The Nintendo DSi has been available in Japan since October 1st, 2008. The system in that territory is a hardware upgrade to the Nintendo DS Lite, but it's also a companion to the previous generation: both systems coexist in Japan at two different pricepoints. The Nintendo DS Lite is the "classic" to the Nintendo DSi's "premium." That same mentality will be brought to North America when the Nintendo DSi launches in the US.
Early last week Nintendo of America showed up at the IGN offices with the final production version of the North American Nintendo DSi system. The system will launch in this territory on April 5th for $169.99, 40 dollars more than the current generation Nintendo DS Lite. Though all the photos that Nintendo has sent out are of the black model, the company will release the DSi in both black as well as blue on launch day.
The DSi tweaks the Nintendo DS Lite model, and adds a few new functions. Most notably are the built-in cameras, both inside the unit for taking pictures of yourself while playing, and outside for taking pictures of your friends and unsuspecting victims. When the external camera is enabled, the system has an LED that illuminates to indicate that you might be caught on "film." The system also has built-in writeable EEPROM space, much like the Nintendo Wii system. There are 256 megabytes of rewriteable memory inside the unit, used for pictures, music, and downloaded software. Along with the internal memory is the SD card slot where users can store additional photos as well as import images and music from a personal computer.
The camera is definitely one of the system's coolest features. It only offers 640x480 resolution in its pictures, but the options to tweak the pictures before and after they're taken is something that you really have to experience. You can stretch and squash your friend's picture using "Distortion," or adjust the colors using the "Color Pad." In "Mischief" you can have the built-in face tracker apply glasses, mustaches, or cat ears on your friends, or you can use "Emoter" to turn your friends angry or sad even when they're at their happiest. There's even a mode called "Resemblence" that will compare two faces and tell you just how similar they look.
Also built into the unit is a full-featured music player. Bring in any AAC-formatted music files and play them through the system speakers or headphones. While the file plays, you can adjust the speed and pitch of the audio, even reverse it using a very cool touch-screen interface. There's also an audio recorder where you can create your own samples using the Nintendo DSi system's microphone and perform the same effects. While the audio plays you can watch the system visualize the sounds in tons of ways, from the standard color bursts to an old school Super Mario Bros. option where the coins rise and fall depending on the intensity of the music.
The Nintendo DSi also has enhanced Wi-Fi capabilities. The system has six different profiles for Wi-Fi settings; the first three profiles are for Nintendo DS-compatible games, and just like on the Nintendo DS and DS Lite the system can handle hotspots without encryption as well as basic WEP protection. The second three profiles in the DSi Wi-Fi options menu are for Nintendo DSi-native software, including the DSi Shop Channel as well as the downloadable Opera Browser. These second-tier profiles can use enhanced encryption, including WPA and WPA2. It has to be noted that, to remain compatible with the Nintendo DS and DS Lite, existing online DS games can only use the first three profiles which cannot use the enhanced WPA protection.
There are smaller additions to the DSi system that might go unnoticed if you weren't looking for them. One such function is the ability to swap DS cards in and out of the system without powering down the unit; on an original Nintendo DS and DS Lite, the system would lock up if you popped a card out of the system without turning it off. Also, when you tap the power button on the system, the DSi will boot back to the main menu instead of turning off. It's a simple addition, but it makes switching games and menu navigation that much quicker. The Nintendo DSi utilizes a "channel" system much like the Nintendo Wii. Downloaded games are assigned a channel within the unit's menu system, and you navigate to the different channels with a very intuitive touch screen interface. You can rearrange the channels to prioritize their order in the navigation using the touch screen as well. And with the updateable firmware, Nintendo can continue to add and enhance abilities to the Nintendo DSi system as time goes on.
With the additions comes an omission: the Nintendo DSi system does not contain a Game Boy Advance slot. This means that A) GBA cartridges will not be playable on the Nintendo DSi, and B) Nintendo DS games that utilized the GBA slot for peripherals -- like Guitar Hero: On Tour and Tony Hawk's Motion -- won't work on the Nintendo DSi.
We've had the Japanese system for months, so Nintendo of America didn't have much in the way of new details for us. We did get a chance to peruse all the menus in English now, and it was great to see all the different camera modes labeled in their US forms. We did learn about one specific function in our hands-on with the US version: if you hold the Select button and tap the Volume control buttons on the side of the system, you'll raise and lower the brightness of the LCD screens. On the Nintendo DS Lite, you could only adjust the brightness from within the main system menu. With this new DSi brightness control, you can adjust it within a game, handy for when, say, your battery power's running low and you want to squeeze as much gaming out of the system before they run dry.
The Nintendo DSi will be released in the US on April 5th for 169.99 in two flavors: black and blue. Hit the image gallery for lots of shots of the black issue.