Nintendo dismisses rumours of new DS

By Ellie Gibson Published 27 August, 2008

Internet says it'll have two touch screens.

Nintendo has dismissed suggestions a new DS with two touch screens is on the way.

According to Kotaku, the new screens will be a bit bigger than the ones we're used to. Apparently there are no plans for an official announcement until Christmas is out of the way.

But that's all just "rumour and speculation", Nintendo told GamesIndustry.biz.

What features would you like to see in a new DS, readers? Our vote goes to backwards compatibility with the Gizmondo and a laser.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SeesThroughAll #1 4 years ago

    Two touch screens... would be nice for some games, I guess, but it would make future games incompatible with older DS models.

  • evilashchris #2 4 years ago

    I'd like to see a DS that can touch you back. In a sexy way.

  • myiagros #3 4 years ago

    Last time new DS rumours surfaced they were denied for weeks by Ninty, then turned out to be true.

    These rumours sound believable, but it would be Nintendo's worst nightmare this news getting out before xmas present buying season.

  • Triggerhappytel #4 4 years ago

    Which probably means it's true, then.

    I've never particularly seen the appeal of the DS. Bar a few appealing games I don't see what it have over the PSP to have created such a huge chasm in the comparative sales figures.

  • JonFE #5 4 years ago

    I think two touch screens will be an overkill... I mean how many people can usefully use two styli (or should that be styluses) at the same time? The only implementation I can think of would have to be thumb-based...

    /is not great at imaging things like that...

  • SeesThroughAll #6 4 years ago

    Bar a few appealing games I don't see what it have over the PSP to have created such a huge chasm in the comparative sales figures.

    It's cheaper and it plays games that non-gamers are familiar with, like Mario.

  • AliRay #7 4 years ago

    Why have two touch-screens when most devs can't find an interesting/intuitive use for one?

  • Santino #8 4 years ago

    this would make zero sense while the ds is well on its way to being the best selling system ever. i think it easily has years ahead of it, especially with its software library, it hasn't even ever had a price cut ffs!

  • SeesThroughAll #9 4 years ago

    I was thinking of a DS, but now I'm interested in one of these.

    It plays the homebrews too... ;)

  • seasidebaz #10 4 years ago

    Multitouch FTW

  • Xerx3s #11 4 years ago

    "Nintendo dismisses rumours of new DS "

    The same nintendo that dismissed the ds lite a day before they announced it.

  • Kay #12 4 years ago

    Two touch screens... would be nice for some games, I guess, but it would make future games incompatible with older DS models.

    That's because it would essentially be the DS 2, not a revision of the existing console.

    The DS has been out for nearly four years now, it wouldn't be surprising to see Nintendo unveil, and possibly release, its successor sometime in 2009. Two touch screens would seem like the next logical step I guess (along with better graphical capabilities), but I'm not sure if that alone would be enough of an upgrade.

    K

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #13 4 years ago

    Well, you don't have to touch both screens at once... imagine a point & click adventure where you clicked where you wanted your character to go on the bottom screen, and could click the top screen to select inventory items. It makes sense.

    But I agree with Santino, I don't wanna see a new DS till 2010/2011 or so.

  • penhalion #14 4 years ago

    Don't you go tilting that DS young man *cough*

  • kinky_mong #15 4 years ago

    I've never particularly seen the appeal of the DS. Bar a few appealing games I don't see what it have over the PSP to have created such a huge chasm in the comparative sales figures.

    I regret buying mine. I bought it so I could play the DS iterations of the good Nintendo franchises and all of them, with the exception of Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros, were bollocks IMO. Metroid Hunters was abysmal and made my hands ache, Mario vs. DK was an irritating Lemmings Clone that lost all the charm of the GBA one, Wario Ware Touched was dissapointing, and Phantom Hourglass has earnt a special place as the only Zelda game I haven't completed because I lost the will to carry on playing after returning to the same Dungeon with pointless time constraints for the 5th time.

    The only time I ever use it now is to play Picross which fills me with self-loathing when I realise that puts me in the same boat as the target audience of those dire adverts.

  • thesombrerokid #16 4 years ago

    all totally wishful thinking but I'd love to see these features

    MORE SYSTEM AND VIDEO RAM!!!!!
    Texture Flitering
    an SD Card slot!
    more buttons so you can use it as a Classic Controller for the Wii!
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/08 @ 13:14

  • SeesThroughAll #17 4 years ago

    @ thesombrerokid: Sounds like that's a Pandora you're talking about ;) Check out the link I gave above.

