Announcement of the Nintendo DSi: How it Compares Pre-launch

In Gameinformer's issue of December 2008, a feature was published about the Nintendo Dsi. This new release of the DS is a gimmick all over. True, some neat features do exist: Slightly bigger screens, extra indicators, movement of the start button to the bottom-left corner of the button, less battery charge time, and the microphones are placed on either side of the top screen. These are nice, though fairly unneeded, additions. There are a few changes in the system's size and weight, but they're too small to matter. The GBA slot was removed to slim down the console, but in truth the bulk is about the same - keep the slot! However the true "selling points" of the DSi are supposed to be the 2 new cameras added, the new online browser and store, and the option of a SD card slot.

Why cameras are bad decisions:

1)Most people who can afford to have DS and games probably own a camera phone

2)The 2nd camera takes away the GBA port and therefore ability to play GBA games or use accessories. This also means no more Guitar Hero DS. True the first installment was lame, but the second one was decent and future installments could have been great...but not without an accessory slot.

3)While some games may use the cameras, most won't. These will be used even less than the mics.

The good stuff:

The DSi's ability to use a SD card slot will allow for picture, games, and downloadable content. Basically the DS is trying to take on the media selling points of the PSP, and adds a photo imaging software to try to stand out. I suppose beating Sony isn't enough - you have to try to cream them by taking the PSP's strongest points.

Unfortunately for most people, this will not be a selling point. Let's face it: With our phones, we can do all of that and more. This might be a nice addition for those who still use standard cell phones, but for the majority of us this is just an addition for the sake of having it (kind of like pictochat...)

The only real upgrade of this DS is that now you can download games and apps into your SD slot.

What Nintendo needs to do to truly make this a must-have:

*Lose one of the cameras and put the GBA slot in (or find a way to have both cameras and the GBA slot). Yes, people could play their GBA games (and older) on their actual GBA consoles. But what about those DS lite accessories, and the Guitar Hero games, that people would have bought? Why should you lose sales because you don't want to keep an accessory slot?

*Allow an interface to play a game with a patch. Downloadable content is nice, especially if it's a patch (or hack) for a game.

*Make the wifi easier to set up. Many people have complaints for incompatibility with some encryption keys.

* Make sure the DSi's sound is updated. I wouldn't want to play mp3's on the DS lite considering its sound quality is lacking to the PSP's. If the DSi really wants to steal PSP's media selling point, they need to actually update the sound card and/or speakers.

*Make sure video codecs are installed with the DSi. Although only pictures and sound were announced, surely people would like to put their videos on their SD card.

Another idea, though this one is not a necessity:

*Make the top screen even larger. There's so much space still left on the top flip. It'd be nice to have a bigger screen so that developers don't have the stupid idea of making movie cutscenes that use both screens. Our eyes aren't made that way, stop being weird. Use one screen or none when it comes to movies. Sure, some readers might think "yeah, but that would make the dual screens unmatch which would be weird when we play" but surely developers could find a way to use the regular screen size for gameplay, but use some sort of code to tell the game to switch to my widescreen suggestion during movies.

Sources:

Gameinformer December 2008 issue

http://news.cnet.com/nintendo-dsi-adds-built-in-cameras-sd-slot-and-online-store/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10056716-52.html