Nintendo DSi's cameras: What are they for?
Nintendo DSi gets its name from the two cameras?
(Credit: Nintendo)A Nintendo of America representative told TechRadar earlier this week that Nintendo's latest entrant into the handheld gaming market, the DSi, has an 'i' attached to the end of its name because "the addition of two cameras gives the system its own "eye" on things." The representative also said it's symbolic of the personal "I."
Cryptic branding aside, are the two cameras really so compelling? I don't see it.
I realize that adding two cameras to the DSi means Nintendo can use that functionality to enhance games and prove that it too can expand the feature set of mobile devices, just like Sony has with the PSP, but I simply don't see how two cameras will somehow improve the experience of my DS.
Perhaps the most compelling use of the DSi's dual-camera setup won't come from Nintendo at all, but from homebrew or third-party apps. The DSi would make an interesting video-conferencing platform, for example.
But so far, Nintendo representatives have said that the two cameras will be used in some way during gameplay to enhance the user's experience. And when not using them for gaming, users will be able to take pictures with both cameras and edit them on the DSi.
That may sound compelling to some, but I'm just not excited for dual cameras. As a DS owner, how important can that dual camera design really be to my "experience?" Sure, there are other features added to the DSi that Nintendo hopes will coax some of us to switch, but considering the vast majority of Nintendo customers will own a DS or DS Lite after the DSi is released, how many developers will really want to tie their game to the DSi's two cameras? I'm guessing few, if any.
The DSi isn't a viable option to replace my current DS. It gets worse battery life, doesn't have a Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, and instead of being the next iteration of the DS, it's actually a complementary version that will be sold next to Nintendo's venerable handheld. Oh, and it's more expensive, too (around $180).
In essence, the DSi's major new update is its two cameras, and I'm not sure how Nintendo or third-party developers will use them. Suffice it to say that editing pictures that I take with my two cameras doesn't justify spending an additional $180 to have the latest Nintendo handheld.
Sorry, Nintendo, but for that "i", I'd need more than two cameras.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
I think you are forgetting the biggest addition to the DSi is the addition of the Online Store where you can buy and download games to your SD card. I think that is the future of games distribution so Nintendo just wants to have a foot in the door.
I definitely will NOT be getting one, but I do hope it will bring down the price of the Lites as I have an original DS I would like to upgrade.
The cameras are just the selling point to those who don't understand all of the gamer talk.
Second, very few games used the microphone capability on the old DS, but having it there didn't hurt sales any. Probably didn't even add a lot of size/weight, anyway. So why not throw it on there. Same with the cameras: they're small, so why not?
I'm much more excited by a product that tries something new than by one that comes out with a feature set 100% copied from another company's device. That's why the Wii is so popular. I think given Nintendo's recent history, we can give them the benefit of the doubt on this one?
If the two cameras are not pointed in the same direction, then I would find the entire upgrade pretty silly. What on earth would anyone need two cameras for? One for open case pictures and one for closed case pictures? Waste of space in that case.
Picture taking and displaying is a pretty big way that people customize their things: think of your house, desk, facebook page, etc. I don't think that this is a major selling point for the DSi but it's at least an important one to mention. However, i agree with others that have said that the cameras will probably be a bust if they don't find some way to incorporate them into gameplay in a way that improves the game, and not just as a novelty (the Japanese dsishop warioware title is an okay start).
As per always they seem to bring out another model at least a year later which everyone wishes they got in the fisrt plae, eg. gameboy then the colour, the sp then the advance sp and finally the ds then ds lite. So im more than sure there will be a better version to hold out for and with a 0.3 mp camera on this and their being phones with 8 mp now i don't see how they thought they could get away with this.lol.
- by Inconnux February 26, 2009 7:14 PM PST
- What you don't seem to understand is the target audience... kids... Every DS comes with a network chat program that (according to my daughter) is very popular on Bus trips. A camera would also be a great idea for a video conferencing over wireless internet.
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