Yes, it’s true, a new and improved Nintendo DS is coming, the Nintendo DSi. The information is just starting to pour in so here’s what I could gather. The new version of the DS has a camera with two lenses (one facing out and pointing at you) with 0.3 mega pixels (which won’t be a high quality camera).
Another cool and interesting addition is that there will be a slot for a SD card up to 2GB. So with that you can store much more and carry over information from the Wii or a card from a camera, so you can edit photos and stuff.
There’s also going to be a DSi shop where you can use Wii points (soon to be renamed Nintendo points) to get games for the DSi as well as for holding Nintendo points for the Wii. And even more exciting for me is Club Nintendo. Club Nintendo is a loyalty program that started in Japan and then made it’s way to Europe but has never come to the United States. It’s a program where you can earn points (or ’stars’ – love that) for purchases for prizes and other special fan stuff. For someone like me who buys a lot of Nintendo games and merchandise, that’s going to be great.
Some other built-in additions that are of interest include an on-board web browser, improved audio (like the ability to listen to MP3’s and adjust pitch and playback), and the ability to play music and video.
For what they’ve done for size is also cool. They’ve made it, once again, lighter and thinner, but they’ve also made the screen bigger (from 3 inches to 3.25 inches) – which is pretty cool.
The release date is, for now, Sometime in 2009, varying from early to late, but in Japan it’s November 9th. The current price is somewhere between $130-$185 (different sources say different things).
There is one bummer (but I’m okay with it) is that they’ve gotten rid of the Gameboy slot. You can still play normal DS games, of course. But unless you have a Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP, DS or DS lite – you won’t be able to play any of your old Gameboy games. So hold on to your, soon-to-be-out-dated technology!
From the trailers you can get the impression that they are working on a lot of new games. Like possibly a new Warioware (which would be really cool if they incorporate the new camera), a Luigi and Mario 3 (it looks similar to Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time), a new Professor Layton (hear that Uncle Andy?), and a bunch of other games I couldn’t recognize like maybe a new Nintendogs.
I am doing a lot of assuming here, which, of course, I wouldn’t have had to do if they would have like ANNOUNCED IT AT E3!!!! But they didn’t AND they were able to keep it under wraps with a November 2008 Japan release date. It all seems strange to me because I’ve read that they wanted to focus on 2008 US releases at E3 but they spent a lot of time on Wii Resort which got bumped to 2009 (which I’m sure was no surprise to them). I’m sure they had to have had a demo or something. My Uncle & Dad played the Wii a year before it came out at E3, oh well.
Nintendo’s president, Reggie Fils-Aime, said DS Lite sales in the US were still strong so bringing it to the US wasn’t a top priority. But, I’m sure a lot of friends will be taking the DS off their Christmas list with this announcement. Making this announcement about new hardware right at the beginning of the holiday season, I think, will make a lot of people stop and think. That is, unless they have tons of Gameboy Advance games and just don’t want to lose that slot.
So back to my guessing!!! I could only guess that with a camera aimed at your face I’m expecting something like ichat and also some sort of face melter. I also am pretty sure you will be able to download Mii’s from the Wii to the DSi (that would be rad).
So to wrap this up and get started saving my money, the new Nintendo DSi will have a built-in camera (or 2), an SD card slot. It will be smaller, with bigger screens, on-board internet access, but no Gameboy slot, and many other cool quirks and features that I’m sure will be leaking out over the next few days. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
For more info check out Wired.com’s interview with Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo’s VP of Sales that drove me crazy at Nintendo E3 conference- but still she knows a lot.
-For additional fun in the meantime, check out this really cool game making program scratch.
