Hands-on with the Nintendo DSi

Is the Nintendo DSi worth your money?

(Credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo DSi arrived at my house last week. After playing a variety of games on the handheld, here are my thoughts:

Hands-on

Gaming
Based on the games I played--a dozen DS titles--I don't see any difference between it and the previous DS Lite. The games and the experience are the same. The DSi's screens are larger and the sound is better, slightly improving the gameplay experience, but other than that, I'm hard-pressed to see much difference.

DS games on the DSi shouldn't be much different, but Nintendo says compelling DSi-specific software is on the way. The company claims those titles will fully capture the functionality of the new handheld. I haven't played any of those titles, so I can't make a judgment on whether they will. Right now, the DSi, from a gaming perspective, is a new, hobbled, more expensive, DS Lite.

Cameras
The DSi sports two low-resolution (0.3-megapixel) cameras. The quality was just fine for a handheld device that's designed for gaming.

But you can also have fun outside of games. Once you snap a picture, you're brought to an editing screen where you can change the color of the image and otherwise modify its look. The DSi doesn't give you Photoshop-quality editing, but it's good enough for a mobile device of this type. I was able to make the pictures look much better with the help of some simple editing tools, like the color utility, which converts the entire picture to black-and-white and lets you add color to certain areas in the image. It's a great way to add some flair to a picture.

The DSi gives you the option to create distorted pictures. Whether you want to "swirl" the picture, create a mirror image, or produce a kaleidoscope, you can do it in just a few seconds. You can even choose where to "swirl" your image by running the stylus over the picture at the desired point. It's a lot of fun.

DSi Sound
The DSi's new feature, DSi Sound, which allows you to play AAC audio tracks on the device, is not all that great. While the sound quality is outstanding and it was nice to be able to play some music, the software doesn't support MP3 files, which is a big disappointment. And the DSi's voice-recording function only grabs 10-second clips, which certainly isn't enough for those who want to keep audio notes. DSi Sound is a nice idea, but it's not implemented well.

DSi Shop
I was not impressed with what the DSi Shop offered. Similar to the Wii Virtual Console, the DSi Shop allows you to buy games in the online DSiWare store. Those games (and other utilities like a Web browser) are available for a certain number of Nintendo Points, depending on the quality of the title.

Right now, the store has just a handful of games available. Most of the games are casual titles that you might never want to play. It does have Brain Age Express: Math available, though.

While it was disappointing to see just a few DSiWare titles, the service has promise. If Nintendo can add great handheld classics to the store, like any of the Zelda titles and most of the Mario games, the store will be a winner. But until then, it's useless.

Design
The DS Lite looks better than the DSi. Period. But that doesn't mean the DSi is ugly or that it's not well-built. Quite the contrary, I was impressed with the DSi's design.

Though the DSi isn't winning the beauty contest, it makes up for it in size. Its screens are larger, but the device itself is thinner. It's easier to slip into a pocket.

The DSi also has more refined interface elements. The outside camera is where it should be, at the top right of the top panel, and the L and R buttons are placed at the top of the bottom panel. You still have easy access to the stylus to the right of the bottom panel. The power button moved from the side (where it was on the DS Lite) to the inside of the device--much more convenient. The volume control is now two buttons, not the slider that the DS Lite had.

One thing that's conspicuously missing from the DSi, though, is the Game Boy Advance slot you'll find at the bottom of the DS Lite. It was a controversial decision for Nintendo to remove that slot, but the company claims the DSi is a complement to the DS Lite, not a replacement, so it felt no need to have the DSi support GBA titles. I'm not so quick to agree. The DS (or DSi for that matter) is designed to tag along with you on trips. Since I have a variety of GBA titles, I'll need to bring both to play my games. That stinks.

Should you buy it?

In the end, the only thing that really matters is whether you should buy a DSi. Normally, I could give you a simple "yes" or "no." But in this case, I can't.

The DSi is a great handheld gaming device. But if you don't care about Web access, you don't want to listen to AAC files, and the two-camera system has no appeal, you don't need it.

