The NEW Nintendo DS

DSi Sound

The other bundled app is a sound-editing package that allows you to adjust the pitch and speed of recordings using the stylus. The practical purpose of this is so you can speed up podcasts or slow down passages to help you learn a musical instrument or speak a foreign language.

The fun part comes from recording things via the microphone and applying effects to your voice. You can filter the sound through an echo box, add chorus and delay, and even turn the DSi into the world’s smallest karaoke machine. It will play music stored in AAC format – that’s the default one used on iPods. There’s no word on other formats but we’d be surprised if it doesn’t support MP3 as well, as having to re-encode an entire music library might be a deal-breaker for some users.

Region lock

Watch out if you’re importing – a Japanese DSi won’t play future US or European releases. The majority of DSi-exclusive software is likely to be downloaded, and just like the Wii’s Shopping Channel, you’ll only be able to access your own region’s list of titles. Somebody will probably figure out how to get the DSi to access another region’s shop via proxy servers and other such online techno gubbins, but until that happens, it’s locked down. Your existing DS carts from any region will work on any DSi, and we’ll wager that DSi-exclusive carts, if they ever appear, are likely to work fine as long as they don’t include online elements.

The big question: Is it worth it?

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata announced the DSi not as a simple upgrade for owners of DS Lites and Phats but as a way to make the DS a more personal machine. In Japan the DS is seen as having reached something close to saturation point in terms of sales – there’s nearly one DS per household.
What Iwata wants now is to give families a reason to stop sharing a single DS. At first glance the DSi doesn’t seem much different from previous versions of the console, but the ability to store, customise and swap personal pictures and music makes it a console that people may be less inclined to want to share.

As such, it’s a very nice idea. While hardcore gamers will always hanker after a bit of extra hardware power, the success of Wii and DS has proved that what’s inside the box is of less importance now than ever before. The camera function is brilliant, and judging by how much fun we had with the Game Boy Camera, it’s probably the most compelling reason to upgrade to the DSi. At ¥18,900 ($165/£106) it’s more expensive than the ¥16,800 ($147/£94) DS Lite, and we expect the Lite will eventually be phased out, just as the original DS was.

With more than 80 million older DS units already sold, software written specifically for DSi will be thin on the ground, particularly from third parties. Until DSi really takes off, you should consider whether the camera, music and personalization functions alone are worth the cash before you upgrade.

Nov 12, 2008