Nintendo DSi

Monday, December 22nd, 2008 by Nick Maunders

Nintendo have just announced that a new console will be available next year, the DSi. Due to be released in Europe around March this new hand-held console is looking good. But what’s so special about the DSi, is it worth buying if you already have a DS or DS Lite. That is what I am going to be telling you in this preview.

Nintendo made the DS in March 2005 and was an instant hit with the world. However it was a bit bulky and weighed quite a bit. That is why in June 2006 the DS Lite was produced which was lighter and more efficient than the original DS. Now 2 ½ years down the line the DS Lite in my opinion still does the job fine. The games still play properly and all of the features work, but there does seem to be something missing.

The DSi solves numerous small problems that the DS Lite has fallen to. For example one problem that people complained about with the DS Lite is that the colours showing when the battery power was low. Some people cannot tell the difference between the colours red and green and so had no clue when the DS would turn off. The DSi has three separate lights now on the left hand of the console (was originally on the right), one for the Wi-Fi connection, one for charging and one for power, also each has it’s own symbol so they are easy to distinguish between.

The annoying spring loaded power button on the side of the DS Lite has now disappeared and it has been replaced with a small circular button on the bottom left of the DSi. Another thing is the speakers in the console, they have been thoroughly improved. Instead of 6 small dots there is now just one small rectangle. Although that may seem a disadvantage the sound is of better quality and it looks nicer as well.

The two screens are bigger as well! They are 17% larger than the previous ones, which is an extra 0.25 inches. Although that might not seem like much you can see the difference. The DSi has the capability to play AAC music files. This is thanks to the DSi’s SD slot. There are also two cameras on the DSi. One on the outside and one on the inside where the microphone used to be. The microphone has been moved slightly to the right. Thanks to the SD slot you can save your pictures on there and even downloadable games!

Yes, just like the current “WiiWare” for the Wii there is now going to be a “DSiWare” for the Nintendo DSi. The most expensive games are said to be around 800 points, while most are around 200 or 500 points. The Wii point cards are probably going to be renamed Nintendo point cards so that they can be used for both the DSi and the Wii. In Japan customers were given 1000 points free as an incentive, who knows what could happen in the US and Europe?

However with all these good points such as bigger screens, a lighter console, an SD slot etc something has to go. The price for all these brilliant things is the Game-Boy Advance slot at the bottom of the DS Lite. Now for me that’s not a disappointment because I don’t have any GBA games. But even if you don’t play GBA games other options will be unavailable. For example the new Guitar Hero: On Tour uses the GBA slot to plug in the coloured buttons, that game will be useless on the new DSi.

But that is the only negative point of the DSi to be honest. In my opinion with all the new great options that are available on this console the loss of the GBA slot is a small price to pay. The sale price in Japan was around 18,000 Yen which translates into around £130 in the UK. So in other words just a bit more than the DS Lite at the moment. However most people at the moment are happy with their DS Lite.

So overall this looks to be a very good console but if you really happy with your DS Lite then don’t bother buying one until you need to. On the other hand if you either don’t have a DS Lite or really want this then go for it, it looks to be one brilliant hand-held console.

Compare prices for Nintendo DS at Twenga

Posted in Coming Soon