While Microsoft tries to figure out if it should take
Tegra-powered Zune HD in a gaming direction or the Xbox in a portable direction, there are wild rumorings from the underground that claim Nintendo is planning on using Tegra to power a next generation DS handheld. The primary source on this comes from
Bright Side of News (which doesn't have a big track record to judge by), who claims the debut is planned for late 2010 and conjectures that the device could either use the upcoming 40nm 2nd-gen Tegra tech, or the existing, tried-and-true 65nm chip. There were rumors from
Yahoo! Games of a Tegra DS afoot at GamesCom in August, with higher resolution screens and full backwards compatibility, and
PC Perspective also claims its own NVIDIA insiders are confirming this -- the evidence is certainly stacking up. If it turns out to be true it's going to mean a pretty dramatic jump forward in portable gaming power, but either way this generation of handhelds seems due for a refresh, and there's plenty of ultra compact silicon floating about to make a graphical leap possible.
[Via
PC Perspective; thanks, Fernando]
posted October 13th 2009 5:37PM
Andy was just joking, or he's incredibly stupid.
This is the same thing that gets in the way with console discussions, where different systems are compared that really aren't comparable. They are both portable game gadgets certainly, but the differences between them are as striking as the ones between the Wii and PS3. We have 3 DS units in our house (Wife - Brain Games and Cake Mania, Daughter - Tinkerbell and Barbie, Son - Pokemon) and we have 3 PS2 slim units. My son and I have been looking at maybe getting him a PSP instead. He is turning 14 next week and is starting to think the DS and it's games are getting to be lame.
Not really playing with either of them myself, just looking at them side by side in a store and comparing features and game titles, I don't really feel that they are really competing against each other. What I mean is if you lump anything that plays games and is handheld together even though they target different audiences, then you would have to include things like the Leapfrog and Vtech handhelds that get stuck over in the toy section at Walmart in the there as competing with them and I really don't think that they are in the market. But neither are the DS and PSP. Same goes for the Wii, I think it is in a different market than the 360 and PS3.
Give it a pull-out keyboard and it'll be a netbook killer!
In the words of Duke Nuke'm :
"it's about damn time"
We might be a new site, but at least we reported the correct manufacturing process for the 2nd Gen Tegra: 40nm process at TSMC, not 45nm.
All the best,
Theo
Yea, a Tegra on a Nintendo DS would be nice.
I just got myself an Ipod touch because I was under whelmed by the new DSi. I have a DS-lite, and I thought having a mp3 player in the package would be nice.
But then the DSi is pretty much the same price as and Ipod touch, and boy is the IPOD touch the much much cooler thing.
I am a Nintendo fan, but with the update from DS lite to DSi they shoot themself in the foot.
Unless they want to risk loosing the portable market they need to upgrade the thing.
Then what would the DSi be? A pretty shortlived dead thing. Not very Nintendo like. So they can't (won't) update it. But they have to.
If only the DS had decent video capabilities, a decent MP3 player, a decent browser and decent application capabilities (i.e. sync with Gmail etc). I would not be bothering with an iPOD touch.
So I do, so there is another game platform I can get games for. Not good Nintendo. This never happened previously in my life. (well except PC games, but that's another story).
M.
In your last paragraph you begin to list your wants in the next DS, but you describe a PMP and a phone. At the end of the day, Nintendo is going to make a portable gaming device, not a PMP or a phone. They are not looking to compete with the iPod or iPhonee, and sales numbers have shown that they can be successful while coexisting, but to compete with the other portable gaming devices. Trust me, most gamers don't think of iPods as gaming platforms, no matter how hard Steve Jobs tries to convince them otherwise.
The next-gen DS will compete against the next-gen PSP and possibly a portable device from Microsoft. iPods have their place, and it isn't next to the "real" gaming devices.
im only 15 but i have lots of experience on NES, SNES, and N64, i consider these tobe nintendo's platinum years, with the wii, i find an awesome concept but lacking in some areas and i find the same to be true with the DS, here is NIntendo's chance to make the ultimate portable gaming machine and to not bring out games that involve dumb little puzzles. i want so see nintendo succeed in the realm of a litlle less casual gaming so bring it on!
I can't believe only one person has pointed this out...
The DSi *is* the next generation DS.
DS vs DSi:
Main Processor: 67mhz vs 133 mhz (the other processor should be similar)
Memory: 4 mb vs 16 mb
Storage: 256kb vs 256mb
So yea, the DSi is superior in every way. It's too bad Nintendo didn't develop games for it before they released it.
