DS Press Conference Details

Nintendo held a DS press conference today where they have announced some pretty juicy news. Let me just give you the list:

– Easy to Find Kanji Dictionary
– Calligraphy Training announced
– Cooking Software announced
– Children of Mana video shown
– Xenosaga video shown
– Winning Eleven DS – Wifi Connection Enabled
– Tetris will be released for 3800yen ($43 AUD) as a budget title.
– New Mario Bros will be hitting Japan in May for 4800yen
– Opera DS Web Browser Confirmed (Not Included in Firmware, Purchase Seperately)
– Digital TV add-on. (TV Tuner, uses Seg-1 Technology)

Obviously the biggest items on there are the last two. Since Nintendo announced the web browser in a conference, it’s safe to assume that they didn’t wait for a third party to do it and took the initiative, like they promised. Press release here. The TV tuner looks compact enough to fit in the DS Lite’s style, but certainly not pocket-friendly– still cool. And New Mario Bros finally gets a date, even if it’s Japanese.

Thanks alot, Grant!

13 Comments

  1. I love this! Nintendo has changed a bit after Iwata became president, it’s seems like he always makes the right decisions.

  2. So the there really is going to be a web browser on the ds. That’ll be really cool.

  3. I think you must be slightly mistaken on the DS browser. It is made by Opera that is the third party, so nintendo haven’t taken the intiative (not meaning to sound cruel) but i suppose they may publish it.

  4. The biggest news to me is that Tetris will be a budget title. The idea of budget titles has a lot of potential. Look at the US Brain Training game. It’s priced pretty competitively.

    To me, this suggests that Nintendo is going to push more and more “budget” titles, especially if they are successful.

  5. Google informs me that 3800 yen is about $32. Is that really a budget title price? Don’t new DS games normally go for $35?

    Also, IGN says the browser was jointly developed by Nintendo and Opera, not Opera alone.

  6. Caligraphy & Kanji training? Excellent!!

    It’s really great to see Nintendo finally supporting the DS, and not waiting until it was too late.

    Up late again Rollin?

  7. I wonder if now there will be a way to play games over wifi hotspots that you used to need a laptop+USB dongle for…

  8. I made this 😛

    Opera DS

    Thanks to the GIMP & Opera.com for source files.

  9. any chance of the DS lite having true backwards compatibility with GBA (multiplayer included?)

  10. too bad mozilla cant be involved. their the best browser.

  11. No Anon, i meant Nintendo didn’t wait for the third party to find their own publisher and snatched them up. I was up late and delirious, sorry for not being clear enough. (And that answers K’s question.)

    Just look at these comments– the conference had something for everyone! ^_^

  12. tetris online, metroid online and, winning eleven online!. not too mention probably the most exciting of all, new super mario bros. The only games have any information about them released that I am seriously interested in are all on the DS.
    Not to mention the DS Lite which will probably be apearing in the US in a couple of months and will really be appreciarted to replace my currently cracked grey DS. Then just a few more months after that and I’ll probably be waving my arms around like a maniac playing mario 128 on my new revolution.
    It really is a great time to be a fan of nintendo.

  13. I am really excited about the Kanji Dictionary! Any chance that will be released in the US? Or will I have to hit the Japanese Toy import stores?

Leave a Reply