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| Staff Roundtable - Nintendo DSi |
| Monday 13 October 2008 |
 Right then, here it is. Our brand new feature will be a staff roundtable, this will have a set topic for discussion. Something that has come up recently that we would all like to express our opinions on. There wont be a set date for this feature, it will just come out when something interesting as happened in the industry, there has been a big announcement or when there is just something we feel like chatting about.
Nintendo DSi
 ReZourceman - Most of us have a phone. A lot of us have an MP3 player. Most phones have MP3 players and cameras built in. Does this make the DSi a useless hardware rehash? In my opinion it kind of does. To me personally it simply isn't appealing. Im gaining camera, memory slot, smaller design and other basic technological functionality, and Im losing the ability to play GBA games. For me this isn't a worthy trade off. As Ive said, I can get and have access to these other functions, in more specified devices. Devices that have been around for a while and adapted with demand and changing times....although we havn't seen quite how the functions are incorporated its likely that the ease of use for these features will pale in comparison to the tailored machines.
That said....its a tempting proposition. The addition of music, media and camera useage on a DS is certainly not a bad thing, it just may not be necessary or hugely useful considering their fairly accesible on other gadgets. Perhaps the best thing about the DSi is the potential for more new and innovative games (either exclusive to the system) or for both DSi and DS'. It could add a level customability to games - having your own head on a Mario Kart driver for example, or for DSi exclusive games (maybe as the announced Wario Ware DSi?) the camera could be an intergral part of the gameplay, like Sonys Eye Toy.
 not_so_tiny - Since I didn't upgrade to a DS Lite the prospect of the DSi is very exciting for me, but whether I buy one or not is going to boil down to the DSi software and how they use the SD slot. They have already announced a Warioware game which I am very interested in, but would like to know how it will differ to the other versions. DSiWare is also a very exciting prospect in the same way WiiWare is, but not much is known about the games we will be getting and if Nintendo offer a Virtual Console of old portable games then the DSi is a must by for me.
So far the DSi looks promising but so little is known about it I really can't decide whether I will get one, I think its a good idea in theory, let's just hope Nintendo can do something amazing with the system.
Happenstance - I still have my original Nintendo DS which I imported from Canada as soon as I got the chance and I still play on it a lot to this day. It is probably time I upgraded soon though, especially since my sister got a DS Lite and I could see just how much better the screen was.
The launch of the Nintendo DSi would be a perfect opportunity for my upgrade and I am sure (money permitting) that I will be getting one. My reasons though are simply for wanting a newer model and not really about the fancy new features Nintendo have added.
The bigger screens will be nice but I cant say I have ever complained at my current DS' screen size. Better sound quality will also be a plus but once again its not something I noticed too much beforehand (that could be because I play a lot of my games muted though!). If the camera really is only 0.3 Megapixels then im not sure how well thats even going to work, I spoke to goaferboy about this the other night and found myself trying to defend Nintendo and saying they must know what they are doing......not so sure anymore.
The features I am interested in though are the SD Slot and in-built browser as this will open up the window for the planned DSiWare and if that is handled well, we could get some interesting games/apps through it.
As I said my purchase of the DSi will be mostly based on wanting an upgrade and not the pull of the new features themselves. I think to get people to buy one that already have the DS Lite, Nintendo will have to make more of an effort to show how they plan to use these new components than they have over the past few years.
 goaferboy - I already have an all singing all dancing digital camera and mp3 player, why would I want some inferior ones? My phone already has inferior versions built in and I can guarantee I take that more places than I would ever take a DSi. Sure it would give me the potential to watch movies on a slightly bigger screen than my iPod, but watching movies on busses makes me feel sick and watching them in other public places makes me a prime target for a happy slapping.
I imagine I'll get one eventually since I have a habit of collecting consoles once they hit bargain bin prices. But for now it doesn't really spark an interest, especially since handheld gaming doesn't really do it for me. Plus I have a "chunky" DS anyway that never gets used. Every time a person plays a handheld, their unused TV cries a little.Labels: Features, Staff Roundtable |
posted by Happenstance @ 19:09  |
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