child's toy.
I know you're right, but when my son upgraded to a DS he let us take his GBA; I replaced the cover with a pink one we ordered off ebay (and a new battery, as well), and gave it my daughter as a "GameGirl."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They threw Game Boy Advance backwards compatibility in there, though. If they were trying to call it something besides a Game Boy (successor), they sure stirred up a lot of confusion with that move.
Calling their console the "wii" shows nintendo has some odd ideas about names.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
As opposed to Xbox?
Re:Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:5, Insightful)
The GameBoy line of portables ended with the GameBoy Advance.
GameBoy Advance begat GameBoy Advance SP, which begat GameBoy Micro...
Parent
Re:Gameboy DS is a misnomer (Score:5, Funny)
GameBoy Advance begat GameBoy Advance SP, which begat GameBoy Micro...
from the Book of Nintendo, 1:17.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Actually the Gameboy Micro was the last Gameboy.
I wonder if... (Score:5, Interesting)
Color me skeptical. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nintendo has generally been about not bloating its systems in the past. Why would they release a new DS with all this crap while it's still going strong?
Re:Color me skeptical. (Score:5, Interesting)
If it has WPA support, I'll be upgrading my current DS the day that I can. I haven't yet used the online mode because I don't want to downgrade the security on my AP to WEP.
Parent
Re:Color me skeptical. (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
I don't know why Apple needs to worry (Score:5, Interesting)
DSOrganize much? (Score:5, Informative)
Most DS games have music, so I really don't see myself listening to different music while playing a game on the DS. Likewise, unless the DS will include an address book, calendar, e-mail, scientific calculator and web browser on board
You just described the feature set of DSOrganize 3.1129, a very popular homebrew application for the Nintendo DS.
Parent
Better wireless? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hopefully that means WPA capability (finally...)
WPA (Score:3, Informative)
Hopefully that means WPA capability (finally...)
Probably not to existing games. WPA would need driver support, and the Wi-Fi driver is part of the game, not the DS firmware.
But in my opinion, WEP + MAC filtering is good enough. It won't prevent everyone from breaking into your network, but it still establishes an attacker's intent [wikipedia.org] to break into your network and diverts wardrivers to your neighbor's open network.
Rumor lacking details (Score:5, Insightful)
I think most of us saw this one coming, but the article is completely devoid of any information. First it's still just speculation that this is going to be the new announcement. For all any of us know it could be another new device to interact with the Wii. The only evidence the article even presents is that another news publication carried the rumor yesterday.
There's no mention of how they're going to add music and make it easy to put music on the device. There's no details on the camera either or even if the physical dimensions of the DS are going to be further reduced. Wouldn't it have been better to wait until Thursday when the product is actually announced and all of the details are released?
I don't mind a little speculation, but this had absolutely no substance to it at all. It's just a rumor repeated from another publication without anything of value added. Without the rest of the fluff about sales figures and release dates this article would have been one or two lines at most. What a complete waste of time.
Gameboy DS? (Score:5, Funny)
taco, you sound like my mother.
To be honest... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to see more productivity apps for the DS. My son cracked the case of his DS, and I tried fixing it with a new case. It worked, but I guess I didn't plug in the secondary video cable too well because it acts all wonky sometimes; so I got him a new one and kept the old one for myself.
But I don't use it at all (it's stable when you are... it'd go wonky in the car when we hit a bump or something). I don't have any electronic organizers or anything, so I'd really like to see some productivity apps for it. I mean, it's got wifi and everything built in, it seems you should be able to do email, address books, calendars...
I know there is a homebrew group of people who are working on such things, but it seems like another giant pain. I don't have time to tinker. It's odd that Nintendo didn't see fit to release something along those lines themselves.
Re:To be honest... (Score:5, Informative)
I know there is a homebrew group of people who are working on such things, but it seems like another giant pain. I don't have time to tinker.
You don't have to tinker much to run homebrew:
As far as anyone can tell, this rumored product is Nintendo's attempt to kill the market for microSD adapters that are also capable of running unlawful copies of DS games.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
With an M3 Real you can use microSDHC cards. I have just over 60 games on mine and that takes up 2.89 GB. If I didn't have a 6GB card, I'd have to cut a lot and wouldn't have much room for music and movies OR I'd have to have a bunch of cards to swap around.
I'd recommend at least 6GB if you want to stick something in there and not have to bother with swapping the card (mine is a little finicky and I have to reseat it a couple times for any swap, so I don't care to do it if I don't have to).
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The DS has 4MB of RAM. That's enough for productivity apps. Homebrew productivity apps also have access to the filesystem on the MicroSD card, so they can swap or do standard file I/O if they need it. Speed to/from the SD card is quite reasonable for a handheld platform like the DS.
The web browser is a different animal, the modern web page uses a lot of storage. I think the RAM cart is 16MB. I'm sure some of that is used for a page cache to make performance reasonable.
Nintendo have already replied to the rumor (Score:5, Informative)
with a 'no comment' style reply, here:
http://kotaku.com/5056082/nintendo-on-that-new-ds-rumor [kotaku.com]
To kill demand for R4, SuperCard, M3, CycloDS, etc (Score:5, Insightful)
adding all this extra stuff to a portable gaming console is just bloatware and evidence that the company doesn't have its priorities straight
We've discussed rumors of this on gbadev.org and pocketheaven.com. Consensus was that Nintendo might do this to make it less likely that people will buy adapters like SuperCard DS One, CycloDS Evolution, or M3 Real for video and then end up using them to pirate games.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't count on this report being correct. Nintendo has had a pure cash cow [gonintendo.com] with the Nintendo DS. Since it market does not appear to have slowed significantly or run into serious competition, why would they refresh the hardware? A few folks have suggested the iPhone as competition, but I don't see anyone purchasing iPhones as DS replacements. Instead, they appear to use their iPhone as a spectacular networked handset and the DS as a gaming platform. The market does not appear ready to confuse the two.
