Nintendo DS going wireless?

TOKYO--In a recent interview on the Japanese Web site Mainichi Interactive, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata indicated that the Nintendo DS will have Bluetooth-like, short-range wireless connectivity.

In the interview, which was conducted prior to the first official DS announcement, Iwata talked about the "innovative machine" Nintendo was planning to unveil shortly.

"The innovative machine has a short-range networking capability. It will introduce a refreshing new experience if it's played by one person alone, but we're hoping that it will be even more fun when it's played with multiple [people]", comments Iwata. The Mainichi Interactive article when on to say that the connection mentioned by Iwata will be wireless.

If the DS does have wireless connectivity, it will not be a first for Nintendo. Their recent Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green came packaged with a wireless adapter that could be snapped onto the Game Boy Advance, thus allowing up to five people to play together.

In the interview, Iwata once again emphasized that the "innovative machine" will not be a next-generation console but will be a unique new product. Iwata went on to explain the reasoning behind the company's belief that supporting games that use state-of-the-art technology will not lead to the future of the industry.

"Games have come to a dead end. Creating complicated games with advanced graphics used to be the golden principle that led to success, but it is no longer working", commented Iwata.

"The biggest problem is that [developers] need to satisfy the core gamers, who want games with more volume and complexity, while they also need to satisfy average users, who don't have as much knowledge about games. The situation right now is that even if the developers work a hundred times harder, they can forget about selling a hundred times more units, since it's difficult for them to even reach the status quo. It's obvious that there's no future to gaming if we continue to run on this principle that wastes time and energy [in development]. Nintendo is called 'conservative' and 'quiet' nowadays, so we hope to show our existence as an innovator to new styles of entertainment."

Stating that the slogan for the new machine is "interactive entertainment", Iwata commented that its prototype has been already developed and that he hopes the final product will allow people to experience a new style of entertainment.

"It is a 'unique' machine, so not everybody will understand it right away. There might only be 10 to 15 people applauding during its unveiling at E3, but they'll understand it once they touch it. At the least, it should serve as a hint towards [our] next-generation console."