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DS Lite Price, Launch Date Announced

Posted by Zonk on Thu May 04, 2006 08:49 AM
from the so-shiny-have-to-touch dept.
Businesses Nintendo Portables (Games)
Kotaku has word on the launch date and price point for the DS Lite, the second version of Nintendo's popular handheld console. From the article: "Nintendo today launched a thousand smiles when they finally confirmed that the DS Lite, svelte brother to the bulky, yet handsome DS, will indeed be coming to the States. The DS Lite will officially go on sale here on June 11 for a mere $130. The only official color announced thus far is that finger print ready white that seems so popular among the iPod set."
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story

Related Stories

[+] Nintendo Announces DS Lite 314 comments
Conradq writes "Via Joystiq: 'Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan on the 2nd of March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter. Nintendo will announce more information about the availability of Nintendo DS Lite in North America and other territories in the future.'" Additional: by Z : Commentary available via Gamasutra, Next Generation, and The Game Chair. A good move, right on the heels of the news that Nintendo's profits more than doubled in Q3 as a result of the DS's sales success, and that they've hit 3 million online connections via their online component. Also, for the record, they snowed us earlier this month.
[+] Second Coming of the DS Lite 59 comments
DS News writes "Gamespot has posted news that the release of the Enamel Navy and Ice Blue has been just as much a sell-out success as the White DS Lite event a week ago. From the article: 'Following last week's launch of the Crystal While DS Lite, Nintendo Co, Ltd. shipped its Ice Blue and Enamel Navy models today in Japan. Considering that the handheld has already made one debut, the industry wasn't expecting the same high turnout for these new models. But contrary to conventional wisdom, the machine's second launch drew even more demand than the first.'" As with the White launch, Kotaku has a man on the ground with impressions from the Japanese launch day.
[+] DS Lite Street Date Broken 31 comments
The_Toad08 writes "Apparently June 11th didn't mean a thing to the Big Box retailers, as the Nintendo DS Lite has been spotted for sale in several of these stores." From Ars Technica's coverage: "After some digging through all the blogs running the story, I discovered it originated from Cheap Ass Gamer, where one of their mods was able to grab a system from Target. There's even a picture of the system next to its US packaging, so this looks legit. Until finding them gets a little bit more widespread though, I wouldn't get your hopes up. Even though I'm lovingly cradling my Enamel Blue DS Liite that I imported, I'm going to hit the streets in a few hours to see if I can't track one down and confirm this, so look for an update to this story." Anybody lucky enough to pick one up yet?
[+] DS Claims EU Dominance 172 comments
Gamasutra reports that, at least in the EU, the Nintendo DS has the portable war pretty much locked up for the time being. 200,000 units of the DS Lite were sold in the ten days after its launch. From the article: "According to Nintendo of Europe, the Nintendo DS has now secured the lead in the handheld market in Europe, with sales of the format exceeding 5 million. No sales figures from Sony are available to compare directly, with only a "shipped" figure of almost 6 million for all territories bar North America and Japan." Interestingly, 136,500 units were sold in the United States in just the first two days after the handheld console's launch.
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DS Lite Price, Launch Date Announced 25 Comments More /

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  • Simple solution (Score:4, Funny)

    by baldass_newbie (136609) on Thursday May 04 2006, @08:57AM (#15261424) Homepage Journal
    The only official color announced thus far is that finger print ready white that seems so popular among the iPod set.

    Just wipe your hands between eating Cheetos and playing your DS Lite. Tough concept requiring self restraint, but it works.
    • Use the DS, wash your hands, use the DS, wash your hands...

      My poor original DS wonders why it is so ugly. It sheds a bitter tear.
    • More like "scrub hands with scouring pad and bleach before going near iPod/PSP/DS Lite"
    • But then you get those stains all over your tank top. (Eventually known around these parts as a 'wife beater' after so much beer, cheetoes, and coffee have made their marks).
    • > "O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends" - Koran 5.51

      Thanks for putting this line in your sig. It's an excellent example of how misleading it can be to take advice out of context. For example a few lines later the advice is repeated:
      "O you who believe! do not take for guardians those who take your religion for a mockery and a joke, from among those who were given the Book before you and the unbelievers;"

      So we can understand from the further refinement of the advice that
  • This will obviously be a best seller, because since it comes in white (not ugly grey or etc.), tons of girls will be able to buy it. We can expect to see iPod sales go up symbiotically as the same girls go buy a matching-color iPod. Don't think it matters? Show any girl this vs. those grade school crayon-colored ones, I guarantee they pick the white one.