  • ED209 #18 4 years ago

    @ kinky_mong

    + 1

    I agree, thought I was the only one that thought Zelda PH was an ugly mess of a game. It had lots of depth for a DS game, but murky pixelated depths, the likes of which I hadn't seen since a PS1. Who could have possibly though the 3D graphics were an improvement?! The SNES one looks a billion times better.

    Here is a list:
    SNES 2D > PS1 / DS 3D
    SNES 2D = PS2 / PSP 3D
    SNES 2D < PS3 3D

    Memorise it well, gamey-development types.

  • CARL05 #19 4 years ago

    How about bringing back the GameBoy brand but without all the casual crap?

  • peak_performance #20 4 years ago

    Nah Phantom Hourglass graphics were great, 'twas the gameplay that lacked.

    Still plenty of live remaining in the DS btw. Nintendo has no reason at all to release a new one until they see a chance to make even better money, that is when the sales have slowed or a competitor has revealed a worthy opponent. No doubt they are in a planning stage though...

    Edit: yeah and for once Nintendo actually isn't putting out the best games on a system. It's amazing.
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/08 @ 13:28

  • bushwod #21 4 years ago

    My personal feature wants:

    -Dual touch screens with multi-touch
    -Tilt sensing (a la iPhone)
    -SD slot
    -Better OS with built in web browser and support for mp3s, photos downloads
    -Introduce DS channels like the wii
    -Support VC games (well up to megadrive and snes at least) as well as classic gameboy and GB advanced games
    -Of course it would be BC with current DS

    Make it so Ninty.

    EDIT: Oh yeah, and better shoulder buttons. I can't get my fat sausage fingers round the ones on the lite.
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/08 @ 13:28

  • andywilkie35 #22 4 years ago

    I bought a DS and I've barely played it, same as my PSP, I don't like sitting at home playing it when I've got superior consoles to play, and I don't play it when I travel coz I walk to work, so feel i've wasted loads of money!! oh well

  • Agent_Orange #23 4 years ago

    Andy, so true - and you can't play 'em on the commute to work in summer 'cos it's too bright most of the time

  • dr_faulk #24 4 years ago

    The only 'new DS' we'll get is a slimmer one with better battery.

    "Two touch screens..." *tsk*

  • Triggerhappytel #25 4 years ago

    andywilkie - you've pretty much summed up why I have never seen the point in personally getting a DS/PSP: I have always driven to work and rarely use public transport, and don't ever play handhelds at home when I've got superior consoles under the TV.

    Although I'd love a PSP for holidays, I can't justify the expense for so little return.

  • thesombrerokid #26 4 years ago

    @SeesThroughAll

    ehh naw i want to play original high quality games on my hand held not tetris clones and quake ports :p

  • neonemesis #27 4 years ago

    How much more expensive would a DS with two touch screens be though? One of the original appealing factors of the DS when it came out was its price compared with the PSP...

  • Razz #28 4 years ago

    My personal feature wants:

    -Gamecube level CPU/GPU performance
    -2 screens, same as DS1 but the TS is now multi touch
    -internal and/or expandable memory
    -Some kind of frontend llke the Wii channels, with VC, internet, photos and music. Possibly movie playback.
    -built in rumble and tilt/motion sensing similar to Wario Ware Twisted
    -Expanded VC Support, i.e. all current home console VC titles as well as handheld ones, e.g. Gameboy, Gamegear, PC Engine, Lynx etc...
    -Decent speakers
    -Metal stylus
    Edited by 1 at 27/08/08 @ 14:55

  • BadBoyBonner #29 4 years ago

    DS would be so much more comfortable if the controls were on the upper screen - balance would be perfect - currently it seems like some sort of cynical marketing ploy for an as yet unreleased arthritis removing hand cream.

    Playing Mario Kart for any length of time is positively crippling.

    Would be very easy to make old ds backward compatible with new double touch-screen DS games - simply use select to swap the screen round and then back - some games already use this to effectively give you two touch screens.

    Hard to imagine an update of the DS not incorporating tilt sensing,better screen resolution, texture filtering and anti-aliasing; which may also breath new life in to the odd old game with it no doubt being BC.

    Edited by 2 at 27/08/08 @ 14:58

  • funkyd #30 4 years ago

    :D @ Chris

  • DB2k #31 4 years ago

    oled screens, haptic vibration stuff, higher res screens, better internet browsing with built in imap email client. better supoprt for moosics and movie playing (wont happen), more ipod touch features, come with choice of pokemon plushie.

