Topic: Iwata Discusses the Next Nintendo Portable and Zelda

[Chozo Ghost]

Well, it couldn't be as tiny as the current DS Styluses are, but I'm sure it could be done in a stylus the size of a Sharpie. You need something big enough to hold a battery (or batteries), but it wouldn't need to have buttons like the Wiimote, so that could be stripped out to make it smaller. As could the speaker and the rumble capability.

[MegaByte]

Actually, I believe PDP is working on such a stylus.  Their current version supports rumble, but the next version is supposed to have motion control.

[Ian Sane]

Why does it necessarily have to be built into the DS itself? Nintendo could create a blue-tooth stylus that would operate like a wii-mote to some extent. You couldn't have many buttons (if any), but you could shake it or swing it or move it around independently of the DS system, and that could have lots of potential for the games.

Didn't think of it that way.  But could you get the tech down to a small enough size to make it both portable and comfortable to use at the same time?

[D_Average]

I just hope it has a Twitter app. That'd make it a day one purchase fo sure.

[Chozo Ghost]

Why does it necessarily have to be built into the DS itself? Nintendo could create a blue-tooth stylus that would operate like a wii-mote to some extent. You couldn't have many buttons (if any), but you could shake it or swing it or move it around independently of the DS system, and that could have lots of potential for the games.

Didn't think of it that way.  But could you get the tech down to a small enough size to make it both portable and comfortable to use at the same time?

I'm sure it would have to be larger than the DS styluses of today are. Imagine it being the size of a good sized pen. Pens are comfortable enough to use, right? And being that large would make it a bit less likely for it to get lost (although, I have to say I've never lost a single stylus because I always put mine back in the slot when I'm done).

[MegaByte]

Accelerometer chips are about the size of a grain of rice.  The only thing that would take up space is the power (and the motor for ones with rumble).  I wonder if in the future, that could be mitigated by all of the wireless power technologies that are getting popular now.

[KDR_11k]

You need something big enough to hold a battery (or batteries)

The problem is that batteries weight quite a bit. That's why graphics tablets from Wacom are so popular, the pen is passive and you don't need the additional weight of the battery in there.