A Japanese document leaked on the web claims to detail most of the features of Nintendo's upcoming DS handheld console.
The document confirms some, already official, features but also adds a new twist to the handheld war by suggesting that DS will be much more advanced than expected. The most exciting of these features include a touch panel input device, 802.11 wireless LAN and a 3D graphics system.

What gives some credibility to the document is the fact that it also lists features which everyone more or less expected from the DS. Those features include an ARM-9 CPU running at 67MHz and an ARM-7 unit running at 33MHz. DS will also have 4Mb of main RAM and 656Kb of video RAM.
The document becomes exciting and controversial however, when considering the features which it hints at which Nintendo have not mentioned at all. Apparently DS will be the company's first hardware 3D enabled handheld and will be able to draw 120,000 polygons per second.
As far as resolution is concerned, both screens will be 256x192 resolution panels which although not impressive is not that bad compared to the one, 240x160 panel in the GBA.

Connectivity is the other surprise in the document since it moves away from the suggested Bluetooth connectivity and goes to the industry standard, 802.11 wireless LAN. The difference is mainly in the range with Bluetooth being short range and 802.11 a 100 metre max service. What exactly DS will do with that range remains to be seen.

One of the screens, at least, will also be touch sensitive, although the document does not mention any details on that feature.

As we have mentioned the document is not a confirmed original so accepting the specs it mentions is a matter of judgment, it is however a pretty convincing attempt since it does give DS some attributes which you would expect from a next-gen handheld.

Anyway you look at it, DS will be an innovation in handheld gaming the big challenge for Nintendo is to find a way of making it an enjoyable experience for gamers without losing out to SONY's, hardware superior, PSP.

As I am in the trade, one thing I can tell you is that this was a rush announcement in an attempt to counter the nearing arrival of the PSP. Nintendo's in house software depts have not even been informed officially and this alone is a bad omen, the last time the public discovered news of a machine before inhouse depts was the virtualboy, and look how that did.

The constantly changing, within the trade, specs that are supposed to be official are ever increasing, just the same as the PSP was at one point, and are more to do with posturing by the companies than anything else. The PSP will now not have the abilities it was initially announced to have, simply due to cost, it is gonna weigh in at around 200 squid, and that is alot for a portable machine. Also the recent announcement of the delay of PSP has sorta pushed N into a corner, most insiders believe the DS was announced to prove a point, and they assumed the PSP would arrive quickly and they could "abandon" development of the DS as not viable. When Sony announced a delay ppl started asking about the DS and N got itself in the shit.

A DS type system was also announced before the GBA arrived, was gonna basicly be a twin GB colour system, that never appeared either. The best advice I could give would be to wait awhile and see how it proves itself in the market, if it even arrives. There are also several newer companies entering the market, and some of those machines have excellent specs also, and they are seriously looking into worldwide launches of there hardware.

Although Sony has managed to keep a low profile on the details and development schedule of the PS3, it seems that as others become involved more and more information will begin to surface. Page44, a development studio based in San Francisco, has already placed an ad looking for a Senior 3D Graphics Programmer to work on its upcoming PS3 Ice Hockey title. As the ad puts it the ideal candidate will be responsible for the graphics portion of our PS3 Hockey title.

The other interesting bit of information to come out of the ads is not the, after all highly publicized, Senior 3D Graphics Programmer position but that of AI/Gameplay Programmer. The description of that position is worrying since it might confirm our worst fears on the development of content for the PSP. Part of what the AI/Gameplay Programmer will do is port our existing PS2 hockey game?s AI system to the PSP, working within a cross platform environment. That statement confirms the fear that development for the PSP may eventually become a stale transfer of PS2 titles to the new handheld. We use the word eventually since Sony has guaranteed that for, at least, the first six months only original titles will be developed. The other worrying part of that job description is that a cross platform environment is all ready and waiting for the applicant, suggesting strong Sony support for such practices.

Page44 is a studio which in the past has developed Motocross and Ice Hockey titles.