  • chrisjm #32 4 years ago

    I'd like it to be more like the dawsons creek deluxe trapper keeper

  • oerhoert #33 4 years ago

    This is rubbish. If there's one machine that doesn't need a new version until 2010 or 2011 at the earliest, it's the DS.

  • aine #34 4 years ago

    evilfoxhound - try the original then. that one was built like a fucking tank, in the style of nintendo products of old. the lite is more...apple-esque, shall we say, in its approach.

  • thesombrerokid #35 4 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner

    the DS already supports Anti Ailising

  • BadBoyBonner #36 4 years ago

    @thesombrerokid

    I know it does - as you can see me talking about it in Nanostray 2 in the GTA china Town news - saying how it makes the DS screen look like it is running in Hi-res.

    I'll qualify the sound-bite, anti-aliasing x4 with almost no hit to system performance.

    Link below for my GTA China Town comments talking about anti-aliasing.

    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/article_discuss...

  • Pulsar_t #37 4 years ago

    The DS is a wonderful machine, and is indeed geared towards on-the-go gaming more than the PSP (which is just a touch-less iPod), but its lack of power and features are appalling. And the upper screen should have been bigger. And there's thing with devs not putting enough creativity into their titles, but it's still a step above the Portable PS2 (I love my PS2 but I wouldn't take it with me on the road!).

    A slimmer DS would be awesome.

  • Lamb #38 4 years ago

    No no it wll have three touch screens and a wii fit device that tests your dexterity. ;P

  • smelly #39 4 years ago

    I think the ds2 would benefit from a multi-touch screen so it can register where ALL your fingers are... yadda yadda


    "I've never particularly seen the appeal of the DS. Bar a few appealing games I don't see what it have over the PSP to have created such a huge chasm in the comparative sales figures."

    Simple... Games

  • Stepharneo #40 4 years ago

    two touchscreens would be nice if only to get rid of that thing that happens in unpolished games like pokemon (don't get me wrong i loved it, but there are so many tiny flaws that could be remedied in 10 minutes by a focus group) where you do something on the bottom screen (in pokemons case it would be teh pokemon team menu) then that menu moves to the top screen in say a fight and you go to touch the top screen, instantly feeling like a complete twat and glad no one is watching. i mean basically its just that, also it would mean that touch screen functionality would have to be crammed into one screen and devs could be more free with usage. but surely the hinge would need to be a great deal better as the screen would just keep on moving as you hit the screen.

  • Sevens #41 4 years ago

    "What features would you like to see in a new DS, readers?"

    Less touch screens and mics.

  • FFS #42 4 years ago

    Full backwards compatibility, internal storage with a VC for all games gone before on GB(C)/GBA and link up for multi on said old games too, and for GC. So basically a GBA out port for GB(A)s and GC; but replicating it over wifi for DS2 to DS2 would be win too.

    And analogue control. SM64 DS would have been worth getting over the original if it actually had REAL analogue control.

    JonFE
    27-Aug-08 11:49:02

    I think two touch screens will be an overkill... I mean how many people can usefully use two styli (or should that be styluses) at the same time? The only implementation I can think of would have to be thumb-based...

    /is not great at imaging things like that...

    Yeah, I think it would be more like, being able to touch either screen - not both simultaneously.

    /facepalm

    I don't think it'll happen though. It's selling like hotcakes. Nintendo would have to be moronic to do that.
    Edited by 4 at 28/08/08 @ 13:30

  • FFS #43 4 years ago

    -Some kind of frontend llke the Wii channels, with VC, internet, photos and music. Possibly movie playback.
    -built in rumble and tilt/motion sensing similar to Wario Ware Twisted

    -Tilt sensing (a la iPhone)
    -Better OS with built in web browser and support for mp3s, photos downloads
    -Introduce DS channels like the wii

    Why do people keep saying shit like this? Do that and the DS will turn into a steaming pile of casual ONLY shite like the Wii, except instead of waggle we'll have jiggle 'cos of tilt. Nonononono.

    And who needs a thinner DS? Is it not fucking small enough already? Do you all have pixie hands? The Lite may look better but the phat is more comfortable anyway. It's like the world is obsessed with small ATM. IT'S PLENTY SMALL ANYWAY.

    "DS2 - so small it comes with a microscope so you can enjoy all your games on an even smaller console than before - only 3 atoms wide!"

    I'm not really fussed about graphics. I'd quite happily still have games coming on the N64 TBH. As long as it can do 3D, I'm happy.

  • VMerken #44 4 years ago

    It's time for some Solar Django on the new kid.

  • radlord #45 4 years ago

    please allow WPA encryption this time Nintendo :(