Nintendo DS2 announcement at E3, DSi XL owners do the slow burn

[Eel O'Brian]

http://gizmodo.com/5493350/developers-nintendo-ds2-to-be-revealed-at-e3-with-accelerometer-and-higher+res-screens

There was one last piece of information we hadn't heard before—supposedly the DS2 will perform most similarly to a GameCube or Wii, based on the dev kit. It could also run on a Tegra chip, so speedy performance would be a certain if so.

[archie4208]

Nintendo is cold blooded to sell a $190 system weeks before it becomes obsolete.

[maxy]

Old news,i saw that few days ago...

But 2 screens that can transform into one...i like

[Eel O'Brian]

it is not old news here

or is it

[maxy]

No,EB is always late

[archie4208]

Except when exploiting Xbox Live Gold memberships.

[cool breeze]

so, what exactly could Sony do with the next PSP that would make anyone want it over this or the ipod touch? I think the PSP is maybe the best handheld (hardware wise) but I think they're pretty much fucked if any of that is true.

I wouldn't be surprised either if the "HD" they're talking about is just the combined resolutions of both screens. 

[maxy]

There are some rumors that Sony is positioning next PSP against iphone,not DS2.

[Eel O'Brian]

two analog sticks

[cool breeze]

There are some rumors that Sony is positioning next PSP against iphone,not DS2.

Have any walkman devices been as popular as the ipod? or have any of their SE smart phones been able to rival the iphone (the Xperia is the only one I know by name)?

I still don't see a huge advantage there.  And two analog sticks will be nice but I don't think it will really matter to most people. 

[Eel O'Brian]

it's pretty much the only thing which would get me to buy a psp2, although i could live with one stick and a touchscreen for swipe-look in fps

[Raban]

I want this, but at the same time I don't want this.

[cool breeze]

it's pretty much the only thing which would get me to buy a psp2, although i could live with one stick and a touchscreen for swipe-look in fps

Agreed.  I think iphone FPS games would control well if there was a more reliable way to control the character.  That metal gear iphone game only needed you to aim using the touch screen and I though that controlled really well.  Only minor issue is that it isn't textured and that's understandable.  I don't know if anyone has ever used that logitech dinovo mini keyboard, but that has a little thumb trackpad in the top right that doubles as a direction pad.  Before touch screens became almost mandatory, I would have liked that to take the place of a second stick on the PSP2 or DS2.

[maxy]

are there any pics

how does maxy know about the screens?

I read that,this is the source of this rumor

One of my missions for Game Developers Conference 2010 was to get more information on the successor to the Nintendo DS. I heard some cool rumblings about it in February and wanted to use the show to pester developers for confirmation. While nobody would tell me the name of the new handheld or the exact dimensions, I was able to extract some pretty cool tidbits on the “DS2″.

    * The system has two screens, just like the DS, but they are bigger and higher resolution. I’m sure most of you could have guessed that, but the interesting part is that the gap between the two screens is negligible. Developers will be able to use them as one giant screen. At the very least, this will allow for some awesome cutscenes. It also has some potentially cool gameplay potential, with developers shifting the action from dual screen to single screen depending on the situation.
    * The next Nintendo handheld has an accelerometer. I blame the iPhone for this. Everything has to have an accelerometer now. Yesterday I bought a sandwich at the Moscone Center and it had an accelerometer in it.
    * The dev kit is similar in power to the GameCube. Developers that worked on GameCube or Wii games will find it easy to create with. I found this information unusual. The DS successor is rumored to use an Nvidia Tegra chip, while the GameCube and Wii have PowerPC CPUs and ATI GPUs. The people familiar with the dev kit made it sound like there wasn’t much of a learning curve on the new system. I have to admit that I’m not familiar enough with Tegra, but I imagined developing for a system-on-a-chip platform to be different enough from developing for a CPU/GPU system. It could be ignorance on my part or maybe the DS2 uses something other than Tegra.
    * The developers I spoke with will be finished with their games before the end of the year. The Nintendo DS is still going strong and the company could delay the next handheld’s release if it wanted to, but it looks like an E3 2010 announcement and a late 2010 release.

[Don Flamenco]

There are some rumors that Sony is positioning next PSP against iphone,not DS2.

Have any walkman devices been as popular as the ipod? or have any of their SE smart phones been able to rival the iphone (the Xperia is the only one I know by name)?

