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Nintendo To Take On Apple With DSi App Store

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the they-could-merge-and-give-me-one-button-nintendogs dept.

Dave Allen writes "Despite Nintendo publicly claiming no direct competition with the iPhone or iPod Touch with its new DSi console, reports have been leaked about the Big N actively encouraging developers to begin work on small form gaming and non-gaming applications for the DSi's download service. This is the first step toward Nintendo putting together a direct App Store rival, and could be the marketing hook it's been desperately searching for to convince gamers to upgrade their DS." It seems only fair that since the iPhone is now a gaming platform, the DS is becoming a PDA. And, if the only difference between them is a 3G wireless connection, the rivalry can only get more fierce.

11 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Really bad summary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How does providing a download service for DSi "directly compete" with Apple's Appstore (to paraphrase the summary)? If you own an iPhone, you won't be able to access the DS store, and if you own a DSi you won't be able to access the iPhone Appstore, so how is that competition?

    People won't be choosing between iPhone or DSi. They are completely different devices.

    1. Re:Really bad summary by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Informative

      People won't be choosing between iPhone or DSi. They are completely different devices.

      I own a DS Lite & an iPod Touch. If I had a DSi, there might be times when I'd buy downloads for it instead of my iPod Touch, hence there would be competition.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  2. Re:Only difference? by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 4, Informative

    The DS has an ARM7TDMI and ARM9 inside. The former is clocked at something like 33MHz, the ARM9 (which is used primarily for 3D rendering) at 67MHz. Specs are a little skiffy on the DSi, but the primary processor is an ARM9E at 133MHz. It also has 16MB of RAM, which is something like four times the capacity of the regular DS.

    It should allow for some much improved games.

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
  3. Re:In other words... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not in the slightest. Nintendo has been operating their Wii online store since before the iPhone App Store was a gleam in Jobs' eye. Their DSiWare track appears to be something they've been working on for some time. The iPhone App store and the DSiWare store are coincidental competitors, not reactive competitors. i.e. Nintendo no more reacted to the iPhone than Apple reacted to WiiWare.

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  4. SDK? by Viking+Coder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, will there be SDKs for download?

    Are there already SDKs for download, and I just didn't know about them?

    --
    Education is the silver bullet.
    1. Re:SDK? by AndrewNeo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mod parent up. You'll probably still have to be a Registered Nintendo Developer (aka thousands of dollars) to develop for the DSi store.

    2. Re:SDK? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

      ~$2,000 last I checked. The price isn't the problem, it's getting into the program that's the problem.

      --
      Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
    3. Re:SDK? by Chyeld · · Score: 4, Insightful

      On the other hand Big N has understood something that Apple doesn't seem to get yet.

      Quanity does not beat quailty.

      How many complaints have we heard lately over the level of dreck in the iPhone App store? About how hard it is to find the diamond in the rough, or how long it takes to get an app approved unless you are a big name and able to talk Apple into fast tracking the approvals?

      How many complaints have you heard about the same for the WiiWare store? I'm going to bet you that it's far fewer.

  5. Nintendo DS != a PDA, Game Store = Win by GameGod0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nintendo's online game store is probably going to be a precursor to a full-blown AAA-title download store for them. They're not interested in making the DS into a PDA, they're interested in cutting out Walmart as a middle-man.

    (You don't have to look very far to see how digital distribution is changing the gaming market. Eg. XBox Live Arcade, Steam, D2D, etc. Nintendo wants a piece of the sweet sweet pie that Valve cooked with Steam.)

  6. Re:In other words... by Hordeking · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yet another additional surplus extra "me too" in the market.

    I think you mean "mii too!"

    --
    Disclaimer: The opinions and actions of the US Gov't are in no way representative of those held by this author or its ci
  7. "Leaked"? It was in the press release. by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nintendo have been trumpeting the DSi Store as a WiiWare equivalent for the DS for ages, I don't see why someone would "leak" the fact that they're - gasp - getting people to develop games for it.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?