Pe
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
[...] they all cite the same source: Nikkei Business Daily. No one has yet independently confirmed this. So take it with a very large grain of salt.
Or considering the source maybe even a grain of rice.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Or considering the source maybe even a grain of rice.
Hooray for racism!
Hooray for being overly politically correct!
Honestly, why is changing a grain of salt to a food that's a staple for the area that the news is coming from considered racism?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
That's not racist.
It's riceist.
Parent
Arrr 4 (Score:5, Insightful)
Since it market does not appear to have slowed significantly or run into serious competition, why would they refresh the hardware?
To reduce demand for R4, as I mentioned [slashdot.org].
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
To reduce demand for R4, as I mentioned.
If we were talking about a BIOS update, I might believe you. However, Nintendo makes a profit on these machines. They're keeping it 'fresh and exciting'. Slowing 'arrr 4' isn't going to make them more money, at least not in comparison to how much they'll make if the features of the system are interesting to the market.
Re:Arrr 4 (Score:4, Insightful)
Nintendo won't make more money if it keeps losing customers to the rom sites.
Do you really think millions of people are exclusively using DS ROM sites and not paying Nintendo a cent?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Those crazy nintendians and their "rational business models", why I tell ya..
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Pretty much. I can't think of any of them having bought a game since getting an R4. And none of them except me even uses any homebrew. One of my friends tried out a homebrew rhythm game, but wasn't impressed. I, on the other hand, have tons of homebrew that I use regularly. It wasn't the sole reason that I bought the R4, however, and anybody who thinks that most people who buy R4s DON'T use them to pirate games is kidding themselves.
Re:Arrr 4 (Score:5, Insightful)
I somehow doubt that many people are buying these addon cards for Video. I mean, does anyone really watch movies on that tiny screen?
The DS Lite's 3" screen is bigger than an iPod Nano's 2" screen.
Parent
Time for a little history lesson... (Score:3, Informative)
I agree with you. As the DS isn't forced to be connected to the internet all the time like the Wii or XBox 360, there's little chance that a user would install a console firmware update that would brick a hacked firmware or disable Slot1/2 card. So they use the carrot instead of the stick - new shiny carrot vs your old machine that can play homebrew/backup roms but has poor wifi and no camera...
OK, technically the Wii isn't "forced" to be connected to the internet all the time... You always have the option of not connecting the thing to your router - and if you do that, games will still just work. To my knowledge Nintendo doesn't push out firmware updates, either - they send you mails, suggesting you upgrade firmware, but that's it...
Now, regarding the matter of DS updates bricking DSes - it has happened before.
Specifically, old versions of FlashMe (from before Mario Kart DS, the first DS game w
How to keep flash cards from booting (Score:3, Informative)
I don't think we'll see a DS refresh breaking any Slot-1 flashcarts, unless they also want to break compatibility with existing DS games.
Imagine the new DS taking a checksum of the ARM7 and ARM9 binaries from the inserted Game Card. The firmware has a list of the SHA-1 values of the first 3,000 or so releases. All releases after that are digitally signed with RSA in much the same way as DS Download Play clients and DS Download Station demos. So when the new DS loads a card, it'll take the SHA-1 as if it were a DS Download Play game. If it checks out against the signature, good. If the SHA-1 is on the whitelist, good. Otherwise, put "An Optio
Re:Cool (Score:4, Informative)
FYI, Nintendo has officially responded [kotaku.com] to this rumor:
Hmm... playing close to their chest, aren't they?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
When a Japanese business rag states something as a fact, you can be pretty sure they have good sources on it. Japanese papers don't play fast and loose with the truth just to sell a few extra copies.
Re:Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't stay ahead of the game by standing still. If the DS wants to avoid competition springing up, it has to be a moving target.
There are some critical flaws in the DS that I'm surprised they've done nothing to fix. The most major is the lack of WPA support, forcing anyone who wants their DS to be network enabled to use WEP WAPs. (Say that five times...)
It's also not hard to see ways in which it could be improved while keeping within its mandate - the music feature seems more of a "me too" thing, but the camera sounds like something I can see Nintendo adding just to create another input device for DS developers to find new and original uses for. (If anyone has difficulty understanding what I mean here, then take the microphone on the DS. There's a subgame available for the DS where you inflate balloons by blowing into the microphone. Yeah. Now, think about that kind of lateral thinking applied to a camera.) Motion sensors would strike as obvious enhancements too.
I'm disappointed that Nintendo isn't doing more to enhance their current offerings. Releasing a more advanced Wii for a slightly higher price, while keeping the current one in production, would do much to manage demand for the unit while keeping sales and profits high.
Parent
Re:Cool (Score:4, Interesting)
From my knowledge, when you buy a game for your iPod, it's tied to that hardware unit, and you can't transfer it to a new iPod.
Yes you can. The iPod/iPhone apps are tied to your iTunes account and not the devices themselves. You can sync multiple devices with one account.
My wife and I each have an iPhone. Whatever apps I buy for my phone are also available on hers. Everything is a two-for-one deal!
Parent