The Nintendo DS was released in 2004 and was more popular than anyone had expected. Its popularity led to Nintendo releasing a newer, slimmer, brighter, sleeker DS in 2006, called the DS lite. Once again, sales of the device were off the charts. Most recently, in 2009 Nintendo put out the third version of the uber popular hand held, the Nintendo DSi, which supports music playback, larger, brighter, screens, two cameras, one external and one internal, downloadable games, and SD card support.
So what is next? The Gameboy Advance, Nintendo's previous hand held, also had three iterations: the Gambeboy Advance, the Advance SP, and the Micro. Is this where the DS stops, or is it just getting going? Could there perhaps be a fourth DS in the works? Most of the evidence points to: yes, there will be another DS.
What would lead crazy ol' me to think this? Well, a few things. Nintendo just gave Nvidia rights to power the next DS console. Keyword, "next." After this announcement, it has been made pretty clear in a number of publications that Iwata will announce this next DS late 2010. Seems a bit too soon, but than again, that is just the announcement, it would probably be released a little less than 3 years after the DSi, which is plenty long enough to wait.
There are a number of reactions to this news. Some of you are probably pretty dang upset about this, and may even be wondering if you should bother upgrading to the DSi, or if you should just hold out for this next model. Others of you are probably happy as a clam to see Nintendo giving you more innovation, as they surely will add all kinds of neat things to this new model. I fall into that second category, though i must admit, I am a little upset about this whole thing. I would much rather see Nintendo give us a whole new experience, something brand new. Thats where they are most talented anyway, right? However, the happy part of me also likes to see that the DS, which is in fact my all time favorite game machine, is far from dieing. This means that games will be getting made for the system for years to come. This makes me really happy, and I am excited to see what they will add onto the already content-packed machine.
It should explain what this Nvidia chip is. First off, I believe it is called "Tegra" and it is what you could call a computer on a chip. The first product it was used on is the Zune HD, and has been put into a number of smart phones. Point is, it seems to be a very powerful little chip, meaning this next Nintendo DS could be a power house... and very pretty graphically.
For all of you that are strongly against this movement, try looking at it this way. There is a new cell phone or iPod announced every hour it seems. This is essentially the direction Nintendo is taking their hand held. With the DS being as popular as it is, Nintendo does not want to end its life, why would they? Instead, it seems obvious that they intend on following trends set by Apple and the cell phone industry. By releasing a slightly different model every few years, their intention is to provide a number of different models for different demographics. I do not believe they are trying to get every consumer to buy each type of model, but instead, pick the one that fits their personality best.
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Though I must admit, I have, and will buy every model they put out... (^_^);;
Well, wherever you stand on the topic, I am pretty sure we will see another DS in the near future, so keep that in mind if you are planning on buying a DSi anytime soon!
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