According to a Nikkei newspaper article that was translated on Neogaf, Nintendo plans to release a new DS handheld game console at the end of this year. This console will come equipped with a camera and double as a portable music player. The new version will also have improved wireless capabilities for accessing the internet. Pictures taken with the new DS's internal camera will be usable by games, opening up new game play possibilities.

It is expected to be priced below 20,000 yen ($188 USD), which is comparable to the price of the current version 16,800 yen ($158 USD). Nintendo plans to offer several hundred thousand units in Japan before considering overseas sales.

According to a PC World article Nintendo is scheduled to present an unnamed "new product" at a Tokyo news conference on Thursday. There is speculation that the new version of the DS will be officially announced then.

Slowing sales of the Nintendo DS may be why a new version is on the verge of being released. Statistics published in the PC World article point out in the April to June quarter Nintendo sold 580,000 units in Japan versus 2.1 million in the same period of 2007. In Japan, a total of 23 million of the devices have been sold in the country

The Nintendo DS first went on sale in 2004 and a second version, called the Nintendo DS Lite, went on sale in 2006. Worldwide the Nintendo DS has sold 77.5 million units as of the end of June this year.

camera eh, reminds me of that camera/printer attachment for the gameboy. and you can print yourself a lousy certificate claiming that you caught all 150 Pokemon in the American version. At least the japs got Mew.

No news of a graphical/processing power upgrade? God knows the DS needs better sound.

Anyone read Game Weekly? Either issue 451 or 452 (can't remember which) got a rumored picture of the new NDS, very sleek and stylish.

i think it's just new version of ndsl with added functionality

improved Wifi connectivity is welcome tho... really hated the WEP only connection, hopes the new one will have support for at least WPA

just like the psp-1000 psp-2000 and the latest psp-3000
psp still looks like n plays like psp, just with additional functionality

as for the hinge problem, I believe it's only happen on the early batch of NDSL, Ninty has already improve on the latter batch.
Mine no problem so far either with the hinge or the bottons, after coming to 3rd year playing the NDSL daily

yalor... all r fake

this is the real new NDS

i see..ds is almost the same as psp.