Nintendo licensed DS Vision looks like flash cart
Remember AM3 and its attempt at bringing downloadable anime to the Game Boy Advance? They're back with their latest product, and this time it's for the world-beating DS.
The company unveiled today DSvision, a download service that promises to bring comics, books, magazines, anime, movies, and television programs to the Japanese DS. The service downloads content to special microSD flash cards, which are then plugged into the DS via a special adapter cartridge.
Fully licensed by Nintendo, the service will begin in full force over in Japan in March 2008. In coopration with its majority share-holder Dai Nippon Printing, a major Japanese printing company, am3 will open up an online shop for downloading content. The firms will also be working with NTT for the distribution of movies and other high memory content.
Specific titles were not announced today, but am3 does have high hopes for the service. The firm expects to capture 10% of the DS's current 20 million userbase. When the service starts, it expects to have 300 titles available for download, expanding to 10,000 by 2010. am3 hopes to reach 20,000,000 downloads per year by 2010, with total sales of one billion yen over the next three years.
Pricing for content was also not announced today, but the firm expects the priciest content to go for 1,000 yen, or close to $10 US.
In January, am3 will hold a test of the service. Interested parties will be able to purchase a 3,980 yen set consisting of the microSD adapter cartridge, a 512 megabyte special microSD card designed for exclusive use with the DS Vision service, and a USB reader. In the future, the firm is considering offering the adapter for free in order to minimize barriers to the service.
This service is only for Japan at the moment. However, with Nintendo's full backing, if the service takes off, we wouldn't be surprised to see it expand to other territories.
With the success of the flash carts such as R4DS, M3 Simply, CycloDS Evolution, G6 Flash, EZ-Flash and many others, Nintendo decided to take a stab at it..kinda, by licensing a similar/look-a-like product. But its main intended purpose is for it to be a download service that promises to bring comics, books, magazines, anime, movies, and television programs to the Japanese DS.
Source: IGN
