Despite Nintendo denying just this week that they had any plans to unveil a redesign of the Nintendo DS, their Japanese website yesterday unveiled with little fanfare the following, dubbed Nintendo DS Lite. It is due for release in March, in Japan, but no word of a release as yet in other territories.

The DS Lite comes in at 133mm wide, 73.9mm high and 21.5mm deep. That trims - on average - roughly 10mm from each dimension. GamesIndustry.biz says this represents a 42% reduction in size. Not bad.

Quote Originally Posted by GamesIndustry.biz
"The weight of the console has also been reduced, from 275g in the original model down to 215g in the new DS Lite, representing a drop of almost 21 per cent. Despite the smaller size of the unit, it's not thought that the screens themselves have dropped in size, although Nintendo doesn't appear to have made any official comment on this.
I wouldn't imagine that a drop in screen size - especially for the touch-screen - would be possible. Unless the stylus and screen became more accurate in the process.

There will also be an adjustable brightness option, with four possible levels of brightness, which is just awesome. In comparison to the PSP, the DS feels pretty dark. The power button has seemingly disappeared from the front of the DS (where, exactly, it has been hidden is unknown), while the microphone has moved to the hinge between the two screens.

The image below is supposedly a mock-up...



Here is the link to the story on GamesIndustry.biz.

My impressions? Its smaller size and added brightness options (assuming one level of brightness outdoes the current brightness of the DS) will be enough to make me buy. But I hope they don't launch with silver again.