What if? Five must-have features for a DS re-design

Optical drives are so 2004

In bad American horror movies, when a character remarks that “it’s almost too quiet” it usually means that whatever evil monster has been lurking in the forest is about to bust onto the scene and do terrifying things to the disposable characters in the film. Over at Nintendo HQ, when it is this quiet it usually means they are working on something totally kickass and just don’t want us to know about it… yet. Portable Video Gamer was recently NOT invited to tour Nintendo’s worldwide headquarters in Japan, and so we consider ourselves completely unqualified to bring you our predictions about what to expect in the extremely likely scenario that the Nintendo DS gets a major overhaul in the not-too-distant future. But we are going to do it anyway. Continue reading to find out where we think the handheld platform is headed and why.

Predction 1: Wide Backwards Compatibility

Backwards compatibility has been a hallmark of the gameboy line-up since the advent of the gameboy color, and we see no reason for things to change when the next-gen DS rolls out. Back when people were speculating over the so-called “Nintendo Evolution” and “Gameboy Next” all bets were on a PSP-like monster handheld that wouldn’t just allow you to play your old GBA games, but would instead open up the entire Gamecube library via optical drive. Sony went the route of optical media with mixed success, while Nintendo eventually settled on a more familiar but limiting cartridge format.

By 2007, however, things have changed. Storage capacity on flash memory cards has increased to the point that adding over 1 gig of storage to a handheld is both technically possible and cost-efficient. Sony has shown that digital distribution and emulation of Playstation 1 games is totally possible on a handheld, without the need for clumsy disks. Online services like Xbox Live Arcade and the Wii Virtual Console have proven that gamers have a pent-up demand for nostalgic content. All that is required now is a more streamlined process to get downloaded content into our portable systems. We expect the next generation DS to support the emulation of the Gabecube back catalog, but not via optical drive.

Head over to any one of the dank caverns where the PSP fanboys lurk and you will likely hear the refrain “Nintendo makes products for kids”. I’m not sure where these people have been living for the past two years (a cave, probably) but they couldn’t be more wrong. If anything, Nintendo has spent the last couple of years targting adults more than children with its products. Consider the slick Wii commericals that show hot 20-somethings frolicking around their living rooms with the wiimote, or the Brain Training games for DS that literally ask “How old is your brain?”. The DS began its life as a squat, fugly piece of utili-tech, that was niether kid-friendly nor especially gadget-lust inducing. Enter the DS lite, which brings a touch of Haute Couture to the Nintendo marque and wears its sleek design with poise and confidence. The DS Lite looks as comfortable in a Luis Vuitton handbag as it does in a grubby playground, and this is the key to Nintendo’s marketing genius. When the new gameboy arrives, expect it to look like the hot offspring of an ipod and a Japanese supermodel.

Another way to put this would be “value over performance”. No handheld product made by Nintendo has ever sold for more than $200 at retail, and we expect this trend to remain in place going forward. Some Nintendo fanboys, over in their own dark corners of the internet have hypothesized that the big N is playing its cards close to the chest, and plans to release an uber gadget that will crush the PSP in terms of graphics and speed. We think that given Nintendo’s success with a less powerful and less expensive offering, they will avoid trying to take on Sony for the title of “most insanely powerful handheld”. If we had to make an educated guess, we would place the “Gameboy Next” just slightly ahead of the curent PSP in terms of raw processing power. This will allow it to comfortably run the Gamecube library and offer some compelling new gameplay experiences. Given Nintendo’s fondness for repurposing hardware and chip designs, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the next gameboy will closely resemble a Gamecube in terms of system architecture.

The decision not to include DVD playback in the Wii should have sent a signal to Nintendo fans everywhere: our company does not make multimedia products. Never have, never will. On the DS, video and MP3 playback — which should have been a first-party feature — are instead managed through a third-party hack. Even the Opera web browser has been slow to hit North America. The message we get from all of this is that Nintendo does not see their products competing with other multimedia platforms like the PSP and ipod. We predict that while the next Nintendo handheld will be fully capable of playing audio and video files, these features will not be supported or promoted by Nintendo. Third-party software like Moonshell will be required to get the most multimedia use out of the sleek new device.

Everyone was skeptical of touch input on the DS when it was announced, and some went so far as to call it a gimmick. Now, with more than 10 million consoles sold worldwide, it looks like Nintendo has vindicated their decision and made a handsome return on their risky investment. The place to watch out for gimmicks will be in the next generation. Now that we have touch, what can we add to maintain the “wow” factor? Smell-o-vision has already been tried and deemed a failure, so we are going to go out on a limb and say that the next Nintendo handheld will include motion sensors in the console itself. Come on, who hasn’t tilted their DS to the side to get that extra bit of traction while playing Mario Kart? A number of factors convince us that this is a natural progression for Nintendo. First of all, everyone with a Wii is already enthusiastic about the possiblities for motion control, and a handheld system with a similar design could be integrated successfully into the Wii experience. Secondly, it would make developers who are already designing games for the Wii jump for joy because it would cut down the development costs for new handheld titles (and open up the door for cross-platform ports).

In summary, we think the best indication of where Nintendo is going with their product line comes from what they are currently doing. The expression says that if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it, and we believe it will hold true in this case. Luckily for us, the DS and GBA are already capable gaming platforms, so if Nintendo decides to stay the conservative course and keep doing what they have been doing in the past, their next handheld is sure to be a massive success.