Nintendo president lays out early details on the company's next handheld, slates Link's next adventure into 2010 holiday release schedule.
The Nintendo DS just enjoyed a record-setting year of sales in the US, but Nintendo already has plenty of ideas for a successor. In the aftermath to the company's holiday sales update yesterday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata dropped a handful of details on the company's next handheld, as well as its upcoming Zelda and Vitality Sensor Wii games, to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
According to the report, as translated by GameSpot, Iwata told the paper that the DS successor could be expected to feature a "high level of visual quality," as well as sensors to read a player's movements. However, gamers shouldn't expect the system to arrive anytime soon. Iwata mentioned the current DS lineup's record sales in 2009, "so we are not currently talking about [the next handheld's release]."
Moving onto the company's Wii software lineup, the paper also reported that the next Wii iteration of Zelda is planned for release at the end of October. Nintendo has previously said the game was "targeted" for 2010, with producer Eiji Aonuma teasing a new approach to the series that might be shown off as early as the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo (taking place June 15-17).
Finally, the paper reported that Nintendo is working to launch the Wii Vitality Sensor peripheral as soon as possible, with pulse-reading games expected for July.
Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Zelda Wii should be good. Twilight Princess was pretty much a 'remake' of Ocarina of Time, with the exception of the strange twilight theme, but this new Zelda has fans waiting in hopeful expectation. Will this game prove to be a masterpiece, like OOT did, or will it pass by without much personality?
^.^ Now I am excited. I guess Nintendo is about to make 2010 their year to shine. I don't have a ds, but I am thinking about getting one... long b4 3ds or the motion control ds comes out though.
I hope the new DS uses tilt sense instead of motion sensing tech. i dont want to risk dropping it while waving it. If the graphics surpass the PSP's, then ill be one happy son of a gun
mmm Zelda with the new motion sensor, will be, by my opinion: Something to look foward into!
New Zelda better not mean that they're killing off the Wii already. Not that I'm worried that they would, but Nintendo is definitely playing catch up.
New Zelda originally targeted for 2010, and Iwata still says 2010... That probably means it will be out in the end of 2011. I'd wait that long if it was specifically designed for the Wii.
If the next nintendo handheld has motion detection it will probably tilting like the itouch. If Zelda wii does come out for Oct this year I will be happy but there are plenty of other games to play between now and then like galaxy 2 or no more heroes 2
Y'know, i hate to say it but we problably won't get a title till E3, on another note... This game, im predicting to be an outstanding wii game, i mean twilight princess was great, but it was made for the gamecube, so, lets expect better graphics, but most importantly (and hopefully) , a whopping story line! With the new Ds.................................... Thats really it, like, seriously, a motion detector... on a DS? I wanna smoke whatever nintendo is smoking :P
And a DS with motion sensors? Somehow I don't see Mr Smith, playing Brain Training on his daily commute, willing to move his DS around to play, at the amusement of his fellow passengers who will undoubtably be thinking how much of a wolly he looks.
Yawn, another Zelda. Look, many moons ago the franchise was something really special, but other designers are just as talented as Miyamoto now and Zelda games just dont stand out like they used to. Ocarina was the last Zelda game worth getting excited about, in the last 12 years we haven't seen anything that reproduces its wow factor. I'm not going to hold my breath about this new one either. It'll either be a Zelda that both you AND your granny can play OR it'll just be the same Zelda system with new graphics. Woppdeedoo.
Ill buy the next one when Nintendo decides to not block imports AND put GBA DsiWare on it. 'Til then im stuck with my Lite -snap-
their releasing way too many DS handhelds in such a short amount of time, its only been 5 years (i think) and they have had 3 different versions and now their thinking of a fourth? also if they mean wii motion sensing for the handheld then i won't be buying one as i'm happy flailing around in my own home or my friend's but not on the streets the prospect of being punched in the face by someone whos playing beside me isn't a nice thought.
Nintendo needs to get straight into getting the best graphics on their new system not the 8-bit graphics which they have on the DS. They need to look at what will make their system fun which has sold with the Wii and DS.
@below I think you mean the other 25% of gamers, not 75%. Anyway, I'm happy with Ninty this year, so their next gen doesn't concern me yet.