I still don't see a huge advantage there.  And two analog sticks will be nice but I don't think it will really matter to most people. 

The original cassette walkman in the 80s.   Xperia is shit...horrible OS.  People buy it because they think they're distinguishing themselves from iPhone users.  Which they are...by paying more for something that is worse.  


on topic, if this is all true, the DS2 sounds tasty...but it better have some dual analog solution.   This sounds a little too high tech for Nintendo though.  Gamecube graphics on a handheld, screens that can be pushed together to make one big screen, etc. 

[ManaByte]

The rumours are nice but I don't buy the GameCube level of power. Typical Nintendo fanbots dreaming, besides that much power would be going to waste in any kind of handheld IMO.

Hmm or maybe not... Xbox level of graphics in the palm of your hand? For it to be convenient the 2 screens together would have to have a total 10" at the very least (like a netbook).

Gamecube level of power would be slightly better than the PSP. Not too surprising really.

The DS was basically a N64 without the blur.

[maxy]

It will probably be the same or better in some ways than Gamecube/Wii/Xbox and worse in(many) others.

If the rumor is true...

[magus]

i still have my fat with a borked touch screen
is there any point in a DS2 anyway? i mean the thing prints money anyway!

[Phoenix Dark]

Why release it this year? The DS should have another year or two in its belt. Or is Nintendo more interested in getting the iPhone audience

[dark1x]

I'd love to see this turn out to be true.

Whatever this will be it will put a nail into PSP coffin. And PSPGo's casket too.

The PSP and DS are the same age, though.  It would make sense that the leader from a previous generation of handhelds would eclipse a last generation effort from the competition.

Tegra means PSP pwnt

Again, I don't see how that's unexpected.  The PSP was released at the end of 2004 and it still competes on the mobile graphics front very well.  I'm surprised it has taken this long.

[BlueTsunami]

Tegra means PSP pwnt and possibly what PSP2 has (will probably be equal which'll pull the rug out from under Sony).

The rumours are nice but I don't buy the GameCube level of power. Typical Nintendo fanbots dreaming, besides that much power would be going to waste in any kind of handheld IMO.

Hmm or maybe not... Xbox level of graphics in the palm of your hand? For it to be convenient the 2 screens together would have to have a total 10" at the very least (like a netbook).

I remember reading somewhere that Tegra is able to run CoD4 at like 1280x1024... or was it Tegra 2? Either way I would imagine at the screen size the DS2 will sport, we'll be getting great graphics quality.

[MCD]

even if the psp or psp2 specs are better, this means we are finally gonna have nice looking games on a nintendo handheld.

[Himu]

I can start my "this is my final generation as a gamer" starting with the ds2, then.

Bring it, Nintendo. I won't buy it.

[Fragamemnon]

Bring it, Nintendo. I won't buy it.

Whatever, you'll buy it when the wacky jappy gets translated over and you know it.

[twerd]

even if the psp or psp2 specs are better, this means we are finally gonna have nice looking games on a nintendo handheld.

I hope you're talking strictly 3D.

[EmCeeGrammar]

Now that I'm in home with hd sets... its soooo important nintendo releases the wii hd now.  DS who cares.

[MCD]

even if the psp or psp2 specs are better, this means we are finally gonna have nice looking games on a nintendo handheld.

I hope you're talking strictly 3D.

>implying 2D is relevant.

[cool breeze]

Why release it this year? The DS should have another year or two in its belt. Or is Nintendo more interested in getting the iPhone audience

They are on the fourth DS revision and they don't have a lot of big DS games planned except for Golden Sun 3, and I don't know if that is really a "big" game in terms of how popular it'll be in the west.  Gameboy Micro, the third revision of the GBA, was actually released about a year after the DS.  I don't think they will drop the DS, but they should be getting something out there since I think the DS is slowing down and they shouldn't really be willing to give up that ground to Sony or Apple.  The DS2 will probably be backwards comparable anyway.

And if the tech is where they say it's at, I wouldn't be surprised to see the DS2 getting more support than the Wii.  I'd even say that they'd probably move DQX to the DS2 if the timing is right.

even if the psp or psp2 specs are better, this means we are finally gonna have nice looking games on a nintendo handheld.

I hope you're talking strictly 3D.

you say this but a lot of DS games, even the ones that play like 2D games, are 3D and look butt ugly.  Most of the Nintendo games are even 3D like NSMB, Zelda games, Mario Kart, Metroid Quake clone, StarFox, etc.

