[DS] Nintendo Announces DSi - What?

Quote:

Nintendo just announced the DSi at its fall presentation -- we're getting more details by the second. The company is calling it a "third platform," which means it's complementing the existing DS Lite, not necessarily replacing it. Lookswise it's almost exactly the same, but it's some 12 percent thinner, partly because it doesn't have a GBA cartridge slot. The screens are also slightly larger, at 3.25 inches, and there are two cameras, at least one of which is VGA res. The SD slot is retained, but there's now also internal storage -- we're not sure how much at the moment. Photos can be synced with the Wii Photo channel. Nintendo's also launching an online DSi shop, which will sell content directly over WiFi -- including a free browser app. Wii Points are being renamed Nintendo Points so as to work across platforms and content will be priced in 0 / 200 / 500 / 800 point brackets. ¥189,000 ($178), will launch on November 1st.

Sauce [more photos and a video across the jump]

To be completely honest, this doesn't really excite me at all. I was hoping for something better than the addition of two low-quality camerasSure, the screens are a little bigger, but that seems to be all that's going for the DSi. I've been reading that the battery life went to shit on this model, too. God help them if they didn't add WPA support to the WiFi options.

Cameras? Whoo, I can finally use my Game Boy Printer again--oh shi--they took out the GBA slot. That means no Guitar Hero or Paddle controllers either.

More details, specs, and comparison to DSlite:

• Size of Liquid Crystal Display
Nintendo DSi: 3.25 inches
Nintendo DS Lite: 3 inches

• Liquid Crystal Screen
Nintendo DSi: Possible to display 260,000 colors
Nintendo DS Lite: Possible to display 260,000 colors

• Portable Size
Nintendo DSi: Width 137mm, Length 74.9mm, Thickness 18.9mm (touch pen is approx. 92mm in length)
Nintendo DS Lite: Width 133mm, Length 73.9mm, Thickness 21.5mm (touch pen is approx. 87.5mm in length)

• Power Supply
Nintendo DSi: AC adaptor for Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DS Lite: AC adaptor for DS Lite

• Weight
Nintendo DSi: Approx. 214g (with touch pen)
Nintendo DS Lite: Approx. 218g (with touch pen, Game Boy Advance cover)

• Charging Time
Nintendo DSi: Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes
Nintendo DS Lite: Approx. 3 hours

• Battery Life
Nintendo DSi: The lowest brightness (9-14 hrs), low brightness (8-12 hours), medium brightness (6-9 hours), high brightness (4-6 hours), highest brightness(3-4 hours)
Nintendo DS Lite: The lowest brightness (15-19 hrs), low brightness (10-15 hours), high brightness (7-11 hours), highest brightness(5-8 hours)

• Software
Nintendo DSi: Software for Nintendo DS, Software for Nintendo DSi.
Nintendo DS Lite: Software for Nintendo DS, Software for Game Boy Advance

• Input-Output
Nintendo DSi: DS card slot, SD memory card slot, AC adaptor connection, stereo headphone/mic jack
Nintendo DS Lite: DS card slot, Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, AC adaptor connection, stereo headphone/mic jack

...Either way, this thing will still print money, especially with the addition of 'downloadable content'. Whether that means full games or game add-ons, I'm sure people will just suck that up.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

It all depends on what the downloadable content is for me to bite at this one. Bigger screen and cameras don't really do it for me. I still don't have a Lite, so by the time this drops, the Lite will undoubtedly be far cheaper and I can finally upgrade my bulky original.

Either way, some interesting ideas can be presented with the camera. They're definitely not using it as anything but a gaming camera with it's measly .3 megapixel camera. Could be cool, but time will have to tell. I was hoping for a plethora of camera-centric games to be announced at the conference.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, there's apparently going to be a 'DSi Store', with 'DSiWare', much in the line of the Wii's Shop Channel and Wiiware. I don't know, could be interesting. They're also including 1000 Nintendo Points with the DSi, which is a nice incentive, but that alone doesn't sell the unit, either.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Unless the DSi store gets some really nifty stuff I'd rather just keep my GBA slot. I may not use it all that much since the carts stick out so far on the Lite, but it's still nice to have when I'm in the mood to play some FF VI Advance at school. The cameras are a pretty useless addition considering pretty much everyone has a cellphone camera these days. The only really enticing thing here are the slightly larger screens.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Here's a quick question for those of you above questioning the lack of a GBA slot: do you own a GBA or GBA SP? Also: do you plan to sell/trade your DS/DS Lite?

