'Leaked' Nintendo DS Spec confirms Touch-Screen, Wireless and More
And loads of other stuff too.
As some of you may remember, we exclusively revealed last month that the Nintendo DS will come equipped with touch-screen functionality when it launches at the end of this year.
The information came from a well-placed development source in the US who said, "From what we can gather at this point, there will be some kind of touch-screen options in some games. It talks about it in all the literature we have received to date."
As you will hopefully realise, this is in no way confirmation, given that we reported at E3 2002 that wireless functionality was mentioned throughout the Game Boy Advance developer agreements, and this merely resulted in an aftermarket adapter releasing some three years later.
According to a set of Japanese specs - apparently finalised NDS factoids and figures - the phrase 'touch-panel' is mentioned as an input method.
The document states much of what has already been announced, like the ARM processors, with the ARM7 running at 33 Mhz and the ARM9 running at 67 Mhz. The unit will incorporate 4MB of system RAM, as well as 32K of processor RAM for both ARM7 and ARM9, as well as 656K of VRAM.
The screens will be higher resolution than those employed in the GBA, with 256x192 pixels compared to the Game Boy Advance’s 240x160
3D power is interesting, with 120,000 polygons a second capability reported. 2D attributes see four scrolling backgrounds with 128 on-screen objects.
Also stated was 802.11-style wireless connectivity for up to 16 players.
Of course, this may all be a bunch of arse. We’ll have to wait and see.
The information came from a well-placed development source in the US who said, "From what we can gather at this point, there will be some kind of touch-screen options in some games. It talks about it in all the literature we have received to date."
As you will hopefully realise, this is in no way confirmation, given that we reported at E3 2002 that wireless functionality was mentioned throughout the Game Boy Advance developer agreements, and this merely resulted in an aftermarket adapter releasing some three years later.
According to a set of Japanese specs - apparently finalised NDS factoids and figures - the phrase 'touch-panel' is mentioned as an input method.
The document states much of what has already been announced, like the ARM processors, with the ARM7 running at 33 Mhz and the ARM9 running at 67 Mhz. The unit will incorporate 4MB of system RAM, as well as 32K of processor RAM for both ARM7 and ARM9, as well as 656K of VRAM.
The screens will be higher resolution than those employed in the GBA, with 256x192 pixels compared to the Game Boy Advance’s 240x160
3D power is interesting, with 120,000 polygons a second capability reported. 2D attributes see four scrolling backgrounds with 128 on-screen objects.
Also stated was 802.11-style wireless connectivity for up to 16 players.
Of course, this may all be a bunch of arse. We’ll have to wait and see.
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Comments
Stryfe01 11 Mar 2004 13:51
1/5
who really cares ? i just bought a gameboy advance for my wife..and i still do not see the greatness about it...if i want to play old school type games i'll go pick out my megadrive and supernes....now this thing is coming..how many developers will really use any of teh features if they come about ? nintendo is now reaping what it sowed..milk the loyal fans by releasing and rereleasing shoddy products...outdated technology...and now it's all catching up..sony's psp will kill the ds/gba or whatever they call it...and to be frank i'm not a sony loyalist either...but atleast they are doing more to advance the industry than nintendo has been. i miss the days when nintendo actually cared about it's customers outside of japan....
nixor 11 Mar 2004 13:54
2/5
It also says Mic input
This is sounding like what the gba should have been!
re the psp, you don't always need the best tech, if you've got revolutionary uses for it (and the planets are aligned)
This is sounding like what the gba should have been!
re the psp, you don't always need the best tech, if you've got revolutionary uses for it (and the planets are aligned)
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almondVanHelsing 11 Mar 2004 19:20
3/5
Why two DS stories today?
There must be more going on in the world of games?
Ooo! Touch screen! Ooo! Called "Nitro"!!
Come on, must be better! Hire TigerUppercut, who posts good infos on Gaming forum about E3.
There must be more going on in the world of games?
Ooo! Touch screen! Ooo! Called "Nitro"!!
Come on, must be better! Hire TigerUppercut, who posts good infos on Gaming forum about E3.
Joji 12 Mar 2004 16:56
4/5
It is still a little to early to know what the DS will be like, apart from the bits of info available to build a picture in your mind. I commend Sony for what they have done for the industry, but this industry needs new ideas in order to take games that bit further. This is something Nintendo do well, and an area where others tend to follow. Some don't like upgrading to a new console but this is what happens with progress in any industry, let alone the games industry. Nintendo innovations have helped shape the industry (even Sony have played their cards in this game, easy to forget the Yaroze), but this is often taken for granted. The joypad, the wireless joypad Wavebird, (a similar idea soon to be used by Xbox2) plus more. These are ideas that make games easier to play for all. It's clear the japanese market isn't enough for Nintendo to survive now, they need us foreigners now that Sony have us in their pockets. So if Nintendo wanna add movie playback support, gba backwards compatibility, wireless link up etc I say bring it on. I'll be buying a DS and PSP anyway. Best of both worlds.
SPInGSPOnG 12 Mar 2004 18:25
5/5
Dude, I think that Nintendo should put this dual screen abomination aside, and concentrate on their electronic swiss army knife pocket video player and tricorder 3G games machine thingy.
It would also be good if they could get the remote control for my car central locking to emulate an N64.
Dedicated devices are the electronic equivalent of a dodecasaurus. We want convergence, and we want it ten minutes ago.
It would also be good if they could get the remote control for my car central locking to emulate an N64.
Dedicated devices are the electronic equivalent of a dodecasaurus. We want convergence, and we want it ten minutes ago.