How make-up accessories inspired Nintendo’s handheld designs

When most people discuss the innovative qualities of Nintendo’s Game & Watch line of LCD handhelds, they typically bring up its popularization of the directional pad or its dual display setup from the Multi Screen series.

Another feature gamers should thank the Game & Watch for is its clamshell design, allowing owners to halve the size of their portable while protecting the system’s screens and buttons. Also introduced with the Multi Screen series, Nintendo later brought back the folding handheld design with the GBA SP and, of course, the Nintendo DS.

Nintendo’s president and CEO Satoru Iwata recently talked with some of the designers behind the Game & Watch and its software, Makoto Kano and Takehiro Izushi, about how the team came up with the idea of a folding console:

Satoru Iwata: … in 1982, there was no such thing as a notebook computer, or any electronic device that folded up, was there?*

Takehiro Izushi: The folding idea was a natural one, though, since it was important to make something that could be played anywhere.

Kano: I wanted to research on things that folded up, so I went shopping for compacts.

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tags / game and watch / iwata asks / make-up / makoto kano / takehiro izushi / ec

Games missing from Nintendo’s lineup

With today’s DSiWare surprises and announcement that The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will hit December 7th, Nintendo posted its consoles’ fall/winter release schedules. The list of upcoming games is too long to even skim here, so I’ll let you read the full tally yourself and instead talk about what wasn’t included in the roster.

Five first-party games I hoped to see on Nintendo’s late 2009 and early 2010 slate but were unaccounted for:

1. Sin and Punishment 2 - Ships in Japan on October 26th, but last I heard, this won’t reach the U.S. until the first quarter of 2010
2. Picross 3D - Originally scheduled for the third quarter of 2009, but now absent from the fall/winter schedule
3. WarioWare D.I.Y. - Announced for North America at E3 (which doesn’t guarantee release — e.g. Jam With The Band) without a set date
4. Another Code: R - Released in Japan and Europe but not in the States or Australia (sounds like another Disaster situation)
5. Game & Watch DSiWare games - It’s strange that Nintendo announced its Electroplankton minigames but not these, though it’s likely the company will throw these onto the service without any warning

Were there any missing DS or Wii games that you wanted to see on the list?

Buy: U.S. Matte White, Pink, Black and Blue DSi

Import: Japanese Nintendo DSi (White, Black, Pink, Red, Lime Green, Metallic Blue)

tags / dsiware / sin and punishment 2 / picross 3d / warioware diy / made in ore / another code r / game and watch / ec