Support NeoGAF

[Fafalada]

So we are like, just gonna say, "Nahh, Nintendo shouldn't have the DS play N64 games, it won't work".

Unless Nintendo is hidding a N64 somewhere in the new model, it really won't.

 

[Pureauthor]

No GBA slot?

Yeah, no sale, Ninty.

 

[VideoMan]

Just out of curiosity I checked the specs for both the PSEye and the Xbox Live Vision camera. Guess what? They both have a maximum resolution of 640x480 (300,000 pixels).

 

[VOOK]

They will not. That doesn't even make sense.

I left off for the DS Shop and the like, I know the games won't

 

[Fafalada]

Guess what? They both have a maximum resolution of 640x480 (300,000 pixels).

Picture vs. video camera.
Once you have the data on how fast this camera can capture (if it's realtime at all) and what is the max resolution at realtime speeds, then you can start comparing.

 

[mikeGFG]

I guess the only thing that really excites me is that the DS Lite will be cheaper.

 

[Woo-Fu]

I guess the only thing that really excites me is that the DS Lite will be cheaper.

Not sure what makes you think that. The DSi isn't a replacement for the DS.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Also, Pokemon D/P/Plat are quite... dumbed down now. You cant get half the Pokes on.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you need all 3 DS games, and at least 3 GBA games to get all of them? And two DS systems?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

So basicly, DSi is the equivalent of GBC. Is that a fair comparison ?

DSi will play all DS games (no GBA games) and have new games of its own that cannot be played on DS or DSL. Yet, DSi is not the next-gen DS2 that's expected by gamers and the industry sometime around 2010 or later (but hasn't been announced).[/b]
In the way that you describe it in the second paragraph, yeah, it's similar to the GB/GBC split. The GBC added a lot more to GB than DSi does to DS, though. GBC also didn't cut out a major feature, though things like the link cable were replaced/redesigned.

Am I the only one who noticed that they finally nuked the retarded sound slider and replaced it with real buttons?

I hadn't noticed that. Another nice minor improvement. Especially annoying when playing stylus heavy games and a finger on my left hand used to hold the system would interfere with the volume.

I wonder if the DSi camera is capable of taking animations instead of just still shots.

I don't know what would prevent it. I assume the DS screen(s) will be used as a viewfinder, which is the same as real-time video. It would just need to save that or transmit it.

So we are like, just gonna say, "Nahh, Nintendo shouldn't have the DS play N64 games, it won't work".

What the fuck people?

Absolutely defeatist attitude.

The controls could work well in some cases, but it seems problematic enough in general that waiting until the next major handheld generation wouldn't bother me.

The GBA wasn't compatible with GB link cable games or GBC IR port, but the world kept turning.

The GBA could do GB link cable games, but you needed a GBC link cable.

Well, I don't think they officially announced a US price, but DSi seems expensive if it's going to be priced around $180.

The US didn't see the price increase Japan did with the DS Lite. However, it doesn't seem likely that Japan will keep seeing price increases while the US price stays flat, so maybe it'll be something like $150.

 

[Ghost]

Oh it's not dual touchscreen? Screw that then. Don't want a SD card based music player, don't need another shitty camera in my pocket, or a web browser that will only work in WiFi zones.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you need all 3 DS games, and at least 3 GBA games to get all of them? And two DS systems?

Well, the DS ones you can trade with other people for online. If you haven't seen a Pokémon, though, you can't try and trade for one.

 

[Azure Dream]

oh shit

this is actually the most important one

With the talk of the DS Download Stations becoming Nintendo Zones, I'm wondering if they'll have kiosks that let you transfer your currently-owned GBA games (with saves) to SD Card, or something of that nature. It's not too much of a stretch, considering they had a flashcart-based service in Japan for a long time.

It's a sad day for Nintendo fans, as the Kyoto games giant has announced the closure of Nintendo Power, the Super Famicom and Game Boy store download service previously available in Japan. Phew...

The Nintendo Power service allowed Japanese gamers to download various Super Famicom and Game Boy games onto special flash RAM cartridges, via shop download kiosks - and due to their single-state nature piracy wasn't much of a problem either.

A similar service for the Nintendo 64, 'iQue' was launched in China in 2003.

Various classics such as Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country 1-3 and Kirby's Dream Course were available on the service, but download kiosks (the ones left anyway) needed to attain the ROMs are now being dragged out of Japanese stores and taken to the big Shibuya corner shop in the sky.

It's possible the DSi might be able to mimic the functionality of the GBA port for games like that, maybe as something you set up ahead of time.

 

[rollingstart]

i'll get it, but it is pretty underwhelming.

