DSi XL is the precursor to a hardware shift!

As you should know by now if you have been reading my blog, I firmly believe that Nintendo will announce a new handheld device this incoming year, 2010. To me it feels like the right time to move on from the DS hardware, with the slowing sales as nearly everyone and their grandparents have one, the look of the software is also starting to look incredibly outdated to me. I love the DS and its abilities but I do yearn for more from the system to have a bit of flair in the art design.

New Nintendo handheld announced next year?

Bloomberg.com have reported on comments by analyst of the Nikki exchange Soichiro Fukuda about Nintendo’s future. One of these specific comments was;

Nintendo may announce a model change for its DS handheld video-game players in June next year, triggering an improvement in the company’s earnings

This can be construed like some reporting outlets have as a DSi like enhancement to the system for a small time gain in sales that happened in similar revisions in the past with both the DSlite and DSi. But as I have personally commentated on I firmly believe this as an expectation of a new handheld device coming from Nintendo to replace the DS. Announced in 2003 and released in 2004 the DS has now been on the market for almost 5 years, if this announcement goes down in June or anytime during 2010 the likely release date will be late 2010 going into 2011 or later, this would mean that the DS has been available of more than 6 years. For comparison sake the Gameboy advance launched in 2001, through 2 redesigns (SP and Micro) the Advance was available on market for 3 years before another device was launched and was available for sale on market up until 2006 if my memory serves me correct.

The Next Generation – Nintendo’s Hardware Attitudes

As I was discussing with a friend on Live Messenger today, the consumer or hardcore consumer knew much more about the Wii before anything was known about the system. All we had to do was to look at the attitudes being adopted and implemented in the new at the time Nintendo DS. Nintendo did not push the graphical power of the DS as it implemented a 3d chip that was as powerful as the 64bit era and it also included the chip that made the Gameboy 2d graphics as a security measure, they were using tried, tested and reliable hardware and architecture. They brought about innovation through their “New Play Control”, and they tip toed onto the online gaming scene with an overly cautious system. Now with hindsight, are all these sounding familiar. Wii hardware is related to an overclocked and slightly enhanced for security Gamecube system, we have innovation through a “New Way To Play” and they slightly enhanced but not as much as touted their baby steps into the online gaming scene retaining their overly cautious system.

Nintendo’s Online Friends System

NOTE: Hey I’m back, Oxegen was everything I expected and then some. Met some great people, an amazing girl, and had the time of my life. I look forward until next year, if I can go as it is an overly expensive trip. I think I’ve fully recovered, I have completed the story mode of ‘The Conduit’ and I will do a new post soon enough with my friend code for those who want it. Now onto the blog

So many of us if not all of us could point out what’s wrong with Nintendo’s online friends system, and yet remain quite pushed hard to find what’s right about it. The biggest problem is the friend code system, where we were promised before the launch of the system that the codes that plagued the DS’s online would be less of a burden with the Wii. We were promised that once systems are linked using the consoles friend code all subsequent games will be able to link without further codes, yet almost 3 years into the consoles life cycle you can use one hand to count the games that allow this, The Conduit and Mario Kart being the 2 that I have personal experience of.