Nintendo Shows TV and Web Browsing for DS
By Geoff Duncan
February 15, 2006
Nintendo has announced it plans to make a Web browser and TV receiver available for its handheld Nintendo DS, increasing their appeal to casual gamers.
At a news conference in Tokyo introducing the new Nintendo DS Lite (scheduled to go on sale in Japan March 2), Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced the company plans to begin selling a Web browser for its Nintendo DS handheld gaming systems, as well as a card which would let the devices tune into television broadcasts for mobile phones. The offerings would first be available in the Japanese market—where Nintendo hopes to tally as many as 10 million DS units by the end of 2006—although Nintendo is considering offering the Web browser in other markets as well.
The Web browser will come from Norway's Opera Software and will be available as a DS card in June for •3,800 (about $32 US). Users insert the card into the DS (which already has built-in Wi-Fi capability to support wireless gaming via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection), and can then launch the application to surf the Internet in places with wireless Internet connectivity. According to Nintendo, users will be able to enter search terms on the Nintendo DS's touch panel, or use both the DS screens to view Web pages. The company has not announced any timeframe on any release outside the Japanese market.
Details on television capability for the Nintendo DS were sketchier, but the feature will take the form of a card with its own digital receiver and antenna which will enable it to tune into television broadcasts aimed at mobile phones. Digital television broadcasts for mobile devices are set to begin in Japan in April 1, 2005 (no joke!). Phones supporting these digital television broadcasts are already on sale in Japan, and promise better image and sound quality than typical streaming video for mobile phones. Nintendo says it does not currently have any plans to introduce the television receiver outside Japan.
Nintendo's moves are clearly aimed to increase the utility and appeal of the Nintendo DS to customers outside the traditionally young-and-male gaming market, both to users who might be described as "casual gamers" as well as non-traditional adult and even senior demographics. New types of games (including a brainteaser very popular in the Japanese market) are designed to appeal to older people and women, as well as new types of games like the popular Nintendogs which appeal to a wide range of users.