DSi Review

Nintendo DSi Review

Now more of a handheld entertainment device than a pure gaming console, the newest Nintendo handheld feels slick and has great potential.

The latest DS transformation is less dramatic than the shift from DS to DS Lite back in 2006. Nonetheless you’ll find it hard going back to the old console after laying your hands on a DSi.

Rest assured if it’s only the games you really care about on your current DS then there’s no urgency to upgrade just yet. It would be silly to part with the asking price of £149.99 RRP only to enjoy a matt finish and slightly lighter / leaner case or even games on fractionally larger / brighter screens. However if you don’t already own a DS, the DSi is worth stretching for that additional £50.

Nintendo has been wise not to trumpet DSi as a fully-fledged successor. Truthfully speaking the modified dimensions and arrangement of buttons make very little difference to the DS experience. But clearly the addition of a camera and SD Memory Card slot necessitated extra internal space, and this has also led to the removal of back-compatibility with Game Boy Advance. We doubt this will be missed too much.

You get the impression with DSi that it is being launched at a more techno-literate audience from the very beginning. DS Lite targeted the flood of silver-haired Brain Trainees. DSi is going after the iPod Touch crowd. Whichever way you look at it, at launch, DSi is distancing itself further from younger kids. That said the new Camera and Sound applications are typically playful coming from Nintendo.

There are in fact two 0.3 megapixel cameras, one pointing toward you from the hinge, the other pointing out from the corner of the case. Switching between them is as easy as pressing a button and you can save around 400 photos onto internal memory. You’ll notice that there’s no flash, however, so brightly lit scenes only guys!

The DSi image manipulation software is mainly intended for you to have a giggle with portraits. Take a good photo of your face and you can distort, mirror, emote, morph, decorate or look to compare features with that of a friend. The software cleverly recognises facial features to add such things as love hearts for eyes, a piggy nose or cat ears without your needing to position them manually. We spent an unhealthy amount of time dragging the stylus around the touch screen to lengthen noses and fatten cheeks using distortion. It’s brilliant fun for a while anyway.

Similarly the Sound mode lets you record a file, which Nintendo has assumed is most likely to be your own voice or that of a friend, to which you can change the speed and pitch or apply a library of effects that include Budgie, Electric Fan and Low Harmony – the latter makes you sound like something from the Exorcist!

If you’re intending to use DSi as a portable music device, be advised that you’ll first of all need to purchase an SD Memory Card (up to 2GB) because the internal memory isn’t large enough. Also that you cannot play MP3 files, only AAC which is quite the spoiler in an otherwise promising package straight out of the box.

The remaining newbie options are DSi Shop, Internet Browser and Digital Notebook. The latter allows you to keep a scrap-book of images and sounds captured by time and date, so would provide a fun way to catalogue a family holiday. Unfortunately we were unable to test drive the DSi Shop for review purposes, but the intention here is something similar to the excellent Wii Shop and there is already talk of Game Boy era titles being offered alongside the latest Nintendo DSiWare software. Titles will cost from 200-800 Nintendo Points (i.e. the new currency of choice) and the forthcoming line-up (TBC) includes:

“WarioWare: Snapped!” maniacal mini-games with motion-sensing capabilities.

“Bird & Beans”, more mini-games involving an elastic tongue catching falling beans.

“Brain Age Express: Math”, a mathematics-oriented edition of the popular series

“Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face”, which is an amusing card-trick game.

“Art Style: AQUIA”, an underwater puzzle game featuring scuba divers.

This is the kind of thing worth holding out for if you’re currently happy with your small and glossy DS Lite and would rather hang onto your £149.99 for the time being. But as added incentive Nintendo is offering 1000 Nintendo Points for free to anyone who accesses DSi Shop before 5 October.

Of course the lure of a matt finish black or white DSi with dual 3.25 inch screens and those clever little cameras could prove hard to resist for gadget freaks regardless. And if you’re in gift-giving mode this Easter we think DSi will be highly prized also.

5 out of 5