Nintendo had an affinity for expanding Gamecube software experience by connecting to the GBA, so ever since the Revolution/Wii was announced, there's been speculation that the DS would have some sort of connectivity with that system. Those rumors were turned into facts at a Japanese Nintendo press conference on Wednesday.

According to Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's head honcho, the DS will have multiple connectivity features with the Wii. Much like the GBA-GCN connectivity, the DS will be able to be used as a controller for the Wii, and there's also the potential for playing DS games on your TV via the Wii (though I would not be surprised if this ended up requiring a Wii/DS equivalent of the GBA Player). Probably the most exciting feature Iwata mentioned was the "DS Station", which is an online store where you can buy DS downloads. In true Iwata fashion, details were very slim, but I imagine this would entail things like supplemental game material and DS demos.

Iwata did go into detail with this feature in the context of announcing a new Wii game -- Pokemon Battle Revolution. The game will be able to connect to the DS Pokemon Diamond & Pearl games, which will allow you to control the Wii game with your DS screen. Iwata also said that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be Wi-Fi compatible (be listening for incessant fanboy cheering in your neighborhood when they find out this info).

Finally it sounds like Nintendo has some real good apps for their "connectivity" idea. I think my appetite has now more than been whetted for the Wii launch.

Via IGN and New Launches

Report Published by: Mark Raby