  • And the crowd goes wild. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rob T Firefly (844560) on Thursday May 04 2006, @09:03AM (#15261462) Homepage Journal
    Was there ever any doubt it would be coming to the States? This isn't exactly the PocketStation [wikipedia.org], after all. There's been a huge demand for the DS Lite here since the start. Lik-Sang and eBayers can barely import them fast enough.

  • Second in the family (Score:3, Interesting)

    by klausboop (322537) on Thursday May 04 2006, @09:33AM (#15261675)
    I am going to buy a DS Lite for myself. I frequently borrow my son's now, and having two in the house will allow us to do the local area multiplayer built into most of our favorite games. I think Nintendo is going to have some significant market success on this one, especially if lots of families have similar plans, where there's already a DS in the house and they'll use the Lite as a reason to get a second one, not to upgrade and get rid of the old one but to have more than one in the house.

    On another note, I wonder if they'll continue to manufacture the current Nintendo DS and offer it at a lower price than the Lite, or if they'll discontinue the current DS? Look at the GBA -> SP -> Micro release cycle...they did stop making the GBA but it looks like the SP and Micro might both be manufactured, with the SP at $79 and the Micro at $99.
    • wonder if they'll continue to manufacture the current Nintendo DS and offer it at a lower price than the Lite, or if they'll discontinue the current DS?

      If I recall correctly (contractions be damned), I remember an article where they said they would faze out the old DS over the next year or so. And to be honest that makes perfect sense. The SP and Micro occupy different spaces, one for portability and one for a more comfortable experience and larger screen (they both use the same screen tech now). But th

  • She's playing "Brain Age", my 4 year old son spills some water, and she puts it down - in the water by accident to go get a towel. Now, Nintendo is sending out a new one, but I can always use the power of guilt plus "But you always have it to play Soduku" to get myself a new one.

    Ah, the power of guilt!

  • Form and Function (Score:5, Informative)

    by dancingmad (128588) on Thursday May 04 2006, @09:51AM (#15261830)
    The DS Lite is an amazing little machine. It combines the sexiness of Apples machines along with the sturdiness of Nintendo's.

    I have a white I bought here in Japan (it matches my cell phone, iBook, and iPod), but the Navy Blue seems to be far and away the most popular color. However, I keep the white one in a case and while it does get a little smudgy, it hasn't got really dirty by any stretch of the imagination. And while it sees far more physical use than my iPod (which is in a pretty sturdy case) or my iBook (which is not moved very often and hooked up to an external keyboard and mouse) it is scratch free.

    Compared to the phat DS it's amazing (I had one of those before selling it on Yahoo Japan's auction site shortly before the Lite came out) and while the former felt like a hand abortion, this one is light and absouletely a blast to use.

    I have no doubt that at least Navy Blue is coming out in the U.S.; it's far too popular not to. The only issue is that when the Lite launched here, the two blue models were delayed by a week or two, because of manufacturing errors, so they launched later than the white machine.

    Moreover, the brighter screens are great. Games that I only played on the phat DS, like Kirby, Jump Superstars, and Dragonquest Slime look really vibrant on the new screen(s).

    Anyone looking to get one should defintely invest in a semi-decent case and screen protectors (especially for the bottom touch screen).

  • I wanted the blue one. :( (Score:3, Informative)

    by MaWeiTao (908546) on Thursday May 04 2006, @10:09AM (#15262015)
    I hope they plan on introducing the other colors in the US shortly after the release of the white one.

    For whatever reason there seems to be this habit companies have of only releasing bland, uninspired colors for products in the US. Nearly all mobile phones in the US are the same crappy silver color and apparently it's manditory that all portable electronic devices have the same look and feel of the iPod.
    • In Japan, they released two shades of blue about a week after the white. I suspect that they'll do something similar in North America, especially when you consider how successful that strategy was in Japan.

