Nintendo DSi

A "third platform"? Oh, fuck off, Nintendo.

My Mario Kart 1st gen DS is looking Ghetto by the second...

Huzzah! I look forward to leaving this at my GF's apartment and never bothering to get it back.

I can't see wanting to get this.

I don't see who its for. I mean, who hasn't bought a DS already that is interested in them? It's got a camera, but unless the release some Twee software for it (and you know it's going to come with some program that allows you to put Mario's hat and mustache on your friend) won't be used more than once. An MP3 player that NO ONE will ever use. A bigger screen is about the only "interesting" thing I see, but it's not something I wanted and isn't something that'll turn heads.

Eh, no GBA port? That was one of the main selling points for the DS, if you ask me. Pointless.

Nintendo is just trying to one-up the PSP in Japan.

How was it the main selling point? I'd have said the two screens were.

One of.
Don't get me wrong, the DS is a cool little system all-around, I'm a big fan of backwards compatibility though.

My son is getting to the point where he asked me last night if he could have an MP3 player, and he's been bugging me for a DS or PSP. Plus, he loves to take pictures (we gave him our old digital camera when we bought a new one). So for me, this is exactly what my son wants wrapped up into one neat package. I'll be looking hard at picking one up.

Who are we kidding? People will buy this.

The PSP is a great MP3 player that you can also view photos and store any other file on. I would trust it more than the DS for such things.

Why are you guys complaining about this? It's not rendering your DS's useless.

Dude, its a message board filled with OCD nerds. If people didn't complain, we'd only see about 1/3rd of the posts that normally go up on a given day.

Yeah. The DS was announced when everyone and their brother owned a GBA in a market that seemed to only support one handheld at a time. A year later they refreshed the model. Both of these seemed like terrible ideas.

Bottom line is I've stopped second-guessing Nintendo's business decisions for a while.

Plus this comes out in November in Japan. People will simply start buying this at ridiculous numbers and the old DS won't be produced anymore.

well if the old DS drops in price, I'm all for it.

Probably the best system on the market and more games than you can play in a year's time.

I know I'm looking forward to the 8 Nintendo will ship to the U.S. by 2011.

"Third platform" suggests that DSi games won't be compatible with the original DS systems. Otherwise what's the incentive to upgrade? Expect lots of annoying puzzles and boss fights in the next Mario/Zelda games that revolve around taking pictures of random household shit.

And since Nintendo is notorious for abandoning their existing consoles every time they release a new system, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for any new franchise titles for the original DS.

That's not a huge loss to the gaming world--when was the last time Nintendo released a worthwhile DS game? Last November, maybe?--but still annoying from a consumer standpoint.

My understanding is that this is along the lines of the DS-to-DS Lite kind of upgrade, so I wouldn't expect to see games make use of the camera outside of a bonus feature setting (map your cat as a boss into Zelda). Also, the DS is still selling like gangbusters, so don't expect to see it abandoned before 2010.

And just like no place sells the DS fatty anymore, the lite will be gone after the DSi is released.

I just think a DS successor that can't compete with the iPhone is gonna do well. Do storage, do Wi-like controls, do 480 res, do analog stick, do metallic case, do everything to drop the stylus. Nintendo is flush with cash right now, and there is a distinct lack of blowing people away with new product.

I'm up for a wiimote with a screen. Maybe have all the games downloadable from the internet or some type of app store. Thumb Drives are getting cheap, so maybe distribution can be done via that. If it has USB connectivity of some sort, it wouldn't need a camera.

Add in the ability to play the downloads from the Wii and I'm sold.

No shit, but that doesn't mean that the lite will be obsolete like Slater was suggesting.

I was thinking the same thing. This is terrible news all around. Unless it means a price drop of some sort for the DS lite. I wouldn't mind upgrading the old DS if the price was right. Of course, I think Slater is right that the DS will eventually be left in the dust for this thing.

It's the downloadable DS Ware (and onboard web browser, and I'd bet money on some sort of internal PhotoChat app) games that make it the third platform (and provide upgrade incentive), they're not going to have DSi specific retail games.

BUMP

Wow, I'm glad I tried to find it, but I'm also surprised I was able to do so. Anyway, I was hoping to bring this thread back, because the DSi comes out in less than 2 weeks at this point. Is anybody around here considering picking one up?

I'm starting to think about it, mostly because of the allure of the bigger screens. That is the biggest selling point for me. I've been playing with my DS more than usual lately, having recently played (and beaten) Blue Dragon Plus. I also picked up Suikoden Tierkreis and I'm planning on sticking with that one for a while now too. It is very, very good for anybody on an RPG kick, lke me.

Besides, my DS Lite's battery isn't as good as it used to be. I've got one of the original white ones from when the first 'upgrade' came out, and I've always liked the build on it better than the more recent models, even though the core machine is the same... But I think I'm just using my battery issue as ANOTHER excuse to look into the DSi.

ETA: I don't know if there's enough demand for one, but I wish there was a DS or PSP, or portable gaming in general, kind of semi-official thread. I wanted to ramble on about Blue Dragon Plus a bit, and Suikoden now too (always been a fan of the Suikoden games), but I know for sure threads specifically for those games would get swallowed up and disappear pretty quick.

not picking one up, same guts just with a few more peripherals

Is this new Suikoden a standard Suikoden RPG? I thought that it was going to be a strategy game but I might be mistaken. My favorite thing about the series is the hunt to recruit more team members!

I pre-ordered mine, black, because my girl has a pink DSLite which I refuse to use when waiting somewhere in public.

whoops! double post

Different guts, twice the processing speed and twice the RAM. It's the Wii to the DS Lite's Gamecube. They're barely mentioning that now because, well, that's Nintendo for you, but there will surely be DSi-only games by next year. It's a stealth successor.

They announced both DSi only and DSi enhanced cartridges yesterday.

The new Suikoden is definitely a standard RPG, and not a strategy game and I've been REALLY enjoying it so far. It's a bit different in tone than some of the past games in the series in that it isn't nearly as serious, but it is still a very well designed, and well made game. The 108 characters are still a factor and you still get a base at some point, but there aren't any large scale batteles like in some of the previous games.

Here's IGN's review: LINK

The game is definitely worth a look.

See, I wasn't even really aware of this since getting a new DS wasn't really much of a consideration for me until recently... but this certainly doesn't help cool the temptation. And "DSi only" games doesn't help either...

I'll consider getting one if there's a few more games I just need to have. My niece would love to get my DS hand me down.

By the way, anyone with a Wii (and a DS) should download the Rhythm Heaven demo. That's going to be crack on a stick.