Nintendo to add music & video to DS for $50

But we thought the PSP wasn't your competition, big N!  Despite having said that they don't care about the PSP and its wacky non-gaming features, Nintendo has announced that it plans to add music and video playback to the Nintendo DS with an adapter that will accept memory cards (but what kind of memory cards?)  The adapter will apparently play MP3 audio files and MPEG-4 video files.  It will sell for 5,000Y, which is around $50.  So, let's see - $149 for the DS plus $50 for the adapter, and you've got PSP prices.  Ponder ye.

[Correction - Yes, it is 5,000Y, not 50,000Y]

[Galley @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

$200, and you're stuck with a tiny 4:3 screen. No thanks!

[Joshua Ochs @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Um, 50,000 Yen is approximately $500, not $50 ($479.12 at today's exchange rate). Barring major swings in valuation, a good rule of thumb has been just to consider a Yen roughly equal to a penny, and add a decimal point accordingly.

[bakahage @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

If it is 50,000yen... that is closer to $500, not $50. I hope that there was a typing mistake and that was supposed to read $5,000yen.

[brolley @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

YES!!! I really was disappointed when I heard they weren't going to put music and video on the the DS. Now I cant's wait... I've got my 150 + 50 dollars ready!! ^_^

[Brandon Campbell @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

"$200, and you're stuck with a tiny 4:3 screen. No thanks!"


exactly, it'll be the PSP for me.

[Uncle Sam @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

No need it. I have my own laptop to watch DVD movie. I can't hear any crap music because I am deaf! Me save money, Hearing don't Bwhahaha.

[Attis @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

It is suppose to be 5000 not 50000. Read the Reuters article for this. Second your stuck with two tiny screens. However they could do some good things with the two screens. For music the playlists are on the bottom screen while on the top there are visuls going on. Same for video. Put controls and such on the bottom one and utilize the touch screens and the video on the top.

[Natiahs @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

There's already an unofficial product, GBA Movie Player 2, that allows the GBA or DS to play movies, music, e-books, and NES/Famicom ROMs. Better yet, it can be had for $30 after shipping. Supports FC & SD Type I cards from 128MB on up.

[viktor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

ah its real....

real real....

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/avp/index.html

i think movie and musisc playback its optional, many got another things.

[dalton @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Yes, Lik Sang already sells a media player that does much the same thing. But I like the Nintendo version better - it accepts SD cards. Important to note that this works with the Gameboy Advance SP too. Just think, the tiniest little portable media player you ever saw.

[Kamalot @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

This is a great option for people who want to watch an occasional video but actually prefer to play games.

I have the CF movie player from lik-sang. It is quite cool and displays video much better than my $600 Treo. I like to keep a few clips of my family and nephew on it like a moving photo album.

Truthfully though, I prefer playing games over watching video anyway.

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

No, no, no. It's not for the DS specifically. In fact, Nintendo Japan's site makes no mention of the DS on the product page (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/avp/index.html). The player is an SD card reader that goes in a GBA (or GBA slot on the DS, I suppose).

So, really, Nintendo's bringing video and music, probably with more capacity than their current video cartridges (and yes, those damn things are selling) to the GBA. And, frankly, folks, it's not for us (I'm 31, you know what I mean). It's for our kids, our neices, nephews, etc.

[jet @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Hmmm... wait for this? Or get the Movie Player from Lik-sang? Seems that the lik sang player is just as good, except you can play "homebrewed" roms of NES games. Since this will go in the GBA slot and owrk on the GBA, then I don't think Nintendo is going to have any cool dual screen features. Any reason to wait for it?

[darx @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

I do not own a ds, but I heard the comparison from the movie player currently out (not official one) looks a lot better on the ds than the gba sp. Im still trying do decide, psp or ds, but that battery life has me leaning towards psp.

[darx @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

ds**

[V @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

It seems to be a bit irresponsible for engadget to spin this as Nintendo's reaction to the PSPs multimedia functions. The Gameboy Advance has for a long time had video add-ons, and this is Nintendo simply trying to skim some money from that market. Successful third-party add-ons have long been an attractive market for Nintendo. (Some would argue that the whole SP design was birthed in the success of the Afterburner add-on kit.)

The engadget team certainly knows how to put up a flurry of gadgets on their web site. Too bad they often doesn't really know what they're talking about.

[V @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

...they often don't...

[Phil Whitenberg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

I have the Lik-Sang product. It does not use MPEG4 or MP3 but instead requires painfully slow conversion to its own formats - silly since MPEG4 and MP3 are what so many people already use to store video and music on their PC's. It is inferior to what the new Nintendo adaptor promises because of this. But Nintendo could/should have offered this a long time ago. Anyone who does not think that competition from PSP drove this is foolish, but it was idiotic for Nintendo to think that having this available would reduce game sales. Despite the smaller screens of the SP and DS, I will still buy, use, and recommend Gameboys if the resolution and playback quality is satisfactory.

[kbc @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

How does one get video from your computer onto the card? This would be great for watching an episode of arrested development while commuting...

[Jago @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

The battery life of the PSP just plain sucks! And who wants to buy another version of a movie that you may already own in the UMD format? The graphics are superior on the PSP, but the touch screen on my DS is AWESOME. It emulates the mouse action on a PC FPS game very well. Buy the DS, you won't be disappointed.

[Stylus112104 @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

I think that this is a good idea. This is a 1st party product. I don't like buying 3rd party products unless its absolutely necessary. I sampled some GBA Video Paks but they SUCK with a capital K! I don't know what it is, but I think the video stream is at a constant 64 kb/s bitrate. If only it would have used a variable bitrate. Who cares once I get a hold of one of these. I can put all my files off of my computer on this!

