Nintendo Announces New DSi

Nintendo Announces New DSi October 2, 2008

Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Video Games , trackback

The New DSi. Not to be confused with the old DS Lite.

No, thats not a typo, it is called the DSi. Anyway, among other announcements Nintendo announced a new version of their current-gen handheld, the Nintendo DS. The DSi boasts not one but 2 cameras (one on the inside hinge and one on the outside), the current 2 screens (bottom touch, top not), as well as a free internet browser built in (unlike the DS and DS Lite, which had to be bought separately), as well as having a DSi store, which will allows games to be bought and downloaded using the same Nintendo Points used on the Wii Shop Channel.

Costing about $180 in Japan, where it launches November 1st, it won’t be available here in the US until “well into 2009″. The screens on the device are slightly larger, and also thinner, due to the fact that Nintendo is removing the GBA (Game Boy Advance) slot form the bottom of the device, as well as the fact that it will have internal memory (to take pictures on presumably) in addition to an SD Card slot. The DSi also features music playback and comes in White (boring) or Black (Shiny!).

What this means to you: Well, right now, not a whole lot; Nintendo won’t be releasing this for a couple of months at the earliest. However, it seems to me that Nintendo is trying to compete with the iPod Touch here (in possible response to Apple’s pushing of the Touch as a game device) by offering many similar features, i.e. web browser, music, and the DSi store. Beyond that though, since we won’t be seeing one of these for a couple months, we’re in the dark about it just as much as you guys are, so thats all we can tell you right now.