Nintendo DSi – too much for too little?

By Jack Fitchner | Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Nintendo DSiI am going to go out on a limb and predict that the DSi is going to be a flop.  Before you fire me off a hate mail, let me explain.  Ok, first let me preface.  I love Nintendo. I have a Wii and 3 DS’s.  We played so much Bond and MarioKart in college on my N64, that we wore through about 10 controllers.  I was excited when I first heard about the DSi, but now that I am reading about it and see the final specs, I am going to take a pass.

I will outline 3 changes Nintendo should have made that would make the DS worthwhile.

1. Better Cameras.  – The DS comes with two integrated .3 Megapixel cameras.  If they had made those cameras 2 Megapixel or better, then I think it would tempt a lot more people.  It’s a lot easier to justify spending almost $200 for a gameboy, if it is also a respectable digital camera.  Video capability would be great too, but let’s not go crazy.

2. Cloud Game Hosting – I used to hate the idea of software companies hosting apps, but it really makes everything a lot simpler.  Here is what I am envisioning as the ideal scenario.  You buy a game from Nintendo and they associate it with your account.  You activate your DSi with your account and it downloads your games.  You want to sell or give away your DSi and you deactivate it, but you still keep your games.  Similar to the Apple Application model, but the games are hosted by Nintendo and there is no computer involved in syncing.

3. A good browser with Flash Player (and Silverlight?).  Everything I am reading about the browser points to slow page rendering and no support for plugins.  I really don’t expect the DSi to try to compete with the iphone or ipod touch as a video player, but it would be nice to have the capability to use in a pinch.

I might be way off base with my prediction and I’m not gonna lie:  I had no idea the Wii was going to be a big hit.   So, go ahead and fire off that hate mail now. Jon_is_a_moron@GizHQ.com.

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  • Tyler
    I think that this will be good there's always time to improve there product.....
  • ralph
  • ralph
    no flames here man, i'm not a fan boy, because i tend to buy all consoles and portables..they're all pretty good imo, and i'm an impulsive consumer.

    i welcome your opinion, and understand why you're not rushing out to the store just yet. that being said, your prediction was about as asinine as me trying to say the next iPhone will be a flop. it won't happen. the dsi has its faults, but overall it is a vast improvement, and will by no means be anything less than a stellar success. nintendo is bulletproof right now, and for all the right reasons. my wii didn't last long in my house, but not because it wasn't a great piece of hardware. i'm looking forward to the hd successor.

    have you heard about the next mario installment exclusive to ds? its coming. third party publishers are also flocking to the device, which is going to really hurt the psp, subsequently making ds sales better and better.

    on that note, i stumbled upon this article relevantly pointing out DSi already destroyed DS in opening sales in japan and us. just have to make sure that the concrete sales numbers aren't neglected.
  • @Dizzle

    I'm sure that wasn't the intention - actually, I'm pretty positive that Jon wants to like the DSi. He already owns three or four regular DS's.
  • Dizzle
    This article seems like flame bait imo...
  • Jonathan Fishel
    Hey Ralph and Dizzle,
    Let me clear up a few points. Me listing my experience with Nintendo products was not to give me more credibility as a reviewer, but to ensure the reader that I do love Nintendo products and am not biased against them in any way.

    I did try to temper my article so it would not start too much flaming. Hey, truthfully, if a version of "New Super-Mario World" comes out that only will play on the DSi, you will find me at Target that same day with debit card in hand. But until then, I really don't think the DSi is a very compelling upgrade for me.

    Hope that clears some things up. Thanks,
    Jon
  • ralph
    sorry man, but your flat out wrong, as numbers are already proving. i totally agree about the cameras- even 1.3 MP would be infinitely better than .3, however for its purposes, the cameras do pretty well. lets not forget there are two of them.

    i have had at least one of every generation ds, and every generation psp. the browser on DSi is so much better than PSP's I find myself using it casually on my couch mere feet away from my internet ready laptop. the software takes mindblowing leaps, and the firmware is upgradeable.

    as far as "going out on a limb", i can't really respect the predictions of those who haven't had thorough experience with the device itself, no matter how much mario kart you played in college. sorry, you don't have the merit.
  • dsiguy
    the dsi is gonna come out with a figting game where yoou can take a pic and use it as the fighting chariicter.and you can record things with the dsi extra game package 199.99 $. a game
    comes with
    record video
    longer voice record
    sound editor better
    20 new games such as paper luigi and mar and son at the olymics 2
    and more
    so yeah.but the extra package is a game so you cant play a game at the same time.srry.its not THAT great ppl. issued 4 dec 09
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