Rumor: DSi In April

Nintendo's DS upgrade, the DSi, may be released sooner than expected.
According to a report by ign.com yesterday "numerous sources" have unofficially confirmed that the DSi will be released in North America on April 4. The unit will retail at $179.99, significantly more expensive than the current DS Lite model, which currently retails for $139.99.
The DSi is a slimmed down DS unit with no Game Boy Advance slot, two built-in camera's, music play-back and improved internet connectivity for a new game and application download service called DSi Ware.

New 360 firmware to feature game installs

The Xbox 360 has always had its share of hardware problems. One of which was that the system runs louder and has longer load times than the competing Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. With Microsofts new firmware they plan on ending that with the ability to install, much like most Playstation 3 games.

How does this benefit players? When running a game off the hard drive the system doesn't have to work as hard and there's no need to run the laser to read the disc, which means the system runs nearly silent, according to early play tests. However, games will also need to take up a lot more space on the hard drive (Fable 2 takes up more than 6GB) which may account for Microsoft upping the standard hard drive on the Pro model 360 to 60 GB (from 20). Needless to say, to take full advantage of the new feature players may want to invest in the Elite model 360 with it's 120GB Hard drive.

Just like the Playstation 3, even after installing a game on the 360 players will still need the game disc to run the game.

Since the system will be less strained and run cooler when playing an installed game, it's very likely that installing games could solve the 360 overheating (red ring of death) problem. The problem was ramped in 2005 when the 360 launched, and has since been stabilized with the new "falcon chipset" that allows the system to run cooler. Now with the game installs it may be possible to completely remove all risk.

However, unlike the Playstation 3, players will not be forced to install games to play them. If you want to save space on the hard drive or if you play on an arcade model and don't want to invest the extra money into an Xbox hard drive you can continue to play the old way.

LittleBig Planet-wide delay

Even though LittleBig Planet, the sidescroller for the Playstaion 3 with a focus on user-made content, has already shipped, Sony has requested that it be returned to the manufacturer.
Apparently during quality assurance Sony discovered the game had a song with two lines from the Qur'an. To avoid anyone getting offended, Sony has issued a world-wide recall on the game.
The game has been pushed "until farther notice". There is a good chance the game will not hit shelves again until early next month.

Nintendo to launch a series of Wii-makes in Japan in 2009

Last week Nintendo of Japan announced a new line of Gamecube game remakes for the Wii dubbed "Wii De Asobu Selection".
Reported by Ign.com and Kotaku.com last week, the Wii will be getting reworked versions of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Chibi Robo, Mario Tennis, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 Echoes, Pikmin and Pikmin 2.
So far the games are only confirmed for Japan, no word on North American or European releases.

Nintendo addresses Wii storage problem

Since the Wii was released in 2006 one of the biggest problems Wii owners have had was having enough space to store all their downloaded content and games. At the conference in San Francisco Nintendo has finally addressed the issue publicly.
Nintendo siad that games will be downloadable directly to SD cards soon. Does that mean we can load and play striaght off SD cards? Lets hope so, or else this announcement was moot.

