I’ve been a big fan of the Nintendo DS Lite for a while. It’s a simply amazing piece of technology in a small package that continues to hold its ground despite being a few years old.
Nintendo just announced the successor: the Nintendo DSi.
http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/series/dsi/index.html
From what I can tell, here’s what is different:
– slim design. 12% thinner.
– dual screens, both larger (3.5 3.25 inches), both touch screens.
– power button inside instead of on edge.
– SD slot.
– dual cameras. One on the back, one inside. I’ve seen conflicting reports on resolutions.
– seems to be region based, so there will be different versions of games / software for different countries.
– built in browser.
– on line store to buy and download games.
– seems that it breaks all existing homebrew stuff.
– built in media player via SD card – mp3.
– no GBA slot.
– available in white and black. price about the same as current DS Lite.
– on sale now in Japan. Spring ’09 in the US.
Apparently they are holding off the US sales because the DS is still selling like hotcakes over here. 2008 sales up 29% over 2007. So stop buying those DSs. We want the new ones!
Looks cool – I hope it has a better wi-fi card. Coming Spring ’09 in UK too. I am guessing that the camera on the lid is 3mp and the one on the inside 0.3mp (from numerous sources), but it seems like no one knows for sure.
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2008/nintendo_introduces_dsi_9691.html
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/0,39029441,49299169-1,00.htm
I feel cheated by this version. It is not the next version of the DS, so any software being created by developers currently cannot utilize the camera system (or at minimum add an optional hook for it). At the same time it also removes the GBA slot which kills some games that have used them to add peripherals such as the Guitar Hero controller and the slider mouse like control.
Also it remains unclear how well the batteries will hold up here:
http://www.slashgear.com/nintendo-dsi-battery-life-drops-up-to-50-from-ds-lite-0218027/
The cameras are 0.3 MP
Since opera will probably be the browser running the ds, and the ds hardware being very underpowered, don’t expect flash to exist on the dsi, but if it does then don’t expect a powerhouse for game/art dev. (also I wish and hope it would be)
I truly see no reason why I should get this new version… and I love my DS. Hopefully there is something I am overlooking.
It’s out in Japan now. Go and get it! I believe the charger you can use back your old one.
Yea I could buy one right now and I ogled more than once with buying a DS but the single one point that keeps me from it is Nintendo’s Anti-Homebrew stance which pisses me off.
In my opinion Adobe should go and start their own portable media-player that, besides the prevalent formats also plays Flash/AIR Content. You bet I’d be the first standing at the shop to buy that!
Yeah, I’ve read 3mp external and .3mp internal cameras. And also read .3mp for both cameras. Seems like the external camera has a much bigger lens, which I know doesn’t necessarily translate to more megapixels, but would seem to make sense.
sascha, a dedicated flash device is an interesting idea.
PSP was/is way better 😛
ash: NOT!
🙂
I like it and absolutely going to buy as soon I can get it here at Moscow Russia.
ash: PSP is powerfull but has no character to it. there is no innovations so I’ve got no interest in it.
I right here in the U.S.A. and I ordered one from a website that I will tell know one about unless they respond to this message. Just ask and nex time I look at this website I will tell everyone about it if someone asks of course. I am going to receive it Decemer 22nd or 23rd of 2008, maybe earlier. NINTENDO DSi ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chow(It means good bye)
Nintendo DSi is not good, IT IS AWSOME!!! Color Pico chat, Photos and sounds, Internet and advanced screens. It may not have GAME BOY games but there old and there horrible. People are saying it is a clone of the DS lite and that it is crap but they are crazy, my words are YOU CAN NOT ARGUE WITH IT! I only got mine today and it took me only today to persuade my parents to let me buy it.
It’s been released now :). Looking forward to trying one out in a shop…not sure if it’s currently worth trading a DS for, but when they create some games which use the camera it will be.
