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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Pro's & Con's of DSi

NintendoMan said:

Pro's:

- Built in web browser

- Camera's

- SD Card Slot/DLC

- Better Speakers

- Bigger Screens

- Thinner

- Onboard flash memory

Con's

- No GBA Slot

- Camera's with laughable resolutions 

- Reduced battery life

- Only plays ACC files

- DS/DSLite owners not getting DSWare is disapointing, espcially if you do not want to/cannot upgrade to DSi

- DSWare is region-locked (understandable but annoying as Nintendo's handhelds have always been region free and europe/australia will likley get screwed over in terms of releases)

Possible Con:

- Web browser is from opera (my expireince with opera includes wii and previous ds browsers and desktop browser, i was left dissapointed and running back to FF with all 3) 

 

Your thoughts?

Am I the only who saw the Camera presenation video on the DSi? The pictures did not look bad.

It plays MP3 too.

Opera is no fucking way as bad as you make it out to be. The DS browser mightve sucked but the Wii browser is good.
And the PC browser is the same if not better than FireFox.

Dsi looks great. If I dont have a DS by the time its released here then I'll buy it.

 



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this will not be a problem for ppl who own or "borrowed" 2 or more DSL.



twesterm said:
DKII said:
Never once used the GBA slot so that's not a concern for me, but the reduced battery life definitely is.

Were you this upset when the DS was revealed to be unable to play GB/GBC games? sheesh, it happens. DSi is basically a new handheld that is backwards compatible with DS games, but just as the DS didn't go two generations back, neither will the DSi.

 

See, I don't consider this one the next step.  It's just another DS like the PSP-2000 is another PSP.  If it were the next step I would just deal with it and be fine with it.

 

I believe the GBA micro or whatever it was lost the ability to play GB/GBC games as well.  But I think DSi is somewhere between a revision and the next generation, since it seems like it's going to be getting games that the DS/DSL can't play, including DSWare.



.jayderyu said:
NintendoMan said:

Pro's:

- Built in web browser

- Camera's

- SD Card Slot/DLC

- Better Speakers

- Bigger Screens

- Thinner

- Onboard flash memory

Con's

1   - No GBA Slot

2   - Camera's with laughable resolutions

3   - Reduced battery life

4    - Only plays ACC files (note to nintendo - apple does not rule the music world, there are more people with mp3's than ACC's)

5    - DS/DSLite owners not getting DSWare is disapointing, espcially if you do not want to/cannot upgrade to DSi

6    - DSWare is region-locked (understandable but annoying as Nintendo's handhelds have always been region free and europe/australia will likley get screwed over in terms of releases)

Possible Con:

7     - Web browser is from opera (my expireince with opera includes wii and previous ds browsers and desktop browser, i was left dissapointed and running back to FF with all 3)

 

Your thoughts?

 

 1. The needed demographic is small. Yes there are lots of people that still use it, but they still have the machine to use it.  The DSi is to slow phase out this archaic BC.

 

2. The DSi is not meant to take high qaulity imagery. The resolution is fine for casual pictures. What a lot of people forget though is that a Mega Pixel is Width x Height x colour bit depth and factor in the contrast ration. The external camera could reasonably take some really nice pictures depending on depth and contrast.

3. People were gloating the DS Phat life battery over the PSP. With the increase to the screen size and extra battery consumption power of the speakers, SD Card slot... it not unreasonable. If the battery life still beats the PSP why are we still complaining? sorry for brining the PSP into this.

4. umm yeah, this sucks. AAC? wtf? MP3 is the standard? question though does it cost a licsence to commercialy play MP3? This could be a reason why a lot fo small music players play MP4 isntead. We know Nintendo likes to minamize cost.

5. This is not a con. We might as well ask why the PS2 and GC can't have PSN or WiiWare.

6. This is a pretty standard con across the board everywhere. Does the 360 and PS3/2 have it too? This is a non factor in todays expecting society. Instead if it wasn't region blocked would be a pro.

7. Fire Fox while an awesome browser that I use on my PC. Is in fact a memory and CPU hogs. FF is incapable of running on minimal design and lesser systems. You shouldn't expect a browser only coded for medium end(500mhz,512mb) PC qaulity. Opera is a pretty darn good PC browser and it's kernel is extremly small,efficient and ready to be ported. They are the only good option for smaller devices. Safari doesn't count considering the iTouch/Pod as a 500mhz+ and good amount of memory.

