E3 2004: Nintendo DS steps into the limelight

News - Nintendo's ambitious new handheld enters the public eye

The once mysterious Nintendo DS handheld console grows less baffling by the hour now as details continue to emerge from the pre-E3 fracas, including official word from Nintendo's mid-morning event. USA Today also weighed in this morning suggesting a US price-point in the region of $150 (which is unconfirmed), whilst also detailing the Bluetooth functionality included which will allow gamers to indulge in multiplayer action sans wires.

We already knew there would be two screens on the device, but it has also been confirmed that one will be touch sensitive in a PDA-fashion allowing for all manner of intriguing gameplay possibilities. A stylus will be used as required with this screen. More over a spot of voice recognition technology will be included (to unique and original ends, we assume), as will 'Wi-Fi' wireless networking capabilities, a la the PSP.

The DS will support both older GBA games and newer DS-specific titles, via two appropriate slots - and the DS media format (which we're told can hold approximately 1gb of data) is apparently of the card variety and is thusly much smaller than the somewhat retro GBA cartridge format.

Technically, the DS offers 3D graphics on both screens via two separate processors, 16-channel sound, and a low-energy consumption rechargeable battery.

Unsubstantiated rumour has it that the DS will actually be called the DS when it goes on sale too - the latest reports rubbishing the original 'Nitro' title rumoured. The system is also said to be slightly more powerful technically than the N64 - which won't be worrying Sony's PS2-beating PSP anytime soon. Not that this seems to concern Nintendo:

"The PSP will not be able to display anything that you cannot do on a current system... we want to do things that you could not do before. We are looking at the creative end," commented games design legend Shigeru Miyamoto in the USA Today piece.

Indeed, this ideology is reflected throughout the product, which "provides developers [with] a newfound canvas not only to create new games today, but also to shape the future of the entire industry," according to the official press release, a thought echoed by Namco's Yoichi Haraguchi, who stated: "It is very nice that we can create games using DS that were not even possible before." I believe this, is the kind of 'sand-box' innovation we're talking about:

Voice recognition could let players simply tell the game what they want it to do. Chat software will let users transmit text messages, handwriting and even drawings to one another. And wireless functions could link players in the same room - or across the country.

DS development is currently being planned at over one-hundred companies internationally apparently, whilst Nintendo plot the following in-house: a Super Mario game, a Metroid game, a WarioWare game and the oddly titled PictoChat, software that lets players send instant text and picture messages. Confirmed third-party games in the offing include Spider-Man 2, a Rayman game, a SpongeBob SquarePants title, a Yu-Gi-Oh! game, a Sonic title, a Bomberman game, a Need for Speed game and a Pac-Man title.

The DS will debut in Japan and North America by the end of 2004, and will be with us in Europe during the first-quarter of 2005. More specifics on the product's launch and line-up is planned soon, as well as pricing confirmation.