 

[Haunted]

 

[AnimeTheme]

I don't know what would prevent it. I assume the DS screen(s) will be used as a viewfinder, which is the same as real-time video. It would just need to save that or transmit it.

The major obstacle I can imagine is cost. Still-shot camera should be a lot cheaper than video-capable camera. Besides, I wonder if the processing power of NDS is high enough to put video feature into good uses.

 

[Graphics Horse]

The GBA could do GB link cable games, but you needed a GBC link cable.

Yeah, I had a feeling I was wrong about that once I'd posted this!

Thanks for the specifics of the seeing a pokemon thing, I don't think there will be too many Pokefans who don't already have a DS though.

 

[Graphics Horse]

The major obstacle I can imagine is cost. Still-shot camera should be a lot cheaper than video-capable camera. Besides, I wonder if the processing power of NDS is high enough to put video feature into good uses.

Hint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tabPVKOebT4

 

[Tim-E]

Am I the only one that doesn't miss the glossy shell at all?

 

[TheGreatDave]

Am I the only one that doesn't miss the glossy shell at all?

No.

 

[Masklinn]

The major obstacle I can imagine is cost. Still-shot camera should be a lot cheaper than video-capable camera. Besides, I wonder if the processing power of NDS is high enough to put video feature into good uses.

The cameras are 300,000 pixels, cell phones could handle that 5 years ago and shoot video from them, and the DS is a tad more powerful than a 5 years old cell phone.

Am I the only one that doesn't miss the glossy shell at all?

Absolutely not, it's one of the major reasons why I'll probably get a DSi (on top of my current DSL). Glossy sucks.

 

[rollingstart]

Wait, so this actually has black borders around DS games and doesn't stretch them? that would be bullshit if true.

 

[xfactor]

These sites say 3 megapixel for the camera on the lid
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6198455.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/10/02/nintendo_dsi_launched/
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/nintendo-unveils-new-dsi-console

These sites say 0.3 megapixel for the camera
http://ds.ign.com/articles/915/915507p1.html

WTF? but I'll go with 0.3 megapixel as the correct one

 

[TheGreatDave]

Wait, so this actually has black borders around DS games and doesn't stretch them? that would be bullshit if true.

Well, the comparison flash thing on Nintendo's Japanese site doesn't make it look that way.

 

[lopaz]

K I missed everthing, I'm confused, is this like a GC>GBC thing where there will be games that only work on DSi (apart from downloadables) cause the bigger screen suggests that

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

Sooooooooooooooo, did Nintendo just render Guitar Hero On Tour useless?

 

[Riskbreaker23]

man, you gotta be kidding me. i just finally got around to buying a DS a few months ago and now they come out with a new one.

it there a way for older DS's to acces the DSWare store?

 

[lopaz]

Sooooooooooooooo, did Nintendo just render Guitar Hero On Tour useless?

And the Tony Hawk game, woo

 

[ToyMachine228]

Is that a decent quality camera, or nah?

 

[Chorazin]

Bought day one. My DSL is in very sorry shape, and I haven been thinking of getting a new DSL anyways, so this is a no brainer.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

And the Tony Hawk game, woo

Seriously, how the fuck can they do that?

If Sony or Microsoft did something like that, NintendoGAF would be all over it like flies on shit. I'm surprised no one seems to be caring about this.

Rumble pak? Useless too.

 

[Epiphyte]

Seriously, how the fuck can they do that?

If Sony or Microsoft did something like that, NintendoGAF would be all over it like flies on shit. I'm surprised no one seems to be caring about this.

Rumble pak? Useless too.

Oh God no, however will we play Metroid Prime Pinball without it?

This is about as consequential as the slim PS2 not supporting the HDD. No one cares except for a few neckbeards on the internet who already own a DS with a fucking GBA slot and whose complaints are therefore meaningless.

 

[Stumpokapow]

This is about as consequential as the slim PS2 not supporting the HDD. No one cares except for a few neckbeards on the internet who already own a DS with a fucking GBA slot and whose complaints are therefore meaningless.

Nintendo of America is comarketing Guitar Hero On Tour and Guitar Hero On Tour Decades. GHOT is the best-selling DS title this year. GHOTD is the biggest DS title this Christmas. They just featured GHOTD in their E3 conference as an example of what to look forward to from third parties.

You don't think that's a mixed message?

 

[Panajev2001a]

This is about as consequential as the slim PS2 not supporting the HDD.

WHAT ?!?

IT HAD LIKE 1 SINGLE GAME GOING FOR IT AND IT WAS JUST AN MMO!!!!!!!!

