Yes, it is official: Nintendo's DualScreen will be ship to stores in the US on the 21st of November 2004, and will cost USD $150. Oddly, Japanese gamers will get the DS only days later - 2nd December. Australia and Europe will have to wait until the first half of 2005.

“Nintendo’s mission remains unchanged: expand the game experience,” says Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. “Nintendo DS is the road map to the future of video games, and most clearly demonstrates the type of innovation that players demand.”

Nintendo apparently chose to launch the DS in the US first due to the approaching holiday season. Despite the DS launch in Australia and Europe being only few months after the US and Japan, eager fans can order an import hardware unit from online import specialists such as Lik-Sang.com.

The initial DS batch will also include an embedded version of PictoChat, an in-built software feature which allows users to type on an on-screen keyboard or the stylus and send them wirelessly to other DS users nearby.

If only time would pass by more quickly... RP