Iwata gives details on the DS Lite's direct successor
President and CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata has confirmed rumors of a new DS at the Nintendo Media Summit. The new DS, now revealed to be the Nintendo DSi, will have additional features over the original DS Lite, among other modifications.
The DSi will have bigger screens, music playback functionality, two cameras, an SD card slot, and a new DS-specific download service. What the DSi won't have is the DS Lite's GBA slot. Here are the specifics:
- Overall size of DSi has been reduced, making it 2.6 millimeters or 12 percent slimmer than the DS Lite.
- Both screens expanded to 3.25 inches.
- GBA slot removed -- phasing out old games, perhaps?
- Includes two cameras: an external 0.3 Megapixel camera and VGA camera along the DSi's hinge, facing the user. Images taken would be 640 x 480 pixel and can be edited via touchscreen.
- Full music playback functionality with adjustable pitch and playback speed
- SD memory card slot in addition to internal memory
- Built-in Nintendo DS web browser
- Ability to download games from DSWare, which uses Wii Points (or Nintendo Points); users will be given free 1,000 Nintendo Points upon first log-in.
- DSWare comes in four price categories: free, 200, 500, and 800 Nintendo Points.
- DSi will come in matte white or black -- no more fingerprint smudges!
The Nintendo DSi launches in Japan on November 1, 2008 with a pricetag of ¥18,900, or $179. No release dates outside of Japan have been announced, but Nintendo has said the DSi will not be leaving Japan until some time in 2009. These lovely pictures will have to do for now:
forums
RSS Feeds
I do wonder about the bigger screens, though. If the images are stretched that would cause some distortion, right? Even if the propotions are kept the same (though I suppose that would leave it less noticable). Would we have the option to play at the original sizes? I suppose it's possible that Nintendo already has it taken care of.
Anyway..this is annoying/awesome..it has basically everything I asked for! Guess I'll be trading up soon, probably next year..
All the built-in stuff this time around makes it especially convenient, and DSWare sounds interesting.
I also want to know whether it will be compatible with SD cards which have capacity of 4GB or over or not!!!
I think a few simple games on an ipod touch (don't own one yet), like tetris or mahjong if they have it would be fine for me. (I know there's a huge price difference and they are both aimed at different crowds) I would probably be happy with a PSP but I don't think i would continue to use it for very long.
On another note is that camera comparable to cheaper cell phones with cameras?
i think the DSI has a chance, more so than the micro. with the music and cameras, this should be good for nintendo
if it comes out in mid 2009 like the other site says I will have to save up for it and Megaman Starforce 3... I need to get a summer job...