Personally I rather like the look of the DSi and as things stand I plan to pick one up when they (finally) make their way to Europe. Unless I get particularly impatient/feel like importing. I won't be selling my DS Lite, I'll keep that, and as it stands I also own a perfectly good GBA and GBA SP. Not to mention the fact that I've not really played a GBA game for quite some time now.

The tweaked hardware together with the DS slot and DSiWare stuff makes this a complete win as far as I'm concerned. Shame it's not going to hit here sooner is all.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

Here's a quick question for those of you above questioning the lack of a GBA slot: do you own a GBA or GBA SP? Also: do you plan to sell/trade your DS/DS Lite?

Technically I own a GBA, but Tritoch has had it for at least a year. At any rate, I play GBA games on the spur of the moment (often when my DS battery light turns red, but still has juice to play GBA). I'm not going to carry around two gadgets, so if I were to buy a DSi, I doubt I'd touch my GBA games again. It'll depend on what sort of downloadable titles come out as to whether I pick one of these up.

Why has no one made a David Caruso joke yet?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I approve of Nintendo doing a sloppy shit all over Activision's face. Because the mental imagine is amazing and involves the duck hunt dog. But Taito just announced a new Puzzle Bobble game that'll support the paddle controller. So.

I dunno, really not excited about this. The battery life is considerably worse than the DS Lite when using the highest screen brightness, and that's how I roll.

Down bright hills. Then I get all itchy.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

Here's a quick question for those of you above questioning the lack of a GBA slot: do you own a GBA or GBA SP? Also: do you plan to sell/trade your DS/DS Lite?

Technically I suppose I have Nutty's GBA, but I've only used that for unlocking Fire Emblem maps in Path of Radiance and swiping E-cards for Mario 3. The battery cover doesn't stay on and it's tough to see now that I'm used to the DS' wonderful backlight. I usually use my Gameboy Player for any GBA games, but that's not very portable.

If I were to get a DSi it would probably be the same way I got my Lite: Best Buy's replacement plan. They didn't give me any hassle when I took in my original DS just before the plan ran out and swapped it for a Lite, so I'd try the same thing here. Having a Lite and a DSi would seem excessive anyway, since that would be $180 just for the DSware.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You know, I was expecting some kind of DSDS (Dual Screen Dual Slot) before they repackaged without the GBA input. You know, so they could make games bigger by having them on two cards, much like having multiple discs for console-based games.


I mean, I don't think you can do a card-swap to continue on in a game right now.




I'd care if it supported more than just WEP wireless security.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I use my PSP as an MP3 player, so I'm curious about using the DSi as a music player as well. This is assuming the DSi will still play music when the clamshell is closed.

I'm sure the 300,000 pixel camera will work well for the DS, but I'm not sure how grainy it will be on a computer screen.

I'm out of a DS right now so this could be a nice replacement, depending on the audio player. I have Micro, so I don't really need the GBA slot. The battery life sucks, though. I'll wait until people get their hands on it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't mind loosing the GBA slot as I only play Rhythm Tengoku lately.

I wonder why no one said that while one camera facing you is .3 megapixel the other facing away from you is a 3 megapixel camera.

With the camera, media player (music only?), online store, built in Opera browser (which they said it's better/faster), internal memory and SD card slot, you'll bet the DSi will have a new firmware for it and be upgradable. Seems like this is Nintendo answer to kill off the flashcart market.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I own a Game Boy Color, Original Game Boy Advance, and DS Fat.

The Advance is pretty much useless because I play GB/GBC games on the GBC (since it's brighter), and Advance games on the DS.

Without the GBA slot, I'd only be looking for two things: smaller size, and the two screens being closer together, which they obviously didn't bother with.
After playing games like Contra 4 which play both at once, I get kinda frustrated because I still have trouble considering the two as one entity.
Smaller size, because, well, yeah. I have an organizer on my Emu card, and would like to be able to carry the DS around without it bugging me.

