New Nintendo DSi Announced 290
justme8800 writes "The DSi has a bigger screen, an SD card expansion, a 0.3 megapixel camera, is thinner (no GBA slot), and has improved audio. To be released in Japan on November 1st, everywhere else sometime in 2009."
More Info (Score:5, Informative)
FYI, there are more pics and details here: http://www.wiimedia.com/news/view/next_gen_nintendo_dsi_wii_storage_solution_and_more/ [wiimedia.com]
And here: http://www.dsfanboy.com/photos/nintendo-dsi/ [dsfanboy.com]
Some of these details are a bit confused. For example, Nintendo appears to have announced a 300,000 pixel camera (0.3 megapixel), yet it's also being reported as a 3 megapixel camera. Also, there was a report (now believed to be unsubstantiated) that both screens would have touch capability.
What *is* known is that Wii Points will becomes Nintendo Points. Why? Because the DSi will have internal flash memory along with the SD Card slot that can be used to download games (both new and previous gameboy games) from the DS Shop Channel. Just like the Wii. The system also appears to have TWO cameras. One on the inside of the hinge, and one on the front cover. (More evidence that we're talking about a 0.3 megapixel camera capable of 640x480 resolutions.)
Nintendo also announced a Wii storage solution. The Wii Shop Channel will have the option to download directly to an SD Card. A player will then be able to use an "easy copy to the Wii's main memory" to play the game. It's not clear if Iwata meant the Wii would use some of its flash memory as cache, or if you really have to do the copy yourself.
The DSi will be priced in Japan at 18,900 Yen. Which is approximately $180. The DS Lite sells in Japan for ~$150, so that should give some clue to its likely American price.
Nintendo also announced new games in the form of Punch Out for the Wii, Sin and Punishment 2 for the Wii, Mario and Luigi 3 for the DSi, and Trace Memory for the DSi. They are also going to be "refreshing" the GameCube line (e.g. Pikmin and DK Jungle Beat) and re-releasing them for the Wii. I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish, but whatever.
Nintendo of America will hold its own press conference at 12:30 PM EDT.
Hopefully we'll get a few clarifications at NOA's press conference.
BTW, if you want to see videos of Nintendo's new stuff go here [nintendo.co.jp] and scroll down to the box that says "Nintendo Conference". Inside that box are two large buttons. One is a video for the Wii, one is a video for the DSi.
There are already incompatible games (Score:5, Informative)
Guitar Hero doesn't run on DSi. Nor does anything beyond the first third of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (after you get the national Pokédex). And there's speculation on forum.gbadev.org that Nintendo might have used this as a chance to beef up the security against homebrew through a combination of digitally signing new DS titles and whitelisting old titles.
Re:More Info (Score:3, Informative)
No WPA! (Score:5, Informative)
GBA slot missing is not a problem (Score:2, Informative)
Because GBA games can be run from SD
Re:Those features are great and all... (Score:4, Informative)
Nintendo announced a new WiFi adapter. So WPA support is probably in the new revision of the DS.
But possibly only for internal "channels" and new WFC titles, as existing WFC titles use a Wi-Fi driver on the Game Card, not in the internal firmware.
Re:More Info (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sure we'll find out shortly, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that both figures are accurate.
The pics indicate that it has two cameras (one on the outside of the clamshell and the inside camera the middle of the hinge facing the user. My guess is that the low resolution is on the inside to facilitate stuff like video-enabled chat.
Re:Any DRM? (Score:4, Informative)
If it's anything like Nintendo's previous portable systems, there is no region lock. There should also be language settings in it to switch it to english.
FYI, I have a DS Lite bought in Canada (labeled C/USG-USA) but it has English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano and Japanese language settings.
Re:More Info (Score:4, Informative)
First off, that article does not confirm what the grandparent said. Secondly, I wrote that article. So take it with a grain of salt.
Re:The end of backwards compatibility for real? (Score:2, Informative)
I don't see where your claim that they:
...kept bringing out new home systems with approximately zero ability to play titles from earlier systems...
The Wii not only plays GameCube games, but it also has the same 4 ports for GameCube controllers and two slots for GameCube memory cards.
Re:Subtle (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Those features are great and all... (Score:3, Informative)
but where the hell is my goddamn WPA support?
According to this link http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/23361.html [impress.co.jp] (in Japanese) The DSi supports WPA(TKIP/AES) and WPA2(TKIP/AES)
Re:GBA slot will be missed. (Score:3, Informative)