Has anyone bought the new Nintendo DSi?


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Looks like a warm welcome to the homebrew market. SD card, slot, faster CPU, WPA/WPA-PSK, AAC support. Nice!

Won't be getting one since I'm a poor student & I hardly use my DS Lite as it is but it certainly looks like a decent upgrade.

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Why?

The screens are brighter/sharper on the DSL/DSi

Increased battery life on the DSL/DSi

Lighter then DS

Stylus is improved

Buttons/D-Pad on the DSi and DSL feel much better

Also, with the DSi, you get the benefits of better wireless encryption, as well as a music player, online store and a built-in internet browser. Also, the DSi has upgradeable firmware, meaning we will probably see even more DSi features in the future.

DSL is tons better than the DS1, but IMHO DSi is a much smaller leap ahead despite the increase in functionality.

See, this is where I disagree. I think it's an equal jump, but a) it's in functionality rather then form and b) it's all about the potential rather then the immediate benefits. If DSiWare takes off, and if developers decide to make DSi-based titles which take advantage of the increased speed and memory, as well as the new features, then we'll see a real winner on our hands. But it is unfortunately all in the potential, it's yet to truly prove itself outside of some camera app which allows you to manipulate in real time (which will get real boring real fast methinks).

However, just like the touch screen has brought us experiences which are either brand new or enhanced because of the touch screen, I think we'll eventually see new or enhanced experiences that take advantage of the cameras or increased power.

EDIT: Harreh - agreed. With the SD slot, I hope we'll finally see a software based hack, so we can have a homebrew launcher a la The Homebrew Channel on the Wii, instead of having to buy all of these different flash carts. There's plenty of third party firmware support for flashcard firmware (i.e. AKAIO, Moonshell), so I'd love to see all of these efforts concentrated into one loader instead of fragmented efforts on various flashcards (which are obsolete in 6 months when a new one comes out).

Edited by The Teej
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I gotta agree, The Teej, there is certainly alot of potential with this device and I think that the homebrew market is probably the best player to really tap into it. The only problem is generating enough demand for the devs to actually make some dedicated apps for it.

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I haven't bought one yet, but I'll probably get one next month. I thought the GBA port was gone n the DS Lites, too?

nope, it's still there (it's hidden by a dust protector thing though)

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nope, it's still there (it's hidden by a dust protector thing though)

Ah... I've only had a GBA. For some reason I was thinking they dropped the port already... (Or was it just that the cart sticks out of it now?)

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Ah... I've only had a GBA. For some reason I was thinking they dropped the port already... (Or was it just that the cart sticks out of it now?)

On the DS lite, GBA carts stick out of it. I don't think you can put GB carts in it at all (Don't have my DS lite to hand).

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On the DS lite, GBA carts stick out of it. I don't think you can put GB carts in it at all (Don't have my DS lite to hand).

Only GBA works on the DS/DSL. GBC/GB doesn't work at all.

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Wow! I didn't realize the DSi had updated specs. :D I wonder why sites aren't talking about this in their reviews/previews. Are there any screenshots that show what the updated specs would look like graphic wise?

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Wow! I didn't realize the DSi had updated specs. :D I wonder why sites aren't talking about this in their reviews/previews. Are there any screenshots that show what the updated specs would look like graphic wise?

Looks the same, the screen is just slightly bigger.

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Wow! I didn't realize the DSi had updated specs. :D I wonder why sites aren't talking about this in their reviews/previews. Are there any screenshots that show what the updated specs would look like graphic wise?

It's the same. Same video chip and everything

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A few people in this thread have noted that the cpu has been bumped up to 133mhz and ram has been increased to 16mb. The older DS and DS lights processor was at 66mhz and ram was 4mb.

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A few people in this thread have noted that the cpu has been bumped up to 133mhz and ram has been increased to 16mb. The older DS and DS lights processor was at 66mhz and ram was 4mb.

The video card has remained the same though.

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The video card has remained the same though.

I'm pretty sure there is no video card in the DS (how big do you think the DSi is? :p) , as the ARM9 processor is there to render 3D visuals ;) The RAM is "unified" (if you must call it that) memory that hosts everything.

The ARM9 has been doubled, while ARM7 (used for rendering 2D visuals on the DS) has remained the same. More power and more RAM = potential for better visuals.

Although, don't expect too much too quickly, presumably there's a limit on the size of DSiWare titles, which will probably cap how much stuff they can fit in there. I think we'd have to wait for DSi-only card-based titles to come out to see the true power of the DSi.

EDIT: I personally want to see how much better Project Sonic will be now, with the DSi:

Edited by The Teej
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Just bought mine a few days ago I love it, never owned a DS before

Whoops PSPs butt in every direction. I love it!

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Edited by EZ8
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speaking of homebrew, has nintendo made the dsi harder to work with?

No, you just need a new flash card. However, Euro DSi has yet to be cracked...

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No, you just need a new flash card. However, Euro DSi has yet to be cracked...

Uhm..

The AceKard 2i works on all models of the DSi except for the Jap DSi with 1.4 firmware.

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