For the last few months, we've been back and forth on the redesign issue. Will it happen? Won't it? We
almost convinced ourselves that we'd hear something at E3, but Nintendo was pretty mum on the DS in general, but for a few exceptions. Now that all that's over, however, we're back in the fray, with all-new rumors of a DS redesign. Michael Pachter is the
latest to throw his name into the
ring of redesign predictions, and it makes sense that he's said we'll see the new DS debut in Japan, as the DS is as important an accessory there as, say,
shoes. But are we ready to start believing again? Are we just setting ourselves up for all new
heartbreak and
despair?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lord Bowser @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:10AM
An advert for teeth whitening.
Kimiko @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:17AM
Meh. I'll believe it when I see it. I got excited for E3, which turned out to be quite disappointing.
automagv @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:36AM
Isn't this guy wrong all the time?
Venom @ Aug 3rd 2008 11:40AM
So we're having this topic every 3 days now?
Tyler @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:31PM
someone try and guess what i dont care about
Jacksons @ Aug 3rd 2008 2:22PM
Tacos? :)
But yeah, I'm far more interested in games than hardware revisions, myself.
Mr Khan @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:49PM
Now that we have been told that the E3 keynote was patently meaningless for what Nintendo's actually doing, pretty much every speculation that was running around before the event, and completely ignored during, has found new life breathed into it
DS mk 3 would make sense, but we need to find out more. When's Nintendo's next press opportunity? I remember them saying they'll skip Leipzig this year, and they never attend TGS
raindog @ Aug 3rd 2008 12:50PM
His accuracy rates are higher than most analysts who cover the videogame industry, which is why sites keep sourcing him. But yeah, he's wrong about half the time, which would be useless if he were predicting coin flips but is really pretty good when you're predicting specific industry events.
This fall it'll be 4 years since the release of the DS, but only 2 and a half years since the release of the DS Lite, which was pretty early in the DS lifecycle as design refreshes go. I don't have all kinds of industry contacts like Pachter does, but I do know that in the last decade, Nintendo has had a design refresh every 2 years on average and a hardware refresh about every 3 years, so either way, they're due. But none of the previous handhelds they've released has been as wildly successful as the DS.
My gut says Nintendo will be announcing a successor to the DS Lite in February or maybe even January for a Spring release, so as to stop the bleeding in Japan but not hurt holiday sales in the US and Europe. (Previously, my gut has told me that the second screen on the DS would be a touch screen, but also that the Wii would be about as twice as powerful as it turned out to be.)
Whether it'll be another redesign or a new platform altogether, I really have no idea. I would bet that Nintendo has both ready to go, and which one they announce will depend on how much the iPhone appears to impact DS sales in the Western market this fall, and to a lesser extent, what Sony (and Microsoft, to speculate a little more wildly) announce between now and then.
Gennataos @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:15PM
Well, if we keep waiting on pins and needles for a new DS or successor, eventually it'll happen. :P
I want it if for nothing else than to have an excuse to get a new one and give my current one to my wife.
Red @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:19PM
Yeesh. There's a post with the same announcement (some guy says that Nintendo is going to release a new DS) dated on July 31st. July 19th mopes about the lack of a redesign. July 15th features a rumor about a DS redesign. July 14th...another rumor. July 7th, a post about the NiS and Nintendo Power ad which teased the world about a redesign.
I'm way too lazy to check beyond the month of July, and I understand there was E3, but...still. Wouldn't it be easier to run a contest talking about a DS redesign and thus force people to post there every day? Perhaps make people vote on various mock-ups or talk about what they'd like to see? Saves on writing time.
eubep @ Aug 3rd 2008 1:35PM
E3 is for US and note that Nintendo always stressed "in US" when talking about DS sales. It is the Japanese market that DS getting beat and making Nintendo nervous.
thegadgetguru @ Aug 3rd 2008 4:00PM
Isn't the whole point of the DS having the two screens? If not its just another glorified gameboy.
aj @ Aug 3rd 2008 5:18PM
If you keep repeating it, eventually it'll be true, eh?
fty77 @ Aug 3rd 2008 8:57PM
ok. hi, i'm a ds owner and i read this blog all the time. there's one thing i don't understand. WHY do you want a ds redesign so bad?
isn't the ds great already? you even sound like you don't like the system the way it is.
seriously. i don't want a redesign. i don't want a new system with new features and/or new games that won't run properly (or at all) on the current models.
TJF588 @ Aug 3rd 2008 10:06PM
As eubep said, the DS's status in Japan is and has been waning due to the popularity of the PSP with the release of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. If Nintendo wants to reclaim its share of hardware sales, a new DS design would fit the bill. It's about time that it happen, and it'd happen best in Japan first.
Ditikos @ Aug 4th 2008 6:11AM
I say bring it on! As long as it has a better 3d management and maaaybe a larger catridge capacity.
I'd vote for more Bioware, Square Enix and adventure games though. Lucasarts and sierra are surely jackasses for ditching the adventure scene, because now they would have ruled the US sales with games designed for the ds.
(P.S. I'd put Insecticide on the shovelware, just because I don't like the action sequence of the game).
raindog @ Aug 4th 2008 1:05PM
I don't really care when the successor to the DS is released; I care about when homebrew kits for the successor to the DS are released.
There was no point to me buying a launch-day DS at all except for completing Mario 64 for the first time, but when the flash cards hit a couple months later, things got really interesting really quickly.
Nintendo will not make their next portable quite as susceptible to hacking, but I'm guessing it'll still happen within 3-6 months somehow unless the thing is a total flop for some reason.
Almadi @ Aug 4th 2008 7:15PM
I bet on adding new smell emitting technology. They added 'touch' to 'see' and 'hear', so next would be 'smell'. And they would have a quality check that makes sure no released game 'stinks'.
But I do think that Nintendo will wait until early next year to announce the probably already finished redesign. Why? becuase they are more afraid of the iPhone and iTouch then they are of the PSP. And they want to see how this pans out in the next few months, specialy with the high probability that Apple will release an imroved iTouch come September.