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Added by Brad on Oct. 2, 2008 116 comments
DSi. Buy it!
Are you ready for a new DS? How about one that has a camera and can download games?

If you answered "Yes!" then boy is it your lucky day! Look over there to your right.

That just-wrapped-up Nintendo press conference in Japan did in fact reveal the new Nintendo DSi. Say it again, for effect: DEE-ESS-EYE. Kotaku seems as good a place as any for the exhaustive rundown on the event, but here's the quick hits on the DSi.

  • Loses the GBA slot, gains thinness. Loses thickness? It's thinner. You know what I mean.
  • Screen size increases 17%, to 3.25 in.
  • Built-in cameras on the top of the shell (3 megapixels), and between the two screens (0.3 megapixels).
  • SD card slot for storing photos and--dun dun dun--downloaded games!
  • A DSi Shop where you can buy "DSiWare." Pricing goes: free, $2, $5, $8. You get $10 free credit to start.
  • Out on Nov. 1 in Japan for $180. That's soon! Other territories are waiting till next year. Get your import on.

Looks like a DS, no? Maybe a little too much like the Lite for my tastes, actually; I guess I was hoping for a design leap as great as the one between the original DS and the Lite. But then, they just about perfected the design with the Lite, so why reinvent the wheel when you can simply iterate on it and sell another several million units? Here's some video of the thing in action, kinda.

Oh, who am I kidding? I'll buy it, you'll buy it. We both have drawers full of obsolete Nintendo handhelds to prove that.

Some Wii game announcements came out of this thing too, fully 50 percent of which I want to know more about. Those are Punch-Out!! and a new Sin & Punishment sequel. Punch-Out is kind of a no-brainer from the short list of old Nintendo franchises you'd like to see revived, but Sin & Punishment? A sequel to an obscure late-cycle Nintendo 64 shooter that never even made it stateside? Maybe the first game has been selling well on the Virtual Console. There's also a Wii version of the DS adventure Another Code, and a Wii Dynasty Warriors. Ahem. Lastly, some GameCube games will be getting Wii release. Pikmin is the first one. Curious to see if it gets any updates like 16x9 support or motion controls.

Before I go pass out, Joystiq has screens and video of Punch-Out!!, as well as word on some more new DS games, like Mario & Luigi 3.

We'll be dropping in on Nintendo to check out their wares in the near future, so stay tuned for more word and video and whatnot on that.

UPDATE! User HazBazz points out that the DSi has not one but two cameras. The internal camera on the hinge between the two screens is the 0.3 megapixel one, while the larger one on the external top side is 3 megapixels. That sweetens the deal a bit for me.
Filed under : Nintendo DS

117 Comments

MasterSplinter
on Oct. 2, 2008
I want me some DEE ESS EYE!

ElMonkz
on Oct. 2, 2008
Thar's neat, but I wont be updating any time soon.

I hope the GC Pikmin Wii release is not the pikmin Iwata said they were working on,
that would be lame.

Dizzyhippos
on Oct. 2, 2008
No thanks, I still like my original DS I loves me my GBA slot

Cuddy
on Oct. 2, 2008
hmm well i bought my first DS a few weeks ago now i feel a little bummered about this *shrug* i wont be getting this one but i would have if i had know :O

by the way why is like all the GBA and DS castlevania hard to get hold of here in australia? most of them seem out of print :S

jarryd
on Oct. 2, 2008
but what happens to games that require the gba port like guitar hero on tour

Kowalski
on Oct. 2, 2008
I stuck with my DS Phat because I was waiting for this one. Not alot of new stuff but I will definitely pick it up. Internal storage and SD card slots are the best new changes, followed by better screens and speakers.

The new camera feature, which they seem to regard as a major one since they named the unit after it I couldn't care less about. I won't snap a single pic with it since I would rather use a real camera and I'm sure the pictures will be absolute garbage.

Sil3n7
on Oct. 2, 2008
good point jerryd

Red
on Oct. 2, 2008
My current DS is a piece of crap so I'll probably get this relatively soon. Looks awesome.

MattBodega
on Oct. 2, 2008
The DSI is like the Dino Dimension!
It's REAL!
It's in the scales!

elektrixxx
on Oct. 2, 2008
Are you sure it's a .3 megapixel cam? The live blog I followed and 1UP say it's 3 megapixel.

StaticFalconar
on Oct. 2, 2008
But it doesn't have a taser. I'll wait until the DS with a taser comes out.

Matt7
on Oct. 2, 2008
I'm not very psyched on the camera. But the bigger, dual touch screens, internal memory along with SD card slots, virtual console, and built in web browser all sound awesome. I know everyone is going to say PSP got a browser along time ago, but DS is touch screen, so that's why I'm psyched on the browser.

MadThad0890
on Oct. 2, 2008
OOOO YEA!!! IM FINNA MAKE a youtube video about my thoughts on this!! IM So happy that now i'll have something to do with the SD card i bought for my wii

Elazul
on Oct. 2, 2008
Wonderful, now I have to buy another one. Oh well, at least this one has enough new stuff to make it worthwhile, unlike the two DS Lite's I bought.....

Levio91
on Oct. 2, 2008
crap no solar panels.

mrfluke
on Oct. 2, 2008
i dunno i might keep my normal ds lite

WickedCobra03
on Oct. 2, 2008
Well I still have the old phat DS because I didn't think it was right for them to squeeze me for the stupid lite just months after the original.  Depending on how the "downloadable games" thing takes off and if its actually good I may bite.

Demyx
on Oct. 2, 2008
I thought about getting the new one.

But not without a GBA slot.

Pathos
on Oct. 2, 2008
I'm just going to call the store the "deessee store" or maybe even the "dee-ess-ee store"..?

Dragon
on Oct. 2, 2008
Wow, are the games in the video new ones to come?

If so i spotted a new wario ware and new Mario & luigi!

Great... now i needa get this



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