It's all true! Nintendo has confirmed that the rumoured upgrades to the DS's hardware are indeed a reality in the form of the DSi.
At a Japanese press conference Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata, announced that the new machine will be available from November 1st at ¥18,900 (£102, or €129) in Japan. A Nintendo representative told SPOnG, "We plan to launch DSi in UK/Europe in Spring 09."
As has been suggested in earlier reports, the new hardware will feature both a camera and music playback. Dedicated software will enable owners of the DSi to edit their pictures using the touch screen. Users will also be able to change the speed of music playback. The file-type of choice is apparently AAC, although others may be playable.To help with storing that lot, an SD card slot will also be included.
Additionally, the new model will be thinner and will feature bigger screens. It will be available in white and matte black.
It will also enable users to connect wirelessly to the DS Shop, which will offer downloadable games and software dubbed (you'll never guess) DSware! The shop will use Wii Points, with prices weighing in at free, 200 points, 400 points and 800 points. If users connect to the shop before March 2010, they'll be given 1,000 points for free.
Additionally, Iwata reported that Nintendo's DS kiosks, which have popped up in America and Japan to offer short-term game downloads, have entered "phase two." They will be turning up at McDonalds soon.
On the downside, the GBA game slot will not feature in the DSi.
Nintendo told SPOnG that the announcement coming today rather than at the Tokyo Game Show (which starts on October 9th) was not a reaction to news of the DSi being leaked. "The announcement was always planned for today", a representative said.
While the DS is still going strong, this is clearly an attempt to stay ahead of the curve, with devices such as the PSP and iPhone already sporting an array of multi-media features.
Source: IGN
At a Japanese press conference Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata, announced that the new machine will be available from November 1st at ¥18,900 (£102, or €129) in Japan. A Nintendo representative told SPOnG, "We plan to launch DSi in UK/Europe in Spring 09."
As has been suggested in earlier reports, the new hardware will feature both a camera and music playback. Dedicated software will enable owners of the DSi to edit their pictures using the touch screen. Users will also be able to change the speed of music playback. The file-type of choice is apparently AAC, although others may be playable.To help with storing that lot, an SD card slot will also be included.
Additionally, the new model will be thinner and will feature bigger screens. It will be available in white and matte black.
It will also enable users to connect wirelessly to the DS Shop, which will offer downloadable games and software dubbed (you'll never guess) DSware! The shop will use Wii Points, with prices weighing in at free, 200 points, 400 points and 800 points. If users connect to the shop before March 2010, they'll be given 1,000 points for free.
Additionally, Iwata reported that Nintendo's DS kiosks, which have popped up in America and Japan to offer short-term game downloads, have entered "phase two." They will be turning up at McDonalds soon.
On the downside, the GBA game slot will not feature in the DSi.
Nintendo told SPOnG that the announcement coming today rather than at the Tokyo Game Show (which starts on October 9th) was not a reaction to news of the DSi being leaked. "The announcement was always planned for today", a representative said.
While the DS is still going strong, this is clearly an attempt to stay ahead of the curve, with devices such as the PSP and iPhone already sporting an array of multi-media features.
Source: IGN
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Comments
Daz 2 Oct 2008 11:23
1/8
so it's like a GBA micro? pretty pointless, wake me when the DS2 turns up
JLR 2 Oct 2008 11:42
2/8
Considering I'm yet to own a DS, this is pretty good news for me. I've been tempted for a while, and I guess this gives me an extra reason to make the purchase.
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Daz 2 Oct 2008 14:40
3/8
yeah, I guess it's OK for those that don't own a DS, but since I've got a DS lite I'll give it a miss
JLR 2 Oct 2008 15:25
4/8
I agree that it's not really worth it to most DS owners, but I can still see it selling a bloody bucketload.
headcasephil 2 Oct 2008 17:37
5/8
i think my ds lite will now be going back in its box to be got out only when someone comes over and wants to play 2 player the only thing that is bothering me is now that it no longer has gba slot i will no longer be able to use vibration unit for metriod and will my r4 card work in it
Joji 2 Oct 2008 21:29
6/8
Well, not at all surprised, especially so when a 3rd gen PSP is available.
Will I buy again a third DS Lucky? Possibly yes, because it will be nice for my collection. The loss of the GBA slot was always coming, so a replacement SD card slot is a cool choice. No need for a DS hard drive when SD card can offer up to 8gb.
Photo editing will be nice for those that enjoy that. What I'd rather see is Nintendo ship Colors DS drawing ap (a sweet piece of homebrew) with it (or atleast take advantage of some homebrew.
What I'd also hope for is a more open DS for game creation, but that's wishful thinking. I'm sensing a DLC angle coming at some point though.
Will I buy again a third DS Lucky? Possibly yes, because it will be nice for my collection. The loss of the GBA slot was always coming, so a replacement SD card slot is a cool choice. No need for a DS hard drive when SD card can offer up to 8gb.
Photo editing will be nice for those that enjoy that. What I'd rather see is Nintendo ship Colors DS drawing ap (a sweet piece of homebrew) with it (or atleast take advantage of some homebrew.
What I'd also hope for is a more open DS for game creation, but that's wishful thinking. I'm sensing a DLC angle coming at some point though.
irritant 5 Oct 2008 07:22
7/8
Joji wrote:
Will I buy again a third DS Lucky? Possibly yes, because it will be nice for my collection. The loss of the GBA slot was always coming, so a replacement SD card slot is a cool choice. No need for a DS hard drive when SD card can offer up to 8gb.
I've seen 32GB SDHC cards around, but I'm pretty certain this will only support normal SD cards, which means a 2GB limit (the logo on the card slot is SD not SDHC).
I was considering importing until I realised that it'd probably be pretty useless for downloading games and demos as it will probably be region locked to the Japan download store (I believe this is the case for people who imported a Wii).
One thing I'm quite interested in, though, is that in video demos of upcoming software, it looks like Nintendo are bringing Miis to the DS ( their pedometer fitness "game" for DS appears to be using them along with other stuff ). I bet they are going to try to push interaction between the DS and the Wii a lot more now. I wouldn't be surprised to see WiiFitness 2 announced and that it links to this new DS pedometer game thing.
I would also suspect that Nintendo won't allow developers to make card based games that need the new features of the DSi (internal or removable storage or the cameras). You will only be able to do that if you are making a downloadable game.
zach maddux 18 Jul 2009 04:41
8/8
I love the dsi chouse but im cunfused is the upgrade"You get the dsi for trading in your ds and $60" or "You get a $60 descount for trading in your ds for a dsi".