AM3, the official licensee that brought movie and music downloads to the Game Boy Advance, has now signed an agreement with Nintendo to bring a similar device to the world of Nintendo DS owners, using microSD memory technology. With this new product and its DSvision service, AM3 believes it will widen the scope of what consumers can do with their Nintendo DS systems, as well as offer developers the chance to expand their business on Nintendo’s platform and tap into the extensive market.
With over twenty million Nintendo DS owners in Japan alone, and the recent news of a simple TV adaptor proving amazingly popular, it is no wonder AM3 has jumped at the chance of signing up with Nintendo to produce a multimedia device for the DS. The microSD card is the smallest memory card on the market and is quickly becoming the Industry’s ‘de facto’ standard, being used in mobile phones, digital cameras and so on. However, the card’s use is limited by the system you plug it into. Yet this is set to change, as slotting your microSD into the DSvision cartridge opens up a world of media right through your Nintendo DS system. Consumers will now be able to read novels and comics, watch cartoons and movies, as well as listen to music whenever they feel like it.
The DSvision media download service, in conjunction with Dai Nippon who distribute e-books on mobile phones and PC, is set to launch in Japan on 6th March 2008, but the actual package of a 512MB microSD card, the DS cartridge holder and a high-speed USB adaptor for connecting to PCs to transfer data will be made available as soon as January for the low price 3,980 yen (~£18 / 25 Euros / US$37). What is interesting is that the company is thinking towards the future already, and will be working hard on overcoming the obstacle of DS Wi-Fi downloads, so that consumers can purchase content and place it straight onto the DSvision without having to connect to a PC all the time.
Such a device could well turn out to be awkward to use for many consumers, but AM3 is set to counter that by providing a user-friendly menu system that is akin to the Wii Channel approach Nintendo has taken for the Wii console. It is expected that to start with, there will be 300 downloads available for the DSvision service in March, with 1,000 a year after that, 3,000 after two years and a massive 10,000 titles available after being on the market for three years. It is hoped that at least 10% of DS owners will take advantage of this service and AM3 is confident that Nintendo and NTT’s increased efforts to raise Internet awareness amongst the Japanese otaku will be of benefit to the DSvision.
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