From Kotaku: “The Nintendo Micro GBA made Toys R Us’ 2005 holiday gift trend list. The Micro was actually the only gaming system or video game to catch the toy store’s attention as part of a 2005 trend.”
Great news for the Micro. Now how about some sales figures and a holiday price drop? ‘Tis the season…
[Source: Kotaku]
mo
The micro does appear to be getting more than it’s fair share in the limelight. And the next GB better have a similarly sleek design (or else!).
Oh and come on Nintendo – how’s about a smaller, sleeker, redesigned DS?!?!
Anonymous
I was also hoping for a sleeker, smaller ds, but the more I look at the DS, the more I realize that aside from making it Lighter, they cant do anything about the size. The fact is:
A) You need that much width space for all the buttons, screens speakers. You cant make it smaller like an SP because you HAVE to keep the screen in between the buttons. You cant move it above the buttons unless you want to have essentailly what is twice to 3 times the length of a SP when open, which brings ergonomical issues of balance because you now have an extra screen’s worth of space which is being used for nothing but adding weight. You cuold technically shorten the clamshell design to cover only the screens, but then you lose speakers. Also, you leave little space for batteries, which take up 1/3rd of the base of the system.
B) The ds MUST maintain a certain thickness to accomidate gba slots. If you look at the bottom half of the ds it actually is not a whole lot thicker than the SP. The fact is that the only way to significantly reduce thickness is to remvoe the gba slot altogheter. early on it the ds’s life i thought this was a possibility. However, with the release of expansion packs like for Band Brothers, and the recent rumble pack, I feel that the DS is moving towards using the GBA slot as an auxiliory slot and an essential part of the system, rather than just an excuse to put in backwards compatibility. Which while good, means that a significant thickness reduction is essentially impossible.
C) If you havent already noticed, the new technology put into the micro are a direct result of the design gains put into the DS. Essentailly, they would have to design entirely new technologies to create a smaller DS. while nintendo is capable of this, what ie means is that an upgrade would invariably HAVE to happen 2-3 years into its life, as first nintendo would have to gauge whether an upgrade was worth it (ie, has the ds moved enough units to actually warrant such an upgrade), and then do the R&D to create it.
That being said, the more I play my DS, the more I realize that a redesign of the system really isnt that necessary. The design is actually quite good, what ISNT good is nintendo’s choice of colours. Try a white, black or red (mario kart one) ds in real life and you will realize how nice the system actually looks.
death to silver/black. horrible colour scheme.
Anonymous
I like the silver one, but only because it helps to make me not depressed since I already own one. If I could go back and get a new DS, it would definitely be white.