Analyst claims DS redesign imminent

Outspoken video game analyst Michael Pachter's crystal ball told him Wednesday that a new Nintendo DS was due out in Japan by the holiday season.

We hardly knew you...

We hardly knew you...

According to one fairly accurate video game analyst, a new DS design, or completely new hardware, could launch as early as the end of 2008.

"We think that the timing of a new product introduction will depend upon the sales profile for the DS, and believe that lower than expected DS hardware sales could trigger an earlier launch for the new device," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter in a research note.

The lower than expected hardware sales are currently occurring in Japan, where both DS hardware and software sales have cooled while Sony's competing handheld, the PSP, has maintained a healthy lead for the past few months.

Pachter added that Japanese DS demand will likely decline further, and force Nintendo's hand in the region. "We think that Nintendo has a new handheld device ready for launch in [Japan] before the end of the calendar year."

THE VERDICT by Jack Loftus Jack Loftus's Avatar This news puts Nintendo in between a rock and a hard place, perhaps. On the one hand, Japan sales are slowing in terms of hardware and software. On the other, US and European sales are still gangbusters. Would a company as conservative s Nintendo disrupt that North American/European cash cow, just to appease the Japanese market? Probably not.

Comments [32]

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MechaHyper17

Go back over the last 3 yrs and checkout the sales numbers for the Ds. They were sky high! Everybody HAS A DS ALREADY!!! Nintendo makes their shyt so as it never WANTS TO BREAK. Ive dropped a Ds 20 times getting out of my car and it survived. A Psp was Designed to be rebought over and over again. One good fall and crack goes that screen.

The_Iceman

thats fast, thought they were selling well...Id like to see a price drop to 100

FriedTwinkie

i don't know why they keep making new models. I have the original DS and I think it is better than the Lite.

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