CrunchGear

I don’t know, Scoob. Seems kind of fishy to me! But after seeing Wii Music, I’m beginning to think that all this time at the top has left Nintendo a little, shall we say, oxygen-deprived. The rumor comes from a scanned Nikkei newspaper article over at the NeoGAF forums. If anyone reads Japanese, feel free to confirm what it says by checking the images after the link, but click through for the highlights and what we think of it.

Update: Our man in Japan says the camera, music, price and timing are almost certainly true, though the SD and screen size may not be. Ridiculous!

According to the rumor:

• Camera built-in
• Music playback function
• Larger screen
• Less than ¥20,000 (about $190)
• Takes data from Wii or SD card
• Out this year in Japan

I personally don’t believe a word of it. The DS is still selling strong and it’s got a ton of games coming out for it; a medium-sized revision like this would be ridiculous right now. Just because the PSP has a little more presence these days doesn’t mean that Nintendo’s going to squirt out a half-baked product like this. Bigger screen? No, Nintendo has nailed the form factor with the DS. Built-in camera? Sure, I can see that catching on in Japan, but it’s a bit late in the DS life cycle to introduce a new wrinkle without a major revision. Music playback? Are you kidding? Everybody in the US already has an mp3 player, and everyone in Japan has five billion gigs available on their futuristic superphones. Plus, Nintendo doesn’t want to get into that music service licensing game. SD card? Not bloody likely, considering how they’ve consistently battled blank or passthrough media for the GBA, DS, and Wii.

Sorry, but I just can’t swallow this one. It’d be a really weird move on Nintendo’s part. That said, Nintendo has made some weird moves in the past, and maybe they’re feeling a bit flush and want to get another product out there just for kicks. If that is the case (nah), I can only see this thing coming out as a specialty product in Japan only, like the 64DD. What do you guys think?
[via Wired GameLife]