Nintendo Announces DSi XL

lbalbalba writes "This morning, Nintendo announced the third upgrade to the DS family, the DSi LL (or DSi XL). It will be released in Japan on November 21, one year after the DSi debuted, for ¥20,000 (approx. $220). The LL's main improvement is the size of its screens, which have been increased from 3.25" to 4.2" with a moderate increase to the size of the chassis. The device also includes a much bigger stylus, which looks to be the size of a ballpoint pen, and battery life has reportedly been increased to five hours at maximum screen brightness."

Comments

Price

[Ceiynt]

When your portable costs more then your home system, something is wrong with your pricing path.

Re:Price

[Avalain]

Or maybe your portable is more popular than your home system?

Re:Price

[Ceiynt]

Laptops are expected to be able to do the SAME thing as your desktop though(with the exception of high end current games), in portable form. Take the same tech and shrink it, it will cost more.

Re:Price

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

When your portable costs more then your home system, something is wrong with your pricing path.

To be fair, the DSi is cheaper than a Wii. This is the 'premium' edition for those who want it to look a little nicer cosmetically.

Re:Price

[sexconker]

Laptops are expected to be able to do the SAME thing as your desktop though(with the exception of high end current games), in portable form. Take the same tech and shrink it, it will cost more.

Handhelds are expected to be able to do the SAME thing as your console though(with the exception of high end current games), in portable form. Take the same tech and shrink it, it will cost more.

Re:Price

[Tarlus]

Except that the DS is far from being capable of the same things as modern consoles. A laptop could be set up to run a 64-bit OS with 8 gigs of RAM, store a half terabyte of data and render DX11-level graphics smoothly at 1280x800 or higher, which is what many full-sized desktops are used for today. Expensive, yes.

The DS, on the other hand, is running substantially weaker hardware than current consoles, with graphical capabilities roughly on-par with the Nintendo 64. From a technical perspective, that falls pretty far short of the major consoles.

Re:Price

[Labcoat Samurai]

And the Wii isn't exactly very powerful either. Even if the DS is only as powerful as the N64, it's still only one generation weaker than the Wii, which is basically a Gamecube with a fancy controller.

Demand?

[hansamurai]

I'm wondering where the demand for this was? It's not like they're increasing the resolution and now the DS size history has gone from its original size, shrunk down to the Lite version, then the DSi came out which was comparable to the Lite, and now they're making it larger than the original DS with the XL.

But Nintendo usually knows what they're doing, as long as they don't color it red and require it be strapped to your face, that is.

Re:Demand?

[Ceiynt]

I hope they realized that a large portion of gamers don't all have tiny Japanese school girl hands? Even with my original DS, it can be a hand cramper to hold when using the stylus and playing.

Re:Demand?

[Hatta]

It's for the old people they introduced to gaming with the Wii. Now they have a handheld they can see with their aging eyes, and probably a larger stylus they can grasp with their arthritic hands. If you spend a lot of time in doctor's waiting rooms, these things come in handy.

Its a great option for geriatric gamers

[grapeape]

Nintendo has been trying to broaden its market with handhelds the same way that they have with the Wii. Games like brain age, professor layton and the Personal Trainer series appeal to and older crowd but the small screen size can make it rather limited. My mother for instance loves her DS but constantly complains about the text being too small or icons being indistinguishable, a larger screen size would be great for her. Based on the included bundle that appears to be the audience they are going for...smart idea IMHO.

Larger screen but same resolution?

[Avalain]

One of the comments that came out from people reviewing the PSP Go was that the screen looked "sharper" because it was smaller with the same resolution as the PSP 3000. Wouldn't this just have the opposite effect for the DSi? As it is the DSi has a rather low resolution and I'd be worried that increasing the screen size will just make games "bigger and uglier". I'm skeptical that this is going to do anything but highlight the shortfalls of the system; it being both the oldest and the slowest architecture on the market.

Re:After reading the tech specs I can see

[tlhIngan]

It prints free money for nintendo.

You jest, but that's exactly right.

The target market for this DS is big and growing. Older people (parents, etc) find the current DS line with screens that are too small - now Nintendo sees a huge market for large screens and less agile hands.

Nintendo's no longer just a "kiddy" company - their products are aimed at everyone, particularly non-gamers. Nintendo might not win the console wars, but they'll infiltrate the homes of everyone else.

