It is now well known that Nintendo will be showing off their next console this year at E3. There has been a lot of rumors and speculations swirling around the new device and no one really knows exactly what the device will be. Well I'm here to add a new rumor to the pile. What if the new Nintendo console has a slot for DS cartridges? Imagine playing your DS games on your big screen TV. Before you lose your mind and say there's no way this could happen, let me present you a few bits of information that may change your mind.

If we take a look at the past of Nintendo and their handheld devices, each iteration of the handheld had a way to play the games that accompanied the update on a TV screen. With the Game Boy, you could purchase a Super Game Boy adapter that plugged directly into your Super Nintendo. With the Game Boy Advanced you had the ability to add a device called the Game Boy Player to the bottom of your GameCube , which allowed Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games to be played on your TV. Up until now, we’ve really had no way to display DS games in this manner, mainly because of the way the DS works. There is not an elegant solution for playing these games on a different device that is not the DS because of the nature in which it was built. Not only are there two screens to worry about, one of them happens to be a touch screen that is used in various DS titles. So how do you play your DS games on your TV without out losing that functionality? You simply add a touch screen to the controller of your new console, of course.



If rumors are true and the new controller has a touch screen on it, this will allow our precious catalog of DS games to be displayed onto our wonderful LCD TVs without losing any functionality. With a huge catalog of games, this will get the "hardcore" gamers to run out and by the new device with no questions. We already have our HD consoles and all the motion controllers we can handle. We need something a little more gimmicky. Playing Pokemon is fun on the DSi but I think it would be a greater experience playing on my couch with a much bigger screen.

Now I'm not sure if this functionality would make more sense as an add-on for the new console or have it just be built into the system. For ease of use, I believe having it built in would make the most sense. Whatever they decide to do, Nintendo fans are going to lose their collective minds.

TL;DR Version: New Nintendo console with have the ability to play DS games.