archives 2004-09-09 2004-09-01 2004-08-26 2004-08-24

Due to the most recent popular games coming out on the nintendo "DS" i was just wondering if there will be any soccer games like FIFA soccer and Winning Eleven Series on the system too.

vm

Actually, Winning Eleven is indeed coming to the Nintendo DS...or rather, it's currently planned for the system, anyway. But whether or not it'll hit the US is another story.

-- Craig

Is there any chance that Nintendo will release the DS in at least ONE other color scheme? I know all of the updates say that black and silver will be the only scheme released...but somewhere deep down inside, like my lungs, I am holding my breath.

Jason

George Harrison (the Nintendo exec, not the second dead Beatle) mentioned that the system will only come in Silver/black for starters so they can simply launch the thing. After the sales start petering out, Nintendo will launch new colors. It's all about the marketing.

-- Craig

i have read on this site, or another site about the ds being released silmultaneously in all parts of the world. recently i saw that the ds is to be released on november 21 in north america. what about the rest of the world? is nintendo forgetting about this statement?

colin

Japan's getting it on December 3. As for Europe and Australia and other markets, you'll get yours in 2005.

-- Craig

Since the DS now has stereo speakers, when running GBA games, will those games feature stereo sound, without headphones, when stereo is selected?

Nick

I'm figuring the speakers are using the exact audio output as what the headphone jack uses, which means, yes, GBA games will be in stereo.

-- Craig

Are there any DS games in development that WONT utilize both screens? Just curious to know if any companies would actually do that, cause they crazy.

mike

I'll be willing to put money down that no developer or publisher would be stupid enough to publish a Nintendo DS game without sending at least a still picture to the unused screen...even if they only want to have the action run on one screen.

-- Craig

I am very glad to hear that the DS will be backwards compatable with GBA games, but does this also include GB/GBC games? I would assume so, but I haven't seen any mention of it thus far. I certainly hope that it can play the entire 'Game Boy' library as this would greatly add to its value for me. Any info you could provide would be appreciated. Thanks, and I look forward to your review of the DS - any idea as to how far in advance your review will be up, if at all?

filip

Nope, sorry...the DS will only play GBA-native games. Game Boy Color and Game Boy games will not be supported or play on the system natively. This was done to cut costs, since the GBA actually has the GBC chipset inside to ensure backward compatibility...and adding this chip into the DS would increase the manufacturing costs and time. But that's not preventing people from talking about creating an unofficial Game Boy Color emulator for the DS, since the cartridge slot is essentially the same on the DS. Homebrew programmers have already pulled off a GBC emulator on GBA hardware, and since the DS is enormously more powerful than a GBA...

-- Craig

Hey Craig. I noticed in the pic here: http://ds.ign.com/articles/549/549979p1.html that the aiming screen and the map screen were switched. Now I'm wondering if this is right, or a bad photoshop job. With the map on the touch screen, how is aiming going to work? Oh and Matt smells like bad cheese...

ralph

The action screen has shifted to the top, but that doesn't mean the game still won't use the touch-screen for mouse-style control like the E3 version. We'll know for sure in a couple of weeks when we get our hands around the playable version.

-- Craig

Craig, great job on the latest details on the DS. However, with the DS' lack of link cable port, players can only play GCN-to-GBA games such as Four Swords Adventures and Crystal Chronicles using the GBA, right?

Dylan

Well, of course. What, you think you can just drill a hole in the back of the DS and make it work?

-- Craig

You mentioned that the Nintendo DS will have support for 5 languages... Does this mean that I can choose to use Japanese on an American-released Nintendo DS system? Also, will the American-released DS be able to play Japanese games? Thanks for your help in advance!

Gunnar Tope

I'm guessing Nintendo's going to stick with the handheld policy of leaving out territory lockouts of the Nintendo DS. The Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance were all free of any territory restriction since players are constantly on the move...imagine how sucky it would be to hop a plane to Japan or Europe with your Game Boy to keep you company, only to be restricted in playing the games you brought along...instead of having the ability to go to any store and fuel up on gaming. I'm willing to bet that the DS will be completely universal from territory to territory. But of course, Nintendo hasn't officially commented on this yet.

-- Craig