Nintendo DS May Be Repositioned as a PDA

Ed Hardy · 03-01-2005, 11:47 AM

Reportedly, the Palm OS PIM apps that are rumored to be in development for the Nintendo DS are going to become the new centerpiece of the device.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/Ni..._PDA?site=Palm

PlasticMan · 03-01-2005, 02:41 PM

this might work, if they do it right.

the psp is much too expensive. it wont catch on. i hope nintendo doesnt waste too much money competing with a failure.

Heda · 03-01-2005, 04:01 PM

yep, the DS was never the sucessor to the GBA. Nintendo has been saying that forever now, thats why they didnt include the "Gameboy" name in it, that's why they've been saying theres another Gameboy coming soon. but for some reason people wouldnt listen.

think of the DS has an extremely successful VirtualBoy. it was never meant to be a sequel to any console, more of an "experiement" by Nintendo. DS was planned to be a PDA/console since day 1, Nintendo originally released it as a console because they knew that would make it "sell" (they didnt want a failure like everyother PDA/console). then later implement it's PDA capabilities.

Double-Trinity · 03-01-2005, 05:33 PM

IMHO I think that the Dual Screen layout would be a bit awkward for a PDA, unless the device were larger and could be used like a clamshell-style "Handheld PC"

For a gaming-oriented device that also covers multimedia, similar to a PSP, one thing I'd like to see is a PDA that is smaller than a PSP, and collapses similar to how the old Tungsten-T unit hides its software input area. Instead of only covering part of the screen, there could be two pull-out "shells" with buttons and controls on them that would cover the entire screen, acting as a built-in case. To use, you'd pull them out, revealing the screen. Such a unit could also perhaps have a one- or two-line display on the outside, as well, to allow MP3 playback with the device collapsed (similar to the mini-screen on the outsize of a lot of cell-phones).

rsc1000 · 03-01-2005, 05:39 PM

Quote:

the psp is much too expensive. it wont catch on. i hope nintendo doesnt waste too much money competing with a failure.

What are you smoking? The PSP has been out in Japan for almost 3 months now and it hit 800,000 unit in just over a month. With the US and European launch this month, Sony is ramping up production to 2m units a month. Reviews have been much more favorable for the psp than the ds and US demand is expected to be strong. Of course Nintendo is taking this seriously - they'd be fools not to. The DS is part entertainment-PDA, and part stop-gap competition for the PSP until the new GB comes.

Fzara2000 · 03-01-2005, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rsc1000
What are you smoking? The PSP has been out in Japan for almost 3 months now and it hit 800,000 unit in just over a month. With the US and European launch this month, Sony is ramping up production to 2m units a month. Reviews have been much more favorable for the psp than the ds and US demand is expected to be strong. Of course Nintendo is taking this seriously - they'd be fools not to. The DS is part entertainment-PDA, and part stop-gap competition for the PSP until the new GB comes.

You are the one smoking. Haven't you followed gaming oriented sites in the US???

The PSP does not has a chance to stand in the US, still the GB Advanced is expected to sell better, and the successor to the GBA is rumored to be priced at 100 so the GBA will drop to 50.

can you compare the GBA's 15 hour battery and small size and 100 price to that of the PSP 250 price and 4 hour battery, not to mention the huge size.

Also what has been a sell point for Nintendo is the huge library of GB games wich teh PSP lacks.

Double-Trinity · 03-01-2005, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fzara2000
You are the one smoking. Haven't you followed gaming oriented sites in the US???

The PSP does not has a chance to stand in the US, still the GB Advanced is expected to sell better, and the successor to the GBA is rumored to be priced at 100 so the GBA will drop to 50.

can you compare the GBA's 15 hour battery and small size and 100 price to that of the PSP 250 price and 4 hour battery, not to mention the huge size.

Also what has been a sell point for Nintendo is the huge library of GB games wich teh PSP lacks.

This is a good point. While the PS2 benefitted greatly from reverse compatibility from PS1, a pocket solution cannot due to the fact that it requires smaller discs. In additoin, by keeping these "mini DVDs" a closed format, it severly limits the usefulness of the PSP as a multimedia device, as well--nobody in their right mind will spend several hundred dollars on overpriced "Memory stick pro duo" cards to play music and video, such cards are well over double the price of SD or CF cards. I also don't see very many people being thrilled over re-purchasing DVDs and PS1 games on the PSP format.

The PSP would be much better if Sony would sell blank mini-dvd discs that could be burned by consumers--a couple gigs of music or movies could be made at home for next to nothing and swapped in and out at will. Of course, the very need to have an optical drive pretty much forces large size and poor battery life, so IMHO a solid-state memory solution will be better for games.

Timothy Rapson · 03-02-2005, 08:45 AM

I have long longed for a GBA/PDA. $99 with all that goes a long with it (low, low price peripherals) and the durability of a kids toy. I would love it.
But, the DS is too big. The GBA SP has not touch screen and neither has SD.
Now, a GBA with a touch screen and minidisk recordable drive? Or an HD......well it isn't going to happen for any $99.

strider_mt2k · 03-06-2005, 03:40 PM

I'm curious to see what the next Game Boy will be like, and if it will still play carts going all the way back to the original.

Getting cut off from titles like "Zelda, Link's Awakening DX" would be a shame, as it and a few others from that time still hold up remakably well in gameplay and don't even look that bad for 8-bit games.

Luckily for me, I'm friends with both a current DS owner AND a guy who has a PSP on order at work, so I can evaluate them risk free and in a "relaxed" setting.

Oddly enough, we all own GBA SPs and play Mario Golf Advance Tour at lunch together using Majesco Wireless Links.
Why? Because the entire setup is cheap to buy and easy to set up and play!

And incredibly fun!

The new portables need to capture all of that and more, since they want to be mulimedia machines now as well.

We'll see how robust they are too.