Breaking: DS Lite Dated, Priced For North America

Officials from Nintendo of America have confirmed that the North American release of the DS Lite console has been set for Sunday, June 11th at a suggested retail price of $129.99 – $20 less than the retail price of the original iteration of the hardware. Only the “polar white” version of the DS Lite will be available at first, with other colors becoming available in later months. The company has resisted the temptation to delay the release of New Super Mario Bros. again to coincide with the launch, with the game still scheduled to debut on May 15th. In the official release, the company again listed the design changes to the DS Lite that make it stand out, noting that it's less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter, its two much brighter screens can be adjusted to four levels to adapt to different lighting conditions and to extend battery power, the Start and Select buttons were repositioned for easier access, and a removable cover keeps the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot clear from dust and debris when it's not in use, among others. “DS Lite and New Super Mario Bros. represent a double shot of gaming excellence," says Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing. "We've got something for both lovers of beautiful, new gadgets and fans of old-school gaming." The press release also confirmed the next two Brain Age-related titles in North America - on June 5, Big Brain Academy will debut, challenging users with a variety of mental tests designed to evaluate various skills. In addition, in a new announcement, June 26 will see Sudoku Gridmaster, featuring more than 400 sudoku puzzles, each "sanctioned by the original creators of sudoku." In related news, a report by Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, as translated by consumer website GameSpot, indicates that Nintendo has increased production of the DS Lite by more by 100,000 units in the last month. More than 800,000 units were shipped to Japanese stores in April – 100,000 more than were initially expected. Demand is still exceeding supply though with even major stores regularly running out of stock each week, with the second-hand market reported to be extremely active. Following on from today's announcement, no release date for the DS Lite has been yet been announced in Europe, although online sources have noted that the box art for Brain Training (aka Brain Age) – due for release on June 9th – does feature an image for the redesigned console.