If you're happy with your DS Lite, I don't see any reason to buy a DSi. It's expensive ($169.99) by comparison and most of the compelling features it will offer--DSiWare and DSi-specific software--have yet to prove their worth. And if you still have a large stockpile of GBA games, don't even consider buying a DSi since it doesn't have a GBA slot.

But if you don't care about GBA games and you want to get back into the handheld gaming space with a Nintendo device, the DSi is the way to go. It will still let you play DS games, and its extras, like the two cameras and DSi Shop, give it compelling potential. Now, I just hope Nintendo can deliver on it.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter stream, and FriendFeed.

[dmhallman]

"One thing that's conspicuously missing from the DSi, though, is the Game Boy Advance slot you'll find at the bottom of the DS Lite."

The missing slot makes the online store more viable. Why download games you have in a collection? Unless the collections is unavailable. Gameboy has been gone long enough that most people will be OK downloading their favs once they are available.

[OctoChops]

I still don't understand who this is for...... as a current DS owner, none of these "upgrades" are worth the price tag. And if it for new owners.... isn't it a tad late? the entire world already has a DS. I don't understand why they dont just delay this 1-2 years and then come out with the DS2

[kmach844]

The reason why Nintendo doesn't delay things for 2 years and come out with a fresh idea, with better graphics that can compete with the PSP, is because of "ONE" thing. That thing is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

It's the exact same reason why Apple puts out 6 different generations of iPods out on the market. They could easily put out a great product and have a life span of 5 or 6 years, but their in the money making business. I personally have a DS Lite and it works great. They have sold millions of these units already around the world and I really don't see many people spending the cash on a 0.3 MP camera and video recording capabilities. If Nintendo wants this revision of DS to do well, they have to put out a developers kit (SDK).

Also offering the option of downloading the majority of the titles that are available on the Wii virtual console to the DS. It would be cool if we could download games that are already on our Wii virtual console library and transfer them wireless from the Wii to our DS's, much like you can do with DS demos.

MP3 support is a must have, if they want people to take the DSi seriously as an mp3 playing alternative to the iPod/iPhone. Built in flash memory would be nice, after spending almost 200.00 bucks on this thing, to have to go out and buy an SD card would be a pain in the ass, as far as I'm concerned.

[ckh1272]

by kmach844 April 6, 2009 9:12 PM PDT
"It's the exact same reason why Apple puts out 6 different generations of iPods out on the market. They could easily put out a great product and have a life span of 5 or 6 years, but their in the money making business."

That was a not so subtle jab at a company that has nothing to do with this article, especially a false jab! Ah, the misinformed shall rule the blogs. How sad, how sad!

[ovality]

You don't mention the browsing experience? The device has more internal memory so this should be improved over the DS/DS Lite. Is this the case?
Also, no GBA slot means no room for rumble pak - is rumble built in?

[danedeasy]

How can you possibly say the DS is a better looking device? You offer no reasons for your decision to place the DSi in the position of the ugly duck.

Personally, I believe the DSi is much cleaner, refined and eye-catching than the DS. The larger screens and the updated volume and power buttons all point towards serious thinking on the part of Nintendo.

(Though perhaps I am just a fanboy, if it's any consolation, I really haven't touched my DS or Wii in months. I've been too addicted to Call of Duty: World at War and Fallout 3 on my Xbox 360 to pay much attention to Nintendo's products over the last 4 months.)

[JadedGamer]

I thought the "inside" camera was VGA (0.3 Mpx) but the external one was 3 Mpx?

I have a GB Micro for my GBA carts so I am considering trading in my Lite when/if there is an offer for that later on. There was a preorder deal here that I missed, but such deals often appear after launch as well, even if neither the local Games or GameStop stores want to do it yet.

[bobmarleypeople]

I use a GBA SP for my collection of Gameboy games. Considering even the original DS couldn't play old GB and GBC games, this wasn't much of a surprise. If they released a Virtual Console on the DSi for old GB, GBC and possibly even GBA games, then I'd get one without fail. I'm still keeping my old DS though as I need it for transferring Pokemans from GBA to DS.

