Nintendo's newfound design philosophy

With the release of the DS lite,
Nintendo has laid the final piece in the puzzle of their newfound consistent design philosophy. The most obvious sign of this change is the design of the company's D-pads. As the image on the right illustrates, Nintendo has decided to consolidate the designs of its current and future game consoles. The DS lite, GameBoy Micro and Revolution all feature the same consistent design.

In the next-generation of gaming, as Ludwig Kietzmann over at our sister blog DS Fanboy puts it, what Nintendo needs is "a strong identity, a universal image that simultaneously introduces itself to the world and encourages people to get to know it better". Nothing wrong with a little sex appeal to draw the punters, eh?