Wish granted! New DS revealed by Iwata

By Pete Betcher by Oct 2nd, '08 at 12:01am CST

Looks like the rumors were spot on at this point. Fresh out of Nintendo’s briefing in Japan, Iwata has lifted the sheet off of the newest Nintendo hardware. Dubbed the DSi, the new unit drops the GBA slot, gets 12 percent thinner, adds larger screens, and two cameras (one of which is VGA resolution). Click over for all the juicy details.

[Update: The DSi will only use the bottom screen as a touch screen. Some sites were reporting dual touchable goodness, but it looks like it was just wishful thinking.]

The audio settings will be very personalized this time around too, with adjustable pitch and playback. Making the unit ideal for language programs and music listening. Also as speculated, the DSi will include a built in SD card slot. This way pictures taken with it can be transferred to check out on your computer or Wii. A built in web browser adds extra functionality as well.

One of the coolest features is the ability to store applications on the internal memory. A shop for DSi Ware (similar to WiiWare) will provide apps ranging from free to 800 points. Best of all, for the Japanese at least, is that it will be available on November 1st in black or white for about $180. For the rest of the world? Sorry, 2009…

As for launch games? Of course all the current DS software will work (I assume) but also Kirby, Rockman, World Food, Phantasy Star Zero, Valk Profile DS, and Momotaro Dentetsu were mentioned by Nintendo for the system.

Kotaku

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Categories: Nintendo DS
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About the Author: Pete Betcher

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  • theearthboundkid

    It’s Iwata, geez. C’mon!!

  • Pete

    wow. not sure how that happened. freudian slip of the keyboard perhaps? i do love miyamoto… thanks for the heads up!

  • guppy06

    How about wireless security? Did they finally get around to implementing WPA this time around?

  • chrismith

    So is this a new system, or the just next iteration of the DS? Will games for the DSi be compatible with older DS and DS Lites? Seems like that would be difficult, since games wouldn’t be able to use the camera or second touchscreen for anything important.

  • Pete

    yeah details are still pretty vague, but there is an american conference today that should help clear things up. as to whether it’s a new system or not, i think the internal workings are the same, but screen size and the new features would make games incompatible

  • bischoff36

    if it is all the same on the inside and the screens are just bigger, wouldn’t it be possible to just shrink the original games down and not use the whole screen? it would be like what they did with GBA games on the current DS, as they don’t use the whole screen…

  • drktrpr1

    Yeah, it’s like the difference between a GBA and a GBA SP, at least on the software side of things.

  • http://www.thetanooki.com Christian

    For those wondering, the price of a DS Lite in Japan is ¥16,800. That’s about US$30 more than the $129.99 price in the United States.

    The ¥18,900 price for the DSi probably won’t translate anywhere near $180 when it finally makes its way overseas, so don’t jump to conclusions and think you’ll have to pay more than you really will just yet.

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