Also I think that the next Nintendo system will be more edged torward that of the PS3 and 360 and'll have great graphics, possibley the best. They have made the Wii, which, I suspect like the PS2 will last for a VERY long time, even after it's discontinuation. So the Wii will be selling for a long time as it has many great family and "all age group" motion games. The next thing they could do is target the other 75% of gamers specifically with a high-rate (not that the wii isn't high-rate, mine gets more playing time then the PS3, and when 360 wasn't broken, a ton more) contender for the general gaming community. Just hope we don't get any "Halo kids"
@Colbster901 Well if you have a DSi and still want the XL, I"d say that money isn't an issue in your case which means that even if they surprise us in 1-2years you'll still be good to go spending the extra money on an XL. Of course I suppose either way 1-2years time would be a sufficent time to get funds. I have a DSlite (camera doesn't appeal to me) but I have tried the XL several times. It reminds me of the original DS, but once again, I only reccomend it if you have trouble seeing, as the battery life difference isn't quite worth it. I'd rather spend money on a good charger and a portable car one aswell. That way you can always be charging it, wether it be while you play or while you work on other things in life.
According to some news, this new Zelda has been in development for 5 years. So "delays" may not happen (it could, though).
now all we gotta hope is that it zelda does get released for october haha and the idea of the motion sensors on a hand held sounds awesome!
so the ds is getting a motion plus thing cool this is great for nintendo i now loads of people that bought the wii because of the motion plus this will defiantly attract loads of people but the ds has always attracted me and this motion plus thing will be great. i regret buying a psp in many ways
Awesome news! I wonder what Nintendo has in stock for us with the DS successor? Sounds awesome from what I just read, but for now the DS still has a LOT of great games, released and upcoming. New Zelda in 2010, awesome, I wonder what the "new approach" will be like, can't wait, I'm sure it will be a pleasant surprise. Vitality sensor... willing to give it a try, I'm sure Nintendo will manage to make it an interesting addition to some games, but I'll wait and see before buying it.
Nintendo-wins im with you. It sounds pretty cool and interesting with the new sensors for the DS, but I still haven't been persuaded to buy and I'm waiting to see what this one will be like before I hand over my shiny penny. This talk of Link of donning his green tights again for the Wii has got ears pricked and my eyes glued to Nintendo news :D
" the DS successor could be expected to feature a 'high level of visual quality,' " Took ya long enough! :P But hey, new DS! :D
as badly as I want the new DS. The motion sensors are too much, therefore I wont be buying one
Because the DSi line is selling well, it would not be necessary for Nintendo to release its successor. Last year was the Japanese release of the larger DSi LL, and its overseas version will be released around 1Q of this year. I am personally interested in Zelda Wii and want to learn more about it in the coming months. I pray it will meet expectations, and be more receptive than Twilight Princess.
@angel: I'm sorry to re-burst your bubble, but if you read my post (which it doesn't look like you did) you would have first off noticed that I said that the motion control tech. has been around for years. Then, I said that the Wii did it BEFORE Apple. Not that they were the first to do it. Why you felt the need to mention all of those other non-related motion controllers is beyond me. So, why don't you try sticking to what people are actually saying instead of trying to make yourself sound smart and in return sounding like an idiot.
I hope it does get released this year. Lets hope it doesn't get pushed back like Mario Galaxy 2 and Twilight Princess. I desperately need a game like this to play on my Wii. I've almost lost all hope for this console.
How can anyone sell there Wii? Once it's gone you lose all your content you've paid for.....unless they fixed that?
I kinda lost my faith in Nintendo´s promises on when a game will arrive, so I´m saying we wont see it until 2011, nevertheless I´m waiting with impatiabce
I am definitely NOT selling my Wii even if there isn't that many great games coming out on it. This year will be a great, successful Nintendo year! :D
It all fun and games with the new DS motion sensor... UNTIL YOU CHUCK IT OUT THE WINDOW ON ACCIDENT WHILE PLAYING TENNIS!!!!
@angelGP32 : Yeah I know, I guess we'll have to see how it evolves but if the iPod Touch reaches the price-point of handhelds, it might very very be the death of them for the next (or next-next) generations. I don't even know how they sell that thing nowdays. I have an iPod Nano but they alas, don't make many games for it anymore.. if at all.
A new Zelda might be nice, but Twilight Princess really wasn't very impressive. What I'd love to see is a full blown Wind Waker sequel.
Well, vitality sensor sounds a little...silly. I mean, how many good quality games will utilize it?
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