The browser is not a con. It's a pure pro. It could come without it and appeal to less of the distant market. With the DSi having built in flash memory and a SD card slot. It could run better than the current Opera DS with it's limited 8mb expansion.

 

Anyways I really like it. I will get it. The time it takes will depend on how soon software it will have to replace my PDA.

 

 

^^^that.



superchunk said:
Hawkeye said:
Forgot to add the con of "costs $200"
seriously, for a useless camera, worse battery life, downloads, and no GBA slot, the DSi is only worth $50 to me. If my DS Lite starts breaking down though, I will carefully weigh whether a $130 new DS lite of a $200 new DSi is a better deal. I am not sure, but I think DS Lite is still better. Short battery sucks for gaming. DSi seems more like a toy.

 

umm, no.

It costs about $20 more than the DSLight. Thus probably around $130 or so when it launches here. The $180 price you are probably basing your post on was for Japan as a yen to dollar conversion, not US actual price.

Go to IGN for clarification if you don't beleive me.

$130?  I would probably buy it over another DS lite then. I can just buy a GAB SP for $30-50 if I really want a game boy player. Usually I play 1st party Nintendo stuff or play DS with my friends (mario kart, tetris mario party ect) so a camera would be fun in that regard.

 



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One of the reasons i was thinking of getting this was for the music player. But since it only plays ACC files, i'm less likely to get this.

That & region lock sux!



twesterm said:
coasterlove said:
twesterm said:
coasterlove said:
I think the shorter battery life is a big issue and the lack of a GBA slot is not a big deal in my opinion. Most people who have any interest in playing GBA games will already have a GBA or some previous version of the DS. And even if it is an issue, I think it's minor and all the new stuff completely overshadows it. The battery life though does kinda suck to put it simply.

 

I actually sold my SP because, you know, the DS/DSL plays GBA games and had no need for it.  That would be like me keeping my PS2 around when I have a backwards compatible PS3.

 

 Right, but you obviously have a DS or Lite already so it is really that big of a deal? If it was because you were looking to sell the older model, how much money would you even get for it? And also, it's rare that any cartridge based system has had backwards compatibility. I can only think of the DS in fact. If they were to make the system smaller while actually having a bigger screen(s) and more features, something probably had to go and that appears to be the GBA slot.

 

And with console, it's nice to have the backwards compatibility so you can store the system  away since they can take up a lot of space. Handhelds take up little space and don't generally sit in the entertainment stand with the TV and other consoles anyway. Just my opinion on both subjects.

 

The DS/DSL is compatable with the GBA.
The GBA is compatible with the GBC and GB.
The GBC is compatible with the GB.

Also, when releasing a new model like the DSi, one of the goals is to get people that already have one of the older ones to get a newer one.  You generally do this by adding features and not taking away important features (just because you don't use it doesn't make it not important to everyone else).  I know they say the DSi isn't supposed to compete with the DS but that's just PR talk to make you want to buy them both because they know the DSi can't replace the DS.

So yes, it is kind of a big deal.  I could probably make myself live with the decreased battery life but not the lack of GBA slot.  By taking away that, they've taken away a potential sale (or a lot actually since despite what you think many people take full advantage of the GBA slot).  I'm not going to own both at the same time.  Ever.  There's just no point.  If I want a camera and mic, I'll just get something else that is better and cheaper.

You said "when releasing a new model like the DSi, one of the goals is to get people that already have one of the older ones to get a newer one."

That isn't neccessarily true. They could be trying to reach out to those who haven't already gotten some version of the DS yet. And you can say the lack of a GBA slot is a big deal but it's simply not. Do you really think it isn't going to sell? It will do extremely well. And Nintendo isn't intending this to replace the DS but to complement it. Why would they wantto replace the DS at this point? That would be stupid since it's selling double it's only handheld competitor and is always on top of systems and software sold.

With that said, they have no intention of replacing the DS, it's for reaching out to more people and anyone else that buys one that already has a DS is just a bonus for Nintendo. So if you don't want a DSi, don't buy one but please, stop complaining.

 



I'll come up with something better eventually...

I still have a Phatty, so I may pick one up, we will see. The only time I use the GBA slot is when I use the rumble pack that came with Metroid Prime Pinball. I still have a GBA any way...



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I'll miss the gba slot but since I won't but able to play gh on tour that sucks so I'm unsure if I'll get this,dsware seems promising.