DSi Almost upon the English World

Nintendo has committed a release date for the DSi in North America, Europe and Australia this spring but there are still holes and unrest in the future of the unit.

As announced last Wednesday by Nintendo, the new DS update will become available outside Japan in the first week of April with Europe being the first region outside Asia to get the unit on April 3 and America being the last to have it released on April 5.

For those not in the know, the Nintendo DSi looks, essentially like a DS lite, only with two camera lenses (one inside the unit next to the microphone and another on the top the outer shell). Inside the unit has done away with the GBA port, allowing the unit to be slimmed down slightly, the screens are slightly larger (but display the same resolution), and has modestly upgraded guts with a more powerful CPU and about twice the RAM as well as more up to date wireless technology. In addition to this the system also features built-in memory that can be used to store the photos taken with the cameras, AAC music files for audio playback and even store downloadable content, in the form of DSiWare stand alone games, similar to the Wii’s Wii Ware or Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade.

In North America the unit will be getting its own unique colour. Alongside the standard black DSi available since last November in Japan, the United States and Canada will also get a unique (and gaudy) cotton-candy blue unit. Surprising since this means doing away with the white unit that would have been a match with the current Wii model. This almost implies Nintendo is looking to get away from the (seemingly) Apple computers inspired clean white look of the original DS and Wii. After all not too long ago Nintendo discontinued the white DS lite unit in North America in favour of the new silver unit.

The new colour has been met with mixed reactions (mostly negative) but I, for one, embrace it. Sure it’s not the cobalt I was hoping for, but it’s certainly different and since I’m sure most people will flock to the standard black unit, it will certainly stand out in a crowd.

Another thing that seems missing at the moment is that the DSi will apparently not feature any DSiWare content at launch in English-speaking regions. This implies one of two things; either there simply isn’t any English DSiware ready yet or Nintendo of America is taking the safe route and not immediately supporting the download service until they know there is a sizable audience for it. Considering that a number of people are waiting on solid DSiWare support as a deciding factor in whether they upgrade to the DSi or not, this could become a catch-22. Nintendo won’t support DSiWare because nobody will buy the DSi but people won’t want to buy the DSi until DSiWare is better supported.

That or maybe Nintendo is just holding off on the DSiWare announcement until closer to the DSi release date. There is still a good 5 weeks or so before the unit hits store shelves so maybe they will try to reignite the hype fires a little close to the shelf date with news on some solid DSiWare releases then. A boy can dream.

One last interesting bit of info. While Game Stop stores in the United states opened pre-orders for the unit the day after Nintendo announced the release date the Canadian affiliates, EB Games, have yet to begin to take orders, at least in the Greater Toronto Area.

More ports on the way from Square-Enix

Can't stop living in the past? Good news, Squenix's got you covered with a new port announced by ign.com today.
This time it is a 3D-o-fied remake of the Game Boy's Final fantasy Legends II (which was actually part of the SaGa series in Japan) to be released on the Nintendo DS sometime this year in Japan. According to Famitsu, the game will be remade in full 3D (ala: Final Fantasy III & IV on the DS) and may or may not be cel-shaded. Also there will (obviously) be major updated made to game core game system.
More on that when details are available.

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.