I use the iPhone myself. I know that it's an attractive product, but when I look carefully at the iPhone's users vs. the users of our Nintendo DS, I understand there are some overlaps. And if you ask 'Is the overlap too big?,' my answer is no, not so much.

Iwata's argument may be true, but the real reason that Apple can't touch the DS market is that Nintendo has sold like a bajillion of the things already. Oh yeah, and the iPhone still has some control issues... [Forbes via DSFanboy]

But how good is the iPhone in terms of being a game console? How good are the tilt controls for accepting input for programs that you to make small adjustments with the phone in 3D space? Here's what the same developer from EA said to better help you conceptualize its accelerometer. "Think of it as a loose analog stick...you get lots of random data." Developers need to create smoothing algorithms in order to take random data points and interpret them into a curve which can then be used as movement info. Think about the Wii Remote before the MotionPlus add-on in Wii Sports Baseball. Remember all that jiggling your bat did? Yeah, this is that.

After collecting them all, he reset his goal and sold most of them to collect only sealed games, ones in their original blister pack or rare versions (like the special edition Super Mario Bros. box he spent $1200 on). They've also got a pretty sweet gallery retrospective of the Game & Watch that's definitely worth checking out on this lazy weekend. [DS Fanboy]

To get the levels back on another DS, just play it back over your computer's speakers and hold up the DS mic to it—the mic will grab the sound and the game will change it back into level code. If only Nintendo didn't make their online system so horrible to use, the developers wouldn't have to resort to archaic methods that are pretty much on par with tin cans and strings. [Kotaku]

The DS version of Spore is already a very different, much smaller game than the truly galactic full-scale universe you're getting on the Mac and PC. It's like Spore Lite. And the iPhone version is even simpler than that—it's basically just the "spore" stage of Spore, totally top-down and 2D, extremely simple. In a way, it's just a glorified version of the cellphone games that people who'd pick up a DS or real portable gaming system would totally ignore. There's no crossover or competing audience with the DS version—it's basically just a distraction, and that's what most games on the iPhone will be.

Will games on the iPhone be better than most other cellphone games? Probably. It has the juice, the platform and the controls. But it won't knock a DS or PSP out of your bag by any means. It's just not the same space. [Forbes]

[Colors, Wired How To via Lifehacker]

Since Trouble in Paradise is essentially coming out for both the Xbox 360 and DS (the DS version is called Pocket Paradise), Rare played with the idea of having the 360's optional camera take shots of the DS screen. This would allow DS gamers to transfer or view pinatas on their 360 (a la Pokemon).

A Rare employee explained, "We got it to work, but it was too late in the development cycle..." On the plus side, it looks like they do have the trick working for transferring Zune and iPod content to the 360 (via "card cordes"). But obviously without a full game behind either of those platforms, the experience will be more of a novelty. [MTVMultiplayer]

The RS408RP is the same, but has backup power supply in case of power outage. Users supply their own drives. All have 49MB/second read, 30MB+/sec write speeds and have 8W CPU power consumption, making them much more eco-friendly than similar systems which draw up to 80W.

While they're aimed at small businesses, the fast speeds mean they may well appeal to gamers with powerful setups. The desktop DS508 is available in June for $1,029.95, the rack versions for $1,499.95 and $1,799.95 from July. [Synology]

The big N anticipates it will shift 28.0 million DS units from now till March 2009, which is a reduction in the numbers sold in the previous year, where 30.3 millions units made their way to sweaty palms everywhere. Personally, I think Nintendo have their figures wrong; it'll be 28,000,001 units, as I left my DS on a flight I took yesterday. Life sucks. [Associated Press]

[VideoGamesZone via Neogaf]

- Two patchable dual-oscillator analog synth simulators: - Four-part drum machine that uses sounds created with the analog synth simulator - Six-track (analog synth x 2, drum machine x 4) /16-step sequencer - Delay, chorus and flanger sound effects available from the mixing board - Three note-entry modes: touch-control screen, keyboard screen, matrix screen - Real-time sound control mode via touch-control screen - Exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link

Apart from its Limited Edition status, we know nothing more, but that doesn't stop us from drooling over it. [Honeybee via Kotaku]

Since Electroplankton on the Nintendo DS we constantly think about implementing those sounds, and since the iPhone we like to play with PocketGuitar. Now that iAno came out we just had to try this out! As you said in your article: there has to be an iPhone band! It's the next step. And as we're devoted Giz readers we thought we'd give it a shot and sat down to improvise a little and pressed record on that digital camera.

Unfortunately we only have two iPhones, so we dug out that dusty Nintendo DS. But we want to take it further. There are some guys with iPod touches in our neighbourhood, so we'll gather them and add a drumset with the BeatPhone app and a guitar and lose the DS. So you can expect another song in the next weeks.

