Nintendo's Reggie: DS getting a redesign next?

[stuffedmonkey]

Saw this article on cnn:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/10/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm

Basically it tells how Nintendo is planning to be the least expensive of the next gen systems. Near the bottom was this quote though:


As for existing products, don't be surprised if more facelifts are on the way for existing products. Nintendo unveiled a streamlined Game Boy Advance earlier this year (much along the lines of Apple's iPod Nano), dubbed the Game Boy Micro.

The logical choice for the next facelift would be the Nintendo DS. Last year's hottest holiday gift has seen its popularity grow as Nintendo and third party publishers have put out increasingly appealing software, but the device itself is fairly ugly by gaming standards.

Fils-Aime hinted a revamped DS is in the works: "As soon as [the DS] was launched, we started looking at ways to tweak it visually."

[Crazycarl]

a little bulky yes, but i still thought that the DS was still sexy. but this is what Nintendo does, i don't mind, plus i will probly buy this too lol.

[tholly]

it could use a facelift....it will be nice to see this when its released

[rpepper9]

How do you think they would re-design the DS. I mean it probably has to be a fairly large size to get all the functionality that it has to work inside. Maybe they will drop some of the features, like a striped down version, in a pretty new shell. I don't think that the technology has gotten all that much smaller in the past year, and to fit all that into a smaller case seems like a difficult task. I think it looks great as it is, but Nintendo is all about change!

[neuropolitique]

Hmmm. What could be done to the DS. I'm thinking a redesign will be thinner, with a more solid look. When the DS is closed it looks like a handheld system with something placed on top. A redesign should be more in line with the SP, which looks solid when closed.

A control for brightness would be nice too. Controlling each screen individually would probably be asking too much.

I don't forsee a DS Micro. I think that using the stylus on such a small screen would present too many problems.

Of course, knowing Nintendo, the redesign will be radically different from anything I could come up with. I'm interested to see what it looks like.

[Xexyz]

Guess I'll be holding out for this system for another year now.

[eggwolio]

perhaps it will be something small like the SP but a little thicker, the screens could take up the full thing, with the buttons on the sides, allowing you to hold it with one hand and control everything, and use the stylus with the other.

or maybe i'm a lil dumb. but i think that'd be neat.

[D-Lite]

You can't comfortably make it much smaller do to the way you have to hold it to use the stylus. Think of what hell it would be to use the stylus on the SP.

Also you can bet the revision will have the same backlit technology that's in the newest version of the SP. Damn those screens look awesome :-P

[poloplayr]

i predict the touchscreen with be on the back of a original designed GBA...

[boatofcar]

A control for brightness would be nice too. Controlling each screen individually would probably be asking too much.


Maybe so, but that's a great idea!

[hezeuschrist]

I doubt that has anything to do with the current model, which has already been tweaked.

The proto shown at E3 2004 and the ones we all own now are two different looking machines. I bet thats what he was referring to.

[Cmtz]

I doubt that has anything to do with the current model, which has already been tweaked.

The proto shown at E3 2004 and the ones we all own now are two different looking machines. I bet thats what he was referring to.

Nope, that's not what he said. He said they are redesigning the current DS.

[hezeuschrist]

I doubt that has anything to do with the current model, which has already been tweaked.

The proto shown at E3 2004 and the ones we all own now are two different looking machines. I bet thats what he was referring to.

Nope, that's not what he said. He said they are redesigning the current DS.

Did you read a different article?

He said launched, but he could have simply meant debut.

[Ed Oscuro]

Hmm...anybody else wondering if the new revision will simply be a design change, as opposed to a change of features?

[studvicious]

I'm hoping for a "New Brighter Screen!!" I was actually thinking about picking one up soon, but now I will wait.

[stuffedmonkey]

If I had to guess - I would say it would be a bit thinner in all 3 directions. Possibly more blocky like the SP.

[sabre2922]

The big N needs to focus LESS ON REDESIGNS of Gameboys and DS's and MORE ON MAKING SURE THAT THE REVOLUTION IS THE BEST PRODUCT THEY CAN PUT OUT and getting AS MUCH 3RD PARTY SUPPORT FROM THE DEVELOPERS/PUBLISHERS AS POSSIBLE so that the lower price point isnt the single attraction at system launch.

Bring in some of the big guns of the industry Capcom, Konami and EA for example to design games that can ONLY BE DONE ON THE REVOLUTION not a 360 or PS3 GIMMICK multiport.

[MegaDrive20XX]

This is interesting....I just hope to god they dont kill the sound on it. I cant barely hear the Mirco as of now.

@Sabre, I hear ya man, but imho they need to remember that GameCube is not dead, they need to stick ignoring it

[kedawa]

Maybe they'll drop the GBA compatibility and go with a PDA style design.
I wouldn't mind having one big screen with touch sensitivity on the lower half.

[Xizer]

Maybe they'll drop the GBA compatibility and go with a PDA style design.
I wouldn't mind having one big screen with touch sensitivity on the lower half.

Won't happen, 2 small LCDs are much cheaper and less dead pixel prone to produce than one large LCD.

[kedawa]

If that's the case, then they could always stack the two screens vertically, with just a thin border between them.
That would actually be better, I think, because it would help differentiate between the touchscreen and the normal screen, and it would create a boundary to keep the stylus on the lower screen.

[goatdan]

Maybe they'll drop the GBA compatibility and go with a PDA style design.
I wouldn't mind having one big screen with touch sensitivity on the lower half.

Won't happen, 2 small LCDs are much cheaper and less dead pixel prone to produce than one large LCD.

O_O

While I agree with your assessment, two small LCDs are not cheaper to produce than one larger (but still very small) LCD screen. Each screen needs its own controllers, so by making only one screen you could remove all of that cost.

That having been said, the Nintendo Duel Screen system will not be getting a redesign to make it only feature one screen. Talk about confusing the customer. I think if anything, it would make the screens smaller and place them closer together. But it definitely wouldn't be removing them altogether.

Maybe it is the [we could've totally killed the market if we had originally used] PDA functionality built-in like Nintendo has talked about forever.