Nintendo DS

[Mark]

NINTENDO DS CONSOLE

Nintendo's latest innovation, the Nintendo DS, provides users with a unique game-play experience using features never before offered by any other home console or hand-held game system. This portable personal entertainment and communications unit provides owners with new perspectives on dual screens, new control using both touch and voice, and new connections with two kinds of wireless game play. It's a newfound canvas on which developers can express their creativity.

Dual Screens

Two LCD screens offer one of the most groundbreaking game-play advances ever developed: experiencing a game from two perspectives at once. Imagine the possibilities. In a racing game, drivers might see their own vehicle's perspective on one screen and an overall track view on the other. In a role-playing game, the action could take place on the first screen while the second provides a reference for a player's tools inventory. Game play also could use both screens at once, offering a giant boss for heroes to defeat. In the future, games could be created allowing users to play games on one screen while text messaging other DS users on the other. Each 3-inch screen can reproduce a true 3-D view and is backlit to assure comfortable play in any lighting condition.

Touch Screen

The lower screen will offer something never before provided by any game device: PDA-like touch capabilities. Players no longer have to rely on just buttons to move characters or shift perspectives. They can navigate menus or access inventory items simply by touching the screen with stylus or fingertip. A software-based keyboard might even allow the screen to be used as an input centre for games and messaging. The possibilities are limited only by developers' imaginations. The screen will have a tougher film cover for durability, and will come with a stylus.

Microphone

An available microphone port means that in the future, players might need only to tell their games what to do. DS software could identify everything from voice commands to hand-clapping. Players might be able to move their characters simply by telling them which way to go.

Wireless

DS users will be able to connect with a local wireless network of up to 16 players. Nintendo's guaranteed range is 30 feet, but will extend far beyond that depending on circumstances. It assures high response rates required for real time game play, and will make use of both IEEE 802.11 and Nintendo's proprietary communication protocol, which provides low battery consumption. Players will be able to chat and play games without any connecting cords. The DS technology also provides for a wireless LAN connection, which could allow a theoretically infinite number of players to connect at a hot spot and compete at a central game hub on the Internet, even if they're thousands of miles apart. Wireless Game Sharing: If software developers desire, multiple players can compete in wireless games, even if only one person has a game card inserted. Players could also test-play games for themselves as long as they stayed connected.

3-D

With the newly developed graphics engine, DS can reproduce impressive 3-D renderings that can surpass images displayed on the Nintendo 64. Games will run at 60 frames per second, and allow details like fog effects and cel shading.

Sound

The 16-channel sound allows for greatly expanded use of voices and music, and a richer, more immersive game experience. A plug for headphones transmits stereo sound.

Battery & Power Management

The battery is rechargeable and the unit features a low-energy-consumption design. The DS also has Power Management functions of Sleep mode and Standby mode. In Sleep mode, players can stop and resume game play whenever they like. If the user receives a message from a friend or user nearby, DS activates itself from Standby mode.

Processing

The unit will run on two processors, one ARM9 one ARM7.

New Media

For its compact cards, the unit uses newly developed semiconductor memory, which allows for lower cost, shorter manufacturing time and memory capacity of more than one gigabit of information.

Dual Slots

Nintendo DS makes a vast library of Game Boy Advance games readily available. Developers could find ways to make new connections between GBA games and DS games. The GBA port could be used for new hardware, enormously expanding the functional expandability of the DS.

Technical Specifications

Size (when closed): 148.7 millimetres (5.85 inches) wide, 84.7 millimetres (3.33 inches) long, 28.9 millimetres (1.13 inches) tall

Top Screen: A backlit, 3-inch, semitransparent reflective TFT colour LCD with 256 x 192 pixel resolution and .24 mm dot pitch, capable of displaying 260,000 colours

Touch Screen: Same specs as top screen, but with a transparent analogue touch screen

Wireless Communication: IEEE 802.11 and Nintendo's proprietary format; wireless range is 30 to 100 feet, depending on circumstances; multiple users can play multiplayer games using just one DS Game Card

Controls: Touch screen, embedded microphone for voice recognition, A/B/X/Y face buttons, plus control pad, L/R shoulder buttons, Start and Select buttons

Input/Output: Ports for both Nintendo DS Game Cards and Game Boy Advance Game Paks, terminals for stereo headphones and microphone

Other features: Embedded PictoChat software that allows up to 16 users to chat at once; embedded real-time clock; date, time and alarm; touch-screen calibration

CPUs: One ARM9 and one ARM7

Sound: Stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound, depending on the software

Battery: Lithium ion battery delivering six to 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge, depending on use; power-saving sleep mode; AC adapter

Languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Italian

Not for me...

[foxesfan69]

Whats the price range on this thing going to be then?sure to be pricy <_<

[Mark]

Whats the price range on this thing going to be then?sure to be pricy <_<

60438[/snapback]

£99.99 i think.

[Guest Daniel]

Won't be a patch on the Sony PSP.

