Breaking Nintendo DS News

[Opium]

The official North American release date and price has been revealed. Plus more info.

The Nintendo DS will be released on 21/11/04 in North America at the price point of $149.99. Much lower then expected.

PictoChat will come built-in to the Nintendo DS. Your DS will spring to life out of sleep mode when you recieve a new message with this chat software.

Also Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt will come boxed with every Nintendo DS *UPDATE* This is only a multiplayer demo NOT the full game

Certainly some great news. The inclusion of a boxed game is quite amazing. But my sneaking suspisions are that Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is a purely multiplayer DS game. However this is just my speculation, don't hold me to it.

The European and Australian release is still Q1 2005 and December 2nd for Japan. North America will get the DS before Japan

*UPDATE* No Nintendo DS game will have Password save. Every DS game will have battery backup.

Important Quotes directly from the Nintendo Press Site:

"Nintendo DS has a flip-top cover that protects both screens. Two speakers on the unit's face let users hear virtual surround sound, while its dual screens open games to a multitude of possibilities. Nintendo DS sits 148.7 millimeters (5.85 inches) wide, 84.7 millimeters (3.33 inches) long and 28.9 millimeters (1.13 inches) tall with the cover closed. The new media format for games means that Nintendo DS has no moving parts that could be misaligned if the unit is dropped or jarred.

"Embedded PictoChat software that allows up to 16 users to chat at once, embedded real-time clock, date, time and alarm, touch-screen calibration"

"Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use"

"The voice capabilities also could allow gamers to chat with one another over the Internet while playing."

Not confirmed news, signs point to being true:

-The Nintendo DS will only be released in one colour scheme (silver & black) at release
-The Nintendo DS will most likely be region-free as the PictoChat software built in is in a variety of different languages (English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian)

4 New Nintendo DS Images:

NDS1
NDS2
NDS3
NDS4

 

[Devis0r]

That is sweet!

 

[ZeminkoX]

Oh yeah baby! I hope Metroid Hunters: First Hunt comes boxed with the European release too... it better.

 

[Game316]

Thats some good news. More closer to paying it off

.

 

[_lufia_]

THis is ssooooo coool

o don't know if I'm going to buy it but change is very big now because it's cheap. but most of the time if something is cheap it is very bad

so I think about it

 

[Opium]

I'm really excited by the news that there will be a built in real time clock, calander, time and alarm. Can anyone say PDA? It looks like the DS will have it's own mini operating system, PictoChat. Perhaps more PDA applications are available in PictoChat that don't revolve around multiplayer.

Also note the battery length is between 6-10 hours. Lower than I expected

I guess the 10 hours is for if it's in sleep mode the whole time. However it says that's running on a 4 hour charge. The question is, is a 4 hour charge charging the battery to it's fullest. My bet is that it is.
There are 4 new pictures of the DS as well, I'm just grabbing the big 600kb+ versions directly from Nintendo (on my 56k). I'll upload some smaller versions once I've got them.

 

[Dark_Lord Malik]

*points at the battery life and laughs* what a short battery life DS has...............
It`s a great news but i am still waiting for the PSP...

 

[_lufia_]

I have a question:
For that picto chat do you have te go online with de Nds or is it just that you can sent a message in about 1Km because I heard something about that. Is this true or not?

 

[Smirre]

WOW what a machine this will be!!

 

[Opium]

I have a question:
For that picto chat do you have te go online with de Nds or is it just that you can sent a message in about 1Km because I heard something about that. Is this true or not?

I'm assuming you can connect to a hotspot and chat with people all over the world with PictoChat. Voice chat is also possible all over the world. You could even play a game AND talk with someone at the same time.

Here are the new images:

NDS1
NDS2
NDS3
NDS4

 

[Harsky]

I will admit that the NDS is making my anticipation meter go off the scale but I have small things that I don't like about it. Why no analogue stick? It works with the Neo Geo Pocket Color. I wonder if someone will make a homebrew internet browser?

 

[IxthusTiger]

Well I heard that the D-Pad is ANALOG but I think I also saw an internal pic of the DS and the d-pad wasn't analog

 

[benzxi]

i just have a big feeling the DS won't do much as a gaming unit. (maybe my frustration on a pda-gamephone aka, ngage).

besides, if ever i think to buy one, it'l take around 2 years to finally buy one. let the prices fall, let the dev
t community figure out how to use other methods of game storage, etc, etc, etc. just my personal feeling.

 

[Dedale]

is there a store where we can pre-order it (other than lik-sang !) ?

 

[benzxi]

Nintendo has confirmed that the system will be backward compatible with Game Boy Advance games, but will not support system-link multiplayer in GBA games due to the DS' lack of link cable port.

from ign.

although it's backward compatible, no link cable? *sigh*

 

[Chiaki]

Nintendo has confirmed that the system will be backward compatible with Game Boy Advance games, but will not support system-link multiplayer in GBA games due to the DS' lack of link cable port.

from ign.

although it's backward compatible, no link cable? *sigh*

I guess it will be WLAN compatible with the new GBA Wireless link cable

 

[Lily]

This is the best news, ever! A low price point, good battery life, a boxed game included with the system..*faints*.

I lub you, Nintendo.

 

[ZeminkoX]

This might be a bit off-topic... but I've always wondered is... where exactly do you put the stylus?

Is there a compartment for it or do you just leave it lying around next to the DS?

 

[matt1freek]

They say theres a place for the stylus but i havent seen it in any of the pictures.

 

[soul2soul]

*points at the battery life and laughs* what a short battery life PSP has...............
It will be 3 hours or so