[Last_of_the_Gray]

well... if they are serious about this camera-functionality then they secretly submitted a new generation hand-held system. Under this, they still held on to their theme of backwards compatability (gameboy color with working gameboy games; gameboy advance with working gameboy color games, DS with working GBA games). It seems they just want to standardize the small, clean game-port vs the relatively bulky gameboy port (which is still as wide as the original gameboy port). In the end if they stick to this game size, assuming downloaded games don't overtake the hard cartridge, the future hand-held generations will never have problems of losing ports

[rlurker]

The only reason I can see to buy a DSi is the network security. I understand that it can use WPA as well as WEP. I am reluctant to downgrade my router's securty to play games online. If the DSi can use the WPA-2 security, this is an asset. You should have put this in the article.

[tenelkin]

why is everyone upset because it cant play mp3 files.

dont you guys realize that there are about 50 programs that can convert audio files to different formats

[tek-ed]

Here is the real reason that Nintendo came out with the DSi.

The current DS has a well known flaw that has been exploited by the "home brew" crew of folks out there. For about $40 US, you can purchase a cartridge that fits into your Nintendo DS game slot that will allow you to play any DS game you want. There are literally thousands of DS games floating around the internet in (NDS) format. And with your home brew cartridge, all you need to do is download the file to your computer (torrent, hacker sites, whatever) pop out the MicroSD card from your homebrew cartridge and plug it into your computer and dump the NDS file on that, then put it back in your homebrew cart and now you can play any game! Mario? Sure...Brain games? Of course...Latest games like Speed Racer Wall-E and Lord of the Rings? yes, they are all out there at the price of a simple download...that is, it's free! And there is the rub...

The flaw is in the way the Nintendo manages certain image files. Exploiting this flaw, hackers have been able to circumvent the Nintendo DS operating system and insert their own OS in place of it...thereby allowing you to execute whatever application you want...
This flaw, I bet, is costing Nintendo plenty! But to fix it would cause existing games to fail unless they completly rewrite the OS...Hey! That's what they did in the DSi! Not only that, but they made the firmware flashable, so that *IF* a similar flaw shows up in the DSi, they can push out a firmware update that will *fix* the flaw, kinda like the apple iphone...So now, with the DSi, Nintendo is able to make EVEN MORE money by forcing *ALL* DSi users to actually pay for their games! (and of course, be prepared for Nintendo's unintentional "bricking" of your DSi with a bad update patch...it *will* happen)
Of course, the homebrew market does have it's legit uses...There are diagnostic programs to test that used DS you want to purchase...VoIP applications to turn your DS into a phone...tons of shareware games...and even several date-book/phone-book applications...and these are all freeware/shareware. Plus, there are compilers and programming help for those who want to get their feet wet programming for the DS homebrew.
So, yes, like the first poster above, it *IS* all about money, but not like you think....it's to recoup the money they are losing to the home-brew users who are copying games and distributing them in the underground...that's the real issue.
Disclaimer: I do not have a homebrew cartridge, nor do I have any of the NDS files I mentioned in this posting...I'm a technologist, and my interests include anything technology related.
Ed

[galilego]

I am a fairly hard core techie. I do not believe there is anything illegal about HomeBrew itself. Home Brewers are making their OWN games and applications for this device. Not all Home Brewers pirate games. I buy my games. I have all of the cases to prove it! Home Brew has made the DS live up to what it is WAY more capable of doing than Nintendo will let on. THe DS is an EXTREMELY useful device other than for gaming. DS Reader is free and project gutenburg is where free books come from. You can READ FREE LEGAL books on your DS! Nintendo just doesn't provide everything I want for it's system BUT Home Brew does all that and makes it great. I use the reader more than anything on my ds, and YES I do own a HB flashcart! BUY YOUR GAMES! MAKE YOUR DS LIVE UP TO IT'S FULL POTENTIAL! Support HB! kj