Before G4's Dan Hsu spoke to Reggie Fils-Aime about the DSi, the closest estimate we had for a North American release date was "well into 2009." Reggie has narrowed the window a bit, saying that because of strong DS Lite sales (Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G hasn't happened here to distract people from the DS), the DSi launch is "going to be in our next fiscal -- so, certainly after April."
He then went on to downplay the immediate importance of DS Shop downloads in North America, in a way that we can't help but read as stating the obvious given that we won't be able to buy anything to play DSWare until "down the road:
"We believe that as we continue to drive sales for DS hardware in total, the biggest opportunity's going to be on packaged software. Down the road, with the DSi Shop and downloadable software, certainly will be a growing opportunity and something developers are excited about, but it really is much longer down the road."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-03-2008 @ 2:12PM
dwonder3 said...
DAMN NINTENDO! I want my DSi for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply
10-04-2008 @ 5:45PM
chao1212 said...
i hate nintendo right now
10-03-2008 @ 2:25PM
Mike said...
The longer the keep it away from the US the more we will just play games on the iPhone.
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10-03-2008 @ 5:03PM
FantomRedux said...
Thats just ignorant. You do realise that the games will mostly be compatible with the old DS right? And besides, the DS and the iPhone aren't even in the same market. Wow, the iPhone CAN play games, but it's DESIGNED as a business phone.
The graphical power is only there so that stuff like PDF and office files load really fast, not to put out state of the art 3D graphics. That, and theres the price difference. I don't know about the US (Assuming that's were you're from, sorry if I'm wrong) but the iPhone is £350GBP on Pay-as-you-go in the UK. That without any games. The DSlite however is only ~£100. And it usually comes with a free game.
Not to mentaion the fact the DS already has one of the highest penetration rates of any consumer electronic thats currently out, as Reggie stated, and it's not slowing down.
Anyway, I'm all done now. ^_^
Might import one for Crimbo though. Doesn't seem like the price is gonna be much higher than the DSL is at the minute, if Play Asia is anything to go off.
10-03-2008 @ 7:29PM
iofthestorm said...
I agree mostly, but the iPhone is definitely a multimedia/consumer phone, and not a business phone.
10-03-2008 @ 8:30PM
Pistolero said...
Yes, I can really imagine myself booting up Final Fantasy VI for iPhone or indulging in the next Mario/Zelda title, for iPhone to find my game quit upon launching or better yet, distorting the sound of the game.
10-03-2008 @ 8:47PM
Pistolero said...
*Final Fantasy IV
10-03-2008 @ 2:49PM
Josh said...
This makes it seem like DS Ware isn't really going to be as big or important as WiiWare.
And "certainly after April"...Hm, sounds like fall to me.
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10-03-2008 @ 2:52PM
Niz said...
I think the DSi is pants most people have phones that do all of what the DSi is offering new. BUT its great because it will drive down the price of the lite which i think is a much better system, cheers nintendo!
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10-03-2008 @ 5:04PM
FantomRedux said...
*sigh* Did you even watch the video? Yeah, people have phones which have a better camera, and better audio player, but the DSi's features are there to improve the entertainment factor in the software. Not to take top quality photos.
10-03-2008 @ 8:00PM
Niz said...
The camera etc features can only be used by games that are sold on the DSi on-line thing or risk alienating DS and lite owners, already alienated DSi users from buying guitar hero!!. The new features are a gimmick on the DSi. They are not bad ideas at all don't get me wrong, but these are things that should be in DS2 not DSi. So when the system starts a new everyone has the features! The move from DS to lite works as it was really only cosmetic. This is a system and a quarter. The only changes i can accept are screen size, cosmetic and DS lite should have had WPA/WPA2 etc security and all 802.11b/g/n.
So from my thought as a gimmick people will just use it to take pictures, listen to music but their phones do a better job already!
10-03-2008 @ 3:36PM
Teddy said...
I think Reggie knows that the DSi is just a prelude to the next-gen Nintendo portable console. In other words, it might convince some current Phat owners and even some current Lite owners to upgrade, but he knows most of us will wait for the next hardware announcement. The Japanese are a different story.
The future is definitely in downloading games to the internal flash drive/SDHC card in your portable system. The convenience factor is just too overwhelming to ignore. The problem is it's too late for the current generation to really take advantage of it since most of us already own/played most of the best games that will ever come out on it. Had it been released two years ago...
Anyway, here's looking forward to the next gen Nintendo/Sony portable systems where you can download games, install them on the 16/32/64GB internal flash drive/SDHC/MS Pro card and be able to play dozens of games anytime you want on your system (as well as music & videos)...like what you can do on the iPhone/Touch now.
