NINTENDO DSI

NINTENDO DSI


Ninty overlord, Saoru Iwata, took the wraps off the new DS model, the DSi, which continues the handeld's incredibly boring naming conventions. The lowercase 'i' could be an acknowledgement of the fact that nothing without that one important letter somewhere in the title has any hope of being recognised as a desirable technology product. Or it could be something clever to do with the two cameras that the new handheld is equipped with. These cameras, located on the inside hinge and on the outer edge of the upper screen, are only equipped with a weak 640 x 480 pixel sensor. TThe DSi gets a major upgrade to its predecessor's multimedia abilities. While each was capable of playing music and browsing the internet, it was only through third-party tools; Nintendo wanted them to be for gaming only, which set it aside from the multifunctional PSP.The DSi includes an integrated photo viewer, MP3 player and web browser; a major step in the multimedia direction that will challenge new mobile devices.The screen width has been increased by a quarter of an inch, to 3.25". Unfortunately that comes at a cost. The battery life has taken a bit of a battering; on its brightest setting you can only expect 3 hours of gameplay, compared to the 5 hours of the DS Lite. At more restrained settings you can milk as much as 14 hours out of the DSi - easily enough to keep you busy on a trip across the Atlantic.