Items tagged with DSi
Hey, you there, are you about to purchase a Nintendo DS XL or DSi handheld game console? Well, don't! It's not that we have anything against either of Nintendo's predecessors to the 3DS, it's just that word on the Web is that some pretty big price cuts are in the pipeline, so if you pay full price today, you'll kick yourself in a couple of weeks. Here's the deal. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo is going to slash the price of the monster-sized DS XL to $129, down $40 from it's current $169 selling price, and the DSi to $99, down $50 from its $149 selling price. When? May 20th, which is a week from Sunday. Those are pretty significant reductions for consoles that are...
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Grim news and missteps dominate our console news this week. Sony advised investors that it was headed for its 4th straight year of posting an annual net loss. The company's underperforming TV business (now eight years in the red) was a significant drain on the company's finances. The company blames "a decrease in LCD television sales, reflecting price declines due mainly to deterioration in market conditions in the US and Europe and unfavorable foreign exchange rates." Hardware revenue declined "reflecting a strategic price reduction of PlayStation 3 hardware in advance of the year-end holiday season," while software sales have been markedly down for all platforms the last three months. Sony...
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Sony announced today that its upcoming PlayStation Vita, the updated handheld slated to replace the PSP, won't launch in the US or Europe until early 2012. That's a bit surprising considering that electronics sales seasonally slump in the first quarter. The company also stated that it has no plans to sell its television manufacturing business, despite losing money on that market segment for the past eight years straight. "Televisions are a core business for Sony and it would be unthinkable for us to shrink that business," executive deputy president Hirai said at the company's Tokyo head office. While it's true that TV's remain a high-visibility area for Sony products, the company has struggled...
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There's news from the 3D sphere of both Sony and Nintendo today and neither company sounds particularly cheery. On the Sony front, 3D development chief Mick Hocking has advocated that developers only use 3D when it actually improves the title as opposed to tacking it on as a bullet point feature. "It's been a good first year," Sony's 3D chief Mick Hocking told Eurogamer in an interview this afternoon. "We've got 50 million PlayStation 3s that support 3D playback. 3DTVs are selling well. We've had great response from our fans out there at game shows and forums about the 3D games we've produced. But the most important thing is 3D quality." "We need to, and we're trying to encourage everyone to...
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Nintendo has taken a page from Sony's playbook, even as the video game giant struggles to recover from the impact of its decision to remove Other OS support. The Free Software Foundation recently examined* the EULA and privacy policy Nintendo attaches to the 3DS; both are far more draconian than corresponding agreements for the DSi, DSi XL, DS Lite, or original DS. Let's start with the privacy policy. The two documents are organized differently; a careful comparison indicates that the DSi policy matches the 3DS policy on nine of the latter's ten points. The missing point (ix in the 3DS agreement) is the importance differentiator. It states that Nintendo may collect Personally Identifiable Information...
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After a strong initial release, sales of Nintendo's newest 3DS have slumped significantly. The company had planned to sell at least four million units by the end of its fiscal year, but only moved 3.61M. During his speech at the company's investor conference, company CEO Satoru Iwata said the latest handheld required a different approach. We have revised our scenario for diffusion and are making efforts to get the popularity of Nintendo 3DS back on track for the upcoming summer season... The value of 3D images without the need for special glasses is hard to be understood through the existing media. It is clear from our market research that many people feel that they 'want' and 'want to buy' Nintendo...
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Now, here's a tactic you don't see very often. In fact, we hesitate to even call it a "tactic." Most companies are deathly afraid of letting impending price drop information leak before the drop actually happens, primarily in fear of the information slowing existing sales. Not so with Nintendo, which just announced quite boldly that they will be dropping the price of their Nintendo DSi and DSi XL systems nearly 2 weeks from now. In other words, this is the moment when you put a hold on your DSi/DSi XL purchase and wait for September 12th to roll around. Nintendo's gaming handhelds have long since been the most popular around. Sony has struggled to match the popularity, and with the 3DS just around...
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Oh, boy. 3D really might be taking over the world. In all honesty, we won't believe that until Google announces a 3D version of their search engine, but believe us, it's probably already in the works. Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be another 3D announcement on the horizon, Nintendo (of all companies!) comes out and hits the world in the face with this one: a 3D version of the popular DS portable gaming handheld. As you may expect, Nintendo will be calling the system the 3DS, which just happens to work out really well for them. But what's interesting isn't that a company who broke new ground by introducing the world to motion gaming (with the Wii remote), but how it'll be done....
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Uniforms, tighter schedules, banning of cellphones; could school possibly get any less organized? We're sure it could, but the higher-ups at Nintendo want to affect schools in a positive way by introducing their products into them, of course. We have previously heard of Dance Dance Revolution being used in select Physical Education programs in order to get students to become active when they otherwise wouldn't, but we have yet to hear of any school making a sweeping measure to accept gaming consoles as a part of their teachings. Nintendo Game Designer, Shigeru Miyamotocredit: Associated PressShigeru Miyamoto, who has had a hand in some of Nintendo's most popular titles,...
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Nintendo's next-generation, up-a-size DS model (the DSi XL) is set to launch in just over a month and the company lifted the lid today on what we can expect at launch. For those of you who aren't in the know, the upcoming DSi XL is a 'large' revision to the DSi's form factor. The unit's iconic twin displays offer 93 percent more viewing area, battery life has been extended from an estimated 9-14 hours with the DSi to 13-17 hours on the DSI XL, and the XL ships with two styluses—one large, one small. Unlike its predecessors, the XL isn't following the tinyfication trend—it's bigger, chunky but very touchable and somehow sleek. The unit's glossy lid has been variously praised for its appearance...
