There's no escaping the fact that, despite the DS being a brilliant platform for games, its technical prowess leaves a little to be desired. According to Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, the next iteration of the DS could jump right ahead of its rivals with unlimited 3G Internet access. Now that would be tasty.
This is merely something being pondered by Nintendo at the moment, so nothing has been set in stone. However, Iwata believes that 3G DS action could put the company in a good position versus Apple and the iPhone.
"I’m interested because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost," declares Iwata. "Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month can be iPhone customers. That doesn’t fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products.
"... In reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up, but it is one option for the future."
I don't know. If the DS had unlimited Internet access and enough of a valid reason to connect it to the online world, I'd be more than happy to pay a little extra. This is something Sony should really be looking at for the increaslingly online-dependent PSP. If Nintendo pipped it to the post, the next generation of handhelds would be very interesting, methinks.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
Likes
PS2, iPod Touch, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid, Dynasty Warriors 3
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
42 comments | showing # 1 to 42
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
7:00 AM on 11.01.2009
| 
Why would Nintendo add good internet service to a game player, when experience and history both show that upping the functionality and the cost of single-purpose devices almost always ends in failure? Surre the DS added touch screens and the wii added motion controls, but those were both improvements to the gameplay, which does work. However, Sony already tried this road of all-in-one at a higher cost and failed miserably. Apple gets away with it because it is a technology and services company that doesn't rest on the iphone being a game console - the iphone is a easily accessible download service first, a phone second, and everything else third, and that is what the customers purchase it to do. However, customers purchase a DS to play games first, with very little interest in the other features as they are all secondary.
Doing one thing well is historically much more important than doing many things averagely, and customers would rather have a cheap device that does one thing well than an expensive device that is all-in-one. Playstation 3 vs. Wii and PSP vs. DS has proven this already.
If they could do it though, that would be insane, and totally worth the cost of admission. Data access without a subscription fee? That's a wild, undiscovered country right there.
Also, you would see DS's hooked up to routers, powering small businesses.
"Doing one thing well is historically much more important than doing many things averagely, and customers would rather have a cheap device that does one thing well than an expensive device that is all-in-one. Playstation 3 vs. Wii and PSP vs. DS has proven this already."
seems like a good time for Nintendo to mirror Apple and split SKU's, imo. Next DS Regular and Next DS.Net. If you don't want good glorious gift-internet, there's your intensely cheaper/plays nearly all the same games option.
Where is your argument that these aren't beneficial to gameplay?
Truly portable online gaming sounds beneficial to gameplay to me.
I know there are some Skype mobiles out there now, so if you took that kind of tech, upgraded it to 3G, stick the tech in a DS, for onkine gaming, internet and free phone calls, and it could really hurt Apple. iPhone's (and many phones) weakest link is that you have to sign up to an expensive contract. If we could get those days of not really having that back, and have DS do it, it could really change mobile online gaming, and scare telecom companies too.
I can however defend a DS iteration of a phone, because it has been proven beneficial to gameplay. Pokemon's online system uses the DS microphone for in-game discussion between players in a manner that is intelligible to both parties is both subtle and brilliant, and I could see a wide-spread adoption of in-game voice chat DS style as a great way to foster social interaction among people who are not together. It would also be a great use for the dual screen, using one screen to display your progress and the other to display your friend's progress so you can help eachother out and show eachother how to get through tricky sections of single-player or have an old fasion multi-player race. Using the DS as a phone to inhance gameplay rather than as an add-on, like was done in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl wifi, would be a good upgrade to the DS that would increase it's value to consumers IMO.
I don't think the DS LL was created to be a different product than the DSi that might segment the market. I think the DS LL was simply created because some potential customers need a larger screen than others (old people, people with bad vision), and because it is easier for customers to market an easier to see DS screen by word of mouth and by looking over the player's shoulder than a smaller screen product with hard-to-see angles. It's just a DSi with a bigger screen, not an upgrade to the existing product.
I would love for Nintendo to do this because if they did, they would start a whole new thing which no one else has done. Yet this will force Sony to take the same measurements to follow or be crushed (again) by the DS.
Sorry, I always wanted to start a comment that way, but really, when nintendo releaes a smaller DS with a camera, a better DSi shop (ditto MasterBalls suggestion, except it includes GameBoy, N64 and GameCube Games), better online, better graphics, and LESS SHOVELWARE!
That I'd buy without a seconds thought.
The quote indicates directly that the hardware price would increase, which is how the consumer would be paying for the service. It's no different than the Kindle or nook - you don't think those things are really $260 worth of hardware, do you? Consider that Sony, one of the most consistently high-priced manufacturer of electronics, undercuts them by ~$60 on their non-3g e-reader and you will see that the cost is in the hardware.
Now, that being said.. if we're talking about $60.. that's a steal for years of 3g service considering cell companies often charge 30-40/per month for it. Now let's hope for a browser, skype support, and (pipe dream) an open-distribution model for independent developers.