Nintendo dominates handheld gaming, hands down. The company recently said it has sold more than 100 million of the original Nintendo DS and its follow-on DS Lite since the line was introduced almost five years ago. There’s little evidence momentum is slowing.
If the DS line is doing so well, I was left wondering why Nintendo should introduce a new version, the Nintendo DSi? After a few weeks of hands-on time with the device, which went on sale Apr. 5 in the U.S., I can see exactly why. Once again, Nintendo has redefined handheld gaming by delivering a device that’s good for hours of mostly mindless fun.
Nintendo loads the $170 DSi with technology — in this case, a camera and photo-editing software — that make for hours of fun even before a user begins playing a professionally created game. Boasting such features as a Web browser and the ability to download games and other applications wirelessly from a new DSi Shop, the handheld has a better shot at fending off competition from Apple, which is moving to catch a bigger chunk of the handheld gaming market with its iPod Touch and iPhone devices, and Sony, maker of the PlayStation Portable.
Four Times the Memory
The new DSi delivers subtle but significant improvements over its predecessor. Its dual screens are 8 percent larger and noticeably brighter. Company engineers also doubled the DSi’s processing power to 133Hz and quadrupled memory capacity [via SD card] to 16MB. There is 256MB of onboard memory to store applications.
The new processing brawn will help game developers create titles that might appeal to a broader user base. But it also comes at a price. The DSi holds a charge for nine to 14 hours, depending on screen brightness and usage of such power-hungry features as the cameras, down from 19…