They used the extra power for certain DSi games, but mostly to handle the cameras, picture manipulation, Internet Browser, sound editing and recording, etc...
the adverage phones more powerfull than those poor specs
The "adverge" phone isn't a gaming platform
Here's a simple test:
Did the DSi launch with a selection of exclusive retail games? Y/N
Have developers shifted focus to the DSi to take advantage of the marginally increased specs? Y/N
Are there any first party Nintendo games exclusive to the DSi in development? Y/N
If you answered N to any of the above questions, the DSi is not a second generation DS.
You mean the a nintendo DS might have good graphics and not 'good for the DS' graphics?
Amazing.
Took them long enough to figure that out.
"Took them long enough to figure that out."
I'd say that's not a very informed opinion. Sony can afford to take a loss or sell extremely close to the margin because they have a much larger business. Microsoft can afford to probably buy Canada and write it off as travel expenses. For this reason, the PS3, 360, and PSP are all sold very close to margin if not for a loss, relying on software and licensing for their profit.
Nintendo makes a nice profit on every handheld it sells and it has to, because the only thing they sell are handhelds and consoles. Up until very recently, largely because of the market forces unleashed by the explosion of netbooks, smartphones, and other similar devices onto the scene, it would be too expensive to develop a handheld around a chipset that was high end. This is especially the case for a company like Nintendo which is mainly known as a developer of the great software that happens to run on devices they also manufacture.
Now, with chips like Tegra and Cortex readily available and cheap, and the falling price of flash memory and display technologies like AMOLED, it's different. Combined, these technologies use very little power and greatly reduce the complexity of the hardware that must be designed because of miniaturization.
When the original NDS was being developed, these things would have been very expensive and power-hungry. The DS uses a smaller battery and has a longer life than a PSP, despite having to power two screens. For many people, the PSP just doesn't accomplish what a portable system should: there should be no load times, there should be a long battery life, and there should be a wide variety of software available. The PSP has better software now, but the situation was not anything like that earlier in its lifespan. As a result of this, the PSP lost a lot of market share, and it is now simply a matter of economics to decide what platform a title should be launched on. The DS has a massive user base, to the point where there's practically one per house in Japan, and developers don't need anywhere near the manpower to develop games for it.
On the other hand, the PSP (especially first gen) has a reputation for almost comically-long loading times (one WWF game comes to mind, I think Gamespot made a chart) and not very many good games in each major genre. A much smaller number of them have been sold, and the graphics need to be top-notch or the game looks terrible compared to others on the system because it's so powerful.
The same story exists for the Wii (well, minus the "good games" part) which is why it's doing so well. I'm actually worried that Nintendo will go too far with the Tegra and take away one of their greatest advantages: low cost of software development. My hope is that they will use the most power-efficient chips even at the cost of being "only as good" as the original PSP or something. They will also need to dramatically raise their support for community development, and do something like Apple as done with its AppStore.
Market forces like those I outlined above are what will determine whether a system gets good games or not. Having the most powerful hardware has very little effect.
And Nintendo for the love of God, if nothing else, get the hell away from Friend Codes. Put parental controls on the hardware that allow moms to prohibit online gaming with people outside of their kids' circle of friends, and let the rest of us just play our ****ing games.
For the record, I own a PC and do most of my gaming on it. I have a DS, and I don't go anywhere without it. I have a PSP Slim but I modded it and I primarily only use it for emulation. I used to use it as a PMP but then I got my Cowon S9. I also own a Wii and I haven't touched it in months, but I bought it exclusively for the sake of Smash and Metroid, so the other goodies that come out for it like Mario, Zelda, World of Goo, etc, are all just bonuses.
Thanks for reminding me about christmas myyshop000016, I'd better go check out walmarts website to pick out some gifts.
Thanks for the reminder about christmas myyshop000016, I'd better head off to walmarts site to pick up some gift :P
would this make the ds more powerful then then wii? lol
I may be new here, but honestly can anyone tell me what the big deal about Nvidia's tegra is? Other than using an Arm 11 system on a chip that handles high definition video content on mobile devices like the Zune HD, I'm really in the dark on the chipset's dedicated optimizations towards video games and it's ability in general. Wikipedia says it supports OpenGL ES 2.0, but does anyone really have a good reason to hype Tegra so much?