Without a GBA slot, though, I'm unable to play GBA carts or even emulate it (unless new emulation advances are made).
I'd consider buying a GB Micro, but they're just too fucking small to realistically play comfortably, although I've never seen one in real life.

So since I missed the DSLite, I might buy this. Then again, I might just buy a pocket rolodex.

Additional Spam:
Oh yeah, the internets business. That'll be nice.

Unless they have the hardware block currently existing flash carts, I doubt it'll slow that business down.

Not much browsing is done on DS anyways. Without an extra ROMpack for the GBA slot (which is also required to emulate GBA), Opera doesn't really function. I've yet to get one, OR try the commercial Opera package, so I can't comment on how well they work, but I've heard it sucks enough to not be worth the trouble.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by wvlfpvp

I mean, I don't think you can do a card-swap to continue on in a game right now.

There might be an extremely small chance that cart-swaps could be done using the DSi's internal memory. I doubt it, but that would be pretty nifty.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I knew to be disappointed when I heard the rumors of a new DS coming. It still kind of sucks that they aren't trying to make an actual brand new DS handheld. Think about it. The DS is almost 4 years old. This DSi will effectively be extending the life of the DS for another 2 years. This can be a good and a bad thing.

For one, this isn't actually a new DS. It's just your DS lite with a few new features built-in instead of being external add-ons. I had heard that the top screen would also be a touch screen which sounded interesting if not concerning but it seems that is not the case. Putting aside applications for music and photography and firmware updates (which could prove both a bane and blessing for the homebrew/pirate scene) the one big difference is with the usage of new storage in on-board memory and SD card slot.

Should the DSi prove to somehow become a bigger platform than the DS/DS lite its exclusive downloadable DSi software could actually turn it into its own platform which could orphan the DS community similarly to what the DS did to the GBA. If you think about it this trend could prove interesting and disturbing. If developers opt to start making DSi games over DS games it could effectively nullify the DS cartridge port to a certain extent. Developers could favor a digital delivery system to cut out publishing costs. People could be effectively forced to buy a DSi if they want any new Nintendo handheld gaming, and by the time this happens two years will have passed readying Nintendo for the true successor to the DS.

Although churning out new handhelds and revisions is nothing new to Nintendo this is starting to smell like the cousin love that was the 32X. With a true successor to follow this upcoming DSi act I'd really hate to have another Saturn incident due to misplaced intentions.


The potential successor to the DS has a lot to live up to. I'm going to take a guess that we'll be seeing it around 2010. By then Nintendo will be able to utilize high capacity flash memory to its purposes and cheaply at that thus killing any thought of optical media and subsequent moving parts that haunt the PSP and its silly battery life. Speaking of that I am hopeful that Toshiba will have ramped up production of its Super Charge ion Battery which allows for extremely fast charging, higher capacity, and longer battery life while maintaining accepted battery form factors for portable devices. This will enable perfectly reasonable practicality of what is hopefully the equivalent of a portable GameCube/Wii in power, graphics, and sound. I don't think my thoughts of this matter of succession are unreasonable. The DS is practically a portable N64. The DSi introduces intriguing camera functionality to Nintendo's handhelds. I'd expect the next handheld to have at least 3 megapixel cameras on both sides.

I believe that the next Nintendo handheld will have at least one widescreen. I am hopeful that both screens have multitouch and that the system features accelerometers. I'd really love if it also had a tablet hinge to enable tablet mode. My fantasy Nintendo handheld would be dual widescreen that covers the entire surface with an active haptic feedback user interface for controls to emulate standard button layouts in addition to new custom interfaces. Of course it's always a good idea to leave physical L and R shoulder buttons and switches for power on the sides. I'm not completely insane.

I really do hope Nintendo is planning this one out correctly. I believe my idea for a future handheld grants the most promising evolution in handheld gaming but I look forward to see how Nintendo succeeds and/or fucks this up. The DSi leads down a very interesting road that depending on how traveled could shape things for the better or worse. And don't think that Sony isn't thinking about this shit. Nintendo can't be sitting on their laurels of mediocre extremely cheap hardware next time around. It won't work anymore. It won't because the electronic world is moving in a better direction and it's one that should be making the task of stepping up much easier next time around no less.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm kinda miffed that they keep cutting the backwards compatibility, or they just opt to port it to a brand new extra purchase (micro).

