Nintendo Announces the DSi
New Handheld Features Two Cameras, Built In Web Browser and More
Oct 2, 2008
At Nintendo’s Fall Media Summit in Japan, Nintendo finally lifted the curtain on the latest redesign of their immensely popular DS platform which has been lighting up sales charts across the globe since its release in 2004. This new system, called the DSi, features a number of enhancements to the current DS Lite platform that are sure to illicit much excitement from current and prospective DS owners and tech heads alike.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata showed off the device while speaking at the press conference. While the overall size of the system has shrunk 12%, the screen size has jumped from 3 inches to 3.25 inches, an increase of 17% over the DS Lite.
Multimedia Features
Expanding further on the DS Lite’s already included Wi-Fi capabilities, Nintendo has added several enhancements in the form of an online “DSi Shop”, where users can shop for and download games and other applications using “Nintendo points” which were formerly known as Wii points. In addition, Nintendo is including a built in Opera web browser for surfing the web.
On the hardware side of things, Nintendo has also seen fit to add not one but two cameras to the system. One camera is situated on the outside of the system with a reported 640 x 480 VGA resolution while the other resides on the inside, facing you. One could imagine that Nintendo is planning to incorporate video or picture messaging features with the inner camera and/or possibly face recognition software support in future games. The ability to upload pictures directly to the Wii, presumably through the photo channel, is a nice touch.
Unfortunately, this hardware redesign brings with it the nixing of support for GBA games through its lower GBA slot, which is now gone. In its place, Nintendo has added an SD card slot, which can be used to store downloaded items from the DSi Shop as well as pictures and music for use on the system.
Also coming in this redesign are numerous “audio enhancements” which allow the DSi to play MP3 and AAC files from SD cards, adding to its media functionality.
Release Date Details
The DSi certainly looks like a promising device and Japanese consumers will be the first to get their hands on the device when it launched in Japan on November 1, for 18,900 Yen (about $180). No official US or European release date has yet been announced but the DSi is expected to release in these markets in 2009.
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