Source: The latest issue of Nintendo Power.

　　What we heard: As the everyman gamer was furiously treading in the sea of high-profile holiday 2007 releases, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson sent a tidal wave through the industry that threatened to send a few handheld gamers under. With the Nintendo DS outpacing its closest competition by more than 500,000 units for the month, Wilson spiked pangs of regret in those newfound owners with news that a redesign for the portable had already been stamped.

　　Relaying tips from inside sources, the analyst said that the redesign "is thinner (it has no [Game Boy Advance] port), has on-board storage, and larger screens." Wilson also noted that Nintendo would be sitting on its ace until sales had begun to peter out in "all three major geographies," presumably North America, Europe, and Asia. Six months on, and DS sales have shown no signs of slowing in the US, at least, again logging 400,000-plus sales in May. That fact notwithstanding, Nintendo may be considering rolling out a successor to the DS Lite--itself dramatically overhauled in 2006 from the original DS released in 2004--as early as this year, if an ad for a number of NIS America's upcoming titles is to be read into.

　　The ad, appearing in the August issue of Nintendo Power, depicts a DS that bears striking resemblance to the that described by Wilson. In the image, the screens depicted stretch into a wide-screen format, encroaching upon white space near the speakers on the top screen and stretching farther southward toward the edge of the device on the touch screen. The GBA port, which currently resides at the bottom of the handheld, also does not appear in the image. The ad further notes that the NIS-published titles Disgaea DS and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure will be out this September, with A Witch's Tale being released this fall.

　　While the DS image appears convincing, the ad is clearly not an actual photo of Nintendo's handheld. The prinny infestation aside, the handheld's screens contain standard advertisement images within the DS's screens, which offer information on the upcoming titles, rather than in-game shots. It stands to reason, then, that NIS would take some liberties with the DS's layout to accommodate its ad images...

　　The official story: ...And that's just what the publisher has done. "We placed screenshots on a DS backing to emphasize the platform, and edited them for effect," said a NIS America representative. "These games are specifically for the current Nintendo DS, and as far as we know, there is no 'widescreen DS' in the works. We apologize for any confusion."

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus.