Knowing me, I'll buy it. With the GBA I have the release model, SP, and the Micro, so I'm expecting myself to stupidly buy this new model when it comes out despite having a phat DS and a lite DS. Damn this hobby!

Awww! What an adorable cat. Is that your fold, Bash?

Damit Nintedo Stop Trying To Take My Money!!!

You Know Ill Just Give It To You If You Ask.

On A Side Note, I Wish My Cat Could Do That.

I assumed reason #1 would be the PSP has been kicking DS ass in Japan, and Nintendo wants their spot back.

What Im wonder is what game that cat is playing the the picture? Seems like the caption for the pic should be "ur turn, i played it. oh yah, data gon tu." or in relation to the story, "u had me nu dee es, me want". And on a side note; Damn you 'Can I Has Cheeseburger' website and their cute anthropomorphic animals!

wevelling up your dudes.

#5 is so beyond retarded that it almost invalidates the rest of the article. A spec increase?

The only things they would improve would be the same things they improved with the Lite. Somehow smaller, maybe brighter, shinier, whatever.

Improving the hardware won't happen until there's a new handheld altogether, the DS2 or whatever you want to call it. Why the hell would Nintendo segment the still booming DS market? Nobody would make games for the improved spec when there's tens of millions with the current model. So Nintendo doing that would really just be throwing money out the window.

Besides, it goes against their whole philosophy as a company.

At any rate, Games Radar just threw that one in there and said, "wouldn't it be awesome to have the power of a GameCube in a portable?!!?" Maybe they thought 6 reasons weren't enough?

@deathsyth8888: 'u had me @ nu dee es....

Its at times like these I want an edit button instead of writing a new post. Make it happen Kotaku!

I just hope they keep GBA support, because the GBA is still the closest thing to a portable SNES ever made... and I still play my GBA games on the DS it from time to time.

But what I REALLY want out of E3 is F-Zero Wii/DS... and Jet Impulse (DS) western release date. Anyone else thinks that Nintendo should put Jet Impulse on the Wii?

Damn you Nintendo! I just got a new one on Thursday to replace the one I lost since I found a Zelda edition for $100 Im going to be pissed if they come out with a new version! I knew I should have waited!!

Gamercat wants your friend code.

Also:

Reason #9: Wii connectivity.

That's a lot of colons: three of them.

@QBasic: I believe that's a lolcat from Icanhascheezburger. Cute as all hell, though.

Well, the DS brand is four years old now... The average lifespan of any generation of system is about five...

I'm sure the processors to do PSP-level graphics must be much cheaper now, as well as more compact.

But what would they do for media format? Obviously, for a more powerful system, you'd need more storage.
They can't go for a disc-based system, as that would make the system much larger, drain a lot of power, and would make backwards compatability difficult.
Perhaps continuing usage of flash memory would be the only option. While it still isn't as cheap as disc-based media (About $6 per GB for flash, less than a dollar per GB for discs), it does continue to become cheaper and cheaper.

@erlik: That cat was actually featured here on Kotaku a good while back. He also plays other games!

@Johnny_Under:
DS already has Wii connectivity... It's just vastly under-utilized (I guess GCN-GBA connectivity left a bad taste in many developers' mouths?).

3 versions of every handheld?

Er.. what versions were there of the Gameboy Color?

@xbulletholes:
If I could buy a cat to level my mans, I would.

I'd also add "it badly needs WPA support".

@Deusfaux:
Perhaps they're counting that as a version of the original Game Boy. While the hardware was VASTLY better than that in Game Boy or Game Boy pocket, it was so similar, that most GBC games were dual-mode games (worked with original GB). Less were GBC-exclusive.

Even so, it's technically incorrect. But, many people don't remember the Japan-only Game Boy Light (similar in design to Game Boy pocket, but the screen was backlit). :)

@QBasic: It's Fami, from [familove.blog32.fc2.com] ^_~

I want them to bring back and make a new verion of the DS classic. My hands are big and the light gives them cramps.

