RSSNew Nintendo DSi handheld to launch in November
By Tim Conneally | Published October 2, 2008, 10:17 AM
After a couple of rumor-heavy weeks, Nintendo will officially release an upgrade to its popular touch-screen handheld game system in Japan next month.
The most celebrated feature of the DSi is its dual-camera setup. One is mounted inside the clamshell, and the other on the outside. With these 640 x 480 "eyes" come the requisite photo manipulation tools, the roots of which Nintendo included with the Game Boy Camera more than ten years ago. Pictures can be merged together, drawn upon, or distorted.
Last November, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said Nintendo was already developing a DS endowed with a larger screen, thinner profile, and on-board storage in place of backward compatibility with the Game Boy Advance.
As rumors have grown in intensity since that time, Nintendo has never officially denied anything, and today we have seen why: because they were all true.
The screens have increased in size from 3" to 3.25", and the chassis, although becoming marginally bigger overall, has dropped in girth from 21.5mm to 18.9mm. This narrowing of profile is because the GBA slot has been replaced with a side-mounted SD memory slot, a necessary feature to enable the other new additions announced today.
One of these is the audio player, which naturally is delivered with Nintendo's playful attitude, providing the option to alter the playback speed more than 100%. Another new addition where expandable memory is integral is the "DSi Shop," similar to the Wii Shop Channel, where users will be able to purchase downloadable content on a points system. A built-in Web browser is expected to round out the offering.
The DSi will go on sale in Japan on November first for ¥18,900, ($179/€130). No worldwide sales dates have been announced yet, and there is no indication that it will be available before next year elsewhere.
That way you could copy games on to an sd card and play them that way. So that with the exeption of games that require both slots(guitar hero on tour ect.) you could still play GBA games.
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I wonder if they will make a downloadable GBA emulater for the DSi like the VisualBoy Advance.
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i see no reason why they would have to keep the GBA slot anyway the system is so old now that most DS users that are our there now never even owned a GBA
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Gonna get one when it on sale.
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I hate that they removed the GBA slot. For some reason I have a real attachment to backwards compatibility. Same reason I bought a 60gig PS3 before it got discontinued.
Since games like Guitar Hero DS and Pokemon (apparently) use the GBA slot, me thinks the Lite will continue to sell as the lower end model.
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I'm going to miss that GBA slot. Who knows maybe they will migrate some of the popular GBA games to DS cartridges. I also read on another site they Nintendo will be coming out with DSI only games too.
It does look nice. I'm hoping they come out with a black color one.
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It comes in black.
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I wonder if the R4DS and other cards of this type will work with the new DSi.
You can see they are trying to replace young kids wanting an iPod with this all in one device. I can't figure out why they didn't do this when the DS Lite came out. (The DS slot for a music player and a real browser and an online store)
I'll grab one when they become available here at double the regular price on eBay like the Wii, which have disappeared from store shelves completely .... again.
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I've read rumblings of protection from homebrew and whitelists etc. Either way, new flash cards will come out for this unit. Give it a month (those crazy hackers).
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Maybe the R4, M5, and others work on the DSi too...
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Wow.
Give the thing a qwerty keyboard and a wider screen and we've got some serious ability here...even if just for mobile wi-fi web browsing.
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I heard the browser experience is pathetic. Maybe they beefed up the processor.
Anyway - get a smartphone tool! :)
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*LAUGHS*
Are you kidding? I just recently got my first "Cell Phone"...I've no intentions of "upgrading" it any time soon. :p
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Only if they actually give it WPA. Freakin DS is useless because it can only do WEP. :p
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How about a Palm Foleo that plays games?
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This will be Nintendo's second attempt for a browser for the DS. First version was a joint effort with Opera, but it required an Optional Cartridge pack that was discontinued shortly after it's release here in the US. This should eliminate additional issues for memory as it will be onboard. So does this mean it will run Firefox/mini IE/or would it make more sense to run Chrome so it doesn't leak memory? Who knows. Those interested can still find a downloadable browser for the older versions of the DS and DS lite by doing a search. Be advised these products found are considered non-supported by Nintendo so as always use caution will introducing third party products from unknown sources.
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I have the Opera Browser for the DS. It is sluggish and slow and hard to see. More of a novelty just like the Wii browser or the PS3's which is the best out of the bunch.
Luckily I only paid something like $7 for it on eBay.
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