Thursday, January 22, 2004
So there it is... breaking news from Nintendo. It has announced a new product called Nintendo DS (temporary name?). It is another portable, but not the successor or replacement of the gameboy advance and SP. It's another product, the third one and will be sold alongside the Cube and GBA. It should be on the shelves at the end of this year (2004). DS stands for DoubleScreen, and that's what makes this portable different. It has two mini TFT-lcd screens (this time with backlight!!) and two separate processors. It has a semiconductor (what the hell is that?) memory of up to 1Gb. That would mean that it is probably not compatible with gba cartridges/software :(
They think having two screens will give the player a whole new and different game experience (a bit as what they did with the gba- Gamecube connectivity). When I think back to the old multiscreen Game &Watches, those were double-screened too, but there you got to go from one screen to the other (and back -- the action is transported to the other screen) so the concept of two screens is not mind-blowingly new. But with this console it's more about simultaneity (if you ask me). For using both screens, they give examples like:
'For example in a soccer game, users can view the whole game on one screen while simultaneously focusing on an individual soccer player's tackle or goal on the other screen' - Nintendo
but to be honest I don't get the whole idea. I mean sure we are used to multi-tasking, but playing a soccer game and at the same time when you are trying to take a shot on goal, focus on a different screen? I already have troubles with seeing what's on that one screen alone! hmm so I cannot really see what the use of it is or imagine the possibilities but I am curious about this new gamegadget. It's from Nintendo so it has to be good! I hope I have any money left (if ever) at the end of this year, I sure would like to have this little toy! See how this will match against the Sony PSP.
They will show their stuff at the E3, I can't wait!
You can find more about the DS on Cubed3
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