More in-depth look at DSi

The DSi is Nintendo's redesigned DS unit with added wifi, photo and music-playback functionality.
There were and still are many nay-sayers on the DSi that think that anything beyond the DS lite is not nessissary, looking back on the Gameboy Micro. The Micro was concidered a flop by most people. It removed Gameboy and Gameboy Color backward compatability and shrunk the screen size by 1/3. Nintendo promised a number of accessories for it that never saw the light of day (there was never any additional face-plates, link cables or wireless addaptors released for it).
But rather than being just a slimmed down DS lite (which it is) it adds all kinds of new functionality to the unit.
The feather in the DSi's hat is the dual cameras, one inside the unit, between the screens and one on the back of the unit on its outter shell. The inner camera is less powerful, comparable to most low end cell phone cameras at 0.3 megapixles. The outter camera is more of an all-purpose lens that has a much higher 3.0 megapixles. Photo editing software will also be built-into the DSi, much like the Wii. Photos players manipulate can be sent to friends online.
As for music play-back, so far Nintendo has only said it will play AAC format music files so you can "easily move songs from your computer to SD cards". That was the only format mentioned for the music playing function, no word on MP3s. The DSi music software will also allow players to manipulate their own music by speeding up and slowing down the tempo as well as other things such as being able to break down the song so you can listen to only the vocal track or just the instrumentals.
Nintendo's plans for the camera and music player goes beyond simply making the DS into a portable multimedia player.
"You have to understand that we didn't set out to create the world's best camera or the world's best music player," said reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America.
The idea behind the camera and music player is to push innovation in gameplay farther. Incorperating the camera and your own music into games much like they already have with the mic and touch screen on the older model DS systems.
What this also means is in the future we can expect a line of DSi exclusive software that can not be played on the DS or DS lite.
Beyond that it will have added online functionality. While the DS can play on the Nintendo Wifi Connection for online gameplay the DSi will also feature a modified version of the Opera web browser on the Wii and a game download service called DS ware, which will use Nintendo point cards like the Wii ware and Virtual console. DS ware will feature new games for download with prices ranging from free to 800 points.
There was no mention of Pictochat yet which means that it will either be removed or completely unchanged.
No word as to when the DSi will be available here in North America except that it will be "well into the 2009 calender" year which sounds like it will likely be sometime this spring. Hopefully at the turn of the new year Nintendo will give us a more solid release date.

DSi import only until 2009

The mega popular Nintendo DS handheld is getting a face lift and a pretty new hat, but looks like we will be waiting upwards of 6 months to try the new hat on.
Yesterday in Kyoto, Japan, Nintendo of Japan showed the snazzy new DSi unit, the latest in the DS line that is something of a missing link between the DS and some kind of crazy next-gen handheld.
The DSi will have not one, but two built-in cameras, one on the outer shell, which will be a 3.0 megapixle lense, and a second inside the unit where the mic is placed on the current DS Lite, which will be 0.3 megapixles. Clearly the external camera is meant for general use while the internal one is planned to be Incorporated into gameplay in some way or another.
Additionally the DSi will feature MP3 playback, which means no more dealing with external flashcards to play music on the DS. but does this mean we will be getting a sound card upgrade in the DSi? I can say from experience that the DS Lite, while not bad, didn't exactly provide the best audio quality when using MP3 flashcards.
But where will all your photos and music be stored? The DSi will feature built-in flash memory (exactly how much Nintendo has not yet stated, but I'm going to ball-park somewhere around 256-512 MB) and will also have a slot for an SD card for memory expansion. Hopefully Nintendo has learned its lesson with the Wii and will allow us to save to and load directly off the SD card from day-1.
According to Nintendo, on top of that, the screens will be 17 percent larger and it will be 12 percent slimmer. But in order to slim it down in such a way Nintendo had to sacrifice the GBA port, which will surly upset a number of people, namely those of us who play Guitar Hero On Tour and do not have access to the a working Gameboy Advance.
But the fanciest part of Nintendo's new hat is yet to come. Much like the Nintendo Wii, the DSi will have a download service called DS Ware, new downloadable games that can be purchased, like Wii Ware games, with Nintendo points cards. DS Ware will range from 200 points - 800 points depending on the game. Some applications will be free, like the new Wii Channels.
And when can we get our filthy hands on the new unit? Only Nintendo knows, and even they don't really seem to know for sure. Nintendo of Japan will be launching it in their region on November 1, 2008. As for Nintendo of America, the only thing they have stated is that it will launch here "well into calender 2009". So it looks like we will be waiting upwards of 6 months for the fancy new hat.
"There is currently still much demand for the current model of the DS Lite in the US," said Nintendo of America's president, Reggie Fils-Aime. According to him the DS Lite has already surpassed 2007s record-breaking DS sales by 22 percent and they plan on continuing with it at least until the holiday season is past.
Looks like we will be getting our fancy new DSi next year, but Nintendo is reluctant to set a date as of yet. Guess we will just be left waiting until next year.