Amidst all the talk of the next XBox and the PS3, Nintendo has shocked the gaming world by announcing that it will be putting off development of its next system in order to focus on the GameCube. An article in the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" claims Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has postponed work on the company's future console, codenamed N5, in favor of the development of GameCube peripherals. Apparently Nintendo believes that it has to maximize the GameCube experience before it can begin work on a successor.

Considering that the Nintendo DS announcement came only last week it is likely that this change in plans may have to do with the need to focus on the new product and to work on further ways of connecting the GBA and DS to GameCube. Analysts claim that the move demonstrates that Nintendo, recognizing its biggest current asset in the gaming market, is taking the handheld challenge very seriously. Especially when that is coming from their own turf from fellow Japanese rivals Sony.

Although many, no doubt, will be quick to see the end of Nintendo hardware production, you have to bear in mind that the company has already set a date for its next system, it may be a bit later than its competition but the N5 is now set for a 2007 release.

The move is not definitely a bad one but definitely carries significant risks. Shielding the handheld market from the variety of suitors who plan to challenge Nintendo's dominance in the field is a good move but only if it doesn't create insurmountable problems for the console section of the company. Such a delay in the production of the next-gen console will mean that the company will be left with the GameCube fighting an uneven battle against far more advanced competition for 1 or even 2 years.

Does this mean Nintendo is conceding that it will always be in third place in the console wars and is focusing in maintaining its first place in the handheld market or is this another shrewd move from the experienced giant? I will leave you with Mr. Iwata's words so that you can judge for yourselves, ...customers are fully satisfied with the performance of the current model.

As the stories about Nintendo keep coming in, we cannot help but wonder who is actually running the company? Comments claiming that a successor to the GameCube will not be released at the same time as rival products cannot be taken lightly when they are the direct result of statements made by the former and current Nintendo Presidents. At the same time a new dimension has been given to the company's DS project which claims that it could make or break Nintendo.

When Nintendo came out, mid-last week with all guns blazing, claiming in a determined fashion that their next-gen box will be out in 2005 or 2006 just as had been previously expected, we all thought that some statements may have been misrepresented but the Japanese Nikkei Industrial Daily has now released Mr Yamauchi's and Mr Iwata's comments in full and they tell a different story.

Nintendo's former President Hiroshi Yamauchi was well known and loved for his outspoken and controversial opinions and he kept to form when he stated, in no uncertain terms that I have been saying this for some time, but customers are not interested in grand games with higher-quality graphics and sound and epic stories. Cutting-edge technologies and multiple functions do not necessarily lead to more fun. The excessively hardware-oriented way of thinking is totally wrong, but manufacturers are just throwing money at developing higher-performance hardware.

Just in case the first statement failed to alienate all gamers and market analysts Mr. Yamauchi added, Nintendo has no plans to release a so-called 'next-generation' videogame console at the next year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. We will rather make a new proposal that uses the GameCube at its core. Only people who do not know the videogame business would advocate the release of next-generation machines when people are not interested in cutting-edge technologies.

Mr. Yamauchi was also very clear on what the DS will mean for the company, If we are unsuccessful with the Nintendo DS, we may not go bankrupt, but we will be crushed. The next two years will be a really crucial time for Nintendo.

Up to this point no one could act surprised as Mr. Yamauchi has always been controversial and being a former company president does not make someone an expert in current strategies.

Unfortunately for Nintendo however, Mr. Iwata did not exactly contradict his predecessors comments. Iwata's statement was the real reason the speculation party got started last week. However strongly Nintendo rush to quash rumors the fact remains that the company president said, I do not believe releasing a higher performance machine is the solution, adding, ...our hardware development team is thinking about the next move, but I cannot tell you about it.

