On Sunday, the latest edition of Nintendo's (OTC: NTDOY) DS portable gaming system hit stores. In the aftermath of the release, questions are emerging about where the company is heading and what its platform will ultimately become.
There is little question that the DSi will be a big hit. One of the harsher reviewers, The LA Times' Pete Metzger, criticized the matte finish and stated that the machine's advances were "evolutionary," but not a must-have. Even so, he gave it a strong A-.
This attitude was echoed by another tough reviewer, The Globe and Mail's Chad Sapieha, who questioned whether the DSi was really worth the extra money, but seemed confident that the gaming system would be a resounding success.
There is no doubt that the DSi will be a big seller, even if it does not reach the 500,000 units that some reviewers are predicting. Rather, the ultimate question is whether it represents a radical new step in portable gaming technology, or if its exciting advances are merely the latest bells and whistles in a system that is essentially static.
There's no doubt that the new tools are pretty amazing. The most impressive new feature is probably the two cameras that are built into the DSi. One points at the user and one points out, enabling players to simultaneously photograph themselves and friends. In addition to allowing a variety of funhouse-style photographic manipulations, the cameras also support photo-based games, in which the user's head motions can influence play. In this way, the DSi seems to be learning from the success of the Wii.
More importantly, the cameras make the DSi the first gaming system that enables users to actually create things. By allowing players to manipulate pictures, the DSi opens the door to a level of Web 2.0-style interaction that places it a step or two beyond standard game-playing modules. The same is also true of the enclosed music player, which allows users to distort sounds that they've downloaded or recorded. In many ways, this is an auditory equivalent to the cameras, creating a space where users can not only consume, but also create.
While the DSi's other features, including an SD card slot and access to the DSi store, are undoubtedly impressive, it seems likely that the DSi's true contribution to the gaming world will lie in its ability to undermine the user-as-passive-consumer motif that has long plagued gaming systems. Rather than encouraging passive absorption of games, the DSi pushes users to create. While it remains to be seen if this will be the first step in a transformation of portable gaming systems, there is little doubt that it will bring Nintendo closer to its goal of "one machine for one person" total market saturation.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-06-2009 @ 2:01PM
TaurusTrader said...
My kids just love Nintendo products. My so who's a teenager likes X-box too, but not too high on Sony's PS-3.
TaurusTrader
http://www.taurustrader.wordpress.com
4-07-2009 @ 9:36AM
e.krabs said...
I honestly don't know what to make of the DSi.
No gaming platform, nor PC equivalents for that matter, have been able to capitalize this particular hardware into the gaming space. So, why would the DSi be any different now?
The MP3 feature is nice as well, but it's not new either. Plenty of other devices have that, even if it means allowing the users to manipulate the sound. But the same dilemma exists here as well: No real progress into the gaming space.
But the most promising feature to me is the SD slot. When you start using an universal flash memory format, and include the ability to buy and download games from the cloud, you start to open up a world of possibilities for developers and gamers alike....
Alas, this too isn't anything new, since the iPhone/iTouch is already making serious headway into this arena, and is quite successful at that.
That said, I also understand that the iPhone/iTouch includes some of the beefiest mobile chipsets out there, and I have to wonder if the DSi has the technical gusto to compete? Yeah, strange that I should say that since this is suppose to be the Nintendo and the DS, two entities well-known for in the gaming market.
And yet, how many of us carry an iPhone (or like me, the iTouch) at all times, compared to how many that carry a DS at all times? As time goes by, I am finding that I spend far more face time on my iTouch playing games than I ever have with the DS, simply because of this convenience factor.
I also wonder about the relative quality of DS games over its marketplace compared to its current, proprietary counterpart.
Still, the potential here is undeniable. I personally do believe that gaming through the use of SD cards and appstore type download is the way of the future. In fact, we don't even have to imagine this sort of concept, since the Apple has alread demonstrated that this is indeed quite a viable model.
And therefore, it was quite necessary for Nintendo to follow suit, in order to compete against this unlikely giant.
4-07-2009 @ 9:35AM
e.krabs said...
Sorry, my second paragraph above was referring to the webcam feature.