But I suppose this is their idea of making us pay for games more than once, via DS cart reprints, or download (more likely).

I wonder if the DS is naturally capable of reading High Capacity SD card from it's original port technology, because that would solve the problems of DS games being only 128 mb or smaller.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Zephyrin

I'd consider buying a GB Micro, but they're just too fucking small to realistically play comfortably, although I've never seen one in real life.

Seriously, are you shitting me right here? I'd expect this kind of dumb statement from an idiot newb, but you Zeph. Please.

The Micro is wider than the GBA SP and the GB Color, which you admit to using. The buttons, if anything, are better spaced, and I can't believe there's not enough to hold onto in the height dimension. I'd recommend seeing one in real life before you dismiss it out of hand.

Also, the Micro isn't new, so they're not porting the experience anywhere. I imagine they've figured the majority of DS owners and potential owners don't use the GBA functionality, and those that do/would probably already have the means to do so. Plus nothing yet rules out being able to play GBA games via download.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Zeph, the DSi's SD card slot is not HCSD capable unfortunately. The max it can utilize is two gigs.

However there are always slot-1 flash cart solutions like the CycloDS which are able to use micro HCSD cards beautifully.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by BigCN401

I wonder why no one said that while one camera facing you is .3 megapixel the other facing away from you is a 3 megapixel camera.

From what I understood from G4's interview with Reggie [among other things] was that the outside camera was 0.3MP, and the inside one was 'VGA' [which I assume would be about the same quality].

I have read in some places though [Neowin forums, for example] that what you're saying is true, and the inside is 0.3MP, while the outside is 3MP. I haven't seen any 'official' sources for this, though, so I'm not sure which is true.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by OmagnusPrime

Seriously, are you shitting me right here? I'd expect this kind of dumb statement from an idiot newb, but you Zeph. Please.

Well, my hands sometime cramp pretty bad using my GBC. I'm not a little kid anymore. Hell, My shoulders almost always ache when I play my DS or anything for over an hour, due to holding them out in front of me. But I suppose that personal.
I guess I just went by measurements on a website, but they might've been wrong.

And I didn't say you couldn't download GBA games. My wondering is if they're building GBA hardware into the DSi still (since they have the extra RAM for browsing, apparently), or they're going to have to port every game to DS hardware.

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Nintendo says the DSi will be region-locked for DSi-only software. You can play your imported DS games, but not imported DSi games.

Originally Posted by 1up

As for the region lock, Nintendo explains that the system's new internet features are the reason. "DSi is region locked because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit."

Not a deal-breaker, since I haven't imported that much over the years, but it's still disappointing.

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What are DSi games? The downloadable games?

I was speaking idiomatically.

There'll probably be games that can only run on the new hardware. Like when the Gameboy Color came out, and there were some games that would run on both old and new, and some GBC-only games.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Yup. I'm sure there will be ways around it if anyone truly cares enough. Since the DSi is supposed to be more like the Wii and communicate with it this region locking kind of makes sense. It's quite possible that imported DSi machines from Japan will not be able to communicate with US Wiis for the photo channel and other DSi/Wii related things.

FELIPE NO

OK, so news of region locking on all DSi-only software (whatever form that takes) is rather off-putting. I like the idea of the DSi, but adding region locking and reducing import opportunities, one of the things I love about the DS, makes it a bit of a no-go. Shame.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well nintendo.co.jp finally have their 2008 conference page in English. It's a good (re-)read and clears up a few things that some media site might had misquoted.

Seems like both camera are .3MP (boo!), AAC audio only (boo again!) and the web browser are REALLY FAST (yay?).

The DSi menu are like the Wii "channel" but are called boxes. Scroll left-right to select which apps you want to launch.

On side note, it seems the DSi will support WPA and 802.11g (though the speed will reduce to "802.11b" when playing DS muti-player/Wi-Fi games).

Jam it back in, in the dark.