Nintendo might be the most secretive entity on planet Earth, but the companies it sends its development kits to aren’t as tight-lipped.
An insider for CVG has revealed that development kits for the next iteration of the Nintendo DS, dubbed the DS2 for now, are definitely in the hands of select Japanese companies. The employee from an unknown third-party development studio has also given up the goods on one of the DS2’s new features.
In addition to saying that the DS2 is “genuinely the best thing I think I’ve ever worked with,” the insider said: “I can tell you that it’s got a ’tilt’ function that’s not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more.” I like to tilt things, but tilting is not always the most accurate control method. Hopefully the “a lot more” means that Nintendo will be doing something with tilting not seen before, though I’m not sure how tilting can really do much else than tilt. One thing I do know is that we’ll inevitably either be seeing a sequel to Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble, or some other Nintendo character is going to be shaped into a ball and forced to roll around when the DS2 comes out.
As for which companies currently have the DS2 development kits, only one is known and it’s the most obvious: The Pokemon Company. The insider stated: “We know that The Pokemon Company are getting special attention with it.” Despite these kits already being out there in the wild, they are apparently only the first version of a final product and are just being used for developer feedback.
Unfortunately, the insider shut up soon after that, only further revealing that any announcement at March’s Game Developers Conference “wouldn’t fit with the timeline I understand the second DS to be on.” So, other than tilting (which we pretty much already knew about) and Pokémon, the DS2 remains a mystery. Still, with development kits hitting the streets, I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out more details pretty soon. I personally can’t wait to find out its name, and I’m hoping Nintendo will go with “Dii”.
Source: CVG
Published: Feb 18, 2010 12:59 am