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Daylife/AP Photo
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Nintendo’s new DSi handheld console launched in the UK and Europe on Friday, April 3. The new console builds on the success of the DS brand by adding a host of multimedia functions. [Launch in the U.S. is this Sunday]
For the moment, the DSi is available in black or white. The white is shiny and sleek to the touch, the matt black has a slightly rougher finish, which makes it more pleasingly tactile.
Owners of the existing DS Lite may be momentarily thrown by the changes to the volume and power buttons, but otherwise the DSi is pretty much business as usual. So, should you buy one? Here are [some of the] ten facts that may help influence your decision.
2. Although it looks remarkably similar to the existing DS Lite, the DSi represents a bigger jump forward than that from the chunky original DS to the DS Lite. The new machine is slimmer, with slightly bigger screens and a faster processor, and is packed with new features.
3. New feature one: the DSi has its own built-in operating system, modelled on the Wii system. The OS is stored on the DSi’s built-in memory. One of the practical upshots of this is that games are now “hot-swappable”, meaning you no longer need to power off and on your console when changing game cartridges.
4. New feature two: the DSi comes with two low-resolution cameras, one facing inwards and one outwards. The cameras are complemented by a built-in application that allows you to distort the photos you take for humorous effect. They can also be used for video-chatting.
5. New feature three: the DSi comes with an SD card slot, where photos, music and digital media can be stored. Don’t get too excited by the music playback. The DSi only plays AAC files, not the more popular MP3. Why? Read our interview with Nintendo’s UK boss to find out.
RTFA for all 10 points. Get in line for Sunday’s U.S. launch.
Yawn… No GBA cart slot, won’t play MP3’s because “if we allowed MP3 playback, a lot of those files may be pirated. We support AAC, which is the format used by Apple and iTunes,” and not nearly enough technical improvements to make it attractive as an upgrade to current DS Lite owners. I hope it flops for his MP3 “reasoning” alone.
in the link to interview (#5)…
“As for music, if we allowed MP3 playback, a lot of those files may be pirated.”
what the… i haven’t read a whole lot on the dsi, but that is a bizarre reason. anyone know the real reason?
perhaps the sound quality is crap and they don’t want people complaining?
Yeah, some improvements coupled with a big dose of FAIL.
@3 Because they did not want to support it.
If it is because it would suck or some other reason like the boneheaded “we don’t want to support it because of pirates”.
“And we could potentially sell 2 or 3 per household.”
Dream on moron, that you even count that way shows us the lack of reality check you have..
Or it is bluster.
Another thought, perhaps a software fix would make this a bit less of a downgrade.
#4:
If the average family has 2 or 3 kids, then yeah, they will sell that many per household. This thing is the hottest device for tweens – my cousins, both girls, are glued to their DSes.
Back to the original article, this guy is an idiot re: mp3s. There’s a ton of pirated AAC files.
Arrgh, Nintendo!
I already upgraded from the Nintendo DS to the Nintendo DS Lite last year. Do they think their customers are made of money? I can’t just keep buying the latest model every few years. Maybe Nintendo should get around to making some good DS games again—it’s been at least a year since I bought one—instead of fiddling with the hardware.
As if iTunes can’t read a pirated mp3 file and convert it to aac…
One of the beauties od the DS and DS Lite were the fact that you could play games from anywhere (except China, stupid 60,000+ ideograms) and now with all the fucking DRM built into the lil’ thing we’ll see what happens.
Not playing MP3s? They sure are idiots and methinks they are unintentionally giving the upcoming PSP2 a good lead. Now let’s hope that Sony takes advantage of this and the greedy corporate lawyers from their Universal/tri-star division won’t screw it up as they alway do.
#3 I’m talking about BUILT IN capabilities. The choice was claimed to have been made to give the DSi AAC playback capability only because of “MP3 piracy.” I suspect the truth is that they made a monetary deal with Apple. So their spokesman is probably a blatant liar.
And as far as the DS and DS lite being able to play MP3s, that is not a built in capability.