Nintendo DS - New design, name, logo unveiled News

So when Reggie what's-his-face took one out of his pocket at E3 and said "This is the Nintendo DS", that was a lie then. He should know that, like him, I'm about taking names. And his obviously isn't one to pay too much attention to.

That said, the new look is definitely an improvement, but it still isn't a patch on the PSP design. I just don't understand why they couldn't have said at E3 that that wasn't how the finished unit would look. Looks like a knee-jerk reaction to all the negative comments about the original design...

It's better, but it's still a dog-egg compared to the PSP. But well done on changing it anyway, that last design looked like it was squeezed out of Satan's bum-gut.

"So when Reggie what's-his-face took one out of his pocket at E3 and said "This is the Nintendo DS", that was a lie then."

Well, to be fair to old Reg, Nintendo did point out it was a prototype at the time. If you'd taken enough names, you wouldn't be chewing bubblegum right now.

Looks like a Game & Watch. Not that that's a bad thing, mind...

Well, it's pretty, isn't it?

I still can't get over Sony's promotional pictures of the PSP, showing all the hip young kids carrying it around their necks. Is that going to happen? Oh yes, of course. Tch.

I like it.

If it lasts longer than 20 minutes on a single charge, I may even be tempted over the psp. I don't want to watch movies on a handheld anyway.

Maybe they'll put a solar cell on the back...

This looks like a Game and Watch, the PSP looks like an Atari Lynx.

I'm waiting for the GBA-2, which insiders tell me will look like a Sinclair Spectrum.

SONY, you have been forced to low the price.

MUCH MUCH better

I want one now :)

This does look much nicer than the prototype imo

Now I really want a DS.

I suppose it was always possible they'd stick with the name 'DS' as it didn't really sound like a prototype (like the Dolphin, or Project Reality).

"The Nintendo DS will change the future of hand-held gaming," says Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. "Dual screens, chat functions, a touch screen, wireless capabilities, voice recognition - these abilities surpass anything attempted before, and consumers will benefit from the creativity and innovation the new features bring to the world of video games."

I hope that means that the chat functions are intergrated into the unit, so you can use them whenever you want, and don't have to buy the chat software, as that would make the chat functions a lot more attractive.

I can't believe how many of you are basing your buying decisions of what it looks like! You superficial whores!

What about the games? Who cares what it looks like? It could look like a pre-packed sandwich for all I care. Y'know - like the N-Gage.

Although the PSP has hardcore fanbois frothing at the gusset, the extortionate price tag is going to give most people the heeby jeebies.
The DS is innovative enough and in the right price range to get a lot of people very interested. That and it's backwards compatible. I can see the DS ecclipsing the PSP in sheer shifted units before too long.
It's the perfect christmas present, and one your granny could afford.

Looks really nice.
Let's hope the games are too.

Not too sure about the placement of the [power] switch though.

bet you a tenner there's an updated dual screen donkey kong game at launch for a laugh

I'm interested in the looks!

But I'm MUCH more interested in Animal Crossing DS.

/prays it's gonna be good.

But it's pretty!

Looks like there is an adaptor socket next to the headphone socket (as you get on a lot of Disc-mans etc.) so maybe an in-line remote control? Headset for voice comms?

"Not too sure about the placement of the [power] switch though."

/agrees

anyone know if when playing gba games it will act like a gba and be able to link up for multiplayer with normal gbas? or connect to the cube in the same way as a gba? hope so because then ill technicaly have 3 gbas which will be great for multiplayer and a reason to get pacman vs.

"Well, to be fair to old Reg, Nintendo did point out it was a prototype at the time."

It's all well and good to say it's a prototype, but this guy held one up and said "This is the Nintendo DS". I've not seen anything about anyone at E3 reinforcing that the design was subject to such significant change. We're not talking about a couple of buttons being moved here. It looks completely different. They may as well have held up an empty crisp packet with a couple of screens and a few buttons wired in. The new design is a long way removed from what everybody was shown before. I'm all for the design being evolved, I just think they could have been a bit more forward with that info at E3.