In the PlayStation Meeting 2003, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed details and specifications for its upcoming handheld, the PSP. SCE described the PSP as the "21st-century Walkman," showing confidence in the company's upcoming product, which utilizes a number of high-end components. The PSP will consist of two microprocessors, an advanced sound engine, a 3D graphics engine, a 4.5-inch, 16:9-format TFT LCD screen, and a number of connection capabilities.

The PSP will run under two 32-bit MIPS R4000 microprocessors, described by SCE president Ken Kutaragi as each having 10 times the clock speed of the PlayStation’s CPU and the same amount of power as the PlayStation 2's CPU. One of the microprocessors will be used as the CPU, and the other will be utilized as an engine dedicated to handling media, such as movies and music, with its own 2MB of memory. Although the PSP's main memory will be 8MB, Kutaragi commented that it is an extraordinary volume for a handheld game console. In general, all the components used in the PSP are designed for low-energy consumption since it is a portable device, and the microprocessors feature a low-voltage (1.2V) design.

The GPU (graphics processor unit) will work as both a 3D rendering engine and a surface drawing engine. Morphing, tessellation, and other rendering abilities are supported by hardware to reduce the loads on programs. The GPU will come with 2MB of VRAM and a bus with a 5.3gbps transfer rate. In theory, the PSP will be able to handle a maximum of 33 million polygons a second. In terms of sound, the PSP will feature 3D sound and 7.1 channels, adopting the use of a digital signal processor named the VME (virtual mobile engine). The VME is a technology developed by Sony for use in its portable MD and MP3 players, and it allows sounds to be processed with less energy consumption compared with traditional DSPs (digital sound processors). As firmware, the VME can be updated to the latest instruction codes when required. The PSP's VME will also allow playback of MP3-, AAC-, and ATRAC3-format music under SCE's current plans.

The control buttons for the PSP are similar to the PlayStation joypad--there will be circle, cross, triangle, square, R1, L1, start, and select buttons, as well as a directional pad and an analog stick. As revealed in prior announcements, the PSP will read proprietary 60mm-wide optical disks named UMDs (universal media discs) that can hold up to 1.8GB. The PSP will support advanced-video-coding-format MPEG4s that have high compression rates, and one UMD can contain up to two hours of DVD-quality video. There will be an advanced encryption technology used on the PSP for the copy protection of software as well. In terms of communication, the PSP will come equipped with 802.11-standard LAN, IrDA, and USB 2.0. 802.11-standard LAN is a wireless LAN specification that can communicate in a 100-meter range with a transfer rate of up to 2mbps, and IrDA is a standard for infrared wireless communication.

To promote early development of games, SCE plans to distribute development kits for the PC that will emulate the PSP at about a 10th of its actual speed. A more complete hardware-based developer kit will be released in spring 2004. SCE aims to make programming software for the PSP as easy to develop as the original PlayStation, and it also aims to provide programmers with a number of libraries and middleware to support development.

The prototype of the PSP and several game titles are scheduled to be revealed at E3 2004, followed by a display of games at the Tokyo Game Show 2004, and the release of the handheld in the last fiscal quarter of 2004. No price was revealed for the PSP in today's announcements.

PSP Specifications:

PSP CPU Core

MIPS R4000 32-bit core

128-bit bus

1-333MHz (1.2V)

8MB eDRAM main memory

2.6Gbps bus bandwidth

FPU, VFPU (2.6 billion flops)

3D graphics extended instructions

I Cache, D Cache

PSP Media Engine

MIPS R4000 32-bit core

128-bit bus

1-333MHz (1.2V)

2MB eDRAM submemory

I-Cache, D-Cache

90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core

1-166MHz (1.2V)

256-bit bus

2MB eDRAM (VRAM)

5.3Gbps bus bandwidth

664 million pixels per second pixel fill rate

3D curved surface and 3D polygon engine

Support for compressed textures, hardware clipping, morphing, bone, tessellation, bezier, b-spline (NURBS)

Maximum of 33 million polygons per second

24-bit full color (RGBA)

Sound Core

VME (Virtual Mobile Engine)

Reconfigurable DSP

166MHz (1.2 V)

128-bit bus

5 giga operations per second

CODEC capabilities

3D sound, 7.1 channels

Synthesizer, effecter, and other abilities

ATRAC3 plus, AAC, MP3 for audio

Media

UMD (Universal Media Disc)

60mm-diameter disc

660nm laser diode

1.8GB capacity (dual-layered disc)

11Mbps transfer rate

AES crypto system

Unique disc ID

Shockproof

Regional code system

Parental lock system

Repeat ordering system

Other Specifications

16:9-format widescreen TFT LCD (480x272 pixels, 24-bit full color)

MPEG4 AVC decoder

Wireless LAN (802.11)

IrDA (Infrared Data Association)

USB 2.0

Memory Stick

AV in/out

Stereo headphone out

Lithium ion battery

Expansion port