Nintendo just emailed us the following announcement of the redesign of the Nintendo DS (dual screen) handheld.
"Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS™. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan in March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter.
Nintendo DS has enjoyed extremely strong sales in Japan and around the world, selling more than 14.4 million units worldwide. The Japanese sell-through of the existing Nintendo DS hardware exceeded 5 million within 13 months, which made Nintendo DS the fastest-selling video game system there.
Nintendo will announce more information about the availability of Nintendo DS Lite in North America and other territories in the future."
Additional details can be found on Nintendo's Japanese site.
Japanese release date: March 2, 2006
Weight: 218g (compare to 275g for the current Nintendo DS)
Dimensions: 133mm x 73.9mm x 21.5mm
Higher-resolution images for you.
And closed:
[Update 2: added higher-res photos.]
[Update 3: added details from Japanese press release.)
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
1-26-2006 @ 10:17AM
jdiddy said...
Nick --
Uh... wow. You made a DS design that looked like the original, except it was white. Awesome.
...not. Your design looks NOTHING like the new DS. Stop being an idiot, no one cares about your stupid blog.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 10:42AM
Josh said...
It looks much more pocketable than the original. I would like to have the brighter screen, but I use my older electric blue DS for homebrew a lot, mostly Moonshell and ScummVM. I wonder how long it will take to crack the lite firmware. And will it need a new PassMe3? I wouldn't buy a lite unless homebrew was possible. And also, I wonder how would the smaller design affect battery capacity.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 11:00AM
CrowsSong said...
But---but if you're resting your right thumb on the buttons, then the odds of accidentally pausing with the thick part of your hand seem much higher in this design. Yech.
Look a little closer. See how the start and select buttons are to the left of the game buttons? Unless you're wrapping your right hand around the bottom of the DS instrad of the right side, there's no way you'll accidentally hit those buttons. Unless you're using your right hand for the D-pad and your left hand for the buttons?
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 11:15AM
Marco said...
Question, my DS came with a best buy service agreement, can i "break" my old ds, and get store credit (instead of a the replacement ds) which might just happen to go towards this redesigned ds? that would be awesome.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 11:21AM
Pixelantes A said...
Are the displays the same size as before?
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 11:30AM
Jacoplane said...
Check out the wikipedia article on the DS Lite:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS_Lite
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 1:30PM
Dan said...
Won't someone PLEASE think of the large-handed gamers?? I'll be sticking with my large, bulky DS, thnak you very much.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 1:45PM
Lazy American said...
What a total crock!!!!
I am a little pissed for a few reasons. First off didnt some big wig at Nintendo just say that there were no plans for a new one before E3??? Is this some kind of hoax? I half hope it is, unless Nintendo is gonna do it like cars where a "different" slightly improved one comes out every year. Its the same damn look only smaller, hardly a "redesign" or at least the one I was looking for. I mean physically they changed the color and moved some buttons, a mic, and the lights so you can see them when its closed, guess i just expected more... come on nintendo get a real job.
The only advantage I see to picking up this one is the brighter screen, definitely needed for daylight play.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 1:54PM
hkpuipui99 said...
Is this an opposite day joke? :-D
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 3:48PM
unreal mccoy said...
I wish it had Play-Yan built in
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 3:57PM
King Bigos said...
The redesign was pointless...
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 4:18PM
owen said...
"Is it me or did they increase the gap between the displays even more (in relation to its new size of course)?"
I dont know, but if you think in scale, the actual gap (if you measured it with a ruler) seems less to me with this new design. I think it's an "optical illusion" that it seems bigger.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 5:53PM
Josh said...
To Lazy American,
What he said was that they had no plans to reveal it at E3. Which is true since it will be available for purchase two months BEFORE E3!
To everyone else who is complaining about a lack of new features, remember:
It is still a DS. They can't change the platform or it wouldn't be a DS anymore. They would have to change the name.
How about one of these?
DS Advance
DS SP
DS XP
iDS
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 6:17PM
TJ said...
"Question, my DS came with a best buy service agreement, can i "break" my old ds, and get store credit (instead of a the replacement ds) which might just happen to go towards this redesigned ds? that would be awesome."
I think you can but its called "fraud" lol
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 6:23PM
TJ said...
I forgot to add.
You guys do know that even if Nintendo release a newer revision of DS, it does not mean that your DS wont work anymore. It will still play all those fun and great games. It has the same functionality and enjoyment factor that it has yesterday/last week.
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 6:58PM
Vagabond Artist said...
YESSSSSSS... so awesome.
Let's hope for the screen tech used in the new SP and the micro.
I love how this comes on the heels of your report stating that a DS redesign won't come until after or around E3.
Brilliant!
Reply
1-26-2006 @ 11:49PM
si2k78 said...
Woohoo!!.. and i was just about to head to wal-mar to pick a DS up this evening... talk about timing. This thing looks sweet. I hope the US release is not far off from the Jap release date. I dont want to have to wait till the summer for this.
Reply
1-27-2006 @ 2:18PM
mike said...
The DS redesign looks JUST like the Revolution controller. I
---
Hmmm... is it possible that this can act as a revolution controller of sorts?
Reply
1-27-2006 @ 11:26PM
lionzub said...
I really hope it comes in good colours like black or blue or whatever. I don't want my gaming system to look like a stupid iPod. Oh if there is any people who have an iPod please take offence to that ;)
Reply
1-28-2006 @ 9:21AM
mike said...
Oh if there is any people who have an iPod please take offence to that ;)
--
only about 42 million.
btw, the PSP looks like a 'stupid' ipod too.. white earbuds are no coincidence.. this is meant to look like a revolution.
Reply