The company insist that they will have something to display at this year's E3 show but considering the importance of the DS project for the company, it is more likely that any announcements will concentrate on that and possibly, on surprise Cube peripherals.
It seems that the Japanese giant will leave us in doubt for a good while longer.

well...i was actually going to ask here about PDA's as my wife wants one to use for reading ebooks a bit overkill i know just to read books so i was going to ask,do they play games of any sort ....i like to use the old spectrum emulator myself and all the old stuff so would a PDA be able to do that aswell or are they just used for the usual outlook/word/excel kinda stuff

and what kinda price are they as i don't want to pay the earth for it if all she's gonna do is read books and me play the occasional emulated game

all advice greatfully accepted

This week alone revealed more about the system than Nintendo most likely wanted to let out. First, someone handling Nintendo's internal Wario World development support site let it slip that the Nintendo DS' project name is actually Project Nitro. Not a huge revelation by itself, but it's clear that with this site addition, quickly changed back to Nintendo DS after the public got wind of the posting, meant that we were getting closer to realizing just what the heck this system's all about.

It also brings to light the realization that North American developers are finally getting their hands dirty with the hardware. It's been reported that Japanese game studios, like Sega, Namco, and Capcom (companies that are rather close to Nintendo, in fact) have had development kits on the Nintendo DS since late last year, but development studios in the US and Europe were just as surprised at the announcement in January as the rest of the public...another testament to just how well Nintendo can keep a lid on secrets. When the "temporary" namechange from Nintendo DS to Project Nitro appeared on Wario World last week, developers received an email from Nintendo's development relations regarding system support. The system was getting closer to reality, and the company was getting prepared.

Nintendo DS/Project Nitro
Everything we know. (Or think we know.)

March 12, 2004 - If there's anything we can take away from our experience with working with Nintendo, it's that the company is extremely talented at keeping secrets. Back in January when Nintendo revealed its plans for what the company called the "Nintendo DS," due for release this Fall, we were still privately mulling over exactly what the publisher had in store for the public when the company head, Satoru Iwata, cryptically revealed the company plans for a "unique game product at the end of 2004." And even after the official announcement, we're still trying to figure out what the heck this thing is.

The only real hard detail out of Nintendo was that it had two screens, arranged vertically. Oh, and it will feature two processors: an ARM 7, similar to what's already in the Game Boy Advance; and a much more capable and powerful ARM 9. But this didn't really tell us much, since everything from cellphones to futuristic toasters house an ARM 9, and without knowing which ARM 9 the DS is to use, it's tough to gauge just how powerful the system will be. I mean, when you tell someone how fast your PC is, does it really help them if you simply say "A Pentium IV"? No. It's all about which Pentium IV is in the case...1.4 Ghz? 2.0? 3.4?

Everything else about the DS, outside of cartridge format (up to 128 megabytes) remained shrouded in mystery. It's almost as if that release was Nintendo's way of telling the enthusiast press, "Go on. We dare you to find out more. We double-dog dare you." And we fell for it. We all did.

Nintendo didn't exactly paint a detailed picture. The company definitely (and purposely) left out key elements to keep everyone guessing. After putting the facts down on the line, it's clear that there's something about this machine that once we know the missing pieces, everything about the Nintendo DS will make sense.

This week alone revealed more about the system than Nintendo most likely wanted to let out. First, someone handling Nintendo's internal Wario World development support site let it slip that the Nintendo DS' project name is actually Project Nitro. Not a huge revelation by itself, but it's clear that with this site addition, quickly changed back to Nintendo DS after the public got wind of the posting, meant that we were getting closer to realizing just what the heck this system's all about.

It also brings to light the realization that North American developers are finally getting their hands dirty with the hardware. It's been reported that Japanese game studios, like Sega, Namco, and Capcom (companies that are rather close to Nintendo, in fact) have had development kits on the Nintendo DS since late last year, but development studios in the US and Europe were just as surprised at the announcement in January as the rest of the public...another testament to just how well Nintendo can keep a lid on secrets. When the "temporary" namechange from Nintendo DS to Project Nitro appeared on Wario World last week, developers received an email from Nintendo's development relations regarding system support. The system was getting closer to reality, and the company was getting prepared.

