Pachter: expect a new DS in Japan this year

by JC Fletcher { Jul 31st 2008 at 3:00PM }

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter agrees with some of the other predictions we heard this year: a new DS system is on the way. According to investor notes released by the company, falling demand for the hardware in Japan will motivate Nintendo to introduce the next revision of the DS "before the end of the calendar year."

Nintendo of Japan, if you're reading (and you aren't): we can solve this hardware demand problem without the need for a new console (although Pachter believes the next iteration is ready): just pack Dragon Quest IX, when it comes out, with a DS Lite. It doesn't even have to be an exclusive color.

Gallery: Nintendo DS mockups

[Via Joystiq]

Tags: hardware, pachter

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Almadi @ Jul 31st 2008 3:16PM

I hope they don't go the iPod way. Make a new itteration every year and make the battery unreplacable.

Just get rid of that GBA slot and offer a GBA adapter that conects to the DS slot. A lot of people are not buying the DS for GBA games and would appreciate you don't charge them for the feature.

rainking187 @ Jul 31st 2008 3:52PM

Yeah, except that would kind of piss off anyone that just bought Guitar Hero for the DS. If they do announce a revision that removes the GBA slot I'll be rushing out to buy a DS Lite.

Kimiko @ Jul 31st 2008 3:18PM

Who is this Michael Pachter, and why should we be more impressed with his opinion than, say, mine?

Ashkental @ Jul 31st 2008 3:25PM

He's a market analyst and he's the most correct one, many of his guesses become reality. But i never trust analysis, so if you said to me that PSP Phone is going out at the end of this callendar year i would believe you as much as i believe patcher...

Matdredalia @ Aug 1st 2008 7:57AM

He's an analyst, and a dumb one at that. To be honest, in my opinion, 95% of what he says is a crock. He's one of those idiots who likes to say things to cause hype that, in turn, never really happen or didn't happen.

He's also been talking about a Wii2, saying the 360 has reached it's peak and is going down, down, down, and I could be wrong on this one, but I could swear he was the idiot that said the DS had reached it's peak and was just going to go downhill from that point on (sometime last year).

Personally, I think he needs to shut up and find a better day job.

Kia @ Aug 1st 2008 11:59AM

@Ashkental

The guy only has a 60% of so success rate.

aj @ Jul 31st 2008 3:24PM

Please, Nintendo, don't make another all-in-one game station-MP3 player-home theatre device that costs an arm and a leg. Please? Pretty please? I just want to play video games.

Blue @ Jul 31st 2008 8:52PM

That all-in-one station is only $40 more than the DS.

aj @ Jul 31st 2008 10:26PM

Yeah, "only" 40$ more for a bunch of features that don't help me play video games. Which was my point.

Matdredalia @ Aug 1st 2008 8:00AM

Don't get me wrong, I don't want a new DS (yet), either, but honestly, I do think the Wii & the DS could use more media features.

While YOU may only want to play video games on them, in this day and age, we're all super connected to media and the world, and if we're not, chances are we're falling way behind in our lives. Cutting out other devices by putting certain features in the DS is super freaking helpful.

In other words: You may not want it, but other people do. The DS having those features is not going to take away from you playing video games on it.

aj @ Aug 1st 2008 8:12AM

If a machine (or not having a machine) makes you feel like you are falling behind in your life, then you should really stop and think about your life.

Jacksons @ Aug 2nd 2008 3:27AM

I used to have the "It's just for games, who gives a crap about media!" approach as well. Then I picked up a PSP. What can I say? It's extremely handy having my music, videos, and gmail with me on such a tiny device when I have to travel for whatever reason and spend nights in motels. You know, with my DS too, of course :)

tekdroid @ Aug 3rd 2008 6:55AM

At the very least, I think the Nintendo DS needs some removable storage a la PSP and a calendar/ organiser/ world clock type app by default, before you even stick a game in there. At the very least.

