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DS

Whoooooooshhhhhhhhh!

by Robert Graves - March 10, 2004, 6:26 am EST
Total comments: 22 Source: Wario World (NOA)

Is that the sound of Nintendo Nitro?

An interesting, and potentially very revealing, update has just been made to Nintendo of America's website for developers.

Sitting right in the middle of links for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube, is a new section labelled 'Nitro'. It's pretty clear that this is the third pillar system known previously as the Nintendo DS, but is this our first-ever hint towards the unit's final name, or is it just an internal codename? Could we really be rushing to buy a dual-screened Nintendo Nitro before the end of the year?

E3 just can't come soon enough...

UPDATE: Nintendo has edited its developer web site since this morning, changing the “Nintendo Nitro” section to the product’s previously announced codename, “Nintendo DS”. Nintendo Nitro is likely an outdated or alternative name Nintendo dropped in favor of the more descriptive Nintendo DS.

Talkback

joshnickersonMarch 10, 2004

This name will be percieved as very "cool" or very "lame"

Given the ugly attitude the press has been giving Nintendo lately, probably the latter. I'm sure IGN will have their editiorial "Nintendo Nitro? WTF?" up within hours.

nemo_83March 10, 2004

thumbs down on the name Nitro. Sounds like rich white suits trying to cash in on gen X ten years ago with buzz words or just adding the letter X to everything like Xbox for eXample.

Bill AurionMarch 10, 2004

IGN: Nintendo Nitro!? 7.9

And I counter-punch nemo's face-icon-small-thumbsdown.gif with a face-icon-small-thumbsup.gif, though I'd like the name Nexus more... ^_^

Ian SaneMarch 10, 2004

I can't hear the name "Nitro" without thinking of Tony Schivone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Hennan blabbing on about how the "nWo is falling apart at the seams" while ignoring a cruiserweight match between Rey Mysterio Jr and Juventud Guerrera. "I understand that on that other show Mick Foley is going to win the WWF Championship. Yeah that'll put butts in the seats."

Anyhoo Nitro came across as a silly sounding corporate buzzword back then and that was over five years ago. I don't think it has a very "real" sound to it. All console names are made by corporate execs of course but "Nitro" just sounds too much like a non-hip company trying to be hip. I would go with Gameboy DS. DS is descriptive and Gameboy is a very strong name brand. Nintendo of course thinks this is different but it's going to be treated by the public as another Gameboy so they might as well market it as such. If it's a portable made by Nintendo it's a f*cking Gameboy.

nemo_83March 10, 2004

Nexus is a name that I've been hearing since before GameCube was even called Dolphin and am glad they have never used it. It like Nitro, is trite. Sure DS is sort of grey, or a medium quality name; but at least it is better than GameCube. I'm not going to claim to have the name to end all names, but I am a fan of the name Playstation. It is a easily plyable name that can be marketed to all markets. I still support the name N5 in my belief that the brevity and simplicity will win out over buzz words like eXtreme.

ghostViMarch 10, 2004

Nitro to Nintendo DS is what Dolphin is to GameCube... but don't take my word for it, I've been wrong before face-icon-small-wink.gif

Bill AurionMarch 10, 2004

"DS is descriptive and Gameboy is a very strong name brand."

Ninty is trying to set the DS apart from the Game Boy, considering it's their "third pillar," so don't count on Game Boy being in the title...

Of course, we don't even know if this is the DS, or if it is, if Nitro is only a codename...

ghostViMarch 10, 2004

Looks like I've been wrong.

http://www.mcvuk.com/html/news/story.jsp?newsId=1926802

In short, according to MCV, NOE said it was the code name before it got to be Nintendo DS.

Bill AurionMarch 10, 2004

As I said... ^_^

KnowsNothingMarch 10, 2004

I'm glad.............whenever I hear "Nitro" I think of Crash Nitro Kart and it makes me sick......... :sick;

couchmonkeyMarch 10, 2004

But really, aren't names like DS and SP just the way for company executives be top of cool in the new millenium? "Oooh, sounds like a luxury car." Nintendo's next home console should be named the NES 5.0 - the NES plays on nostalgia while the unecessary "." makes it sound technologically advanced.

Perfect CellMarch 10, 2004

Nintendo DS is bland... Nitro Is atractive! Keep Nitro! Ill start a petition face-icon-small-smile.gif Seriously, it sounds cool, cooler than DS IMO

ThePermMarch 10, 2004

yeah the first thing i think about when i hear Nitro is WCW monday nitro and Tony Schivone...
nexus makes me think of an enormous dildo.....type nexus in google.....

heres a thougbht since we all lovingly refer to nintendo as Ninty..wht not make a system called "the Ninty" the only problem i see with that is you would have to refer to the company as something else to avoid confusion.

KnowsNothingMarch 10, 2004

Perm, that's like my idea. Create a restaraunt called "Micky D's" and then people wouildn't be able to call McDonald's that anymore........(it really annoys me when people say that >_&ltface-icon-small-wink.gif

Unless of course they have that name tradmarked or whatever so people can't use it.

DjunknownMarch 10, 2004

Nitro? Normally, I try to avoid cliches' but this sums up my thought.

Meh. It just doesn't jump out at me.

Nice blip though. It will give the gaming-talking-heads something to munch on.

MarioMarch 10, 2004

Nintendo Nitro sounds like a cheap toy. Nintendo DS sounds like a technologically advanced handheld system with the most cutting edge, well made games in existance. face-icon-small-cool.gif

BlackNMild2k1March 10, 2004

I may have found something interesting while looking through another forum, its in Japanese so I can't read it but maybe you can

Check it out!!

Bill AurionMarch 10, 2004

Just a bunch of specs, which really don't concern me at all...But if this is truely the real thing then I guess we know this baby can do 3d...

256x192 screens, 262,144 colors, the Arm9 looks to be stronger than I thought it would be...

Though I would really be careful with documents that have the word "confidential" on them... ^_^;

Ian SaneMarch 10, 2004

If those are real specs I gotta say I'd be REALLY disappointed if the button arrangement was identical to the GBA. People have validly complained about the lack of X & Y buttons since the GBA was first shown. There's no reason why Nintendo should ignore such a valid and vocal complaint from their fans.

However a similar control scheme suggests GBA compatibility to me. And similar 3D capabilities to the N64 would put it on a level where it could compete with the PSP. I'm naturally assuming these great "PS2 quality" graphics that Sony is promising is about as valid as the "Toy Story" graphics they promised for the the PS2.

Fluke WormMarch 10, 2004

I'd say face-icon-small-thumbsdown.gif to "Nitro". face-icon-small-thumbsup.gif to more than A & B buttons for my right tumb.
______________

Quote

heres a thougbht since we all lovingly refer to nintendo as Ninty..wht not make a system called "the Ninty" the only problem i see with that is you would have to refer to the company as something else to avoid confusion


hmmm like say gee I don't know PSX! Take a popular nickname for one of your older systems then use it for one of your new systems, brilliant, not to mention the creativity of just adding a X to a name, actually it was already mentionedface-icon-small-wink.gif

EDIT: accidently hit reply before I was done

KDR_11kMarch 11, 2004

I say they should calll it the Nintendo Y. Just Y.

RetroyoshiMarch 11, 2004

Hey, sony DID offer Toy Story quality graphics with the PS2. They just neglected to mention that it was only a playblast face-icon-small-wink.gif.

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