DS Gets Vision

[Scathraax]

However, no games will be offered, it would seem.


From the article:

November 29, 2007 - Remember AM3 and its attempt at bringing downloadable anime to the Game Boy Advance? They're back with their latest product, and this time it's for the world-beating DS.

The company unveiled today DSvision, a download service that promises to bring comics, books, magazines, anime, movies, and television programs to the Japanese DS. The service downloads content to special microSD flash cards, which are then plugged into the DS via a special adapter cartridge.

Fully licensed by Nintendo, the service will begin in full force over in Japan in March 2008. In coopration with its majority share-holder Dai Nippon Printing, a major Japanese printing company, am3 will open up an online shop for downloading content. The firms will also be working with NTT for the distribution of movies and other high memory content.

Specific titles were not announced today, but am3 does have high hopes for the service. The firm expects to capture 10% of the DS's current 20 million userbase. When the service starts, it expects to have 300 titles available for download, expanding to 10,000 by 2010. am3 hopes to reach 20,000,000 downloads per year by 2010, with total sales of one billion yen over the next three years.

Pricing for content was also not announced today, but the firm expects the priciest content to go for 1,000 yen, or close to $10 US.

In January, am3 will hold a test of the service. Interested parties will be able to purchase a 3,980 yen set consisting of the microSD adapter cartridge, a 512 megabyte special microSD card designed for exclusive use with the DS Vision service, and a USB reader. In the future, the firm is considering offering the adapter for free in order to minimize barriers to the service.

This service is only for Japan at the moment. However, with Nintendo's full backing, if the service takes off, we wouldn't be surprised to see it expand to other territories.

Source

 

[Nero]

They're going the Flashcart way, eh?

We got ComicBookDS for Comics/Manga and we got Moonshell/LMP for Videos/Music.

I bet it's gonna fail bad.

~Nero

 

[Saylient_Dreams]

I'm kinda hoping that their video play back is somehow more open to other file types tan having to convert all the time to .dpg, it's just nice to put other videos without converting sometimes, but from what I understand, the DS doesn't have enough power. So either this will have some hardware decoders, or something else. Perhaps Nintendo is planning on selling games through downloads as well, maybe even with some sort of "drm" on them to help protect them from being pirated. That could explain the crack down on rom sites. This also hints at a new redesign IMO, with the built in flash. Download old classics and such like the virtual console, and just copy em to the flash memory either through wireless, or directly from this cart. GBA library is sorta lost because people who have GBA games can't play em, but you could still purchase em from Big N. This could also be another reason why there's the crackdown on rom sites. Just my opinion on this.

Was thinking more about this, I think one good thing that could come out from this is, if Nintendo did do some virtual console thing, then it should be 100% compatibility in all areas. No more worrying if a game will work with or without some fix, or if an updated firmware is needed for a new game. Only problem is, I'm sure Nintendo would protect their roms somehow. Kinda makes sense since Xbox has their Xbox Live service, Sony has their Playstation home that I think is starting to expand to the PSP so you can get PS1 games, and now Nintendo is extending its virtual console. Just my outlook on how this might play out.

 

[Talaria]

Sounds great, going to Japan in June if these things are available i might buy them while i'm over there. Hopefully its not restricted to Japanese DS's only

is it even possible to put some kind of region protection on the DS?

 

[Jax]

How long til it gets hacked to play roms?

 

[Heran Bago]

Sounds great, going to Japan in June if these things are available i might buy them while i'm over there. Hopefully its not restricted to Japanese DS's onlyÂ

is it even possible to put some kind of region protection on the DS?

Technically, yes, but I can't imagine Nintendo would still license it.

 

[enigmaindex]

I have a feeling that people in Japan are going to go crazy over this, not sure why but just a gut feeling.

 

[NightKry]

Well, I know for a fact that the Japanese know about flashcarts anyway... Most of my internet friends over there all have an R4..

 

[Annaaaaa]

How long til it gets hacked to play roms?

i have seen your other posts before and you sound like everything is possible o.O?

however like the games and music doesnt boot .nds files over 4mb so maybe the dsvision works the same way