In the same Spike show in which he tried once again to convince the hopeful that no, Twilight Princess really is coming out this fall and not earlier, Reginald Fils-Aime also had some words regarding the stateside fate of the Nintendo DS in the face of its prettier, sleeker cousin, the DS Lite.
Contrary to NCL president Satoru Iwata's comments to the effect that the Lite would not mean the end of the classic DS, Fils-Aime is saying that the Lite will replace the classic DS, at least in his territory, by August or September. To hear Pro-G tell it:
Fils-Aime also used the airtime to confirm that the current Nintendo DS design will be phased out and replaced by the DS Lite come August or September, but until then the bulkier DS will remain on sale alongside its sleeker updated version. The DS Lite is only a few weeks from release in Japan, with its North American and European debut said to be some time after spring.
Assuming everyone's on the same page here, we can expect the Lite to launch in the US sometime before the fall, and it seems there won't be any more classic units shipped once fall does roll around. Expect to see Wal-Mart offering the newly-disowned classic DS units at an insane price come Black Friday.