I'm glad my 1st gen release date DS is still working but I think the touch screen is going on it.

i still have the classic DS. so i might ne buying this if it comes out.

I'd probably buy a new version of the DS as i only have a second hand DSphat.... but only if there were new features on the unit.

This has to be a tough decision for Nintendo, they've built a huge user base of casual gamers, and it's hard to know if introducing new hardware will alienate them.

With iPods even when they introduce a new model you can still play newly released songs on your old iPod, but with a new DS it's probable that new games won't work on old hardware. It will be interesting to see what Nintendo has come up with.

@Huckleberry: Naa, you're being silly. Did they abstain from releasing the GameBoy Advance with improved specs over the GameBoy Color? Did they abstain from releasing the DS with improved specs over the GameBoy Advance? As long as they keep the backwards compatibility, a DS with better specs would be very Nintendo-like. Plus as they pointed out, Nintendo sure is quiet on the DS software front... As if they were quietly preparing for a new platform.

@Huckleberry:
It would be idiotic of Nintendo to increase the spec of the DS so that future games could benefit, and there is no chance that they are going to.

BUT! They could add functionality outside of games, as an incentive to upgrade. Like getting back to the main menu without having to turn the DS off, or some sort of online Pictochat, or some internal memory to store pictures/videos/music, etc.

That way, just like the transition from DS to DS Lite, a stupid number of people who already own two DSs (myself included), would buy a third.

@regnez: They're still going to increase their portable platform's specs at some point and it will not be idiotic to do so, just as it never was before. >:\

Awwww cutest cat ever!

Honestly, there's no point to it. Just like there was very little point in the micro. The micro was introduced pretty much at the end of the GBA's lifespan to try and drag it out a little longer. If we DO see another DS revision it'll probably be after or just before Nintendo rolls out their next gen handheld. Considering they're on a roll with the DS right now I don't see this being any time soon. As for number 4 that's actually just a lie. Only the Game Boy and GBA had 3 hardware revisions and one of the GB's hardware revisions doesn't really count since it was just a minor addition of a backlight to the pocket and was only ever released in Japan.

The Game Boy Colour only ever had one hardware spec so this goes against that argument. Arguments 5-7 are just incredibly unlikely, increasing the specs would just annoy people as they'd be forced to buy the new one just to make use of anything that made use of the increased power. Short of switching away from a cartridge medium there's not much they could do with a redesign to combat piracy. Downloadable GBA games is just a silly idea as it'd require a significant change to the hardware so you'd actually have somewhere to save them.

But honestly the real reason that there's going to be no DS redesign any time soon is that there's just no point. There's really nothing that they could improve on, all the improvements to the hardware were made with the Lite so there's little point doing much more with it. IF Nintendo do push out another redesign it's going to be later rather than sooner.

Oh some interesting things from the actual article:

6) Nintendo loves to combat piracy
The existing DS' GBA cartridge slot has been exploited by hackers who use flash memory cards through the slot to run pirated games - an easy way to get around the small DS card slot. A new model DS (rumoured to feature internal storage in place of the slot) would get around this problem - very attractive for Nintendo, who have always had a big thing against piracy. Remember the tiny Gamecube disks?

Not that slot 1 only flashcards haven't been around for a good long while already so that makes this point null and void.

Honestly if you actually read the article it sounds like they've just gotten their points confused. Most of their argument seems to support a new handheld altogether coming out rather than a new hardware revision. This seems a lot more sensible but I figure the DS has at least another 1-2 years in it yet.

@CreamSodaSlurpee:If by kicking ass, you mean "Enjoying a sales spike that will be completely made null and void when the new Dragon Warrior comes out on DS." then yeah I guess the PSP is kicking ass...er, not.

This list makes my head hurt. I mean seriously did these people bother to do any research at all?

"1. DS has reached saturation point in Japan."

If that was true, why does the DS still sell at least 35-40k systems every week? Re-releasing the DS is not going to make sales spike that much without some massive improvements and removing the GBA slot isn't it. Software idiots, is what moves systems in the end.

