Nikkei Net, the online arm of Japan's foremost economic newspaper, reports that the new model [of the Nintendo DS] will launch this year in Japan and include a camera and music playback.
This makes sense for Japan, train commuter capital of the world. Take your upskirt photos and listen to music. And the fact that this would indicate some form of storage on the DS (possibly an SD slot) could be good. Games and applications (mostly applications) could take advantage of that. And if the article is right, this DS will only cost $30 more. So why don't I care?
I guess it has to do with all the things I'm still not seeing from Nintendo.
Nintendo is not connected. They have no community like Steam, Xbox Live, or PSN. They're not putting VoIP on the DS. The DS web browser is long out of print. What would people want from a portable device more than the ability to remain connected?
They have no intention of being middlemen for the entertainment industry, with music marketplaces, video on demand, and suchnot. Music is nice, but it's pretty old news, now. Plus if it's like previous DS mp3 players, it will require purchasing an SD card, purchasing an SD card reader, and moving over mp3 files manually from a PC. If you're law abiding, add in the lengthy process of ripping your CDs to that PC. If you're not, add in download time. Yawn.
But I'm looking at this from an adult perspective. What about the kid that's too young for a cell phone, but just the right age for a DS? Kids are savvy. They've got enough time on their hands to rip CDs (or torrent, more likely). They want cameras. Maybe this is a relatively cheap way for parents to give their kids a bunch of toys at once?
Meh. What's a core gamer trying to do figuring out what Nintendo's up to in the first place? :P
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