DSi Review

The DSi was released somewhere around 8 to 10 months ago, marketed as an upgraded DS lite (which was an upgraded DS). While the DS lite was almost a necessary improvement over the DS, which looked like a prototype model (and some say it was the rushed prototype released after news leaked it early), the DSi sported more subtle changes. It's slightly smaller, has two small cheap cameras, and features a much improved 'channel' like interface reminiscent of the Wii. Most noteably it lost the Game Boy Advance slot, meaning that it can only play DS games. Of course this means that it cannot also play DS games that required the GBA as a peripheral spot.

I've had mine for almost a year, and to be honest I really haven't used it much differently than the DS lite before I traded it in. People who are looking to just play games don't really have a need for a DSi. It has a music player that features a limited mixer, it's fun. I played Lady Gaga's Bad Romance on it and altered her voice to sound male... strangely entertaining. However, don't confuse this with an MP3 player. It's not.

The cameras are limited too; the quality is comparable to a cell phone. There are some fun doodling utilities, but like the mixer, these are mostly fun... they aren't for serious pictures.

The channel system is interesting. Once you accept that the DSi is a portable game system that also tries to be a bit of a 'jack-of-all-trades' toy, you really see that the channel system is at the heart. The DSi store, where you purchase applications, has been up for a while. There's are a variety of puzzle games and a few types of calculator and alarm clock applications. Very few of these stand as 'games' and usually just seem more like 'stuff to do if you're bored enough'. There are some fun titles though. And some applications are worth trying out.

Internet connectivity is a big thing nowadays. The DSi takes the the DS lite clearly in this department. An upgrade that came out this past August allowed pictures in the album to publish directly to facebook. I'm not sure why exactly they picked to route it only to that one social networking site... I wouldn't have minded if it had routed it to a picture site like Photobucket or a blog... but Facebook is the most popular, so it works.

The lack of Blue Tooth technology and the elimination of the GBA peripheral port makes the DSi limited. In this respect it is very much like a 'toy', with very distinct boundaries and an ill defined purpose. There are fun features on it, but really it feels like half the fun is trying to incorporate them into your daily life somehow. That's a strange way to conceptualize a game system. While I can't say I agree with everything that Nintendo has made the DSi into, I can say that it is a neat little gizmo that really makes no real pretensions at being anything more than a little light fun.