      Personally, I'll be getting a white one -- I have a regular blue DS right now, so I want something a little different :)
      • It's all about trying to maximise available stocks. As most people know, red is about twice as heavy as white, so it makes sense to delay red units as you can ship twice as many white ones for the same price.

        As for black DS Lites, you don't want to know how heavy they are.

  • I already paid $150 for my silver one. Yes, it's bulky, but at least I can stick the GBA games in all the way.

    At this point, considering the PSP library is getting better and there's rumors they'll be launching one with better battery life and a hard drive, you'd think Nintendo would drop down to $99. $130 is a lot of cash for a parent to drop on a kid's system.
    • I already paid $150 for my silver one. Yes, it's bulky, but at least I can stick the GBA games in all the way.

      I know what you mean, but I realized the other day that I haven't played a GBA game this year because of the new rush of good DS titles.

      $130 is a lot of cash for a parent to drop on a kid's system.

      I remember the SNES was +$100 when it first came out. Ah yes... From wiki article [wikipedia.org]: "Initially sold for a price of $200 US, the North American package included the game Super Mario World."

      And I distinctly r
  • If it's one thing i've learned about Nintendo it is to wait. I bought tbe original GBA. I sold that and got a GBA SP. The DS Comes out and soon after the updated GBA SP. Now the DS Lite hits the shelves in June. After all of the Gameboys, Pockets, Colors, Advances and SPs that I have gone through I'm ready to just sit back and wait for the Black DS Lite that will match my cell phone and iPod nano. Perhaps a price drop will be in place by then.
  • The DS Lite is the "svelte brother to the bulky, yet handsome DS"?!?! Hello!? Like totally everyone knows it's the svelte sister to the orginal DS. Still not sure about my pink original DS, though, in this area it seems somewhat conflicted...
    • One can obtain a PSP for $160 by catching a special with Dell.

      I'd buy a DS Lite even if it cost twice as much as the PSP. It's quite simply the better console, all things considered.

    • PSP vs. unlocked DS (Score:4, Informative)

      by tepples (727027) <slash2006&pineight,com> on Thursday May 04 2006, @10:14AM (#15262065) Homepage Journal

      PSP homebrew doesn't require more than a memory card and GTA (in some cases)

      "Some cases" that involve GTA, an M-rated game, require the user to 1. live in an area where GTA is not banned and 2. be at least 17, which leaves high school underclassmen out of the PSP homebrew scene. Besides, "some cases" are rapidly ending with the new 2.70 firmware that makes the GTA bug no longer exploitable.

      For the price of a PSP Value Pack, you can mail-order a completely unlocked DS [pocketheaven.com] with a memory card 8 times as big and with one game. However, some batches of DS Lite units have had problems with bridging SL1 to flash the DS's equivalent of the Xbox TSOP. Or if you're more interested in Hollywood movies than homebrew, you can still get a $130 DS and a $120 portable DVD player (with a bigger screen than the PSP) for that price.

    • I've got both the PSP and the DS phat. My PSP gathers dust while my DS and GBA micro are constant companions. And I'm getting a DSlite ASAP.

      Two Reasons:
      The Play-Yan media player. It takes dirt cheap SD cartridges and it plays MP3/MP4 files. It works on any GBA compatible gameboy and it has spectacular battery life. Beating the hell out of the PSPs measily battery life.

      The PSP is too bulky, expensive and fragile to carry everywhere. Ditto for the Video iPod. The DS is rugged (and with the DS lite compact). T
    • "One can obtain a PSP for $160 by catching a special with Dell"

      Dude, I am so not getting a Dell, no matter what they toss in with it.

      "PSP homebrew doesn't require more than"

      OK, if the biggest and/or only reason you have for getting a PSP is for homebrew, why get the PSP to begin with? The manufacturer is against the PSP being used that way and continues to take steps to eliminate exploits as they come out. If all you want is "homebrew," go get yourself a GPX32 or something.

      If the published games and/or mo

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