I've been intrigued by Nintendo's DSi ever since its introduction back in early October, but real, hard details have been hard to come by. Nintendo doesn't like to toss specs around anymore, which I can completely understand, actually; they often invite invalid comparisons. But that doesn't stop me from being curious, and so, every so often, I go looking to see what people have uncovered.
Now, while I have faith in everything I'm about to tell you, you should know that it hasn't been officially announced or confirmed. If you were a licensed developer, you'd be breaking your NDA by telling me at least some of it—but a little bit of this information did come from licensed developers. Much of it comes from homebrew communities' independent exploration of the system. I'm not going to link to some of those communities out of respect, but if you're curious, I'm sure you can find them easily.
(By the way, some of this is old hat to those of you addicted to the drip-feed of gaming news from the Internet, I know. But I thought it might be useful to recap everything in one place.)
The DSi, architecturally, is to the original DS (and Lite, of course) similarly to how Wii is to GameCube. While the architecture, screens, and inputs remain similar enough to allow the DSi to run DS games, DSi-specific software has access to (at least):
Some of the raw-power-related items were speculated about early on by some tech-minded folks; the photo-manipulation features of the DSi's onboard software in particular were cited as something that you'd need more power for than the classic DS architecture was going to give you.
The catch is, to get access to this, your software needs to be running in native mode. Classic DS software runs in compatibility mode, and has access to the exact same hardware it does on a classic DS—meaning it's unlikely you'll be seeing "enhanced for DSi" software that runs on a normal DS, but gains access to cameras, storage, etc. when run on a DSi. It seems to be impossible to get access to these in compatibility mode. If developers want to make a DSi-enhanced game like this, they have to make two versions: one for DS, one for DSi. Speculation exists that they might be able to put both versions on the same game card, but I'm unable to find any hard info on that.
And speaking of game cards, nobody is making announcements yet that I'm aware of, but the possibility seems to at least exist to put DSi-specific software on DS cards. Such software is likely to be region-locked, as previously reported.
This brings us to analysis time. DSi is looking less like a hardware refresh and more like a platform in its own right, at least if you accept that Wii is also a platform. The biggest difference between GameCube-to-Wii and DS-to-DSi is the positioning; DS has clearly been a success, unlike GameCube, and so Nintendo is positioning DSi as the logical continuation of DS—going so far as to just barely dip toes in the water with DSiWare instead of releasing full-up launch titles with the system, as you'd expect from a new platform with all the fanfare.
With the transition to Wii, Nintendo didn't exactly have a winning legacy with GameCube that needed carrying over; the system wasn't selling games anymore and they needed to make a break with that era anyway to transition into their current success. DS, while slowing, is still a powerful force with a huge installed base that still dominates the software charts; the rolling launch for the DSi platform means that neither they nor cautious third parties have cut off the DS installed base quite so quickly.
It's going to be an interesting time, watching to see when (and if?) DSi comes into its own right. Right now, all DSi owners have to show for their purchase beyond the (arguably neat) built-in software is a handful of little games via DSiWare—some cool (like new Art Style titles) and some WTF-inducing (like individual games cut out of Club House Games and repackaged for a handful of Nintendo Points)—but who knows what the future may bring?
I suspect it has a lot to do with who takes up the new system, and how, and that's something we're going to watch play out over the coming years. One thing's sure, though: no matter what the company line is, DSi is definitely a new thing.
Now, while I have faith in everything I'm about to tell you, you should know that it hasn't been officially announced or confirmed. If you were a licensed developer, you'd be breaking your NDA by telling me at least some of it—but a little bit of this information did come from licensed developers. Much of it comes from homebrew communities' independent exploration of the system. I'm not going to link to some of those communities out of respect, but if you're curious, I'm sure you can find them easily.
(By the way, some of this is old hat to those of you addicted to the drip-feed of gaming news from the Internet, I know. But I thought it might be useful to recap everything in one place.)
The DSi, architecturally, is to the original DS (and Lite, of course) similarly to how Wii is to GameCube. While the architecture, screens, and inputs remain similar enough to allow the DSi to run DS games, DSi-specific software has access to (at least):
- the CPU running at a higher speed (2x)
- 16 MB of RAM (vs. 4 MB)
- the cameras
- 256 MB of internal storage
- the SD slot
- improved sound capabilities in both input (mic) and output
- a secondary Wi-Fi chip that can do WPA and performs much better
Some of the raw-power-related items were speculated about early on by some tech-minded folks; the photo-manipulation features of the DSi's onboard software in particular were cited as something that you'd need more power for than the classic DS architecture was going to give you.
The catch is, to get access to this, your software needs to be running in native mode. Classic DS software runs in compatibility mode, and has access to the exact same hardware it does on a classic DS—meaning it's unlikely you'll be seeing "enhanced for DSi" software that runs on a normal DS, but gains access to cameras, storage, etc. when run on a DSi. It seems to be impossible to get access to these in compatibility mode. If developers want to make a DSi-enhanced game like this, they have to make two versions: one for DS, one for DSi. Speculation exists that they might be able to put both versions on the same game card, but I'm unable to find any hard info on that.
And speaking of game cards, nobody is making announcements yet that I'm aware of, but the possibility seems to at least exist to put DSi-specific software on DS cards. Such software is likely to be region-locked, as previously reported.
This brings us to analysis time. DSi is looking less like a hardware refresh and more like a platform in its own right, at least if you accept that Wii is also a platform. The biggest difference between GameCube-to-Wii and DS-to-DSi is the positioning; DS has clearly been a success, unlike GameCube, and so Nintendo is positioning DSi as the logical continuation of DS—going so far as to just barely dip toes in the water with DSiWare instead of releasing full-up launch titles with the system, as you'd expect from a new platform with all the fanfare.
With the transition to Wii, Nintendo didn't exactly have a winning legacy with GameCube that needed carrying over; the system wasn't selling games anymore and they needed to make a break with that era anyway to transition into their current success. DS, while slowing, is still a powerful force with a huge installed base that still dominates the software charts; the rolling launch for the DSi platform means that neither they nor cautious third parties have cut off the DS installed base quite so quickly.
It's going to be an interesting time, watching to see when (and if?) DSi comes into its own right. Right now, all DSi owners have to show for their purchase beyond the (arguably neat) built-in software is a handful of little games via DSiWare—some cool (like new Art Style titles) and some WTF-inducing (like individual games cut out of Club House Games and repackaged for a handful of Nintendo Points)—but who knows what the future may bring?
I suspect it has a lot to do with who takes up the new system, and how, and that's something we're going to watch play out over the coming years. One thing's sure, though: no matter what the company line is, DSi is definitely a new thing.