I just bought two new DSi systems from Game Stop for both of my kids (ages 10 and 6). We are very disappointed for the following reasons. The DSi claims to support AAC music files. However, after four different conversion software attempts and $40 in conversion software fees, it won’t recognize the AAC files, as claimed. I gave up on trying to convert the music files and tried to find a site where I could just ‘buy’ AAC format music files. Guess what, there aren’t any. You would think that since this is the only type of music file the DSi supports, and that since you can’t convert any music files to AAC, Nintendo would have the common sense to have a site where you can download AAC music files from. (Duh!) I suppose buying AAC music wouldn’t work anyway since you can’t download “anything†from the internet, even if you have a SD card in the slot. When I called Nintendo customer support they tell you that you have to use music files with the following extensions: Mha, mP4, or 3Gp. So why isn’t that in the manual???? So, back to the drawing board and two days of frustration under my belt. I’m still not convinced these other file formats will work either, and really just want to return these over rated and overpriced items. As for the web browser (if you can even call it that), practically none of the sites that kids go to (Nick.com, Disney.com) will even load because the sites have flash animation built into the sites. You get a message telling you that you need to load the latest version of flash. However, the DSi won’t support the download. I’ve tried numerous other sites as well and can’t get them to load, with a different message, “A plug in is required that is not available…â€, but you have no idea what plug in is missing and no way of getting it anyway cause like I said earlier you can’t download anything from the net. We can’t even get onto my kids’ elementary school web page! I sure hope everyone likes Wikipedia without being able to see the downloaded pictures, and that everyone is content with performing Google searches without being able to open any of the search result links, cause that’s about as good as it gets. As for the games that you’re supposed to be able to download to the SD card, I challenge you to find a single one. I’ve searched the net for two days and haven’t found a single one and neither has no on else unless they’re hooding out on us. What is also disappointing is that there are only approximately 7 games available from the DSi on-line Shop. They give you 1000 game points when you buy the DSi (which sounds like a lot) but the only decent games are how many points? You guessed it! 1000 points. Another word or caution. If you just purchased from Game Stop, don’t open it. Turn right around and take it back. If you open the package, they won’t refund your money. They only will give you trade-in value, which is a fraction of the price you just paid. They talke you into trading in your old DS (which by the way has all the capability of the new DSi, including internet, additional use of R4 cards, but no camera). When I called Nintendo Customer Support, they didn’t have a refund program and claimed they were appalled at Game Stop for not refunding my money and claimed they were going to call Game Stop personally. When I asked Nintendo customer support if there was going to be any updates to the system, now that we’re stuck with these low tech items, they had no idea if and when any upgrades would be made. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so cheated out of over $350 if I knew that there are going to be some upgrades in the future. And just so you know, you can’t play videos on the DSi, nor does it look like you will ever going to be able to. Video formats are not supported and the customer support didn’t know of any video download capabilities in the future. Nintendo really missed the mark on videos. Why they don’t have an app that allows video downloading (since they already have the internet access) for kids is beyond any reason. So, before you go screaming out the woor with hair on fire to buy this very expensive .3mp camera, cause the camera app is the only feature that the held either of my kids attention for more than 15 minutes, think about getting the I-Touch or the PSP instead. Don’t make the mistake I did. In today’s economy, who has $170 to literally throw away?
you can convert the music files
i`m using the dsi right now and i`m lovin it. u can definitely convert the music files, it worked perfectly for me. download a converter on ur laptop or computer and then convert it into a file that was definitelt stated in the manual. even though it is in very small writing, it is still there. so just read the manual carefully. that`s all…
xox yiukarii.
After a bit of trouble with this issue and no luck using stand-alone (free-ware) converter applications I found that the best bet was to use the conversion option in iTunes.
1. Download and install iTunes if you don’t have it
2. Go to Edit > Preferences > General tab
3. Click the Import Settings button
4. Select the AAC Encoder option from the Import Using drop-down list
5. Go to your library (make sure that you have pointed iTunes to your music tracks / folder – you can do this on the Advanced tab via Edit > Preferences)
6. Right click any track and choose the Create AAC Version option from the pop-up menu
– If you then navigate to your music folder/s you can copy the AAC track to your SD card and this will play in the DSI.
BTW: It is difficult to find more support on what AAC extensions are compatible with the DSI but it is there in the Troubleshooting section of the manual.
Regards,
Gavin
you can easily converte songs, just download itunes, change something under the settings, and just left click and select creat AAC version. i have several songs on my dsi. just wish it did video too. i’m sure one day someone will create a hack file or something that plays video for dsi. other than that i’m quite satisfied with the dsi