New Nintendo DSi Coming Next Year

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Nintendo of America hosted a gaming summit at the J.W. Marriott in downtown San Francisco this week. The event was used to showcase a brand new Nintendo DSi portable that Japan will get this year and North America will get it “well into 2009.”

I got the chance to see the new device as well as talk to Nintendo President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime about it. The new portable is slightly larger than the current Nintendo DS. It boasts two cameras, which can be used in gaming. Fils-Aimes told me players could take a headshot photo and insert it into a game character, for example. The DSi will also play music files (ACC) that can be downloaded from any PC via Wi-Fi. While Nintendo doesn’t see the DSi competing with the iPod, it’s features will allow gamers to control the pitch and speed of audio files. Other new features of the DSi include louder sound speakers and improved Wi-Fi connectivity. This will allow gamers to download games from a new Nintendo store digitally straight to an SD card. (The same as music files.)

One thing the new DSi won’t support is Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo has amassed a library of over 600 DS games over three years, but any older GBA games will not play on the DSi. Since there’s no GBA slot, that also means games like Ubisoft’s My Weight Coach and Activision’s Guitar Hero on Tour won’t work on DSi.

Nintendo has over 22 million Nintendo DS portables in the U.S. today and the device continues on an unprecedented sales pace. In Japan, literally half of the 46 million people who live in the country on a DS. Fils-Aimes said Nintendo is waiting for a bigger bulk of the U.S. population’s 116 million people to buy a DS before releasing the new DSi.

While game publishers always emphasize in with the new, out with the old; Nintendo has rarely announced a new device while pushing an older device for basically another year-plus. Fils-Aims told me that Nintendo will support both DS and DSi for some time in any territory the device is launched. But when it comes to gaming, ultimately the DSi will replace the DS, just as the DS Lite quickly replaced the DS after that launch. That said, I still see kids playing GBA SP a restaurants and airports, and there are tons of games to support any Nintendo portable.

On the gaming front, Nintendo has a solid line-up of DS exclusives coming out over the next six months. Since the DS audience is made up of a large mainstream segment of gamers, including females; Nintendo has Personal Trainer: Cooking coming out November 24th. This title is filled with recipes that anyone can use to whip up new dishes. Nintendo had the Marriott’s chef using the device to cook at their media event. Next year Nintendo will add Personal Trainer: Walking and Personal Trainer: Math to its line-up of non-gaming titles.

Tecmo Bowl is being reborn for the DS next month and it allows football fans to create their own plays. EA’s Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure is a stand-out casual game that has the gaming press buzzing with its innovative blend of action and puzzles. Another game that should appeal to both the casual and hardcore gamers is Rhythm Heaven, which comes out next year. This game is a simple but addictive music experience that has already taken Japan by storm. And Mario and Luigi RPG 3 will be hitting the U.S. next year, which should make everyone happy.

For the more hardcore gamers, Konami has a new Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia game hitting this month, THQ has and a new Age of Empires: Mythologies game and Square Enix has a new Chrono Trigger game coming in November. Next year, Nintendo is bringing Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon to DS.

Nintendo has a great line-up of new DS games and what was shown at this event is but a small portion of the wave of publishers that are supporting this ubiquitous gaming device. The fact that a new DSi is coming shouldn’t stop you from enjoying all that the current DS offers, especially since that new device won’t offer any graphics upgrades.