Being out Saturday night around midnight, I swung by a local Gamestop and saw they had the DSi.  I picked one up, and have some impressions of it, and basic 411.  Please chime in with your own.  I will also give some impressions of some of the DSi apps that are downloadable.  Ok, onto some bits:

1. The larger screen appears to help regular DS games which use the bottom touch screen to be a bit more accurate.  You do end up with what appears to be a bit more pixelation due to the larger size, but at least it appears to allow for a larger margin of error.  I tried Galactrix, Henry Hatsworth, and Puzzle Quest on it, and  the larger screen prevented errors from happening.  If anyone recalls how you could mess up with Puzzle Quest sliding blocks, this does appear to be addressed.  This way my main reason for looking to get a DSi.  The GBA slot is gone, so no GBA games playable.  I can imagine Nintendo using the DS slot for a way to add additional applications.  There is a place for an SD card, and I picked up one (2 GB).  The system does come with internal storage, so it isn't needed critically.

2. The camera is fun.  I was at church and the kids there saw it and went, "Wow, that is the new DS?" and they wanted to play with it.  Did some Goo effects on the photos also.  Only apparently can store photos.  I can see there being an ability down the road for an application to shoot video to come out.

3. Nintendo, with the initial launch, gives you 1000 credits to download games in the DSi shop.  I downloaded some, and got more credits so I could get Wario Ware Snapped.  Ok, onto the games I downloaded (all but Brain Age):

A. Bird and Beans is a cute arcade title.  Use your tongue to have the bird eat the beans before the hit the ground, creating holes in the ground that trap you.  Nothing special, but cute game to show off the arcade games.  Cost: 200 credits.

B. Master of Illusions Express: Funny Faces is a stripped down version of their Master of Illusions games.  Appears to come with 2 games.  I looked at it briefly, but required more to play to see if it is worth the time.  Cost: 200 credits.

C. Wario Ware: Snapped I couldn't get to work.  Not sure why but the facial recognition software didn't work right for me, as I must not of had it set up corectly in placement.  You are told to put it on a flat surface and then .  I will have to play with it more.  Cost: 500 credits.

D. Art Style: Aquia is a puzzle game in the vein of Tetris.  I have to give it a thumb's up here, and worth using some of the credits for, if puzzle games are your thing.  You have a 2 or 4 blocks and you slide them in one side, and out pops a matching set on the other side of the line.  Form a line of 3 in a row or more and they go away.  As time goes on, the board begins to get dark at the top and slowing the darkness descends until there the entire screen is black and it is game over.  It appears to be a unique take on it, and worth the credits.  Cost: 500 credits.

E. Opera Web browser.  This is built for the DS.  Useful for basic websurfing, but doesn't appear to allow for Javascript.  Not as useful as the Wii Web Browser.  Cost: Free.

All and all, I would say there is a bunch of promise here, and the system is fun.  I was taking some photos with the DSi, and people didn't know what I had, and I even got a few, "That is a Nintendo DS?".   I hope the DSi will be able to download virtual console titles.  That would be cool to be able to play old NES and Gameboy games.

Good to know. Thanks.

I also hope to be able to download old games, that would be cool.

Oh, btw, if u happen to play the wario game, a more deep impressions would be nice.

Eye of shinning justice. Lend me your power! Actually it won''t work digitally. Anyway I see you won't listen.  I guess I'll let you have a bad time.
That thing is really going to hurt you. Just click the right number and you'll see a video. Click
the wrong one and you just went one step back

1. 2. 3.  4. 5.

The sound is more crisp and the graphics are processed much faster than on the DSLite. There's hardly any pixelation on the system with some of the games.

Thank you!
CAn't wait to get one. I just put my PS3 on Craigslist

It sounds like the DSi scales up the regular DS games to a bigger screen, which is why it looked a bit more pixelated to me.  I am not saying it is that noticable.  In a game like Galactrix, this makes it actually better for play.

I couldn't comment on the processor in it, but I guess since it is doing facial recognition, the CPU is likely faster.  I will say the play experience is more enjoyable.  One has to get used to where things are on it.  Like, it took me awhile to find where the sound was.

I would NOT sell a 60GB PS3 to get money for this.  It is cool and all that, but the 60GB PS3 is a 60GB PS3.

just got mine LOVE IT!

Still got my original silver DS phat so no need to spend £140 on a DSi.

You can still play Multyplayer with normal DSs right?


I may get this, later on.