Early in April, 2009, people all over the western hemisphere were lined up to get their hands on the Nintendo DSi, the latest version of the extremely popular and successful Nintendo DS. This portable game system seems very similar to its predecessor, the Nintendo DS Lite, but several features that are new in the DSi make it a huge step forward.
Probably the most well-known addition to the Nintendo DSi is the inclusion of not one, but two cameras. The first one is located on the inside of the system, facing the player, while the other one is on the outside. Two cameras may seem like overkill right now, but future games for the system are likely to include motion and facial recognition in their game play. Customized pictures can also be used as character profile pictures. As technology begins to be used to its fullest, the cameras could become as important to game play as the controller is now.
Pictures taken with the DSi can be stored using another of its new features: the hidden SD card slot. This can be used to play AAC audio, as well as to store applications that you download from the DSi Shop.
The DSi Shop is very similar to the Wii Shop Channel for the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo Points (formerly known as “Wii Points”) are used to purchase the applications and download them. As a bonus, any DSi unit that accesses the DSi Shop prior to March 2010 will receive 1,000 free Nintendo Points.
There have also been a few updates to the physical characteristics of the Nintendo DSi. It is slimmer than the DS Lite, and the speakers have been upgraded. The screens are a bit larger, and have five brightness settings instead of the four available on the DS Lite. A power button has replaced the old power switch, so that players can now change games or go return the main menu without powering down the whole system.
One thing that has been elimiated in the Nintendo DSi is the GameBoy Advance game slot. Therefore, the DSi is not backward compatible, and it cannot be used with accessories such as the Guitar Hero grip or the RumblePak. However, most people believe that the exclusion of this feature is far less important than the added benefits that are available with this game console.
i think the nintendo DSI is awesome