Guitar Hero: On Tour to land in Nintendo DS bundle this June
Posts with tag DS
Waiting for a price drop on the Nintendo Wii or DS? Don't hold your breath. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata told analysts on Friday that there are no price drop plans for the hot-selling units. Iwata insisted this is because Nintendo doesn't want to annoy those who already paid full price, but it's pretty clear that there's also just no need to drop the price on something that's already selling like mad.
There's already been quite a few musicians (and would-be ones) brought into the Nintendo DS fold thanks to apps like Jam Sessions, but it looks like there could soon be another wave flocking to the popular handheld, with the official, Korg-approved DS-10 synthesizer from AQ Interactive now headed for the DS in Japan. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, like Jam Sessions, the synthesizer is anything but a game, with it boasting two patchable virtual synths with two oscillators each, a drum machine, a sequencer, and a full range of effects, to name but a few features. You'll also apparently be able to wirelessly link up several systems to play together or simply exchange sounds and songs, although you'll apparently have to make do without MIDI support. Needless to say, we'll keep you posted on any word of a release 'round these parts, but in the meantime, you can look forward to this one hitting Japan in July for ¥4,800, or just under $50.
Price fixing isn't ever fun -- unless you're the company doing it and expect to get away with it, and then it's like a total blast, dude. But hopefully that isn't actually the case with Sharp and Hitachi, whose offices were apparently raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of fixing display prices for the DS; Nintendo's throw its hands up in the air exclaiming that it was unaware of the supposed screen cartel, and something else about just when they thought were out, they got pulled back in.

We're always a little skeptical of piracy impact numbers, especially when companies try to factor in things like "lost sales," which can't be adequately measured, but it's still interesting to hear how large the hit is estimated to be -- like Nintendo's recent filing with the US Trade Representative that piracy cost it and its partners some $975m worldwide in 2007. Saying that the popularity of the Wii and DS makes Nintendo an "attractive target" for counterfeiters, the big N broke the problem down by region, highlighting its efforts to stem the tide and proposed solutions and regulations. We'd say that with profits soaring and plenty of people clamoring for hard-to-find systems, Nintendo could probably get back a little of that cash by finally getting some boxes on shelves instead of pushing for new laws, but hey -- even Mario's lawyers probably get sick of being paid in mushrooms.







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