Wii HD + DS HD = total blitzkrieg.
I wonder what Sony will do about this. I still think the Ipod Touch is the best mobile gaming device.
I own one, it is the worst gaming system ever. I never though something would beat out the Wii but it has
While Microsoft tries to figure out if it should take Tegra-powered Zune HD in a gaming direction or the Xbox in a portable direction,
---
Ah, you think MS wants to lose money on another venture? Take the bomb that is Xbox and... make a portable? Adorable.
If the Xbox brand is a bomb, what does that make the PS3?
Xbox has been out of the red and into the green for some time now. Hardly a bomb, tard.
I almost pissed myself. I hope this will come true.
perhaps a handheld that doubles as a home console?
$99 + $1200 a year for service = Best value EVAR!!!
It's funny, Wii using ATI, NDS gonna use NVIDIA?????
Great gaming device? No. Far from it. That requires buttons
"The next-gen DS will compete against the next-gen PSP and possibly a portable device from Microsoft. iPods have their place, and it isn't next to the "real" gaming devices."
@nsdcx
I think there you are wrong. Sure the Nintendo DS will be more game centric and less PDA centric, and that's fine.
But also gamers want to listen to music, have a portable browser, want to get emails, ideally without having to carry a second device.
And the next Nintendo DS will have to compete against the Ipod/Iphone, because the first three laws of computing devices is content content content. And frankly that's why the PSP is loosing, and that's why M$ will have a hard time to get in.
Apple is ahead on this route for one.
M.
GAMERS want a GAMING machine. You damn itards need to get real. The touch and phone are good and all but they're basically cell phone games and by that I mean pick up and go games. Good fun and a nice distraction, but in no way is it or will it ever be a gaming platform as long as there are no buttons or at the very least stylus control. Using a fat finger is only practical for about 10% of the games out there. Tilting 5%.
I enjoy my ipod touch but I don't consider it to be anything near an actual gaming platform. Just because it can display pretty graphics doesn't make it a gaming god.
I agree, the lack of buttons restricts gaming on Iphone/Ipod touch.
Some games that is, not for others..
M.
So are we talking Crysis graphics? If not, I'll pass...
What the hell? Only a marginal few computers can run that well still. The Xbox and PS3 can't even push close.
if so ..sony must be scared
by the way ..the current games on ds are good enough ...
What I'd like to see in the next gen hand helds besides the more obvious better graphics and sound are:
Wifi .n
Touchscreen for browsing/typing - keyboard too bulky
SD/microSD support for software
Media playback - MP3/AVI
Pico projector - imagine playing games on a larger display without having to plug it in to a TV.
What I don't care about are:
Camera
Actually, that's about it. I don't care about camera in hand held gaming consoles as the chances are I'll have my phone with me.
Hmm, interesting.
But will the Tegra 2 be powerful enough to keep up with the rumored dedicated quadcore PowerVR SGX543MP4 GPU or a next-gen iteration?
This would be hilarious--a Tegra-powered DS might even outperform the Wii!
People have simply missed the boat on what these chips are going to be used for. DSi is %50 more powerful than DS and does not require an upgrade to produce better looking Games. My bet is that nVidia and Nintendo are designing a new, more powerful, Tegra chip for the Wii HD.
This is just amazing! I'm just worried about how much it will cost though. If not Tegra, at the very least Wireless-N and WPA2 support in the next DS.
From what i have read, this deal is already in the bag. and the prototype is already being demoed. (the demo involves a mario cart with gamecube/wii double dash quality comparison) also i read a whole article on the U.S. nintendo website that interviewed the guys who designed the DSi and they all where hinting that a new ds was already being developed along side the DSi. it was before the dsi came out. they stated that they were given strict limits on what they could put in the Dsi because of this upcoming product. the president of nintendo was the one interviewing them. if someone can find it please provide a link. they said they put dual cart slots on the Dsi but the higher ups made them take it out for size reasons. one thing that many blogs dont point out is that using tegra shortens hardware development time. so a new ds with tegra 2 is a very real thing to me. Basically i can feel it in the air. Nintendo is not satisfied with being top dogg any more, it seems like they aim to obliterate their already downed and dying competition. I always loved my gameboy. been a portable gaming fanatic since inception. i cant wait. this is my dream come true. as a side note i commented on the zune hd when it came out and was expressing my excitement about tegra and it power/potential and i was scoffed at. its funny to see every one coming around.