Today, Nintendo officially confirmed rumors that it will be releasing a version of the Play-Yan for the DS, DS Lite, GBA, and GBA Micro… in Europe at least. The device is currently called, creatively enough, the Nintendo MP3 player, and will bring audio playing functionality to the above-mentioned systems. The re-branded Play-Yan will come in the form of a GBA cartridge that features an SD card slot, so that the music capacity of the player will be expandable up to 2 GB or more.

For folks who really don’t want to cart around an MP3 player in addition to their GBA or DS, this might be a good solution. Still, given how cheaply one can acquire a flash-based MP3 player online, we’re guessing this is strictly going to be a novelty for the Nintendo-obsessed. Assuming the cart retails for around $40 US and doesn’t come with a substantial SD card, it’s going to cost you around $150 US ($40 for the player and $100 for a 2GB SD card) to turn your DS into a useful DMP. For that price, you could be picking yourself up an oh-so-sleek Sandisk Sansa with comparable storage and probably better sound quality.