My real concern with the DS is that from the very beginning it has felt like a reaction to Sony annoucing the PSP. I seem to remember reading that the day Sony announced their intention to produce a handheld console, Nintendo stock fell 10%. Then Nintendo said they were going to announce something radically new, that was neither a follow on to the GameCube or the Gameboy. It turned out to be a handheld console with two screens and 3D graphics, which in reality is a pretty solid follow up to the Gameboy. (I know they're also developing a Gameboy 2, but I'm sure that will get shelved if the DS is a success - they won't want two handheld consoles diluting the market.) Finally they unveiled the DS at E3 this year, where it was somewhat overshadowed by the PSP. One of the main criticisms of the DS was the way it looked and felt. Here we are a couple of months later and a complete redesign now been shown.

I guess my major worry is that this is all being rushed so that Sony don't get the PSP out before them. It's understandable since handheld gaming is, at the moment, almost exclusively their domain, and must be their main source of revenue, but the GBA is pretty old technology now. Sony have announced a handheld console and it's spurred Nintendo into action, but it just all feels a bit improvised, and far too rushed.

Oh... I thought the old design was ok, nothing more, nothing less, but this futuristic design make me dreaming of 2005...

Ne1

Anyone, please.

Looks cool better than the e3 model, not sure on the plainess of the colours but i suppose every game boy was similar

Looks very nice. Nintendo have owned the handheld market for ages, and 2 things make me think this isn't going to change now:
1) PSP battery life
2) PSP cost

If Sony can't beat Nintendo or at least match them in these areas then I fear the PSP will never become mass market. The GameGear and Lynx were both cool if you owned them, but were are they now? Coolness isn't enough unfortunately.

wow. what an improvement. this looks SO much better than the former DS. personally im still a bit torn between the PSP and DS. although, after seeing this the DS will be the handheld getting my cash this winter (going US import for this one). all the PSP games are going to be almost all PS2 ports anyway. the thing with DS is that it forces developers to be the tiniest bit innovative. good on nintendo.

only problem? if i spend £150 on this then i might not have enough money for Halo 2. oh god. oh dear god...

i agree with whoever said that PictoChat should come built in. if this is one of the DSs main selling points why charge? let it come bundled with the DS. please?

I think it looks bloody marvellous, but I was getting one anyhow, so it doesn't really matter to me.

ng.

What he held up was the DS at the time he held it up. He wasn't going to hold it up and say this is the new pizza from pizza hut, because it wasn't it was the DS which is why he said that, simple see?

That was the DS then, this is the DS now, not hard to grasp surely? How you can say the man is a lier for holding up a DS and saying it was a DS has given me a headache as I really don't understand how stating that something is what it is is a lie?

And everyone (apart from you it seems) knew that it was a prototype, it didn't even have a slot for the stylus ffs and Nintendo made sure that everybody was told that it was a prototype, constantly.

My real concern with the DS is that from the very beginning it has felt like a reaction to Sony annoucing the PSP.

Rubbish. Hardware just doesn't drop out of Nintendo like that - the DS has been in development for years, and just because they didn't choose to announce it far too early (as Sony did with the PSP) don't think it's a rush job.

Right now, in fact, the people who look like they are struggling to get to market are Sony still. They had no real playable software at E3, and still haven't let anybody see a finished unit (the latest rumors are of changes to the screen). Nintendo announced the DS when they were ready to do so, Sony started talking PSP because if they hadn't they wouldn't have had anything else big to say that E3.

It's gonna be an interesting fight - the PSP has the edge on both looks and technology fronts, but the DS is gonna offer something totally new at a perfectly workable price point.

I'm really looking forward to having both the DS and the PSP in my hand and comparing them life-size.

I think the clam shell design works much better now and allows the unit to be thicker. I'm quite alarmed by the fact that, looking at the specs, the PSP is thicker than my laptop computer and it's not a flip-top...

Also the screen-scratching issue is nicely solved in the DS.

The DS design is so 90s, though :) Which I like.

BradlayLaw: I'm surmising that Teq is a Geordie, which (nee) means no and (1) would then mean no-one. NE1 is the centre of Newcastle, ST James' Park post code is NE1 1ST.

Also the screen-scratching issue is nicely solved in the DS.

hells yeah. i won't even consider a mobile phone that isn't flip-top. and i don't care how scratch resistant sony say it is, it'll getted messed up just like everything else that goes in my pockets.

