The rumour mill just won’t die down on the subject of the Nintendo DS’s successor and Gameinformer are continuing this trend. Developers at GDC have apparantly been heard discussing the DS2 specs and what to expect from the console. Even though these remain total rumours, the information is interesting to say the least. Have a look for yourself…
- Two screens that are larger than what the DS offers, but the gap between the two is so small that both screens can be better utilized for making one big picture
- Development kits comparable to GameCube
- Devs say there isn’t much of a learning curve
- Devs looking to finish up their DS2 game development by the end of the year
- Some devs think we could get an E3 2010 announcement, along with a release before 2010 closes out
I would be very surprised if there wasn’t an accelerometer in the next DS. The iphone has some great games based around that function and I imagine Nintendo will follow suit. The lack of a gap between the two screens also makes sense and if the graphics are comparable with the GC/Wii, then I’ll be a happy man! Though I still reckon a release before the end of the year is out of the question as the DS1 is still selling too well.
What do you guys think?
More sales data and this time for North America courtesy of NPD. The Nintendo DS leads the pack and broke its own record for monthly sales with a total of over 613,000. The previous best month the handheld had was back in February 2009 with 597,000 units.
Apparant shortages in the US of the Wii meant that the Xbox 360 took second place for the month and the Playstation family took up the last positions.
Nintendo DS 613.2K
Xbox 360 422.0K
Wii 397.9K
PlayStation 3 360.1K
PSP 133.4K
PlayStation 2 101.9K
Head inside for Nintendo’s press release regarding the months NPD figures.
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Giant Europeans are being reminded by Nintendo that their large DSi XL is out this week. Of course you don’t have to be a giant to have one, you might just prefer playing games on big-ish screens but having big pockets will be a bonus!
Head inside for NOE’s press release.
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We all know that Nintendo have done well with the Wii, especially in western markets, but it’s not doing too bad in its homeland either. The company have just announced that the console has passed the 10 million mark sold in Japan.
Since the Wii launched in the region on 2nd December 2006, the last count stands at 10,009,736 units according to Enterbrain. In comparison the PS3 has sold 4,766,408 units and Xbox 360 1,235,049 units. However the Wii has taken slightly longer to reach the 10 million milestone than the PS2 which clocked that figure in 131 weeks compared to the Wii’s 170 weeks.
No doubt Nintendo can keep up this momentum atleast through 2010 with such a strong first and third party release schedule.
It’s hardly surprising that Nintendo have quashed rumours of new hardware coming from them anytime soon. In fact Sony and Microsoft are happily echoing the same statements. With such large investment in this generation from developers and the platform holders, not to mention the continued sales success of Wii and DS, it seems there is less of a rush to get new hardware out within the next year or two just to keep in line with past trends.
The jump in technology and visuals is not so big and the need for an ‘upgrade’ is not as great as it has been in the past.
Nintendo was quite right five years ago saying that we have reached a level where simply improving graphics is not the key to growth in the industry. The Wii and DS have proven this with with motion and touch screen controls and it seems Sony and Microsoft now agree and are proving it with Natal and the Sony Wand.
Head inside to see what Cammie Dunaway had to say on the subject.
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Today Nintendo are outlining their major releases across the world for the rest of this year and to go with these announcements comes one of the longest press releases of all time… ever!
Head inside and have a read!
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Nintendo have announced today that the latest model in the DS range - the DSi XL - is to be released stateside next month on March 28th for $189.99.
Nintendo of America’s Cammie Dunaway also mentioned that “100 Classic Books” will ship June 15th for the console priced at $19.99.
It’s not really that surprising to see Nintendo dominating with sales of Virtual Console games in 2009 seeing as most of the games on VC are Nintendo developed, but we thought you might like to see this sales analysis graph from Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment (FADE) anyway as not much data is released about VC and WiiWare games (and it’s a slow news day!).
As you can also see, Nintendo has much fewer profit from the WiiWare pie where most revenue is generated by third party devs. WiiWare had a good year last year as sales were up overall about 30% from 2008.
Don’t you just love sales graphs? No! Only us then!
Head inside for the accompanying press release.
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Nintendo ruled the roost again in the US in January, outselling all competition once again. Who said the Wii was dying? In total 465,000 Wii consoles were sold for the month and 422,000 DS systems during the period.
Head inside to hear Nintendo boasting once again!
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The Big N are planning a select press event in the US on February 24th which coincides with the previously announced media summit by Nintendo of Europe last week. It seems that a few big announcements may be made at the event, however whether the news will be made public or kept embargoed is not known.
With The Japanese Nintendo magazine and Official Nintendo magazine also hinting that a something special is on the horizon in March, all we can do now is speculate! Could this be related to the new hardware that was rumoured to be announced at GDC? Maybe Nintendo are going to update Pilotwings for me on Wii?!
Who knows, but as soon as we do, you will.
”That’s right – I suggest you mark 12 March in your diaries now, as we have something very special lined up. That’s all I can say for now, so until then, enjoy the mag!” – Official Nintendo Magazine
What I love about the games industry in general is the amount of guessing and rumours that fly around. Of course some are more credible than others and some are just plain stupid. We’re not sure where this rumour lies but it is just that - a rumour!
A ‘major international publisher’ reportedly told videogamer.com that we can expect a new Nintendo platform at this years GDC.
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Hey when you’re doing well, it’s good to shout about it. That’s exactly what Nintendo were doing yesterday with their hardware and software sales.
For those who want exact details of just how well Nintendo are doing, hit the link to see their full gloating press release. Well done!
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