source engadget

Nintendo announces dual-touchscreen DSi, "DSi Shop" content store

by Nilay Patel, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 12:44AM

As expected, Nintendo just announced the DSi at its fall presentation -- and it's got dual touchscreens. The company is calling it a "third platform," which means it's complementing the existing DS Lite, not necessarily replacing it. Lookswise there's not much different, but it's some 12 percent thinner, partly because it doesn't have a GBA cartridge slot. The touchscreens are also slightly larger, at 3.25 inches, and there's an external three megapixel camera -- we don't know what that dot in the hinge is, but we're told there's only one camera. There's an SD slot and internal storage -- we're not sure how much at the moment, but photos can be taken directly to the Wii Photo Channel on the card. Nintendo's also launching an online DSi Shop, which will sell content directly over WiFi, including a free browser app and "DS Ware" game -- and you'll be able to get on for free at "Nintendo Zone" hotspots, which'll be in Japanese McDonalds. The store will take the newly-renamed Nintendo Points, 1000 of which will come free with the DSi until March 2010 and content will be priced in 0 / 200 / 500 / 800 point brackets. ¥18,900 ($178), launching in Japan on November 1st in black and white -- the rest of us will have to wait until next year.

Update: We've added the official Japanese DSi site link, check it out!

Lights are moved to the left side now, and there are 3 of them instead of 2.

is it a 3 megapixel or .3 megapixel camera? two cameras maybe?

the sd card slot/internal memory gives me hope for homebrew/emulation.

There looks to be a built in software that allows you to play with your photos taken with the DS. Seems to be similar to those Nintendo paint "games".

I think the cam is 3MP.

Looks cool, I want

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/02/nintendo-announces-the-dsi/

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ds/dsi.html

good bye Ds Lite we had a great ride...


HELLO! new and sexy DSi!!! i need you

Anyone around that can read the japanese on the official dsi website? they have pictures with the little... hole in the hinge circled with and some text(assuming it's telling what it is, or what it does). Seems like they have the normal mic hole next to that, so.. if it is indeed not a second camera, I can't even think of what it is for. And finally, I've been waiting for this for a good long while now, sd slot and all, gonna be a fantastic homebrew setup, mp3 player and the like, now someone just needs to make a good book reader, which could now take advantage of the dual touch screens. Coming with a free browser and(assumingly) better wifi , I'll gladly replace my dslite with this. I'm amazed they say its coming out in november(in Japan).

On a second note(not that it bothers me enough to not get this), is it just me, or do the shoulder buttons look kinda funky, stickin out like that?, seems a bit odd that those are the only thing keeping it from being nice and sleek, much like the dslite, even though it's only ever so slight.

Edit:Looking around at articles elsewhere, I've seen a few claiming the thing on the hinge is a second camera(as writtin on the engadget article(however I've yet to see any real source of that)), and I'm hoping you can somehow use the external camera while the whole thing is closed up(with the shoulder buttons or another unseen button) so you can just take pictures and go, without having to open it up at all.

Edit again: Reading along some more, and someone is saying that the dual touchscreen thing is a translation mistake, and it still only has one touch screen. Really need someone that can read the japanese site and clear this up(or I suppose I could wait a few days until they put up an english site, but sometimes I don't like to be patient(this is one of those times apparently)).

On the current DSL, that hole in the hinge is where the microphone is. They probably just make it stand out more on the new version. Most people don't even know there's a microphone there.

I was thinking the same thing at first, but if you look at the closer up pictures, there is 'mic' next to the smaller hole, to the right of the larger.. middle hole. So I'm currently thinking it is another camera, a lower res camera(than the outside one), not sure why, unless they're thinking about video chat as well as voice chat or something, or just for taking pictures of your own face, or.. using it as some whacky input device, as they have used the microphone in some strange ways in a few games(playing a game with your face doesn't sound all that appealing to myself).

Yes, the Nintendo DSi site shows that there are internal and external cameras.
Regarding "dual touch screens", I can't find anything on the Nintendo site to support that.
One of the Japanese blogs (gamega) mentions dual touch screens, another (Famitsu) says nothing about it. I think that is what is causing the confusion.

If there were dual touch screens, I would expect the Nintendo site to say something about it. *shrug*