Nintendo expects DS and DSi to 'coexist' in US

There's been a lot of comment following the announcement of DSi from unimpressed gamers saying they won't upgrade to the new system. But it seems Nintendo doesn't really care.

Speaking to Wired, Nintendo of America marketing boss, Cammie Dunaway, has said that DS and DSi are likely to form a two-tiered strategy in the US, with the two consoles coexisting for "some period of time."

"We think that there's huge untapped potential for the DS Lite," said Dunaway. "Because when you've got only one in every five households in the U.S., compared to one in every two in Japan, it says there's potential.

"You've seen some of the work we've done this year with celebrities, that we're bringing a lot of new consumers in to the DS. So I think there's opportunity for both of them to coexist for some period of time."

Of course, you know what's going to happen. Nintendo will release the next Zelda game for DSi only a year after its release and any gamer still perfectly content with their DS Lite will be forced to buy one. Then the DS Lite will be deader than the original chunky DS.

But it's interesting Nintendo is taking a softly softly approach to the DSi's release, saying it can coexist with DS Lite, instead of aggressively trying to get us all to upgrade to the new model. Of course, the majority of games will be playable on both, so it's not so important for Nintendo that we all buy one.

Could Nintendo be planning to keep manufacturing DS Lites after the release of DSi and offer them at a cheaper price - like Microsoft did with Xbox 360 with a core console and more advanced one? Time will tell what Nintendo's strategy will be.