Nintendo DS Officially Priced At $149

Nintendo representatives have now officially announced that the console will retail for $149.99 in the US and will be released on 21st November, following slightly differing rumors reported earlier this week. This price is at the lower end of most estimates, and compares well with the Game Boy Advance SP at $79.99. Since the Nintendo DS is backwards compatible with the Game Boy Advance, it seems likely that the older machine will now become an entry level portable. Surprisingly, the DS will actually launch in the U.S. first, with the Japanese release not scheduled until a few weeks later, on 2nd December. It will sell in Japan for ¥15,000 ($137), compared to ¥9,800 ($89) for the Game Boy Advance SP. A specific European launch date has not yet been announced but is expected to be in March 2005. Perhaps taking into account positive press and analyst comments, as well as perceived problems with the PlayStation Portable (PSP) launch, Nintendo officials have raised their shipping targets from 3.5 million by the end of March 2005 to 4 million. The next step in the Nintendo DS pre-launch campaign will be the previously announced press conference in Japan on 7th October, which now seems likely to concentrate on the format’s software. Little has been confirmed of the launch line up thus far, beyond the announcement that communication title PictoChat will be bundled free with the console. As detailed elsewhere in the news today, Sony’s scheduled press conference this week has concentrated on the re-designed PlayStation 2 console, with a price and specific release date remaining unconfirmed for the PSP. Officially, the rival portable is still on schedule for a release in Japan this year, and launches in the US and Europe by March 2005.