Nintendo DS Lite...

The Amstor Computer · 26 January, 2006, 05:40:39 PM

Sleek & sexy - not words you'd normally associate with the Nintendo DS. However, the long-rumoured redesign has been unveiled & it looks like a stunner. Several different levels of brightness, full DS features and a remodelled smaller, lighter shell. No loss/addition of functionality as far as I can tell, so it really is just a cosmetic redesign - though as even the most ardent DS fan would admit, a cosmetic redesign for the DS has been long overdue ;-)

Definitely getting this when it launches in Japan. I can donate my silver DS to my wee brother & get some wi-fi Metroid Prime battles going with him - and finally kick his arse in Mario Kart!

Link: http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/breaking/ds-redesign-official-150818.php" target="_blank">Kotaku news link...

Noisybast · 26 January, 2006, 05:59:50 PM

Long overdue? The original version was only released five minutes ago!

IndigoPrime · 26 January, 2006, 06:01:58 PM

I'm not sure with the DS that smaller = better, although a lighter model would definitely be welcome.

The Amstor Computer · 26 January, 2006, 06:16:51 PM

Long overdue? The original version was only released five minutes ago!

It's been out over a year now, and since the design has been a point of contention since the launch, I think "long overdue" is fair enough ;-)

I love my DS, but with a little less heft, a touch smaller, and with the awkward edges gone, this should be what the console should have been from the start (I'm still of the opinion that the original design was a rushjob to get it to market to compete with the PSP)

IP --

It's not a great deal smaller, as far as I can tell. The screens seem to be remaining the same size & it's really just losing the bulk of the original DS (we're not talking GBA SP to GB Micro here!)

Lord Running Clam · 27 January, 2006, 01:35:38 AM

I like the redesign and white suits it.

The only thing I find wrong with the current DS is that I find the shoulder buttons uncomfortable.

I may be in a minority but I've always liked the really chunky DS that Nintendo first showed.

The Amstor Computer · 27 January, 2006, 02:24:15 AM

Clam --

You mean this beastie:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/buttonman/dsprelaunch.jpg">

I quite like aspects of the design - the way the screen "frame" extends across the whole unit, for example - and I do prefer it to the angular final version. However, the Lite trumps both and I can't wait to see a few more shots of the finised unit.

Lord Running Clam · 27 January, 2006, 02:56:17 AM

Yeah,thats the one.

I prefer it when consoles,pads and portables have some weight and heft to them,so I don't need to worry so much about them breaking.

Devons Daddy · 27 January, 2006, 10:22:00 AM

buggers
right after christmas

got my boy this year. never puts the damn thing down.very addictive game play i must admit.
though the PSP is more adult.

IndigoPrime · 27 January, 2006, 06:06:48 PM

:: though the PSP is more adult

GNH! What is WITH that argument? Why is it more "adult"?

Maybe I'm being a right old git, but my single criterion for games is that they should be fun. I don't care if my avatar is Mario in a kart or "bad-ass motherf***er gangsta dude". Actually, I do, because the latter is clearly poorly thought out marketing bollocks.

I don't see trying to make you rebuy the games you already own or the movies you already own as being particularly adult either.

New characters, ideas and innovation strike me as more adult than recycling, but then I remember the days where almost every video game was something new and exciting, rather than an EA-created rehash of an existing title.

(Sorry, DD?I know this sounds like I'm having a go at you, but it really is nothing personal. I've just heard one too many people in GAME convince friends not to buy a DS, because it's somehow "for kids". Maybe they need to check out UK-Resistance's "blue sky" campaign, or stop being taken in by Sony's marketing bollocks.)

The Amstor Computer · 27 January, 2006, 07:08:54 PM

Heh. I've tried to stop getting wound up by the division a lot of people are setting up in their minds - PSP=adult, DS=kids - but it does get me every now & then.

Nintendo are, quite clearly, an all-ages company. They dabble with more mature themes in many of their games, and some are aimed more squarely at an older audience, but they don't really involve themselves in producing the kind of pseudo-adult content that appears on Sony/Microsoft systems. That isn't to say that they discourage it though - looking at the GameCube, it's quite obvious that they were happy to let third parties produce some fairly "adult" titles for their system (Resident Evil, Killer 7, Gun etc.).

Roger Godpleton · 27 January, 2006, 07:23:18 PM

buggers
right after christmas

My thoughts exactly. The DS has made me enjoy gaming once again, and for the first time in ages there are too many new games that I want to play coming out. I got harrassed on the train by some chav-types once for not having the wicked-bad-cool PSP, and my brother once said words to the effect of "It doesn't have GTA on it so it's shit."

Video games are wasted on the young.

Oddboy · 27 January, 2006, 07:45:34 PM

Ah but I heard that GTA: Liberty City Stories will be coming out on PS2 soon anyway - so there's no point in getting a PSP.

The Amstor Computer · 27 January, 2006, 08:09:50 PM

Yup, that's what I'd heard as well. The PSP will see a new GTA game at some point, but it seems crazy to announce the port when the game has not long launched. Of course, there will be plenty who have picked it up already, but for the people who are wavering about buying it - or a PSP - it just seems to remove another reason to purchase.

Krust --

Chavs can fuck off - I've had more fun with my DS than I've had with a console in quite some time. The moment I get on the bus, I'm going to pop on the headphones and have a blast at Ossu Tatakae Ouendan, then I think I'll do some work around my village in Animal Crossing when I get home :-)

Satanist · 27 January, 2006, 08:27:06 PM

I got a DS for xmas and it lurvley. Advance Wars is bus/gaming heaven.

As for the redesign its good to see they seem to have hidden the on/off somewhere as I keep hitting that thinking its the pause button.

WoD · 27 January, 2006, 08:48:11 PM

The DS is lovely, and I finally 'GET' Nintendo (I was a 'near-nintendo-virgin' up to this point to be honest). I know have to fight the wife and the 3 year old to get my hands on it.

One thing that struck me about this news was that Nintendo Europe denied any DS revamp the very day before Nintendo Japan announced this...