Rumours have been circulating a lot over the past week that Nintendo, in an effort to dominate the hand-held market even more, would be unveiling a new, hi-res version of the Nintendo DS at E3 this year.

Well, sorry to rain on your parade, but Nintendo has now officially denied those rumours.

Issuing a statement to IGN about the claims, which had originated from the boss of Enterbrain, Hirokazu Hamamura, Nintendo confirmed that they have no plans to unveil a new model at E3. This is in line with previous statements the Japanese developer made that it would only think of releasing a new model once the current model stopped selling.

"We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won't be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this," said a Nintendo spokesperson. "We're having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this."

Note that the company hasn't rubbished the idea of a DS3 with hi-res graphics, a removed GBA slot and a larger screen though, all of which were presumed to be key features in the new model - Nintendo is just saying they aren't showing it off yet.

source: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/04/16/nintendo_no_new_ds_at_e3/1

Until they announce this.

Why not the usual Rumor/Speculation bs?

Why would Nintendo release a new DS?

Nintendo is not on the more-faster-better treadmill; the reason why PSP is failing to sell software is lack of installed base, lack of battery power and lack of compatibility. A DS with high-resolution graphics would drain battery power and reduce the effective install base; a DS with a larger screen would make it less portable and drain battery power; a DS without a GBA slot would lose compatibility and lose a useful tool for innovation in games: look at the DS Guitar Hero.

 Processor cores just keep getting smaller and smaller, which means they take up less and less power. by the time Nintendo gets around to designing the DS2, Intel will have released 35nm(die-size) chips on desktops, which is much smaller than what the tech was back in 2004 when the DS was released. DS2 could easily have either a very small single-core processor(that's much faster than even a Gamecube one), or a dual-core processor(you never know). Nintendo could probably make a handheld with Wii-like graphics(if not, then Gamecube) and still sell it for $120-$150; either breaking even or making a small profit.

I know they will release a successor to the DS eventually, but the rumour was of a rediesign like the DSL or PSP slim. Nintendo wouln't do a redesign that reduces battery life or compatibility; that's what I meant. We shouldn't have expected anything on those lines at E3.

Also, Nintendo does not have to release the latest in technology because their strategy has givenb them the freedom to reject this. They could have dual-core, but dual-core doesn't equal better quality of games, because graphics != good games.

32nm isn't a die size; it's an average gate length. I imagine it would be very expensive to order processors on new process nodes and also Intel and IBM won't license out their technology until their own technology is on it. Currently, neither POWER nor x86 have sufficiently low TDP to be used in a handheld, so ARM would likely be the architecture of choice.

One of the admirable things about Nintendo is that they don't jump on the new-tech bandwagon with everybody else; instead they focus on affordability, functionality, and user-friendliness. To that end, there is no reason to release a new DS, as the DS Lite is exceedingly good in all of these areas. Much like the GBA SP was for the GBA, the DS Lite was for the DS an attempt at making the system a more user-friendly and functional device more than a technologically better one.

Ultimately, even the GBA only got one functionality/user-friendliness related upgrade. The GBA Micro struck me as mostly an experiment, not an upgrade. They probably wanted to see how small they could get a portable system and still make it viable for children to play it. Which would explain why it got a pretty limited run from the start. If a new DS model does come out, I expect it will be similarly experimental, and also get a limited run, as there's no practical reason to "improve" on the DS Lite's current design.

Its not surprisng, there is just no need, if sales are in need of a pick me up which they aren't then a price drop would easily bring a big boost. A redesign would be like blunt pencil - pointless.

a new ds is not going to happen until next year at the earliest, its still selling like crazy, it would be a dumb decision to release a new ds.

I KNEW IT!! i knew it was to early, the DS is still selling increadibly well? Cant fix something that isnt broken now can you?