Nintendo’s DSi: You’ll Want One, Eventually

The increased surface and reduced thickness are barely noticeable to the eye, but have made an impressive difference to how easy it is to hold and use the DSi. Those with large hands will particularly appreciate the change. The bigger screens are also nice, and look good in all but the glariest conditions.

Many are knocking the matt plastic now used instead of the DS Lite’s glossy finish. While it is true that the matt finish picks up stains and scratches more easily, it also makes your fingers pick up the DSi more easily. More importantly, you are also less likely drop it. I will take scratches over a drop any day. Also, glossy plastic is everywhere.

 Available in black and some kind of turquoise robin’s egg blue option, the blue option has also taken some flack. We’re getting into questions of taste, but, when combined with the matt finish, I find the blue has a kind of retro thing going for it. It’s a game system, not a suit for a funeral: give the black a rest.

The game cartridge slot, power adaptor input, attachment point for a wrist strap, and L and R buttons can be seen in the picture of the rear of the unit. An SD slot is on the right side, with a dust cover. You will want to keep a cartridge in the game slot, as there is no protection for it when empty

The camera and sound features are fun, but you really can’t expect a good gaming system to also be a good music player and camera for under 200 bucks. Most new phones have better camera and music quality than the DSi. That’s really not the point though.

As additions to the game system, they are solid entertainment. Your cell phone doesn’t let you distort your friends face and add captions, and it won’t let you make your music sound like a parakeet is signing it. For young and old users, it is a fun and cheap introduction to digital photography. You will be buying them a nicer camera soon if they get into it at all though.

 WarioWare: Snapped is the only game that incorporates the camera, enabling you to catch hats by darting your head underneath them or swat at falling coins. It’s not very deep, and the requirement to put the DSi down on a table and step back from it certainly calls the notion of mobility into doubt. Hopefully, we will see more games that can take advantage of the cameras. Let me steer a motor cycle by tilting my head, while I shoot at enemies with the stylus.

The internet browser speed can still be measured in ounces of molasses per hour, and you will run out of memory trying to load larger web pages, leaving blank sections behind. (Note that the blue ring in the pictures is a trick of the camera and light, not a problem with the screen.) It’s a nice touch if you need to look up a phone number at a hotspot but don’t have or want to fire up your laptop. And you don’t have another MID with you. The most interesting facet of the wireless connectivity, though, is that the DSi can download DSiWare, which we discuss on the next page.