Thursday, October 02, 2008

DSi Announced!

A new re-designed DS was rumored for quite some time. Heck, when questioned about that matter Reggie Fils-Amie, flat out shot it down at E3. But now, it has finally come!

Introducing the....
DSi!
The DSi is 12% thinner than the DS Lite, but it also lacks the Gameboy Advance Slot. But what is quite shocking is that the new DS has a 3 megapixel camera inside (capable of taking 640x480 pictures)!

And now, both screens on the new handheld will be touch screens! So, now you can also use the top screen to tap with as well! And what's even bigger news is that this time, it has an SD card slot! And the device will also be able to act as a personal music player!

And the new DS will have downloadable content through a DS Shop, where you can use Nintendo Points to purchase software called "DSware". And through a special promotion, if you connect to the DS shop before March of 2010, you will get 1,000 Nintendo Points for free!

And last, but certainly not least, this time a DSi Web Browser will be bundled with the handheld!

Now, I have a lot to say about this.... First, in episode 30 of GamersCast I was planning a discussion about the iPod Touch getting into the handheld wars and being able to compete with the DS and PSP, but from the looks of DSi, it looks like Nintendo is already ready to contend with it. As you may be able to notice some similarities in the two devices. Music, Downloadable Software, and the name alone sends a message, to me at least. It also sounds like the Wii Point system is about to be re-done altogether by these new Nintendo Points. Notice, how they're not being called "DS Points". To me it seems like the DS and the Wii will share the same point system once the DSi launches, in 2009.


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