Via NeoGAF...
Yes, the rumors of a new Nintendo handheld coming within the year are true. The details known so far: It'll be out by March 2011, will have true 3d graphics with no glasses, DS and DSi backwards compatibility, and for more info wait for E3.
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2010/100323e.pdf
Quote:March 23, 2010
To Whom It May Concern:
Re: Launch of New Portable Game Machine
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch "Nintendo 3DS"(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.
"Nintendo 3DS"(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed "Nintendo DS series", whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.
We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.
I definitely think it's too soon. DSi buyers are getting completely ripped off, releasing a new system just two years after your last one is cruel. Sure, it's DSi backwards compatible, but still, that's just not right... I'm glad I didn't get a DSi.
Beyond that though, I'm very interested to see what the 3d looks like... oh yeah, and I want Virtual Boy Virtual Handheld on it, darnit! More people should play VB Wario Land!
DSi buyers were suckers in the first place, buying a product which was less functional than the DS Lite.
Maybe they'll learn something from this.
Good ol' Nintendo. I never thought they go 3-D on the handheld before the console.
I suppose that's a lie tho, there's a patent for a strange bubble design handheld that promises '3-D viewing without the need of glasses" that is years old (GBA era).
I wonder now if my theory of flat tabletop games and multiple DS units strung together is outlandish at all.
This also makes sense for the HD skip, they felt like they lost the market there and missed a chance to corner it. But 3-D TV's (without glasses) are getting ready to launch. I think Nintendo might have revealed the Wii2's answer to HD inadvertently. As soon as the televisions become available, release a console that's HD capable with glasses 3-D for low tech consumers and games coded with glasses-free 3-D for early adopters. The Wii2 becomes the "IT" platform for people who want to show off their 3-D TV's. If Nintendo was really smart, the Wii-Dii (lol) can play 3-D encoded Bluray disks or, a 3-D movie streaming service. MS and Sony will be playing catchup all over again.
This is why Nintendo keeps saying the Wii isn't going anywhere, and now MS and Sony are so preoccupied with their motion techs, Nintendo can release their HD 3-D console next year and have the market on 3 tiers - Wii for your lower end, the "DS series" for your portable market and a high end 3-D HD (H3D?). The Wii Hits 175 with a Wiimote and chuck, Motion Plus or a new mote with motionplus built in, and Wii Sports Resort. While the new 3DS might be 200 or 250 max, the DS Lite will be under 100, the DSi 130. Nintendo's nextgen will probably be at that 300/350 mark, but that's perfect for tech savvy consumers who want to show off their big expensive brand new TV's and dont care about cost. By the time the new Wii2 is at the 200 mark, the 3D TV's will be more abundant and cheaper and everyone will want to see David Letterman in 3D and play Duck Hunt X-TREME on the Wii-Dii. Nintendo's about to murder the competition.
Interesting market speculation Lazy.
The real suckers are the people who bought the DSi XL.
Anyway, it's been more than five years since the DS came out, that's plenty of time to start talking about the next, real handheld system.
But GR, the DSi IS a new system! What you say there is like anyone saying that releasing the GBA just 2 1/2 years after the GBC is fine, the GBC "wasn't really a new system" or something, despite having new games that are incompatible with the old system.
As far as I'm concerned, that's the definition of a new system. Nintendo is hoping that people are confused about things like you are, but I know at least some people are going to care... like, anyone who owns a DSi or, yes, DSi XL...
I mean, if the DSi hadn't existed you would be absolutely right, but it does.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6lHgbbM9pu4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6lHgbbM9pu4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
DSi is an update of the DS with a few exclusive titles, which are almost exclusively through DSiware. It was never meant to be the successor to the DS and should not be viewed as such.
Yeah, stop viewing it like that! Because you shouldn't!
Well, it's a DS with cameras and the whole online section of the device which isn't available on other DS types. It has a new OS and games that are made specifically for it.
I'd call that a new system, or tier. I do believe though that the 3DS will have the same cameras and microphone setup allowing for DSiWare and games as it mentions in the press release that its backwards compatible.
If you look at it, the DSiXL is probably the size of the 3DS, so Nintendo wanted to get that covered so its a bookend of product. You have a choice: Buy the lower end or buy the higher end. Get the iPod Nano or get the iPod Touch. The Touch seems silly to people who just want their MP3 player and dont care about games or web. This 3-D they're talking about is going to make for some interesting setups and it may alienate Nintendo's older crowd, the Sudoku and braintraining crowd. It's too complicated, I dont need that, etc. Especially considering, based on rumors, this handheld will have graphics anywhere between the Wii and a 360 because of that fancy Tegra chip.
So now the handheld will have games that look more like console games, that's a big wall for a lot of Nintendo's new gamers who are just getting in to New Super Mario Bros. inbetween sessions of casual gaming. So they can look at it and say that's not for them, too confusing, i'll just stick with the DSiXL (until Nintendo releases 3-D Brain Training).
So, I think Nintendo is going to support both systems for some time, also considering that the 3DS wont be here for at least a year. Perfect timing to release it along side a console. This E3 is going to not suck and i'm okay with that.
Great Rumbler Wrote:DSi is an update of the DS with a few exclusive titles, which are almost exclusively through DSiware. It was never meant to be the successor to the DS and should not be viewed as such.
That's just not true though. It's more powerful than the DS, it has exclusive games on card, all download titles are exclusives... that is not just an update. Just like the Game Boy Color: Not just an update! A successor.
That's like saying the PSP Go is the PSP's successor. It clearly is not, and neither is the DSi successor to the DS/DS Lite. Otherwise, you wouldn't still see DS Lites in stores almost two years later.
That's not true at all. The PSP Go is the exact same hardware inside as the original PSP. There are no games that work on a PSP Go but not a PSP. All games downloadable in the PSP store will work fine on either a Go or a regular PSP with memory card. The PSP Go is not more powerful than a regular PSP.
In comparison, to play DSi games you need a DSi. The DSi is more powerful than a regular DS -- it's got better specs. It's actual new hardware. The PSP Go is not.
Quote:There are no games that work on a PSP Go but not a PSP.
There are plenty of examples in the opposite direction, though. Thanks primarily to a radical change in hardware.
Like how the Game Boy Micro won't play Game Boy or Game Boy Color games? That's more a "downgraded new hardware version" problem, more than anything.
That is, yeah, the PSP Go was a bad idea. But it's definitely not a new system.
Well, whether or not WE think the DSi is the successor to the DS, it's clear that Nintendo doesn't. They're setting up the 3DS to be their next big handheld platform.
The consumer's opinion of what is and isn't a new piece of hardware is of infinite more importance than whatever the company making it WISHES we would think of it.
Well, since the 3DS isn't out yet, and thus does not have any sales data, it's hard to use that as a measuring stick.