While Japanese handhelds tend to focus on small design, the new DSi LL (and DSi XL in Europe) will contain large 4” screens and a new stylus with substantial girth. The street date of the DSi LL is November 21st, potential Q1 for Europe, and “further details” for a North American release.

The question to ask is why make it larger? I don’t have much space to spare in my pants and my DS conveniently fits inside my pocket. The DSi LL appears inconveniently larger which one would assume reduces portability.  However with a larger screen and pre-loaded software such as Easy Meikyo Kokugo Dictionary, Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters and Brain Age Express: Math it seems the target audience may not be gamers.

[Joystiq]

The DS is a great handheld device. True it may not be as powerful as the PSP, but it has a good deal more battery power per charge. However, watching any multimedia is quite a laborious task. A special DPG video format, time encoding your files; it’s all a big hassle just to watch some video. A new product aims to take all the frustration and guesswork out of this process, simplified in a handy DS cart.

The iPlayer is a video hardware decoder supporting multiple video formats (AVI, RMVB, RM, FLV, ASF, MPG, WMV, MP3,DivX, and XviD) and a MicroSD card up to 32GB. It also plays MP3s and homebrew (this makes me think it’s an upgraded R4 cart). E-tailers are selling it for around $45 bones. This isn’t designed to replace a video player like an iPod, but makes for a good solution when you’re trying to cut down on multiple gadgets.

[Geek]
[iPlayer]

Remember months ago when that one kid bought Madden at Wal-Mart only to find Redneck Shit inside? And even before that, remember that guy who got a PSP preloaded with porn? Well this time its Nintendo’s turn! Jodi Wykle, a mom in Tampa Bay, went to buy her son a Nintendo DS for his birthday, when the time to open up the present comes, oh surprise! There’s no DS inside but a bunch of rocks and a chinese newspaper.

Walmart refused to replace the box with one that had a slightly more technologically advanced content than rocks. It was only after the local TV station pressured with the story that corporate heads at Wal-Mart finally agreed to replace the product and add a $20 gift card.

Surely a mistake with a previously returned product or a piece of stolen hardware back at the production plant right? Well I beg to differ! I think Miyamoto was trying to test out his next revolutionary portable platform: a bunch of rocks. He got the idea from when he was little and he used to play with a bunch of rocks.

[10Connects]

In a short, but sweet email blasted (pun intended) out this morning, publisher Soutpeak Games and developer Arkedo announced that due to the large number of requests they have received for Big Bang Mini music they have decided to offer up the award winning soundtrack for free as a stand-alone download hosted on the official Big Bang Mini Website located at www.bigbangmini.com.

Hit the jump for the track listing and for the direct download. Read more!

We must remain vigilant. We must remain strong. The terrorists can strike anywhere, at anytime. The fear they hope to instill in our psyche ultimately has no bounds. For this my friends, is clearly evident through a carefully placed audio file found in Crave Entertainment’s Baby Pals. It takes cunning and skill to execute covert tactics of this magnitude. The multiple checks and balances that are designed to stave off such psychological attacks have failed us.

Read more!

At Nintendo’s big press conference tonight, Iwata wasted no time in announcing the newest incarnation of the DS: The DSi. Along with having bigger screens (3.5 inches each), this new DS will include 2 3 megapixel cameras, SD card support, internal memory, and a DS version of the Virtual Console. It can even play MP3s! Hit the jump for the rest of the specs.

Read more!

Last Friday, September 19, my travels brought me to the designer toy shop/art gallery Double Punch in San Francisco, CA to check out SouthPeak Games’ upcoming Nintendo DS™ title Ninjatown. Aside from scoring some hands on time with what played like a near-complete version of the game, creators Shawn Smith and Jennifer Brody were on hand to show off some really cool concept art, exclusive collectible plushies and more.

Hit the jump to read about Ninjatown and for your chance to win a Ninjatown poster signed by Shawn Smith.

Read more!

Earlier this morning, Level 5 (Developers of Professor Layton and White Knight Chronicles) announced that they’ll be working with the famous and insanely awesome animation house Studio Ghibli on their newest DS game. Titled "Ninokuni: THE ANOTHER WORLD", Ghibli will, naturally, be handling the art design. We don’t know much about the title, however we do know that it will include a "Magic Master" book, which is a replica of the book the hero carries with him throughout the game. The book will include special information that can be used in-game. We’ll be looking for more details coming up in a few weeks at TGS.

[From Kotaku]

The latest Phantasy Star game in development is Phantasy Star Zero for the DS, which will be yet another title in the Phantasy Star Online mold, bringing some full-featured Wi-Fi functionality to the table. Like PSO, you can choose from a story or multiplayer mode and play through dungeons in a non-persistent virtual world.

In the multiplayer mode you can form parties of up to four players and tackle the game’s “Hunter” missions on local wireless or Wi-Fi. You can communicate using a Picto-Chat-like interface, which sounds pretty awesome. You can even save your doodles for later use! This title sounds like a great way to make use of the DS’ capabilities and get more people into the franchise. It’s slated to come out in Japan this winter.

[1up.com]

Nintendo has decided to produce the DS Lite in yet another color, this time choosing silver. It will be available in stores starting September 7th. After targeting the male audience with black, red, and cobalt, then courting the ladies with metallic rose and coral pink, I’m not sure who Nintendo had in mind when they made this color choice, but it certainly doesn’t look bad. How many more colors will they go through?  

[Destructoid]