Topic: What would a new DS being announced do to DSiWare?

Many people believe that the DS2 will be announced soon. Whether it were to be released a long time from now or somewhat soon, I think the announcement of a DS2 would hurt Dsiware because 3rd Parties would be less likely to develop new games.

I highly doubt the DS2 is coming soon anyway. This is just mere speculation and honestly, it's too early for a new handheld.

Anyway, a new DS might actually help DSiware because developers will have better tech to work with

But it would probably be an entirely new game download service and the dsiware would suffer.

@UNC - I see no reason to assume that would be the case...Nintendo's always been great about backwards-compat and this is the first gen (console and handheld, respectively) that they've offered download services. I see no reason they wouldn't make them accessible to the next generation.

I'm thinking the main purpose of DSi was to build up a library of downloadable games, so the DS2 would have a sizable launch library. Devs will start making new games for DS2 with it's capabilities, but they're just now getting the dev kits for them, and they're not even the final versions. Any games currently in development would definitely be put on DSi, I'd think, and given how long game development takes, that could be enough to hold it over until DS2 releases. They'll probably even be an advantage to continue to release games compatible for both DSi and DS2, for those who don't immediately buy a DS2. I wouldn't worry about that too much.

In the short term I don't think it will matter because the DSi installed base will be a lot bigger than the DS2 for some time. If Nintendo really wants to push the download side of things as a means to reduce piracy and have more control over software distribution then they really need an upgrade path. They should copy Apple's model with the iPod and build the device to play your games without tying it to the hardware itself, if they don't then I don't know what kind of long-term future the DSiWare service can have.

I agree. I think one of the big questions for the next hardware generation is going to be how Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo handle the transfer of hardware from the current generation to the naxt gen. Will there be an in-store machine-type thing that transfers things like game saves and DLC such as movies, expansion packs and games, or will we have to send our machines to the company and make them transfer the data, or will they simply say "Sorry, you're going to have to re-download them for full price?" I really hope that they decide on my first option or sell a small data transfer machine to do something like this.

Since Nintendo has a habit of releasing mid-generation upgrades (see: DSi XL), they're going to have to come up with something. Why would I purchase the DSi 2.1 if I couldn't play everything on it that I purchased on the DSi 2.0? The fact that Nintendo isn't allowing some sort of transfer from the DSi to the DSi XL has me worried that they don't see the importance in that, but maybe that is just because this is more a size update than a system upgrade (like the DS to DS Lite). I would think the lackluster sales of the PSPGo would serve as a cautionary tale as to what happens when you expect your customers to upgrade their handheld but don't allow them to play everything on it.