Was that a review? I felt I was just getting a list of specs and other information that I could have garnered from Nintendo's press site. How about images of the DSi actually in use with a game for instance. Or a video review, which this hardware would be perfect for.
I'd have expected a mention about build quality, differences between the ds lite screen and the new screen, and whether for instance, the image looks stretched to accomodate the larger screen, or simply that it's not a concern.
What irks me about it is the price more than anything. They could have dropped the DS Lite to £90 and this to £120/£130 I would have bought it straight away. The £150 just seems like a lot too much money, dearer than a PSP and an xbox 360!
Do you know if the extra processing power would make current games that have slowdown run more smoothly or is it not that simple?
I like the concept of the DS. Like the Wii, Nintendo seems to have a knack for fooling everyone with a gleeful disregard for raw horsepower, and then coming out in poll position with the actual games.
But my big criticism remains the same as last time - it just looks so old fashioned. Now it's a nasty dated old grey box to replace that cheap plasticky white one. Shallow maybe, but at 150 quid a pop, looks count.
Would be interested to know how much time Stuart spent with the device prior to writing the review. Would hope a pre-release device was provided as I don't think its fair to write a review after 1 day. On the otherhand it would explain, as per darkspark88's comment, why this reads like a manual re-write rather than a review.
I haven't bought a DS in any form yet but have been seriously considering it lately. I was hoping one of two things would happen - the DSi would have been cheaper and/or it would push the price of the DS Lite down. I guess time will tell on the later...
I just don't see why I should upgrade from my DS Lite to the DSi. Maybe a case can be made if I didn't already have a DS but really, the DS Lite is very good and plays more games because of the GBA slot.
To answer the questions, I've had the device for several weeks now. I actually think I did cover aspects like the differences between the DS Lite and the DSi in terms of build and screen quality (see the start of page 2), but the general picture is that the screen is a little bigger and a little better, but not the sort of thing that's worth an extra £50 over the DS Lite. There's certainly no sign of stretching, mostly because it's running at exactly the same resolution.
The usual approach I'd take to writing a console review is to look at the hardware and the initial batch of software, but the problem with the DSi is that the only software it's launching with is on the DSi Shop, and that this only opened on Friday (I have been checking daily since I first had the handheld in my paws). It's also important to remember that this is really early days, so the stuff on there at the moment isn't (hopefully) representative of what will be on there in a few months time. That's partly why I tried to give an overview of the device, the differences, and where it all fits in with what seems to be Nintendo's current strategy for the DS Lite, DSi and Wii. As I tried to make clear in the review, I think there is currently very little reason at all to buy a DSi over a DS Lite, but that's something that could easily change in six months time. After all, if somebody had told me five years ago that I'd be playing with a DS on a regular basis while my PSP would spend most of its time gathering dust, I'd have been gobsmacked.
Apologies. Two more points to clear up. Firstly, the DSi does include WPA support, but apparently it only works with DSi specific software, meaning it's still WEP only if you're playing existing DS games. Secondly, my understanding on the CPU is that it's actually throttled back when running DS games, so it's doubtful that you'll see much improvement in slow-running titles. Certainly, nothing I've seen makes me believe that demanding DS games will run any faster on the DSi.
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