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10-05-2008 @ 8:12PM
Merci S. said...
i wonder if hc sd cards will work cause i know that some comps or mp3 players with sd slots don't
10-03-2008 @ 3:46PM
Gurbinder said...
omg seriously? psp 3k comes out soon and id rather let dsi and psp3k win over ****ing apple.
really want to see a combination to beat apple. Who does steve jobs think he is trying to declare itouch or iphone or iwhatever the best portable gaming device...
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10-03-2008 @ 8:36PM
Pistolero said...
Being a Mac user and iPhone owner, I can't help but agree with you there. Steve Jobs was a fool to state what he did regarding the iPhone/iPod touch at the press event a few weeks ago. Gaming + Apple = Null. Hence why I have XP installed on a partition on my Mac.
10-03-2008 @ 4:12PM
Dog said...
I wish nintendo would add some processing power and better screen resolution to the DSi. Because to be completely honest DS graphic is way out of date already. It is useless to have the capability to store photograph and pics if your graphics and screen resolution sucks.
I don't really care about camera but I don't mind they choose to eliminate the GBA slot.
Looking at the design of DSi, I don't like the way the hinges stick out like that (at the back, when folded).
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10-03-2008 @ 5:15PM
FantomRedux said...
*sigh* Why don't people understand the whole "Nintendo portable Redisgn" concept? Sure, they could upgrade the hardware so that developers have more to play with, but then, what about the DS Lite/Phat owners? What will they play? Reggie even said in the video that NOA want the penetration of the DS in the Americas to be 100% or as close as possible. Now, how would they manage that if everyone who mought a lite or phat had to go out and buy the DSi just so they can still play games? It's not a NEW console, just an update to the hardware, like the PSP3k, iPhone 3G, or the 360 Elite. And as far as the new features like the camera and music player goes, yeah they MIGHT be seemingly useless things that have been tacked on, but that was what everyone thought about the touch screen and the Wii's Waggle stick. But would you look at that. How much does everyone enjoy the touch screen? Would LoZ:PH been half as good if it didn't have the touch screen controls? Maybe, but they made it unique among a series of game with practically nothing new since OoT. Yeah, each game had it's gimmick, like time travel, or riding a boat, but the boat was just WW's version of Epona. Hell, PH's control scheme is its gimmick.
Just stop nay-saying about it, unless it DOES turn out to be a big waste of time. Most of the software which uses the new features will be downloadable anyway, why do you think we won't see any DSWare for a while after launch? Because it's still being made.
/end rant
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10-03-2008 @ 5:16PM
FantomRedux said...
Oops. Didn't realise it was such a big wall of text. Sorry bout that ^_^;
10-03-2008 @ 6:59PM
ViRGE said...
The problem is that the 360 Elite and iPhone 3G weren't introduced 4 years in to the lifespan of the platform. The DS is old, it has already outlived the GBA and this upgrade means that it's going to live on as Nintendo's current-gen handheld for at least another 2 years.
As it is, it was born underpowered since it was an experiment and not intended to be the true successor to the GBA; it basically wasn't done right the first time since Nintendo wasn't sure it would succeed. If they would have known that it would become the next GBA, it would have come a bit later and been on par with the N64, instead of being weaker than anything save perhaps the Sega Saturn.
So what we have right now is a platform that was taken on as a risk and wasn't necessarily designed as well as it could have. Except it's been a runaway success, and Nintendo doesn't want to replace it so soon. But at the same time it's woefully underpowered going in to 2010, enough so that it's limiting developers' options on the kinds of games they can make due to the very limited 3D abilities.
It's not so much that we're dissatisfied with the new features, but we are dissatisfied that the already antiquated basic platform is going unchanged. Gimmicks won't make up for the fact that it's 2008 and people here are looking for new styles of games that the DS doesn't have the horsepower to pull off.
10-04-2008 @ 10:27AM
chibi_wings said...
graphics don't make a good game. 2D games can be just as creative and fun as any 3D game *cough*worldendswithyou*cough*
the reason the DS is so successful is because it isn't about graphics but gameplay. Sure it would be nice if it were a little more powerful, but all-in-all, the fact that it's not up to *your* standards doesn't mean it's old and needs to be replaced. I feel like gamers today (you younger ones at least), always want these fantastic graphics and eye candy and forget what really makes a great system and great game. So I really don't agree, I think the DS is a lot more modern then you give it credit for and isn't yet to be considered an antique.