It's probably been said before but does anyone know if the region coding on the DS will be the same as the GBA? (i.e. non existent)
If so then I shall be pre-ordering mine from Lik-Sang/Wherever forthwith!

I kinda like the retro-stylings of this look. It seems... sleek. I dunno, somehow polished, and a LOT more grown up than the GBA ever was. I'd even go as far to say it may even be a fashionable new look...

/dodges stray flying coffee cup

DS at E3 was prototype. Everyone knew it was a prototype. Nintendo got their act together and showed off the main DS hardware and some of the software, and I think perhaps - for a prototype, at least - the look only half matters (Although I didn't mind it at all!). Once you have a build, you can then go back to it and adjust it somewhat. Which they clearly have done.


Otherwise, I'm not surprised they stuck with Nintendo DS. That is how people know it, and they'd be foolish to change the name.

And ET, your friends may be getting excited but the question at the end of the day is: will they be able to AFFORD it? And when push comes to shove, will it be PSP and one game or DS and 3-4 games?

I'm still gonna keep an eye on PSP. AFter all, Sony may just be playing quiet and clever... but I'm questioning if that really is the smartest tactic right now...

Looks like something off the set of 'The Forbidden Planet'

"Also the screen-scratching issue is nicely solved in the DS."

Well, it solves the problem of the screen getting scratched in your pocket, but it'll be hard to stop the screen getting scratched from the stylus as they are very good at picking up a minute grain of dirt at the end and scratching your screen with.

Looks sweet but then so did the GBA SP. Still took it back for a trade in as there just wasn't the games to interest me.

I don't care which looks better or who makes it. If the PSP has more my kind of games (which it already does before even being released) then my money goes there.

Of course, thats providing I can afford it or else my money goes nowhere! :P

/aside

The GBA is worth £90 for Wario-Ware alone :)

/normal

I have to say, I really think that flip-top is the best bet for this kind of thing. My GBA screen is a little scratched now (even with a protective case), but my SP is still tickety-boo. Sony's screen is going to have to be pretty good to resist the usual wear-and-tear you get.

Kami worte:
"And ET, your friends may be getting excited but the question at the end of the day is: will they be able to AFFORD it? And when push comes to shove, will it be PSP and one game or DS and 3-4 games? "

Actually thats 3-4 DS games and a HUGE back catalouge of GB/GBC/GBA games.

I've owned nearly every console out but i think the Psp is bit too expensive for essentially a Ps2 in a atari lynx looking case !
The Ds looks much nicer in the looks and price dept so im going to just buy a Ds until the Psp comes down to a more real price.

RE: the E3 DS.

Surely it's obvious that wasn't the final model; it didn't even have the stylus holder included then.

There'd best be multiple colours, I want a pastel pink one like my GBA SP.

Improvement. PSP still looks teh biz

The old DS looked very kindergardenish.
And Sony wont be low ing :D :p the price. Remeber it was Nintendo share price that took a battering when PSP was annouced.

Only issue on the comments here is 'i'm prob getting PSP provided teh price isnt too much.'
Im just not getting teh DS , no matter how cheap it is.

Also they guy holding out the DS and saying Here is the Nintendo DS and when completely changing it months later, means he was showing u the final version and it was being passed off as such. If you show ppl a product and then give them something else 2 months later doesnt inspire consumer confidence.
But SHOCK! it just HIT ME!
------
NINTENDO IN CONSUMER FRIENDLY FEEDBACK SHOCKER!
Nintendo (poss for the 1st time in their history) are responding to public feed back, ie changing its look after the PSP wiped the floor at E3. It really did look like a dogs dinner.

i quite like the design but the flip top looks a bit too angular. i like the platinum finish but what will the actual build be like. I hope that it is sturdy. in comparison to the PSP i prefer the svelte look of the PSP so much better.

Still not especially interested...

>WOW.
Penny Arcade posting a link to Eurogamer? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Should we panic?

Well said that man, simply the DS offers a more exciting prospect than PSP in terms of quick on the move gaming.

@ Jagoros

"The DS now sports a thinner, black base and angular platinum flip-top cover, with larger face and shoulder buttons than the E3 unit"

I think we just found that one person on the planet who doesn't like built in lithium batteries.