[Thanks, Sebastian]

I suspect the same types of people who think it's cool to wear gigantic boots and trenchcoats in summertime. Well, to each his/her own, I suppose. $120 and and an admission of being a creepy person is all it'll take to make your favorite portable gaming device a scaly freakshow.
[Gizmodo Japan]

We know; you are not to sure why, but you want one. We are experiencing the same mixed emotions at this point in time. Luckily, all you need is some glue, a knife, some basic office supplies, Jun's PDF instruction kit and you are on your way. Apparently, it will take 1.5-hours to make, but be warned; your fat, blubbery fingers will probably make this project next to impossible. Stress levels are likely to increase to fist-through-LCD-screen type proportions. For the sake of the LCD, give this one a miss, we beg you. Against our best advice, you can hit the link for the detailed how to. [Tekenstein, PDF Instructions via Technabob]

Sony isn't about to pop it in one of its Alpha models, at least not as far as we can tell. In fact, Nikon would be a more likely customer for this sucker when it ships this summer, the better to compete with Canon's $8,000 EOS-1Ds Mark III DSLR, which has its own 21.1-megapixel full-frame CMOS. (Those pro guys really like it when their sensors are the same size as the film they used to use.) Now, who ever said the megapixel race was over? Cuz they're wrong. [Sony]

Press Release:

Sony Develops 35mm full size CMOS Image Sensor with 24.81 Effective Mega pixel resolution and extremely high signal conversion speed for use in Digital SLR Cameras

~ All-pixel scan mode of 6.3 frame/s ~

Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation today announced the development of a 35mm full size (diagonal:43.3mm/Type 2.7) 24.81 effective megapixel, ultra-high speed high image quality CMOS image sensor designed to meet the increasing requirement for rapid image capture and advanced picture quality within digital SLR cameras.

Development background
In recent years, the demand for digital SLR cameras featuring high resolution and wide graduation ranges capable of capturing every detail of the subject matter has continued to increase, particularly among high-end amateur users. Additionally, the increasing user requirement to shoot from the same focal length and angle as 35mm film cameras using interchangeable lenses has led to significant interest in the development of 35mm, full size CMOS image sensors.

However, there are a number of technical challenges to developing full (large) size image sensors, such as the propagation delay caused by using extended power circuitry and signal lines, and the difficulty of maintaining uniform sensitivity and signal saturation across the surface of the screen.

Furthermore, because current semiconductor exposure systems are unable to cover the entire chip surface of 35mm full size CMOS image sensors, multiple exposures are required. This results in the difficulty of accurately controlling exposure variance and matching circuit patterns.

Advantages of this device
The newly developed CMOS image sensor combines unique circuit design technology with Sony's advanced fabrication expertise, including a system of joining multiple exposed patterns together and advanced planarization for minimizing fluctuation, to realize 35mm, full size, 24.81 effective megapixel resolution. Sony's"Column-Parallel A/D Conversion Technique"also provides each column within the sensor with its own A/D converter, minimizing image degradation caused by the noise that arises during analog processing while at the same time delivering an extremely high signal conversion speed.

The enhanced image quality generated by the sensor's 24.81 effective megapixel resolution, wide range of graduation expression achieved by its full size broad dynamic range, and the low noise, high resolution, ultra-responsive performance provided by Sony's Column-Parallel A/D Conversion technique enable it to meet the ever-increasing requirements within high performance digital SLR cameras.

Sony will target for mass production of this CMOS image sensor within this year.

＜Major features＞
１）High picture quality in 35mm full size image sensor with 24.81M effective pixels
２）"Column-Parallel A/D Conversion method" achieves high S/N and high-speed imaging
・CDS/PGA(24dB)Circuit （PGA: Programmable Gain Amplifier）
・12bit-AD Converter on chip
・Diversified readout mode
・All-pixel scan mode 6.3 frame/s (12bit)
・Window readout
３）High-speed digital output（12 channel parallel LVDS output）

＜Device Structure＞
Image size Diagonal width 43.3mm (Type 2.7)
Total number of pixels 6236(H) x 4124(V) approx. 25.72M pixels
Number of effective pixels 6104(H) x 4064(V) approx.24.81M pixels
Number of active pixels 6096(H) x 4056(V) approx.24.73M pixels
Chip size 41.0mm (H) x 31.9 mm (V)
Unit cell size 5.94μm (H) x 5.94μm (V)

It is, in fact, the same unit as the red-and-black DS Lite. Given that it takes something like two to four weeks after packing to hit shelves, Bashcraft suggests mid-to-late Feb. for D-Day. I so wish I didn't already have a black one, which is already a slab of aesthetic satisfaction. [Kotaku]

Nintendo DS - 8,500,000
Wii - 6,290,000
Xbox 360 - 4,620,000
PlayStation 2 - 3,970,000
PSP - 3,820,000
PlayStation 3 - 2,560,000

PlayStation 2 - 41,120,000 Nintendo DS - 17,650,000 PSP - 10,470,000 Xbox 360 - 9,150,000 Wii - 7,380,000 PlayStation 3 - 3,250,000