the Nintendo DS
1. If the Nintendo DS continues selling at its current pace, it could become the best-selling videogame console EVER, according to industry analyst David Cole of DFC.
2. While in development, the DS was known internally at Nintendo as "Project Nitro." If you've ever noticed the serial number printed on the back of the DS and all game cartridges, you know they all start with "NTR," a leftover from the Project Nitro days.
3. The DS looks much like the Donkey Kong entry of the Game and Watch systems by Nintendo. Many of these simple handheld units featured dual LCD screens and a clam-shell form factor. (The Game and Watch series were devised by the late Gunpei Yokoi, an R&D chief at Nintendo. The recent DS game "Gunpey" was named in his honor.)
4. A significant number of early buyers of the DS Lite complained to Nintendo that the left hinge separating the top and bottom screen cracked. Nintendo publicly stated this flaw affected a very small percentage of units, but none-the-less instituted a repair policy specifically for these complaints. It is suspected but not confirmed that the cracks were the result of stress on the plastic from overtightening of the hinge at the factory.
5. It's possible to create your own applications, run software from other independent developers, and play ROM files of games not commercially available for the DS system. Doing so is called running "homebrew" on your DS, and requires special third-party hardware for moving files from your computer to your DS. But be warned... depending on what you put on your DS, you may void your warranty and/or risk breaking copyright laws. Learn more about DS homebrew here.
6. Redesigning the DS into the slimmer, lighter DS Lite posed a number of challenges for Nintendo engineers. One of the most significant: developing a brand new LCD panel for the top screen. Tomoyuki Sakiyama of Nintendo's Technology Development Department told Nintendo's online magazine, "The lid tends to get bumped, so we were looking for an LCD module that was both stronger and slimmer than the one in the DS. We had trouble finding a pre-existing part that met all our requirements, so we worked with an LCD manufacturer in a process of trial and error to create a customised part. Rather than shoehorning an existing LCD module into the slimmest case that it would fit in, we designed and built an LCD module that fits a slim case and is also exceptionally durable."
7. Nintendo engineers extended the length of the stylus for the DS Lite because they originally didn't take into account the fact that the system would be popular with an older audience.
8. The DS was designed to last. “For a portable console, you can’t afford to neglect durability," Nintendo engineer Kazuo Yoneyama has said. "Rather than having our users pay several thousand yen to fix the console if they drop it, we’d rather that they be able to spend that money on buying games instead. With that in mind, we’ve beefed up the internal structure and layout, and we’ve spent a lot of time doing strength testing."
9. Even a year after launch in Japan, the DS Lite is still a tough find. As of March 2007, the DS Lite is still selling around 120,000 a week in Japan, roughly three times the number of PSPs. It's common for lines to form outside of stores when word is leaked that a new shipment of DS Lites will be available on a certain date.
10. When a company outperforms its expectations, it's common for it to adjust its forecast to investors. What's uncommon is for a company to increase its projections four times in one budget cycle, but that's what Nintendo has done for its 2006/2007 budget year, thanks to its enormously successful DS Lite and Wii. Nintendo re-projected total sales to be ¥966 billion (US $8.1 billion), up from the previously estimated ¥900 billion (US $7.5 billion). Nintendo added that profits would not just exceed expectations but break its own records with a ¥185 billion operating profit and ¥120 billion net profit.
Sources: 1- www.next-gen.biz; 2 & 3 - Wikipedia; 4 - www.kotaku.com; 6 to 8 - cnet.com
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