DSvision: Official download service for Nintendo DS revealed
AM3, the official licensee that brought movie and music downloads to the Game Boy Advance, has now signed an agreement with Nintendo to bring a similar device to the world of Nintendo DS owners, using microSD memory technology. With this new product and its DSvision service, AM3 believes it will widen the scope of what consumers can do with their Nintendo DS systems, as well as offer developers the chance to expand their business on Nintendo’s platform and tap into the extensive market.
With over twenty million Nintendo DS owners in Japan alone, and the recent news of a simple TV adaptor proving amazingly popular, it is no wonder AM3 has jumped at the chance of signing up with Nintendo to produce a multimedia device for the DS. The microSD card is the smallest memory card on the market and is quickly becoming the Industry’s ‘de facto’ standard, being used in mobile phones, digital cameras and so on. However, the card’s use is limited by the system you plug it into. Yet this is set to change, as slotting your microSD into the DSvision cartridge opens up a world of media right through your Nintendo DS system. Consumers will now be able to read novels and comics, watch cartoons and movies, as well as listen to music whenever they feel like it.
The DSvision media download service, in conjunction with Dai Nippon who distribute e-books on mobile phones and PC, is set to launch in Japan on 6th March 2008, but the actual package of a 512MB microSD card, the DS cartridge holder and a high-speed USB adaptor for connecting to PCs to transfer data will be made available as soon as January for the low price 3,980 yen (~£18 / 25 Euros / US$37). What is interesting is that the company is thinking towards the future already, and will be working hard on overcoming the obstacle of DS Wi-Fi downloads, so that consumers can purchase content and place it straight onto the DSvision without having to connect to a PC all the time.
Such a device could well turn out to be awkward to use for many consumers, but AM3 is set to counter that by providing a user-friendly menu system that is akin to the Wii Channel approach Nintendo has taken for the Wii console. It is expected that to start with, there will be 300 downloads available for the DSvision service in March, with 1,000 a year after that, 3,000 after two years and a massive 10,000 titles available after being on the market for three years. It is hoped that at least 10% of DS owners will take advantage of this service and AM3 is confident that Nintendo and NTT’s increased efforts to raise Internet awareness amongst the Japanese otaku will be of benefit to the DSvision.
But what are your thoughts on the matter? Could this turn into just another way for pirated materials to be distributed via the DS, or could it turn out to be just what developers are looking for in the future, a way to bring homebrew content to the portable? Be sure to let us know what you think about DSvision by posting below…
It was about time Nintendo did this… but I smell a new DS(DS 2?) in the near future with this included as standard.
Well, with the success AM3 had with the GBA Movie Player, I suppose a DS version was inevitable. Thankfully, though, it seems the company is putting more thought and care into this new version. I wonder just how it will take off and then develop in the future? Hopefully Nintendo chips in to help it become a device used by developers for many interesting ideas as well as just movie/music media storage/playback.
This wil fail only because thier are many flash carts that let u dowload ds and gba games
You can buy an R4 flash card cart for the DS for $30. You can do so much more with that than you can these retail flash carts.
But does the general public know about the R4? and with this being a joint venture with nintendo it would look like a much better product compared to the R4
enter to next website
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just got a “ds one supercard” any body know how to get music onto my ds?
jnkh
need help
I’m not sure wither or not I would get this thing… I mean on the one hand it’s a multi-media add-on for the DS, but on the other hand there are allready DS Flashcards (The R4DS and the allready mentioned DS ONE Supercard) that you can allready buy, and most of them word fine…
Is there any word on when this will be released for countries other than Japan? It looks like the Japanese release has been pushed back to June 26, when it was originally supposed to be March.
HELP! where do you buy the dsvision!
Unless this card also runs DS Homebrew it will be still-born. Much homebrew software already does what this card purports to do. I have a Supercard MiniSD flashcart with a 2GB card that is almost full - and EVERYTHING on it is legal. I have loads of public domain vintage comics (http://www.goldenagecomics.co.uk/) that I read with the excellent Comic BookDS and copyright free movies that I watch using Moonshell; the rest is taken up with the many excellent games and utilities that lots of talented and generous developers just give away (although donations wouldn’t go amiss, if requested). Where DSVision would excel is in distributing current movies and publications (paid for, of course). The convenience of having this content on a mobile device would definitely attract paying consumers; just look at the iPod and iTunes if you don’t believe me.
Oh yeah! and I also have an iPod emulator on my DS and a bunch of MP3s (that I ripped from my own CDs).
Although not the “best” card out there, Like other comment’s have said, there are already cards out there with this function. Recently one “low cost” option was the Datel Games’N'Music card for around $20 had just this function and came with a MiniCD of homebrew and Movie Trailers.
For this card to be truly “better” than what’s out there, they need to write some very decent software for the PC/Mac/*nix’s that will manage your downloads, and make it able to update the NDS via WiFi, not just by plugging in the Micro SD. Heck, include a “better” version of the NDS Browser on the card and you could update your stuff on the fly! not to mention take advantage of the Micro SD for cache… Just my 2 Cents
This is a nice push into a wider realm. I think that the DSi was going to create a wide divergence between itself and the DS standard. This reminds me a little of other add ons that companies have tried before, and I am wondering just how popular this could ever be here in the US. Other than that, it could very well be Nintendo’s response to cards like the R4DS which, (whether or not Nintendo wants to admit it or not) is a phenomenal idea.
I myself have often wondered why with the advent of iTunes and digital downloading, something like this wasn’t at the forefront of Nintendo’s radar even earlier in the DS’s life.
I think its a brillant idea but how do we download ive got download on my ds but how do i download it?