Quote:Shares in Nintendo Co. Ltd have gone up nine percent since the announcement two days ago of the Nintendo DS system. Investors are still wary though as Nintendo’s constant threat from a stronger yen could bring earnings down.

As long as we are on the subject of the Nintendo DS, there have been a couple reports today about Namco and Konami publicly stating that they will consider developing for the machine. The other bit of news is a little less reliable at this time, but nonetheless says Shigeru Miyamoto is working on the first game and that there will be two or three first party titles at launch.

Quote:An article published in the new issue of GMR magazine out this week covers some very intriguing information about what the Nintendo DS system could really be about. According to GMR, Nintendo has been in discussions with Sharp to possibly use a certain technology in a then future portable system. The big secret is that the Nintendo DS may actually have a "true" 3D display.

Considering the nature of the Nintendo DS and its two screens… it makes one think that there is more to be revealed at E3. Details have been announced, but no pictures and no mock-ups. If Nintendo has been working with Sharp for the Nintendo DS it has some good speculative evidence going for it. Sharp employees have been talkative about the company developing 3D display technology that uses two TFT LCD screens (the kind announced for Nintendo DS) that work together to create a 3D view. Coincidence? Here is what has been reported about the technology from ExtremeTech:

"Sharp's TFT 3D LCD technology works on the principle of displaying left and right eye views that are separated so that the left eye sees only the left eye image, and the right eye sees only the right eye image," said Ian Matthew, 3D Solutions Business Development Manager at Sharp Systems of America. "Since these images have perspective and are offset in the same way that the human eye normally sees the two images, the brain naturally interprets the image disparity and creates a 'sense of depth' effect. The result is 3D, 'out of screen' display that provides users with a visual experience previously unattainable without polarized or liquid crystal shuttering lenses."

There are already a few things that need to be addressed with this scenario. Could the 3D display work when the screens are stacked vertical? So far there isn’t any reason not to think so.

But what about Nintendo’s statements about the machine, that it will help to make playing games easier, allowing a person to see two different perspectives in a game? The example used by Nintendo of a player seeing different areas or camera angles at once doesn’t sound like 3D. Perhaps Nintendo has been saying such things to offset the rampant speculation and surprise the world come E3.

Lastly, the price of such technology wouldn’t seem fit with Nintendo’s philosophy on lower-cost systems. Could this be a special case where Nintendo is doing something different from the norm? That’s sort of what we’ve been told all along. Still, there hasn’t been much in the way of implying that Nintendo DS will be 3D, the closet thing is Iwata’s foggy mentions of it being "heterogeneous" and producing movement that gamers have never experienced before.

Quote:EA's big two, Sims 2 & Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, have been delayed until the Summer to allow for extra polishing. This gives EA some more time to release compilation packs of both games...

Up to twelve titles for Sony's Playstation Portable will be released by March 2005, although EA are still assessing the Nintendo DS' profitability - expect a Sims game on it though. EA also stated that development costs of a PSP title should be between $1 or $2 million, and that they should sell for around $39. EA guestimated the price of the actual PSP to be between $199 and $249.