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."
Those features are great and all... (Score:4, Insightful)
GBA slot will be missed. (Score:5, Insightful)
Losing the GBA slot is unfortunate, there were a lot of really good GBA titles that are still fun to play now.
In all likelihood Nintendo realizes this, and will re-package the old GBA titles on DS media form factor, and re-sell us the same games again, like they have with the Virtual Console on the Wii.
This makes total financial sense, but it's too bad. I can't think of any way as a consumer to act in a way that would give the incentive to Nintendo to retain backward compatibility so that I don't have to re-buy games I've already played. If we all don't re-buy, Nintendo would just not re-package to re-sell, rather than retain backward compatibility.
It seems like console makers have some incentive to provide backward compatibility during the intro period when they are transitioning from the old platform to the new, but once the new platform is entrenched they drop backward compatibility to cut costs/up profits.
Guess I'll keep my GBA SP2+ around, then.
The end of backwards compatibility for real? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More Info (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, I think the point is now that the DS has an SD slot you won't have to have a homebrew cartridge in order to share data between your Wii and DS.
A lot of the new add-ons the the DS are excellent, and they seem to be jumping ahead of homebrew in order to prevent piracy.
Re:These new devices come out so often (Score:5, Insightful)
The original DS came out in 2004, the DS Lite in 2006. Two years for a consumer electronics product is a reasonable cycle. Do you also complain about auto manufacturers producing new models every year?
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:More Info (Score:4, Insightful)
The only accessories you need are a GameCube controller and a save card. Both can be found at your local GameStop for less than $10. Along with plenty of used GameCube games.
I imagine what this is really about is giving some games a second chance to shine. The GameCube wasn't exactly Nintendo's most popular system. And some of their best games (e.g. DK Jungle Beat) were sold in a fire sale because Nintendo needed to shift gears to a new strategy. (I got Jungle Beat + 2 bongos NEW for $14!) By reintroducing these games, they're pushing them out to millions of customers who never got the chance to play them when the GameCube was still supported. The advantage to re-releasing them as Wii titles rather than GameCube titles that work with the Wii is that Nintendo can distance themselves from the failure of the 'Cube.
Re:GBA slot will be missed. (Score:5, Insightful)
GBA support isn't the real problem. The real problem is that the GBA slot was the DS's expansion port. Games like Guitar Hero: World Tour plugged hardware into that port. Without the port, these games will not work on the new DS. Even if the software is otherwise compatible.
What About Rumble? (Score:2, Insightful)
No mention of built-in rumble that I can see. :-(
No GBA, no can use rumble pak.
Tactile feedback is good. Sony recently learnt this lesson the hard way.
OMG! Ponies! (Score:5, Insightful)
(Seriously, best theft deterrent I've ever had)
Get a Pandora (Score:3, Insightful)
Otherwise *gulp* I'll have to start developing for the iPhone.
The iPhone is even worse. Even the cheapest model (iPod Touch 8 GB) is $229, more expensive than a DS Lite + M3 Real. And there's as much anti-jailbreak cat-and-mouse on an iPhone as there ever was on a PSP. I'd recommend getting in on the next round of Pandora preorders.
Re:The jury's out on homebrew compatibility... (Score:4, Insightful)
It will fall hard just like it has on the Wii. when will they get it through their heads that they can not win that war?
They are winning that war; its just that their notion of win is different than yours. Nintendo's goal isn't to stop the people who are homebrewing from homebrewing, its to stop the masses from engaging in piracy (make it hard enough that most people either won't understand how to do it, or won't care to spend the time); that their actions give homebrewers some small challenges is just a side effect.
The homebrew community laughs when Nintendo releases an update that breaks homebrew, but then the community has a fix within hours. What the community seems to be missing is that Nintendo hugely stops the proliferation of the explotation of the system every time such an event occurs. Sure your system barely misses a beat, but how many non-tech friends/relatives are you going to set up their system to run homebrew when you know that every month or so they are going to be calling you for help? More to the point, how many non-tech people are going to keep using pirated games when for reasons they can't understand the games stop working every time the system updates?
Re:b-only APs at fire sale prices (Score:2, Insightful)
We ended up reaching a consensus that not everyone needs WPA, and people who do should buy a second AP for Nintendo WFC.
"Consensus"? On Slashdot? [citation needed]
Since I can only speak for myself: WEP is essentially a lock on a screen door at this point - it only keeps out those who make no effort to circumvent it. As it is, my wireless network stays as secure as I can make it with WPA security, and my DS stays disconnected. I have no interest in buying a redundant piece of hardware from Nintendo.
Re:GBA slot missing is not a problem (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Subtle (Score:2, Insightful)
Even if the specs haven't improved (beyond token WiFi upgrades to support potential WPA, the webcam, etc), there's the new toys on the device regardless. I'm certain Nintendo's included a way to access the camera from in-game, same with the SD card reader, so there may wind up being games that, even if the DSi's hardware isn't that much stronger than the DS's, won't run on the old DS solely due to it not having the neat new stuff.
Granted, I seriously doubt they'll make the transition-period games DSi-only, especially given the massive customer base of the DS, but I can see it happening later down the line.
Re:GBA slot will be missed. (Score:4, Insightful)
IAADSD (I am a DS Developer)
Posting anonymously for obvious reasons.
The main reason for the removal of the GBA slot is likely the removal of the ARM7 for replacing with a simpler, less expensive hardware that does the same (DS has both ARM9 and ARM7. DS games run on ARM9 while ARM7 can't be accessed by the developer -runs custom nitnendo code-, and GBA games run on ARM7). I think DS was engineered from the begining for this to happen.
This will mainly impact homebrew developers, as homebrew will not run on DSi.