2. DS is getting on a bit.

So was the GameBoy and GBA and they both had a life span to rival the PS2. In fact, the older a handheld gets, the better the games often become as everyone has had enough time to figure out what you can and can't do. I look at "The World Ends With You." as a prime showing of what devs can do with the DS now.

5. A spec increase wouldn't hurt.

Yes it would. That's all you need is to split your huge ass user base down the middle by telling people. "No, this DS game won't work in your DS-fat or DS-Lite, only your DS-mark 2." Nintendo isn't that stupid. Remember how gamers and developers rail on Microsoft for having a 360 with no hard drive? This would be worse.

6. Nintendo love to combat piracy.

You do that before your system launches. At this point it would be a waste of money, time and effort and anyone who really wanted to steal games would simply go get a older model DS..there's simply too many DS's out there now for that to work.

7. Downloadable GBA games.

Flash cart and the DS can already do that. However to allow it means opening the door to pirates who will cheerfully use the offical Nintendo cart to help them steal.

3. DS game development has gone very quiet at Nintendo.

Game Development -period- is quiet, it always happens this time of year.

4. Every Nintendo handheld has had three versions.

Truth. Now a new DS, I can believe, but not for at least two more years, the DS itself still sells like mad, all a new DS would do is hurt them.

That cat is named Fami, who used to have a blog, but that dissapeared from the net a few weeks back :<

Nintendo makes money by repackaging the same thing over and over and watching people rebuy the same console over and over. Just like the Gameboy you can bet the DS will go through multiple iterations. And the Wii too. The sad thing is people will queue up for their new console even though it "fixes" deficiencies that shouldn't have been there in their current console.

@Foxstar Sixtail: Totally, there's no way Nintendo are worried at all about the sales of the PSP versus the DS in the past month or two in Japan. What is probably going to be the biggest PSP game of the system's lifetime unless a proper Final Fantasy is made for the PSP has boosted the sales of the system for a while. This is happened numerous times when stuff like New Super Mario Bros launched on the DS, probably happened with Pokemon D/P and MKDS as well, but I'm not the kind of person to spend 10 minutes trying to find out if that's actually the case ahah.

Any DS revision in the next 12 months will just be a Lite Lite sort of thing, certainly not a new generation of Nintendo handhelds with any extra power. The DS has at least 2 years left in it. It still outsells everything apart from the Wii just recently each week from what I can tell, in hardware and probably software as well. It would be truly insane for them to drop support for the current DS and make a DS2.

@DrXym:
Actually Nintendo are only guilty in doing this in their handhelds. They've never actually repackaged any of their consoles since the NES/SNES (and these were only minor revisions that didn't offer huge improvements). The N64 and the Gamecube were never touched and I doubt they'll do anything with the Wii either.

Sony and Microsoft are actually far more guilty of doing this. It's actually even worse doing it with a console due to the higher price point. Least if a new handheld revision comes out by trading in your old one you can upgrade for a reasonable amount.

WPA
Wide screen up top.
Tilt sensors.
Compatible with DS but with additional grunt.
Gameboys via "virtual console".

5 years already? Wow.

I don't see any good reason why not to release a redesign. Personally I'm fine with the Lite, but the new one should prove interesting.

Gotta wonder what the next Nintendo handheld will be like? We really couldn't predict what the DS would do...

Best redesign evar! New Nintendo DS now comes with free kitty to "wevel up my guys for me"!

Hail, I wellcome our new^Hold Overlords, the lolcats!

Only spec increase I can possibly see in the existing DS line would be the addition of flash RAM to support downloadable GBA or 'DSWare' games, as also mentioned. But I think it likely they'd leave even this feature for a 'DS2'.

Making it smaller and removing the GBA socket would seem like a possibility.

Sadly I think it's too early for a 'real' DS2 (still two years away?) with improved processors, more memory, motion sensors, and the aforementioned flash RAM. DS is still selling like hot cakes, even if PSP cakes are presently a bit hotter - and DS software still dominates.