Nintendo's Niche

[allknowingfrog]

Nintendo's niche isn't making things bigger, faster and stronger. They make things that are new and different. The Wii has been hugely successful, not because it pushes boundaries in graphics and processing speed, but because it is a brand new idea. Taking the same old DS and making the screen bigger isn't going to boost sales the way that going in a new direction would.

Re:Nintendo's Niche

[Darkness404]

Not really though. Backwards compatibility is key for portable games. For example the Game Boy Advance SP had perhaps the largest library for any portable game console. The GBA SP (along with the first GBA) could play games from 1989 to 2007. Few consoles can play 18 years of games without any emulation. And when the games are cheap ($30 when they were new, and you can get them for $10 max used) that gives the average person a huge game library without much initial investment. Even though Super Mario Land wasn't exactly the most advanced games, no was it that long but it still was fun. Now Nintendo has the DS (and Lite) that can play games from 2001-present and the DSi that can play physical games from 2004-present along with downloadable games. A major new console would more than likely change the hardware in a radical way, if you don't have either 2 screens or don't have one as a touch screen the DS games are nearly unplayable. Without a large back catalog they probably won't gain much traction (just look at how much of a failure the PSP Go is since it doesn't have a UMD drive).

Re:After reading the tech specs I can see

[thule]

Nintendo's no longer just a "kiddy" company - their products are aimed at everyone, particularly non-gamers. Nintendo might not win the console wars, but they'll infiltrate the homes of everyone else.

I think their products have been aimed at everyone for a long time. Look how many NES' Nintendo shipped (over 60 million). Tetris on the Gameboy was HUGE! Nintendo sold over 100 million Gameboys. The original Mario Brothers was an arcade like game that worked with two players. Their products are not aimed at "non-gamers". Their products are designed to *create* gamers. Maybe not the gamers the "hardcore" or the "game industry" thinks of (M-rated of course), but gamers none-the-less.

Re:Maybe this time

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

I think the idea of two screens the way it's setup is kind of annoying to me, I like having one big screen rather than multiple screens

Can't say I agree. I play GBA games on mine (one screen only) and it annoys me that I have to stop the game to see things like maps or inventory. Give me two screens any-day.

My main gripe is that only one of the screens is touch sensitive.

Re:After reading the tech specs I can see

[aussie_a]

Wow, you're right. They are winning. As much as I dismiss the Wii (I like to play turn-based RPGs. Not that many/any on the Wii), it has surpassed both the Xbox360 and the PS3.

I wonder what this means for the future of gaming.

Re:After reading the tech specs I can see

[BakaHoushi]

"Only due to a deliberate decision by Nintendo to *not* increase production."

Which was a smart idea. To increase production would have required an additional factory. When they finally DO meet demand, they'd simply have an extra factory to maintain and lost money in building it. Their decision cost them an immediate access to the demand but secured a steady revenue stream for years.

No matter how "hardcore" gamers view Nintendo, it's hard to not respect their business savvy.

Re:Maybe this one will support WPA?

[captjc]

My guess would be because it is easier and more secure to keep the actual network stack in the game code. If it is in the game (as in on cartridge rather than in a ROM on the DS) it can be upgraded and modified by the developer as needed. For instance, say a vulnerability were found that allowed Mario Kart to connect to a rogue server for the purpose of cheating or piracy or any other damn reason. You could easily fix the vulnerability and include it newer versions of the game. It will also be patched in any other games that use the network code. Yes, you have some bad games out in the wild, but that can be contained. On the other hand, if it is in the DS as a ROM, every DS made to this point is a hacking hazard. Add to the fact that the DS was not made to have its firmware updated.

Now, is it the best idea? I can't say. I would love to play Mario Kart, or Metroid Prime or any of the other Wifi enabled game I own on my WPA2 encrypted router. However security is more important to me then occasionally getting getting 'pwned' by some kid in South Korea with too much time on his hands.

Re:After reading the tech specs I can see

[Cornflake917]

To read Slashdot, you'd think Nintendo is experiencing exponential profits growth, and the Xbox 360 outsells the PS3 10-to-1.

I thinking you must read a different slashdot than I do. There is a rather substantial anti-MS crowd here that talk down the 360 every chance they get. It's more like this:

Wii: The Jesus of consoles.
360: A machine that does nothing except RROD.
PS3: Sony installs rootkits on your computer!!!