Console Review: Nintendo DSi - Page 3

I could see the camera feature useful to have as a nice addition to the game system, but at a resolution of only 640x480, these pictures are not that desirable. In contrast, my two-year-old cell phone takes higher resolution photos. This low resolution is going to be a disappointment to technophiles, but that is not the intended audience.

The photo manipulation really has one purpose, have fun with photographs, and it does that well. You will have as much fun with the photo app as your friends will; you can even exchange photos with other DSi owners.

Nintendo DSi Sound: As whimsical as the Camera software is, DSi Sound is impressive with the ability to record sound, and a music player with many features. You can record 18 clips up to 10 seconds each and manipulate your recordings with a number of effects. Change the speed, pitch or make it sound like you are talking in a tunnel. There are a lot of fun choices here; my personal favorite is to see what you sound like when playback is reversed.

The second option in DSi Sound is to “Play with your music” which incorporates a standard music player with the ability to, well, play with your music. You can overlay the recordings you made, and use the same tools to slow down the music, or make it sound like the song is on the radio - I personally do not know why you would want to do that, but again I am not the intended audience here. These filters work pretty well, however the 8-Bit Game filter ignores the music entirely, which seems pointless.

Once you get beyond clapping to the beat of the song (done with the L and R buttons) this actually is a feature rich music player. It supports ID3 tags, has 14 visualizers – including Super Mario Bros. and Excite Bike – and allows for music playback even with the lid closed. Just please support MP3 Nintendo; I am not going to convert my music.

Nintendo DSi Shop: Similar to the weekly offerings on the Wii, the DSi shop lets you download games and applications, or DSiWare. For the North American launch there will be five games and the Web Browser to download. The Web Browser is free, which may sting if you bought it previously. If you register for an account (or sync your Club Nintendo account) before Oct. 5, you get 1000 free points. Just like the Wii, you can buy 2000 Points cards ($20) and input the code into the DSi Store, or input your credit card number directly. There is no official word on a Virtual Console for the DSi, but it seems like an obvious addition to the DSi Shop.

Article Author: Ken Edwards

Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.

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