Half-decent video and audio playback (and web) on the device will have to make it to any DS2 they make if they wanna sell it in future, I reckon - as a very basic rudimentary requirement to compete. The current DS falls short on both and considering what it does, I think Nintendo are making a bigger profit on their console than Sony with their PSP.

(ie. they are the ones overcharging, IMO)

Ashkental @ Jul 31st 2008 3:27PM

Don't Say that, i love my PSP...

But i would definetly get a DS just for Chrono Trigger and nothing else....

That game changed my life...

Matdredalia @ Aug 1st 2008 8:03AM

If I hadn't already owned a DS (or been madly in love with them for years before I got one).....I so would have bought the DS for Final Fantasy IV alone.

Like your Chrono Trigger, FF IV changed my life and is pretty much "my" game and has been since I was 4 1/2-5 years old. Yaye Square

Brittany @ Jul 31st 2008 3:32PM

I want that gameboy ultra mock-up (think that's what it was called) that plays GC games! :)

Nigeria: SSBB: 0731-6347-2110 @ Jul 31st 2008 3:50PM

Awesome photoshop.

chibi_wings @ Jul 31st 2008 3:53PM

I doubt there will be a next gen handheld from Nintendo, probably just a new design or a new color.

Niz @ Jul 31st 2008 4:26PM

Hah you fooled me once DSfanboy at E3 im not falling for it this time, i just dont want to get my hopes up.

tekdroid @ Aug 3rd 2008 7:13AM

even if this is true, a DS2 is way off. At most it will be a re-design a la DS Lite.

jim @ Jul 31st 2008 4:56PM

They could at most make only minor improvements like longer battery, louder speaker, make the device lighter or thinner, etc.

It's very unlikely they can change the screen format - like make it bigger (it'll screw up software companies even inside of Nintendo), even though today that part is the one of the weakest points of DS.

The minor improvements I mentioned won't probably deserve a "new system," but it'd be like minor new revision if even ever be.

Venom @ Jul 31st 2008 5:38PM

Meh, a prediction of some analyst means as little to me as a word of some stranger on a street. While there seems to be some hype about it (seeing as the DS Fanboy has a "New DS Coming!" topic every week or so), I don't really see the point to it. DS Lite is functioning just fine and it's still selling out like hotcakes, so why would Nintendo bother changing what's working? Anything other than some ridiculous DS Lite-Liter upgrade (like a DS2) seems like poppycock.

tl;dr - I'll believe it when I see it, not when some guy I've never heard of tells me to.

archiver @ Jul 31st 2008 9:38PM

Just because you never heard of him doesn't meant squat. He's THE highest paid analyst (over half a million) working in the video game industry. These little predictions of Pachter are for publicity; it's advertisement for himself and the company he works for and it doesn't really matter what he says. His real job is making predictions for investors (which we will never see) and by the amount he gets paid we know he does a damn good job.

Phantom @ Jul 31st 2008 9:12PM

Hmm , I read somewhere that Sony recently put in a patent for some kind of touch-screen gaming device .

10 bucks says that just as Nintendo announces a new hand-held , Sony announces a 300 dollar PSPhone , with a quad-core cell processor , touch screen , and graphics that are about equal to the 360's and maybe like a third of the PS3's POTENTIAL , power .

colin17 @ Jul 31st 2008 11:40PM

That's a pretty huge dream to dream.But If Sony did make a handheld system with touch function and 360 graphics. I'd buy it....... And getting on topic, Why would Nintendo fix what's not broken? I mean the DS Lite was a good idea because it really made it look nice but also made it smaller too. There's really no function in a DS revision or a new system.

Matdredalia @ Aug 1st 2008 8:07AM

When Sony announces that, I am going to piss my pants laughing at them for, once again, screwing themselves by making something too shiny and too expensive to be what people want.

What makes the DS great is it's simplicity. The same with the Wii, even though it has the most innovative game play on the console market right now.

The PS3 is a joke, and if Sony should learn anything from their mistakes with it --- it's that people don't want to give up their first born child for a video game system, and they don't want fifty new features that do jack &^$� for their system and just serve to boost the price tag.