February 15th, 2006 (12:36pm) - While many were tucked away in their race car-themed beds dreaming of the day when rocket packs replace school buses, Nintendo of Japan held a press conference regarding future improvements to the Nintendo DS. Because the press conference didn’t have a maniacally enthusiastic name, I have decided to label it "The Green Rocket Smash Bash Fortune Fun Five Hundred Fest"!
Three thumbs up!
Without further adoo-doo, here’s the amazing facts that you can begin crafting your Megaton Announcements around:
The Web Browser
Opera Software announced that they will bring legit web-browsing to Nintendo DS users in Japan. Opera’s agreement with Nintendo means DS users will now be able to surf the full Internet from their systems using the Opera browser. The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as a DS card, much like any game you would pick up on shelves today. Users simply insert the card into the Wi-Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens.
"The incredibly popular Nintendo DS is already Wi-Fi enabled to support real-time gaming, so adding Web browsing capabilities was a natural evolution for this device," says Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President, Opera Software. "Gaming devices are growing more advanced and a great Web experience is becoming a product differentiator for gaming manufacturers. Opera is excited to work with Nintendo to deliver a unique dual screen, full Internet experience on Nintendo DS."
With an on-screen keypad and stylus, users can easily navigate the Web from their Nintendo DS with PDA-like functionality. Based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser, Opera delivers superior speed and rendering of Web pages on the Nintendo DS.
"Within just five seconds of turning on the system, the Nintendo DS is already fully operational. This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are," says Masaru Shimomura, Deputy General Manager of Nintendo’s R & D Department. "Opera exceeded our expectations with its user friendly interface, quick access to all your favorite sites, ease of use and, most importantly, in making the best use of the Nintendo DS system’s unique double screens and touch screen features. Opera is an important partner for Nintendo in our efforts to further expand the users of the Nintendo DS."
Whitnesses at the event saw the Opera browser demonstrated on the Nintendo DS as they navigated to Yahoo Maps to find directions as well as search on the web for "Nintendo". Because the unit will piggyback existing wi-fi connections, the speed of surfing was rather high compared to that of standard cell-phone browsing.
The Television Tuner Card
Editor’s Note: Before we jump in here and say "The Nintendo DS TV Tuner is coming to America", read the finer details in the next couple of paragraphs. Unless a similar broadcaster pops up in North America, or if Nintendo’s willing to convert the hardware to pick up standard TV signals, we may not see this accessory released stateside.
Starting in April 2006, 1seg (One Seg) will start airing digital broadcasts for mobile devices throughout Japan. Several cell phone companies have announced support for the new medium, and now Nintendo has stepped foward with the only portable gaming device capable of recieving the broadcasts, their Nintendo DS. The good news is, you don’t need the new Nintendo DS Lite to use it: Like the Opera Card, Nintendo will release it’s tentatively-titled "DS Terrestrial Digital Broadcast Receiver Card"!
Japan!
This card turns the DS into a TV capable of receiving the new 1seg broadcasts. Ideally, Nintendo has planned for the video to appear on the top, adjustable screen, and your "remote" (changing channels and the like) is mapped to the touch-screen. The prototypes Nintendo had at the press conference were being used with the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, but the final version of the card will plug into the DS card slot.
What is Known/Unknown
Japanese Nintendo DS owners can expect the Opera Card in June at a cost of 3,800 yen. The digital broadcast tuner card, however, is currently without a date or set price. As we all know, Nintendo has a history of releasing these cool add-on gadgets in Japan first to test the market (Nintendo 64 DD anyone?)... so if either add-on should fail, you can pretty much expect that we won’t see the failure pop up on shelves here in America.
Something tells me that the Opera Card will be in rather high demand. This is purely speculation, but do you realize how easy it would be to sell a Nintendo DS to business clients in America? If Nintendo were to market the DS with wi-fi internet capabilities with a PDA-like interface at 50%-60% less than the cost of a high-end PDA, the DS could end up making as big a splash with non-gamers as it did with the hardcore handheld gaming community!
TO THE FORUMS!