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Talk about an interesting decision here. As Sony plans to pump up its PSP Go for the holiday season, Nintendo is going to attempt to pedal its existing DSi even though the whole world now knows that a larger version is on the way. That's right, an enlarged DSi. For years, the DS has been slimming down, but now it seems as if Nintendo's research has found that at least some of its potential customers would prefer a larger screen. The DSi LL (or DSi XL, as it'll reportedly be known as in Europe) will feature an expansive 4.2" display, which is just about twice as big as the display on the current DSi. Curiously, the resolution will be exactly the same, so you'll be carrying around a larger...
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We've always heard that wherever there's a will, there's a way. That's exactly what SanDisk believes, as its newest memory card lineup targets gamers who actually think a specially labeled flash card will work best in their new handheld. Of course, we can't fault the marketing here--we're sure it'll work to some extent, but largely this is just new memory sizes with new labels (and a price tag to compensate).The new 16GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) is being hailed as the perfect accessory for the flash-only PSP go, while the 32GB Memory Stick PRO Duo and Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo cards are compatible with the original PSP. Finally, the 8GB SDHC card looks to add storage to Nintendo's DSi system. Honestly,...
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Nintendo announced a slew of releases today, including the launch of Wii Fit Plus and new colors for the DSi.Starting Sept. 13, Nintendo will sell white and pink versions of the DSi system, in addition to the blue and black already out there. Perhaps they figured more girls would be likely to buy if they had pink? Unclear, but just like the original colors, the two new hues will have two cameras and interactive options allowing users to "create and manipulate pictures or sound in fun and creative ways." No extra charge for pink or white - just like the original colors, the suggested retail price will remain $169.99.Not to channel the spirit of Billy Mays, but wait! There's more!Wii Fit Plus launches...
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Do you know what happens when you sell millions upon millions of units with no signs of slowing down? A couple of things, really. First off, your investors rejoice. Secondly, the planet's most pervasive social networks wants everything to do with you. Starting this week, proud Nintendo DSi owners here in American and in Japan can access Facebook Connect right on their handheld, which is a definitely step forward in finally taking advantage of the Wi-Fi capabilities that Nintendo oftentimes downplays in its machines.Using an Internet-connected Nintendo DSi system and the Nintendo DSi Camera application, Facebook members can take pictures with either of the system’s two cameras and upload their...
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Gamers are well aware that E3 is just around the bend, and whispers are sure getting hopes up around the web. Microsoft is expected to unveil a motion sensing system to compete with Microsoft's Wii, Sony just might debut a new thin PlayStation 3, and the PSP just might snag game rentals and music downloads. According to various sources, we're learning that Sony may be in serious discussions with "some of the major recording companies" after offering up music downloads via the PlayStation Network, and considering just how successful iTunes has become (and the tiny fact that the PSP has a music player already built-in), this all sounds like a match made in heaven.In related news, curious surveys...
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We know this is going to simultaneously take you by surprise and crush your dreams, but the price of Nintendo's Wii isn't going down anytime soon. Sure, there's some sort of a "recession" going on (or so they say), but video game sales haven't been hurting. Especially not in Nintendo's world. If you'll recall, the company just shipped its 50 millionth Wii console, and up until recently it's been practically impossible to find one in stock in retail stores. Needless to say, demand has been outstripping supply for some time now, and thus, Nintendo has absolutely no reason to cut prices in order to get units moving even faster. Amazingly, Wii sales have actually slowed a bit in Japan, which prompted...
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Gamers across the pond (meaning Europe and Japan, specifically) have been able to handle Nintendo's smallest and most powerful DS system yet for some time now, but at long last the pleasure is finally coming to those who call North America home. Starting this week, gamers with a thirst for more on-the-go fun can part with $170 in order to bring home the much hyped DSi handheld.Early reviews have found the upgraded device to be far superior to its two predecessors. The loss of the GameBoy Advance slot is a surefire downer for those who adore legacy titles, but pretty much everything else is a definite leap forward. For starters, the display panels are enlarged, while the overall casing is smaller,...
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Um, what? Frankly, that's the reaction we have after digesting an absolutely absurd -- and borderline comical -- new PR snippet from Sony. Given that April 1st is well behind us, we're left to believe that John Koller's statement regarding Nintendo's DSi launch is completely legitimate. For those unaware, the smallest and most powerful DS yet is launching today in the United States, and rather than just pointing out facts about the PSP's superiority (the ability to play back UMD movies, a long history of downloadable content, an expansive 16:9 display, etc.), Sony Computer Entertainment America's Director of Hardware Marketing had this to say: "If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader,...
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It's tough to fathom that it was 2004 when we were drooling over Nintendo's cutest, if not a touch bulky, handheld ever: the DS. Originally hailed for its groundbreaking usage of dual screens (one of which was touch-friendly), the system was a runaway hit from day one. Here we are, nearly five years later, listening to Nintendo gloat about an astonishing sales figure.On March 6, 2009, Nintendo shipped its 100 millionth Nintendo DS system, which includes the original DS, DS Lite and the DSi, which is out in Japan and coming soon to American shores. It took a grand total of four years and three months for global sales of the DS handheld to top 100 million, which is a milestone reached at the "quickest...
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This is even worse than a pay toilet! In Finland, you'd better have a cell phone if nature calls. As a result of continued and endemic vandalism, the Finnish Road Administration has developed a system which allows travellers to open the doors to roadside toilets only by sending a SMS message to the number given by the Road Administration.The new system was introduced in January in the rest areas along Highway 1 in Paimio and Salo near Turku, following numerous breakages, arson attempts, and thefts in the buildings housing public conveniences for motorists.In reality it makes sense. Perhaps this will convince the few people we know who do not have a cell phone it's time to change....
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