From 1up via Gametab

Nintendo today announced a newly-redesigned version of their DS handheld in Japan, confirming rumors that have been floating around the internet for the past few weeks. The "Nintendo DS Lite" features a smaller case design than the original DS and a higher-quality screen with four brightness settings. According to Nintendo, the name "Lite" is a play on words meant to emphasize both the system's lightweight design (it's about two ounces lighter than the previous DS) as well as its lighter, brighter screen.

http://www.1up.com/media?id=2651923

Woo! Looks bloody sexy. It seems Iwata is obsessed with the iPod-esk look too.

viva la revolution!

mmmm ds is awesome. if revo can do this well, sony and MS have to be wary of what is coming :D

Is there anything new apart from the sexy look? I'm getting kind of sick of Nintendo's handheld re-releases.

Still, I'm glad Nintendo's got its fair share of the handheld market. f*** sony and their taking like 3 months to release shadow of the colossus in PAL. If every other company can do near world-wide releases you can too. f*****s.

last edited by Hashy at 22:30:25 26/Jan/06

what do you mean 'new'? The DS has only just started to get some truely AAA titles. This is just like the SP is to the GBA: A much more compact, sexier and economical system.

also, Cheers for the heads up for this article Mike ;)

Ohhhh I want one! maybe it won't feel as gay as the current one. Oh I have to finsh my game of Advance Wars: Dual Strike!

What a ripoff, respect for Nintendo dropping.

I don't understand how people can see these redesigns as a bad thing, unless of course you were suckered in to buying the current clunky version.

I dunno what the hell you're on about Khel, I think it looks good. I'll probably get one, just because I've scratched my current DS, and would probably end up buying a new one anyway.

Oooooh...sexy, the only problem is, I just bought my own DS and I don't think I will upgrade anytime soon concidering it's only a cosmetic upgrade.

.... and for some odd reason the posts aren't working in Firefox.... I have resorted to using IE, I feel so dirty :(

Its a money grabbing, "f*** the consumer" type venture worthy of Sony. Release the original version, leech money out of everyone, then realease a new version with extra features which should have been in the original in the first place and make everyone buy the same product all over again. Its a blatant marketing scam, like when they release a dvd then a few months later re-release it as a "Special edition" with all the extra content that should have been on it in the first place.

I like the DS, its a pretty cool piece of hardware, but anyone who can look at this decision and praise Nintendo is blinded by fanboyism. The DS is great, its only half the price of the PSP, but oh btw, Nintendo want you to buy it twice.

last edited by Khel at 00:18:33 27/Jan/06

It is a lot like DVD releases, but the reason being the new content or features weren't ready or available for the first release. It's a revision of the first design, refined and worked on to interest new buyers because sales of the first one can justify it, that doesn't mean there's any sinister reasoning behind it.

Khel, you're assuming that everyone who has ever bought a DS has already got one. There were a lot of people that just didn't buy one because it didn't look as sleek as the PSP, but now Nintendo may just get sales out of them too.

Then there's people like me, who were rough on their DS to begin with, and now have s***ty screens, and it drives them f***ing crazy. I'll probably get this one at some point just for that, just like I upgraded my GBA to an SP.

what next? the mini ds lite?

This is just like the SP is to the GBA: A much more compact, sexier and economical system.

That's a flawed comparison. The SP was a complete redesign of the GBA complete with backlit, higher quality screen while this is merely a minor cosmetic upgrade with "look we shaved off a cm here and this bits more flat and look a new microphone position why didn't do do this in the first place hurrr, but it's sexy right?". I'm very much with khel here.

*amaya swears* Goddamnit I only just got a DS for Christmas... and you know I'm the kind of idiot consumer that will upgrade anyway.

ah s***. i just bought a DS like 3 days ago and theres a new design coming out? bah. oh well i love my DS. kirby canvas course and mario kart DS ftw. oh and whats this obsession with making every tiny as hell? i dont want a console so small i feel like im gonna break the damn thing by touching it. i got big hands even the PSP is a tad to small for me. now that i think about it, im glad i got a normal sized DS.

The new DS has higher-quality screen(s) with four brightness settings. In addition to the sleek iPod-esk look (which seems to be all the rage atm. I'm looking at you 'ceramic' PSP), I imagine that the resin on the touch screen will be far stronger than what the DS uses now, which will allow a far broader audience to enjoy the system.
Basically, it doens't look as kiddy anymore, which is a real kick in the guts for Sony, since that and GTA were the only things going for it. Nice work Iwata.

This announcement is far from a suprise anyway. Reggie told us at last year's E3 that a new look DS was coming, and the community has had several rumours regarding the lite within the past couple of months.
Its not like you need to buy the new lite; It'd just be nicer to have a lite rather than a regular DS. But at the end of the day, it does the same as the DS i have in my cupboard, so I can't see myself getting one in the near future.

Sony should take a page out of Nintendo's book and fix the gaping problems in the PSP's design. I mean, WTF is with those shoulder buttons? It feels like I'm playing with some low quality water pistol.

http://www.joystiq.com/media/2006/01/ds-size-comparison-cqh.jpg

wow, quite a size difference. though ill stick with my flashme firmware ;)

f*** sony and their taking like 3 months to release shadow of the colossus in PAL. If every other company can do near world-wide releases you can too. f*****s.

asif you'd sotto voce this!

asif you'd sotto voce this!

It was a bit of a derail. Plus Sony of Europe/Australia are cool enough to be doing a limited re-release of Ico to coincide with SotC, so as bitter as I am, it's hard to stay mad.

Plus we get a few very minor bonuses.

doesn't look too new to me:

deja vu?

http://members.optusnet.com.au/furgle/zelda.jpg

last edited by Furgle at 16:58:39 27/Jan/06

That's exactly what I was thinking, it looks about the size of a classic game & watch

I'd buy a zelda game&watch skinned DS.