A new Handheld DS? No! it’s the new upgraded handheld DSi
Oct 17th, 2008 by Nintendo DSi
We all know with christmas comming up, nintendo have been heavily promoting the new range of Ds colours that were released during the summer. I must admit that some of the new colours are pretty cool but is this the final push of the Nintendo lite ds bundle before the release of the much rumoured nintendo Lite DSi console in europe and america in the spring of 2009? Or has the market already been too saturated?
WHo knows? But the big questions I would like to ask is ‘How many of the current DS Lite and DS users will upgrade to the new console?’ and ‘What will the new handheld dsi unit offer them that the current unit does not?
The new DSi will have the following specifications:
- Increased screen size (up from 3.0 to 3.25 inches)
- Dual touch screens
- Improved resolution (640 x 480)
- Dual 3 megapixel Camera Built in ( pictures can be merged together and distorted etc)
- Thinner overall unit size (depth is reduced from 21.5 to 18.9mm)
- On-board storage
- SD Card slot to give full capability for the new features and storage
- GBA Slot has been removed
- Ability to play MP3 file
- 12% lighter in weight
- Built in browser with the ability to purchase and download games online
Now that sounds pretty cool, but will my 6 year old son need this when he wants to pay mario karts with his friends, have a game of super mario bros or sonic and mario at the olympics? I don’t think so and neither will any of his friends or more to the point their parents. Ands will I need any of these new and improved features to play one of the more integectual games such as ‘boggle’, ‘scrabble’ or ‘brain training’? again I would say no and to be honest I cannot see the point of many of these additional functions when the main audience in reality are under 12. A build in browser may me cool but it’s not something I want my 6 year son using without my supervision and what about the good old virus crowd? I doubt that before long the credit cards used to purchase game will be hacked as has happened with most of the major players already in those markets.
I can see this as maybe another sony type mistake in assuming that all the current DS users will upgrade to the new unit. It is still not clear on whether the current games will work with the new consoles or the new DSi games will be compatible with the current nintendo lite ds stock that is available. One feature that is built in however is that of region locked compatibility. What does this mean? it means that if you have a european locked console then games purchased from japan or other non-europe regions will not work on the new DSi console.
The console will be released in japan on the 1st of november and will have a price tag of JPY 18,900 (GBP 101, USD 179, EUR 129)
I think that what we need to realise is that with all this new functionality (dsiware etc.) there will be many more games and applications coming out that we would never have thought about, but when it does we will say ‘now i really want to play that’
Well…if you wanted an answer to your questions, just look at the latest sales numbers for the dsi console in japan….over 1 million sales in 2 months…Yes I think people will buy it