[Penguin @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Music and video on DS?
Pfft.
I won't go for it. It'll be a waste of money.
$50 more dollars is going to go towards my PSP.

Don't get me wrong, I've got the DS. It's awesome.
But the screen is too small for videos and the speakers crackle at louder decibles.

[Xavya @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Yea well ill definetly hand out the 50 dollars for Nintendo's handheld. I mean Sonys never really made any reliable products(dont get me started on my ps2 issues) and ive already heard rumors about dead pixels on the PSP and its screen is easily scratched, not to mention its joystick is very restricted(moves like half a cenimeter each way). Also from a gaming perspective i mean the DS is just the way to go, all its amazing new features and games. The PSP is just doing what video games have been doing for over 30 years and its not like they have any good games for it yet, i mean come on all they had for launch in Japan was a racing game, a golf game, and a card based metal gear. And beleive me im no Nintendo fan boy, gamecube was one hell of a mistake but i think nintendo might have gotten it right this time. Oh yeah and in case your wondering, my brother imported the PSP which is how i know all that i said above. Thanks, later.

[Veiliace @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

I'd send the 50 dollars to PSP and I did. I think the PSP and the DS are very similar both with it's ups and downs. Xanya, how many dead pixels have you seen? yes it does happen where some come with dead pixels, but like what doesn't, you buy lcd moniter, there is always chance for dead pixels, so what? The DS having a card slot for video's and music, through my own experiences, putting music and videos into something that isn't built for it will come out very bad. The quality will go down the drain, as said by Penguin sound begins to crackle when louder and for video which depends mainly on graphics, i dont even have to explain that. For screen, both are nearly same, PSP is not that much bigger, but graphic and sound quality just pounds on DS(this is not from assumptions, actually compared with a friend's DS and even played with it before getting my hands on PSP), however power cuts PSP down, playing my PSP, music goes about 8 hours so its fine, but on movies videos not much to be said. Games, you can't say anything about new games or repeats, both do. DS - Mario, wow how many times have i seen that game, making it paper doesnt do much either, pokemon- leaf, fire all have been out before, some just never changed to english from japanese until DS was out, PSP - Ridge racers, dynasty warriers etc. both have new games both have old games. I myself would rather have a card reader built in that to have this reader hanging around on the handheld. Sacrificing power, in my opinion PSP would be a better choice since most likely when your out of an area with an outlet your probably doing soemthing other than playing handheld games, such as if your driving, i dont hitnk you would play and if your not the driver, there is adapters for recharging in the car. Oh yea, just to go against the person before, Xanya, the joystick is fine, since it's your brothers, i dont think you have even used the joystick and only commented on it since it looks like it moves a cm. Features that you say are amazing, yes chat pretty cool, but how much would you actually use it? touch screen, only some game has use, the second screen is pretty much useless for many games right now, like seeing DS ridgeracer, you get a steering wheel and a tiny minimap, i rather they justh ave a minimap since the steering wheel just crap, yes you really need to see which way your steering(laughs), some features on PSP are also not too good such as photo won't be used much, maybe to show people pictures of things, but pretty much useless. This is my biased opinion, GB just pissed me off when after i bought GBA teh second day came SP and then when i got SP, not even a year and DS came out. Wasted so much money, culndt they have jsut released the DS and cut off the GBA's that all came out in less than what 1year i think it was. Anyways after typing this clump words, I'll give a recomendation to PSP that has a better quality, none of that bs about old games and new games, if you say that just dont play at all, every console has games that repeat and new games so it doesn't matter. PSP all the way and hopefully accessories come out for extensions in batteries for couple hours more.

PS: Xanya- things about PSP launch with games bad games, dont give me that bs, DS came out with basically no games at all, so are you saying mario is a new game, ds came out with the demo metroid oh wow a demo with one level and feel magic, dating girls such a good game where you do nothing but move your finger up and down teh touch screen. Well that was a long message, here is my biased comment to counter Xanya's biased comment against PSP and thats all.

[Philip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

How do you view the thing viktor sent? It's all in Japanese!

[Philip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

How do you view the thing viktor sent? IT's all in Japanese!

[Philip @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Or instead, translate it to me. NOt word for word but what the difference is from this player and the one on Lik-Sang, GBA player (New Version)

[appleisdevilspawn @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

i wanna keep this short n sweet so i can get some sleep so please scuse me if im blunt. im really frustrated with the DS, its one of the most gimmicky peices of hardware ive seen in quite some time and this audio video adaptor is a blatant scramble to copy the psp on something the DS developers and Nintendo didnt have the foresight to think of beforehand (whoopty-friggin-doo. 2 screens with practically no use, how amazingly insightfull)

PS. i may be a little "touchy" (wink wink) seeing as ive had about the same amount of sleep as the DS has battery life.

[Blake S @ Dec 19th 2005 2:10AM]

Okay, it's fine when fanboys (or fangirls) bicker and whine about what is wrong with the rivals system. Yes, you're being biased, and no I don't take you seriously when you have misspelling and poor grammar in your comments.

DS is better in its own ways, as is the PSP. But take a look at the name of the PSP: Playstation Portable. If I already own a Playstation 2 and the only new thing about a PSP is that it is portable, then I'm only giving Sony more money for another Playstation 2. Nintendo is doing something new as they have always done. Sony took old technology and manufactured a new product for the masses. There is nothing NEW about it. Sony loves their customers'...Money.