3. DS game development has gone very quiet at Nintendo.

Wouldn't that be a sign that we won't be getting a redesign soon? Why would they slow down development for a platform that has a new iteration coming 'round the bend?

Why do people care about a redesigned DS?! Shouldnt we be making rumors with the next Nintendo handheld?

@quen:

I agree, anything else other then a memory increase might mean incombatibility issues.

Maybe a major software update? Being able to buy apps/games from the wii store and put them on your DS your be nice.

Being able to access/send data back to your wii at home would be cool.

Nintendo doesn't care how well the PSP is doing now. They could stop selling the DS today and it would take the PSP YEARS at it's current rate (80-100 thousand) to catch up to the DS's numbers.
A new DS would just destroy every other system for about 6 months, then drop down to 50-100 thousand a month depending on software.

I think something akin to the Virtual Console but for DS's, or somehow reinforcing the linkup between the current VC/Wii and DS (so you can play VC games on DS) similar to Sony's network Remote Play system on PSP, is surely underway.

Nintendo aren't a company to let a cash-return-on-gaming-investment opportunity fly on by.

I saw a mockup of a redesigned DS that simply curved all edges, making it look similar to a glasses case (or mobile phone). I think that is the best we'll get from a DS re-design.

I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to launch an entirely new handheld inside the next year though...

@RogueSquid:

I would literally kill anyone here for that feature. Anyone want to take one for the team?

@BPMε: They should re-release Zelda 4 swords on the Wii/DS - it was waaayyy underrated. Now with built-in wifi for both the DS and Wii (no additional hardware to buy) plus many people have both systems... it'd be a perfect time to re-release (OR if the gods will it) a sequel.

Even that Pac-man was okay.

I wonder though if the new DS would be a redesign or a brand new system.

@Odin: As for number 4 that's actually just a lie. Only the Game Boy and GBA had 3 hardware revisions and one of the GB's hardware revisions doesn't really count since it was just a minor addition of a backlight to the pocket and was only ever released in Japan.

4. Every Nintendo handheld has had three versions.

Number 4 - every Nintendo handheld has had 3 versions.
Nintendo's handheld lines are the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.
Then you say "Only the Game Boy and GBA had 3 hardware revisions" so it's actually not a lie?

Anyways:
Gameboy -> Gameboy Pocket -> Gameboy Color (1,2,3)
Gameboy Advance -> Gameboy Advance SP -> Gameboy Micro (1,2,3)
Nintendo DS -> Nintendo DS Lite (1,2)

Nintendo to step it up a notch and release the TS with three screens.

In other news, the hotel chain Double Tree will be planting another sapling and will upgrade their name to Triple Tree.

Just waiting to buy a new DS since I cracked the hinge on mine. Gimme a new model and a new advanc wars/pokemon to play! God damnit those friggin monsters are so damn addictive.

Link DS to the Wii so I can download the Super Metroid to my DS to take with me on trips cause I sure as shit arnt going to sit at home and play super metroid over gta4 or mgs4 when that comes out. Or I guess I could buy an R4 and run a snes emulator... or I could just do that on my psp... but making things legit is so much better!

I have bought so much stupid crap just because it was in a picture with a cute little cat. Please marketing departments, spare my poor little wallet and stop with the cats.
I'm still using a DSPhat so a redesigned DS wouldn't appeal to me unless it was spec upgrade, but that won't happen until the DS2 or whatever weird (but widely accepted after 2 months) name they release it under.

@ Odin: not quite true. NES was redesigned towards the end of its lifespan and GC was neutered to removed component video support. the NES redesign was cosmetic (ugly as hell too).

--------------

As was already mentioned, DS still sells well and FFIV and DQIX are going to propel DS sales even further. if there is a redesign, expect a brighter, crisper screen and better battery life. not like battery life is bad now. Not bad for a portable that was expected to be a gimmick that would be crushed by the psp

No chance in hell there's a spec increase or the "next handheld" any time soon. DQ9, anybody?

the only one that matters: #1. Easy Money, baby !