[OptimoPeach]

Is iPhone gaming really thriving that much?

[Don Flamenco]

Is iPhone gaming really thriving that much?

yeah, it has a fuckton of games and is growing at a ridiculous rate.  

it threatens to undermine the whole blue ocean approach...blue ocean depends on people buying your system in the first place.  any iphone owner (and I guess iPad owner in the future, if the thing manages to sell well) can make a pretty quick calculation-- do I want to casually game on the thing I already own with games that are at least a 1/3rd of the cost, if not only a dollar or two, or do I buy this $100+ system with games that are $20 to $40?  

Not saying Nintendo is on the ropes, since kids in their pre-teens, tweens, and early teens won't own iphones, but iphone gaming could be a problem in targeting a casual market.  

[Phoenix Dark]

I can start my "this is my final generation as a gamer" starting with the ds2, then.

Bring it, Nintendo. I won't buy it.

*BREAKING NEWS* DS2 Announced, Final Fantasy: Vanille Mech Training launch title

Himu: day one uguuuuu

[Himu]

I can start my "this is my final generation as a gamer" starting with the ds2, then.

Bring it, Nintendo. I won't buy it.

*BREAKING NEWS* DS2 Announced, Final Fantasy: Vanille Mech Training

Himu: day one uguuuuu

 

If there's one thing I've learned from FF13 it's this: I've grown out of Final Fantasy.

So if they announced an FF game for ds2, it'd be hard getting excited unless it was a (funny enough) a remake. And even then, who gives a fuck, it's a remake.

[Phoenix Dark]

smh himu 

[Don Flamenco]

yeah, I thought he liked it too

[Himu]

Wow I missed this turn, now you dont like FFXIII again?

pre-launch himu: FF 
hours to a week after launch himu: FF uguu
week and more after launch himu: FF ive outgrown it

I didn't say I disliked it, but I've definitely outgrown FF. The writing and gameplay pacing is atrocious, but thankfully the battle system is fun (in spurts).

I have a feeling that if I played my favorite FF's (5, 6, and 8 ) today with voice acting, I'd feel the same way.

 It's possible to like something while being critical.

[Oblivion]

There was one last piece of information we hadn't heard before—supposedly the DS2 will perform most similarly to a GameCube or Wii

but will it have texture filtering

[pilonv1]

So Luigi's Mansion and Wave race as launch titles? Got it.

[etiolate]

There are some rumors that Sony is positioning next PSP against iphone,not DS2.

like they were positioning the original PSP against the ipod?

[Kestastrophe]

like they were positioning the original PSP against the ipod?

I don't think it was positioned against the ipod (which would have to be older models and video ipods, since touch wasn't out and apple wasnt in games). They had virtually no digital download service, with the psp only getting a version of psn store in the last few years, something that would be required for them to seriously steal market share. Sure they marketed it as a multi-device (which it is in fact pretty good at), but Sony was pimpin their own proprietary format. I think the PSP was devised with core gamers in mind, its too bad that they were so shortsighted about the lack of a second analog and their software philosophy (if they even have one) of porting console games/genres onto a handheld.

still, <3 PSP

[originalz]

I still think that the DS has some life left in it, but oh well, I'll probably buy this anyway, hopefully it won't be region-locked!

I'm more concerned about whether or not the DS2 will play original DS/DSiWare games.  For the first year or so of the DS, I mainly used it to play GBA games, heh.

[GilloD]

Is iPhone gaming really thriving that much?

It does well, but it's real power is that it touches on a lot of markets where people wouldn't dream of buying a DS/PSP.

[Bebpo]

I'd be ok with DS2 and no PSP2 if I wasn't sure Nintendo would make a lot of boneheaded decisions to cripple the hardware like friend codes & awful online integration & completely closed system.

PSP2 likely would have ad-hoc party/xmb built in, meaning real online play w/friends list and everything, which given how multiplayer focused most handheld games are these days (which in principal seems silly since most of the time you would play a handheld game on the go you are not with groups of people) would be a good thing.


PSP has been a really good system with a library that feels very different from the DS library.  I'm not sure if a DS2 even with great graphics would be able to inherit PSP-style games and that would make me ;_;

[cubicle47b]

Just give me a new Wars or Fire Emblem game and I'll hand over the money.  I've been playing a lot of Days of Ruin lately.