But yet the two core innovations of the DS was its use of dual screens and touch features.  And if they want to make the 3DS be backwards compadible with the original DS, which they've already said they will, then the 3DS will have 2 screens.  Or else even the most basic of original DS games, from Kirby's Canvas Curse to Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow couldn't be played.

Most likely the 3DS will have a touch screen on the bottom screen like the original DS and the top screen will have the '3D' effect.  There's rumors that both screens will have touch features this time around, but we will have to see the official unveiling by Nintendo to confirm.

You clearly didn't even pay attention to the design concept, and particularly the description, in the original post. And more, it's obvious you didn't check out the first mockup that I based my design on. Both address the issue you're talking about by having the screen large enough to display original DS games completely - meaning both the top AND bottom screen sections - on the same single screen.

I don't like either of the mockups, however I like this one a lot better than the one in the news article. I like the clam shell design as it protects the screen when I put it in my pocket or throw it in my backpack.

That's a cool mock-up, though I doubt Nintendo would ever go with a design like that. It's far too fragile, nowhere near the indestructible quality we've come to expect from them. This would break far too easily, especially where kids are concerned. Also, I believe they'll stick to the clamshell design.

No, I paid attention.  And I was even there in the original thread with the original mock up.

But I hope you understand the clear design flaws of having essentially a handheld device trying to emulate two screens at once.  There's a reason why even PC emulation of the DS hasn't worked completely.  And trying to emulate two screens on a single screen, which one of them has different functions than the other (namely touch), will not work.  Its not like watching TV with picture in picture.

Funny, DS emulation works fine on my PC.

note: Setting it up like that was just a gimmick I was pulling. If I emulate on my PC, I usually leave it with the whole emulator on one screen with the other one playing a video.

A downside I can see with that configuration is handling of DS book style games. This includes Nintendo's own brain age which is a huge part of their touch generation game line, I don't see them dropping that.

it would be better with a another screen on the bottom. I hope the main screen is as big as it can be. the mock up up version would never, cos the screen is vertically longer than it is horizontal and games would look stupid

I don't get it, showing an image of the image split between two monitors doesn't help your argument.  But even if you showed the emulator running on one monitor, the emulator would still be 'emulating' the two separate screens working independent of each other.  And what I was trying to get at originally, the fact that one screen is doing something completely different than the other screen at all times.

If you have a single screen unit trying to play DS games, all it is going to be able to do is run an emulator to play them.  Much like say the Turbo-Graphix games on the Wii.  Those work fine on the Wii because the Wii is strong enough to play them, but when you're talking about a device that is probably only 2-4x the power of the unit its trying to emulate, its probably not going to handle it.  This is why something like the PSP couldn't truly emulate the DS without additional hardware, eventhough they've tried.  Or the DS can't emulate the SNES and N64.  And likewise, the 3DS isn't going to handle a straight emulation of the DS without similar hardware.

Hence why they're going to build the 3DS utilizing a similar hardware such as the original 2 screen design that can also play backwards compatible cart based DS games.  Much like they've done with the DSi.

It's better than the mock up, but I still greatly prefer the clamshell design.