Nintendo DSi Console

Nintendo President, Satoru Iwata, always saw the European market as an important factor for their goal in selling the most Nintendo DS handhelds as fast as possible. This caused Nintendo to try and make the European launch as close to the North American launch as possible. Because of this move, the original Nintendo DS had a successful launch by selling a total of over 87,000 consoles just two days after its launch beating GameCube’s launch record.

This time, Nintendo changed their game plan and decided to launch the highly anticipated Nintendo DSi which is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS in European markets two days before the North American launch. This move has caused another record to be set breaking the original record by selling 92,000 units in the two day launch period making it the fourth fastest selling console falling behind the PSP, PS3, and Wii. One noticeable achievement in terms of statistics is that it outsold all the other latest generation consoles combined that weekend. There was also no major DS title released during the period to complement the launch indicating that the handheld took the full spotlight in the UK.

The second incarnation of the DS has some new features both external and internal that make the handheld even more attractive to convince both people without a DS and people with an older version. Some features like the GBA slot were removed and the battery life is a bit less, but these features helped it sell so well.

Specs Improvements

The Nintendo DSi boosts a slightly larger screen measuring 3.25 inches and a thinner profile than the DS Lite since the GBA slot was removed. It is also a bit longer in length than both models.

Dual Cameras

The handheld has two built in 0.3 megapixel digital cameras with one of them found on the internal hinge facing the user and another on the back for taking pictures. This provides the DSi with basic camera functionality where pictures can be stored in the SD card and some games will take advantage of these two cameras.

Enhanced Multimedia Capabilities

With the new SD card slot built-in, the DSi can now read pictures which can also be synchronized to the Wii Photo Channel and playback AAC audio files with the new built-in audio player. These changes will attract even the non-gamers to pick up this device.

DSi Shop

The Wii Points have been changed into the Nintendo Points which are used for the Wii Shop and the newly launched DSi Shop which is an online store where DSi owners can connect and download applications and special DSiWare games. Some of the applications offered are free like the DSi browser enabling mobile web surfing. This feature pretty much convinced people to get the new design despite of the lack of GBA support.

Critics and gaming review sites have praised the new design after its launch and the huge number of sales in the UK as well as the other parts of the globe really shows the success of Nintendo’s latest handheld.