And it's clear that Nintendo still wants to keep quiet on the DS/Project Nitro. Pestering developers who we're normally quite chummy with results in tons of "no comment," "uh, I'd rather not say," and "man, wait until you find out what it is" statements on the other end of the phone. Not even the promise of a year's supply of purple M&Ms could free up a flood of information from those already in the know -- Nintendo has a strong trap on the development community, and nobody that's on the company's side wants to cross the Big N before it has the opportunity to finally lift the shroud on the system at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

That's not to say that we don't know stuff about it. On the contrary, with our ears to the community for the past two months we've been able to score a few tidbits of fact about the system beyond what Nintendo has offered.

One unanimous opinion from all sources: the system isn't quite as powerful as the Sony PSP...or at least, the current, announced iteration of the Sony PSP. The hardware abilities puts the system somewhere near the Nintendo 64 in strength, and to prove the 3D abilities to developers it's been reported that Nintendo has created a demo of Mario 64 running on the system, much like the Yoshi Story demo built for the Game Boy Advance.

Sources aren't agreeing on the official number of polygons the DS capable of displaying, but we've heard from 120,000 to as many as 150,000 polys per second (5000 polys per frame in a 30 frames-per-second game, or 2500 polys in 60 frames-per-second). Keep in mind that these are simply specs of what's expected of the system; talented developers can do some amazing things with hardware beyond what they were spec-ed out to do; the GBA, for example, has its fair share of first person shooters and 3D racers that have been written outside of standard hardware abilities. So, while this 150,000 polys number seems low when compared to even what Sony's stated the original PlayStation can do, don't believe for a second that programmers won't be able to squeeze more out of it.

Of course, the fact that the hardware doesn't have to render as many pixels will definitely help the system's 3D prowess; the two LCD screens of the DS will be of lesser resolution than what consoles push, but slightly better than what the GBA can pull off. More importantly, we've been told by nearly every development source that at least one of these screens will be touch sensitive, giving a Palm OS-style control on top of the standard set of buttons and D-pad input.

The system will seemingly focus on 2D as well as 3D, utilizing the ARM 7 processor for this function. Most likely it will be used for the input interfaces on the touch sensitive screen, but it's also been said that the inclusion of the ARM 7 pretty much guarantees that the system will be entirely Game Boy Advance compatible. Sticking with a cartridge format for the system nearly seals that deal.

Wireless network play is a huge obvious considering that the company has been giving away Wireless Adapters for the GBA in specially supported games (namely Pokemon: Fire Red and Leaf Green), showing just how capable and cheap the technology is. Nintendo is pretty set in offering wireless play for its system ever since it launched the Wave Bird for the GameCube, and in the case of Project Nitro, we've been told that the system will be capable of supporting as many as 16 players in a network via its own proprietary format. And most likely using the same wireless technology used in the Game Boy Advance adapters.

Price is still an important factor for Nintendo, and sources are confident that not only that the system be sold "under $200" in the US at launch, but it will sell for a lot closer to where the Game Boy Advance is now. Which leads us to believe that with two handhelds on the market, a pricedrop for the GBA and GBA SP is forthcoming, at least by the time this system ships.

Much of our known information was repeated in a suspicious Japanese document that leaked to the internet, listing off a few key elements of the Project Nitro. We usually take these public leaks with a grain of salt, but when much of the information matched what we had already learned about the system, we kept an open mind. Sure, there's still the chance that this document is a fake...but if it is it's a damn good one and the person(s) responsible really did their Japanese homework. Four megabytes of system memory, 802.11 wireless format, and two 256x192 LCD screens were the main elements featured in this document, all sticking with what we've already heard about the system.

One conflicting statement from some of our sources state that the system will not just be cartridge-based as announced, but also optical disc based using GameCube-sized discs for game media. Discs, as Nintendo has discovered on the GameCube, are far cheaper and more spacious than carts, two elements that make them more third-party friendly. They also take far less time to manufacture than carts. And considering that it's been more than two and a half years since the GameCube launched and the hacking community still hasn't found a way to copy the discs yet shows that going this route would keep piracy of Nintendo DS at bay. But since a disc drive would add to the bulk and cost of the system as well as add to the battery consumption of the portable, we're not ready to jump on this disc drive theory just yet.

