Nintendo dismisses rumours of DS redesign

Nintendo of Europe has told GamesIndustry.biz that there are no plans to unveil a redesigned version of the multi-million selling Nintendo DS handheld this week, despite rumours to the contrary.

Reports of a redesign began to emerge after online retailer Lik-Sang said Nintendo was planning to unveil the new unit at a press conference in Japan today. Lik-Sang's claims were backed up by Japanese retail sources.

But a Nintendo spokesperson has dismissed the reports, describing them as "pure rumour and speculation." However, although a redesign will not be revealed as soon as has been rumoured, it seems highly likely that Nintendo will unveil a new, more compact DS at some point in the near future.

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed late last year that a redesign was in the pipeline, and it's thought that there are low levels of DS stock remaining - the handheld has proved a huge hit in Japan, the US and Europe and more than 13 million units have been sold worldwide.

Plus, Nintendo has used the redesign strategy before, with successful results. The Game Boy Advance was given a makeover to become the GBA SP, which proved hugely popular - so popular, in fact, that another iteration, the Game Boy Micro, was released last year.

All things considered, it's more a question of when rather than if as far as a DS redesign is concerned - and although Nintendo has ruled out this week, it's unlikely that the wait will be too long.