Nintendo DS info and rumors

[Windwaker90]

I just have to know everything about the DS. However, there are a lot of rumors out there like the wireless connectivity being only 100 yards. Has anyone else heard that? I'm also excited about Animal Crossing DS. I saw two players talking with each other in the game.
I just thought that would be awsome if all these people across the country played animal crossing with each other in a huge town. What about the picto-chat, is that going to be like instant messaging? I also heard there will be a VRU installed in it as well. Is there any truth to that?

GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION!!!!

[Shira]

I probably know just as much as the next person but I can tell you what I know so far.

I think connection wise it could excede 100 feet. Like if you and a friend were going on a road trip you could play eachother in Mario Cart or something as long as the cars are close together withen reason.

I think, not sure, it already has a built in wireless system meaning you can play people online almost anywhere in your country. If that''s true than I am definately going to buy it.

It also has 16-channel sound, built in microphone, a rechargeable battery, a slot for DS game cards that hold a gigabite of info, and a slot for GBA cartridges.

[Windwaker90]

wow, thanks!! That's more than i knew!!!

[GameLegend]

I still cant get over that the games are going to be 1 GIG.
This makes it much easier for game designers porting N64 games to the DS. Furthermore, it has been mentioned that making DS games are going to be much easier for game designers my thoughts are because of the space issues.
In Nintendo64, the cartridges had very limited space, for instances:

The guys at Atari had to compress their 200MB rush 2049 game to 50MB!
Mario 64 is under 6MB!
Goldeneye is under 10 MB! That's insane!

[Benzic]

These "game cards" of which you have spoken: Do we yet know their thickness and size? And how durable are they? I was just wondering. Thanks!

[Aylmer]

They are about halfway in size between a SD (Secure Digital) and a SM (Smart Media) card. I am pretty sure they are a proprietary format, at least, they won't fit in any of my multiformat card readers I have USBd into the PC. The DS is able to read both the DS slot and the GBA cart slot at the same time. I know this since I have Feel the Magic DS and it 'knows' that Sonic Pinball is in the other slot.

[Gadfly2317]

They are about halfway in size between a SD (Secure Digital) and a SM (Smart Media) card. I am pretty sure they are a proprietary format, at least, they won't fit in any of my multiformat card readers I have USBd into the PC. The DS is able to read both the DS slot and the GBA cart slot at the same time. I know this since I have Feel the Magic DS and it 'knows' that Sonic Pinball is in the other slot.

Just in case Benzic is low tech like me, I'd have described the cards as about 25% bigger than a regular postage stamp and about as thick as three dimes (american stamps and money.) They're pretty small.

Do you know how much they hold? I haven't looked it up, but I'm assuming these little things hold more than the N64 cartridges, since Mario 64 DS is an expanded game and levels, plus 30 minigames. I was just wondering how much bigger.

[Pandarbock]

Just in case Benzic is low tech like me, I'd have described the cards as about 25% bigger than a regular postage stamp and about as thick as three dimes (american stamps and money.) They're pretty small.

Do you know how much they hold? I haven't looked it up, but I'm assuming these little things hold more than the N64 cartridges, since Mario 64 DS is an expanded game and levels, plus 30 minigames. I was just wondering how much bigger.

Well if you are refering to size in computer data terms, the intitial carts are 128MB that is Megabytes (1Gbit if you use the bloated cartridge numbers that have been used for so long 128 times 8 = 1024 Megabits or 1 Gigabit). The carts unlike previous rom carts are actually entirely flash memory meaning that if the developer so chooses they can make any amount of the cart avalible for save data and the rest for game data (think of the possibilies there ex. downloadable levels etc.). The carts aren't necesarily limited to 128MB, as nintendo owns a nice chunk of matrix 3d the people making the flash chips used in the carts, if the system takes off i am sure the price of the chips will decrease and we may see as much as 256MB or even 512MB carts.

[Tezzanator]

i already know quite alot of info on the DS and i cant w8 for it to be released in the uk but...

as you said the networking is 100feet Wi-Fi BUT can it be relayed as in...

x is a NDS
---- is a connection

X----X-----X-----X----X-----X----X-----X-----X-----X

like that so a network can stretch for more than 100 feet?

also some1 said that futre software may have the capabilities to connect to a wi-fi hotspot and play over the internet?
:confused:

[Cuddly Knife]

I always wondered what would happen if I had a GBA game in the system at the same time as a DS game. Will it always read the DS data before the GBA? Can you go to the menu and pick which one you want to play?

And the big Q is, since the DS games can be pretty much the same size as GCN discs(1.5 gigs?), can I expect that level of graphical quality and game size as a GCN game eventually? Say, in two years or so?