PS2's HDD was an expensive add-on really underused while the GBA slot was built-in and not an add-on already used for quite a bit of stuff besides GBA backward compatibility...

Gasp... *breathing air*...

.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

Oh God no, however will we play Metroid Prime Pinball without it?

This is about as consequential as the slim PS2 not supporting the HDD. No one cares except for a few neckbeards on the internet who already own a DS with a fucking GBA slot and whose complaints are therefore meaningless.

OK, forget the rumble pack.

Guitar Hero?

 

[Phife Dawg]

Sooooooooooooooo, did Nintendo just render Guitar Hero On Tour useless?

Yes, once DSi is released all DS Lites (and the remaining Phats) will cease to function.

 

[Epiphyte]

OK, forget the rumble pack.

Guitar Hero?

I'm sure Activision is cursing Iwata's name

But who cares? Guitar Hero on tour was shit.

 

[Crumpet Trumpet]

It looks like an ugly version of the Lite :/

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Is that a decent quality camera, or nah?

For use on DS screens or SD TV? Sure. Beyond that, it's outclassed by anything with serious camera functionality.

 

[{Mike}]

Basically PSP still a better package?

 

[beelzebozo]

the ds library is good enough to stand on its own. this is going to sound bizarre, but it always weirds me out that there's nothing on that second screen when i play gba games on my ds lite--i just wish they could put the title screen of the game or SOMETHING on there. so dumb, i know, but it irks me.

anyway, this looks cool. i want one. DOWNLOADABLE LOLO GAME PLEASE, HAL

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm assuming the camera can be used to do video chat?

 

[Pureauthor]

What I don't get is why they would remove the GBA slot. They must have done it for some reason but from our perspective, it makes very little sense.

 

[AzerPhire]

Where are the game Nintendo? This year has been absolutely terrible for 1st party Wii and DS releases.

 

[RevenantKioku]

oh shit

this is actually the most important one

This just means more DS remakes.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

Yes, once DSi is released all DS Lites (and the remaining Phats) will cease to function.

So, let's say this. If I'm one of the few people who doesn't own a DS at all (they DO exist), so I decide to take the plunge on a DSi assuming ALL DS games can be played on it.

So I fork out money for Guitar Hero, one of the most popular games on the planet. Only to take it home and find out I can't play it?

This isn't a problem to you?

 

[PhoenixDark]

So they add a lo-fi camera, take out the GBA slot...and raise the price? Brilliant

 

[Stumpokapow]

What I don't get is why they would remove the GBA slot. They must have done it for some reason but from our perspective, it makes very little sense.

Branding and marginal cost savings.

The latter is obvious, but the former is more subtle. A lot of companies just pack as many features as possible into a product and oftentimes the actual point of the product gets lost in the shuffle. Is the PSP primarily a games machine, a UMD movie machine, or a digital multimedia machine? Now we probably say games, but for a while there no one knew what the point was.

I have to wonder whether or not the idea behind removing the slot might be NCL's way of saying that the purpose of the DSi is connectivity; downloadable content, hotspot usage, wii connectivity. I don't think it's quite like how one of the reasons Sony killed PS2 BC was to encourage forward adoption of the PS3 as a software platform, but there's an element of that too. Don't look at your DSi as the successor to the GBA, look at it as this yadda yadda pr bullshit yadda yadda

Past marginal cost savings there is no technical reason to do this. The GBA processor is still there. The savings in space would not justify the removal even if they are a tiny side benefit. It's not enabling bigger screen size really...

 

[camineet]

Some guesses for what Nintendo will do beyond DSi, meaning for DS2 / next-gen DS:


*two 4-inch screens of higher quality & resolution (480p)
*one screen is a regular touchscreen like DS
*other screen is multi-touchscreen
*tilt sensors
*CPU/GPU somewhat less than Wii, but on par with GCN,
slightly better than current PSP
*48-64 MB RAM
*7 megapixel camera
*built-in / downloadable web browser thats actually useful
*internet phone capable, including Skype
*MP3 player
*faster WiFi
*better microphone, better speakers
*DS, DSi compatible
*completely integrated into a more comprehensive 'Nintendo Online' network for downloads & communication & more
*$149.99
*late 2010 release, 1 year ahead of Wii HD

 

[Barrett2]

So, will this have access to NES & SNES VC games, or not?

If so, insta-buy. If not, Nintendo can suck my nuts.

 

[Epiphyte]

What I don't get is why they would remove the GBA slot. They must have done it for some reason but from our perspective, it makes very little sense.

Space

They had to cram the flash memory somewhere and the GBA slot is just dead wood for 99% of DS applications.