Earlier last week CNN/Money reported that analysts have experienced a Nintendo DS demo that showed off the system's ability to play back compressed video on a 128 megabyte cartridge. But seeing that Majesco is already producing video on carts for the Game Boy Advance, you won't find us leaping in joy and anticipation for such a feature on the upcoming handheld. It does show, however, that Nintendo has plans for the Project Nitro beyond simply offering games. Whether this is a good or bad thing remains in just what sort of ideas Nintendo has in store.

But the sixty thousand dollar question: with the Nitro housing Game Boy Advance compatibility, why is Nintendo saying this will be a third supported platform, and not the next generation of its Game Boy property?

Our strongest theory: the Game Boy Advance system will continue to be Nintendo's budget-priced handheld, and will be an even important staple during the time when the company's ready to capitalize on the 20th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System. It's a huge window of opportunity for the company to re-release dozens of outstanding classics as-is on the GBA platform, and don't think for a second that Nintendo's going to let it pass on by. The Famicom Mini series, released in Japan on February 14th to coincide with the platform's 20th anniversary in that territory, has proven an incredible success. It costs very little to produce these games (the original NES/Famicom with a software emulator on the smallest, cheapest cartridge), and Nintendo can work with third-party publishers to keep the series going strong for several years on the handheld.

Oh, sure, with the rumored GBA compatibility gamers will more than likely be able to play them on the Nintendo DS/Nitro system. But that's a side benefit, and not its focus. Its aim will likely be skewed for advanced, innovative gameplay and not simply its ability to play existing games in the GBA's library.

But of everything we know and heard about the system, we're still unclear about the system's "innovation." Necessity is the mother of invention, and we still don't know the ideas that Nintendo has in store that justifies bringing this system to light. We've heard reactions from development sources who have seen the system and some of Nintendo's ideas in action, offering comments that range from "I still don't get it" to "Oh, that makes sense...very cool."

We're assuming that Nintendo is just not content with the direction handheld gaming is going. To make a system stronger isn't enough any more. The Sony PSP will be a powerful handheld system, no doubt, but it's still offering the same exact gaming experience that videogames have done for three decades. Nintendo feels that it's time to expand the market with fresh and new ideas, and offer something that just wasn't possible before. Hence: the Nintendo DS. Two screens, touch sensitive. And possibly more. Much more.

E3 can't get here fast enough.

There's lots of games available. There's a port of Age of Empires, quake and Tomb Raider. I downloaded Tomb Raider from donkey, plays fine (except the controls suck), looks sooooooooo much better than the ngage effort and its a bigger display too. I haven't tried out any emulators but there's mame, gb, and a host of others. There's some snes emulators but unfortunately not very stable.

Ipaq 5450 has a decent graphics processor and a 500MHz ARM processor (*i think*). You can shit loads of ebooks, software and games off the donkey network.

Take a gander by searching for IPAQ, PPC, or PocketPC

*ZZzzzzz......*

/Me fell asleep somewhere during Spud's essay

holy crap :-o i never realised there was that much available for them

right so now price!....how much is a Ipaq 5450 cuz all i keep finding on searches is the 5550 i guess the newer model?.....i had a look around and found a HP iPAQ H2210 Pocket PC for about ?220-250 is this one any good for what i want it for? as the price is right

April 09, 2004 - Nintendo could be prepping as many as 30 Nintendo DS titles for the Electronics Entertainment Expo 2004, according to the president of Japanese magazine Enterbrain Hirokazu Hamamura, Reuters today reported.

Hirokazu told the news service that he was eagerly awaiting the launch of Nintendo's new portable device, which features dual screens, one of which boasts touch-screen functionality. Sources have confirmed to IGN that the device will enable players to manipulate software by drawing motions onto the touch-screen with an included stylus.

"This will be a product unlike anything available right now and it will come with a touch panel," said Hamamura.