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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo expects DS and DSi to 'coexist' in US, gamers unimpressed

Nintendo expects DS and DSi to 'coexist' in US

Company plans a two-tiered strategy
 
 Product:  DSi 
 Manufacturer:  Nintendo 
by Kath Brice

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/DS/DSi/news.asp?c=9351

There's been a lot of comment following the announcement of DSi from unimpressed gamers saying they won't upgrade to the new system. But it seems Nintendo doesn't really care.

Speaking to Wired, Nintendo of America marketing boss, Cammie Dunaway, has said that DS and DSi are likely to form a two-tiered strategy in the US, with the two consoles coexisting for "some period of time."

"We think that there's huge untapped potential for the DS Lite," said Dunaway. "Because when you've got only one in every five households in the U.S., compared to one in every two in Japan, it says there's potential.

"You've seen some of the work we've done this year with celebrities, that we're bringing a lot of new consumers in to the DS. So I think there's opportunity for both of them to coexist for some period of time."

Of course, you know what's going to happen. Nintendo will release the next Zelda game for DSi only a year after its release and any gamer still perfectly content with their DS Lite will be forced to buy one. Then the DS Lite will be deader than the original chunky DS.

But it's interesting Nintendo is taking a softly softly approach to the DSi's release, saying it can coexist with DS Lite, instead of aggressively trying to get us all to upgrade to the new model. Of course, the majority of games will be playable on both, so it's not so important for Nintendo that we all buy one.

Could Nintendo be planning to keep manufacturing DS Lites after the release of DSi and offer them at a cheaper price - like Microsoft did with Xbox 360 with a core console and more advanced one? Time will tell what Nintendo's strategy will be.
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could both consoles co exist? i think they may if you think about it.
but it would be strange that two ds models out and one has some different games on it


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To me the DSi is like the seperate X360 models.... the only difference being with the Arcade, if you come across a game you can't play due to no hard drive, there is the option to buy one (albeit a very expensive option)

Games that support DSi only will be rare for a while anyway.

So yes, both versions need to be supported just like GB and GBColour



Do people actually think they'd release a big game like Zelda on a userbase ~100mil smaller than it could potentially see?

I don't think core gamers have anything to worry about. Third parties won't be releasing their core games for such a small percentage of the DS userbase. Why would they? The only extra usable feature I noticed is the camera. I'm thinking most of the exclusive software to DSi is going to be more utlility than games anyway, the sort of stuff that people on these forums don't care about.

I don't think the main draw of the DSi is for more gaming possibilities. It looks to me like Nintendo simply wants to expand its audience, and the new people they're targetting definitely aren't interested in Zelda.

edit: I'm only talking about retail games here. I'm just assuming Nintendo isn't going to abandon a userbase of 100mil+. No idea how the DSi store will change things though.



^ The DSi has 2 touchscreens I think, and an SD card slot instead of the GBA slot.

but yes, there will be very few games that require a DSi rather than a normal DS, and those will likely be odd things like Segas Warioware thing (Project Rub?)



LOL and who said that DSi is for western market and they want to compete with iphone anyway? Its really for Japan because the sales of PSP and DS was 50/50 there, unlike in U.S. and in Europe.

Im not even surprised if DSi will released just for Japan alone...

Thats why the NOA conference was different than in japanese conference, most of the time the japanese conference focus on the Dsi and Wii Music, NOA focus more on games, specifically games that we already knew off



end of core gaming days prediction:

 

E3 2006-The beginning of the end. Wii introduced

 

E3 2008- Armageddon. Wii motion plus introduced. Wii Music. Reggie says Animal crossing was a core game. Massive disappointment. many Wii core gamers selling their Wii.

 

E3 2010- Tape runs out

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/march2009/ICG_Tape_runs_out.jpg

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TWRoO said:
^ The DSi has 2 touchscreens I think, and an SD card slot instead of the GBA slot.

but yes, there will be very few games that require a DSi rather than a normal DS, and those will likely be odd things like Segas Warioware thing (Project Rub?)

 

DSi has one touch screen the two touch screen thing was a mistranslation of the original japanese speech.  All games will be supported on both handhelds, just the DSi will also have downloadable games, and also be region locked so no more Japanese games ='(



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TWRoO said:
^ The DSi has 2 touchscreens I think, and an SD card slot instead of the GBA slot.

but yes, there will be very few games that require a DSi rather than a normal DS, and those will likely be odd things like Segas Warioware thing (Project Rub?)

Yeah, I've been looking all over and the verdict seems to be the two touchscreens was a mistranslation. So, without the extra touchscreen, I don't see all going for new exclusive DSi games.

@yushire: I think the DSi can easily find its place in the west, improving DS sales a good amount. The thing is, it just isn't necessary at the moment.



Gotta love the tiny editorial you managed to shove into the title.

No, wait, that other thing.

It is very tiresome.



^Ah, well I haven't been following the news of it.... so there will be hardly any games making use of DSi exclusivity, being that there is only a camera as an extra function.

In fact I'd guess at least for the next year there will be more DS games that you can only play on a normal DS (ones that use the GBA slot) but not on DSi.



I am one of those unimpressed people.



Generation 8 Predictions so far.....(as of 9/2013)

Console that will sell most: Nintendo Wii U

Who will sell more consoles between Microsoft/SONY: SONY