Nintendo DSi Review

I've owned my DSi for almost a week now and have spent some quality time gaming with the little guy. I've found both good and bad points to having the new portable versus the old DS lite.

First and formost are my recomendations for upgrading. If you have a DS phat, it is time to upgrade. That thing is bulky, ugly, and has terrible screen quality.

That said, if you have a DS lite, I see no reason to justify the $170 price tag. I have owned a DS lite since it was first released in black and have easily logged 200+ hours onto that thing. There are simply not enough new features on the DSi to warrant an upgrade.

Why did I upgrade? Well I sold my DS lite to my girlfriend Emily and bought a DSi. I also wanted to upgrade my flashcard.

I have broken my review into categories. If you are interested in something particular, just jump to the bolded headings.

Asthetics DSi 10/10 <--- DS Lite 9/10
I absolutely love the feel of the DSi compared to the DS lite. The lite had that shiny/glossy coat of paint on it that aquired many, many fingerprints. The DSi has a matte finish which not only prevents fingerprints, but also makes the unit feel more "grippy". The colors are also very bright and solid. I'm glad that there are no dual color schemes (red/black, blue/black).

The buttons were all changed to use the "clicky" buttons like the DS phat and Gameboy SP. The power and volume sliders have also been changed to use the clicky buttons which is a big plus. No longer will I accidentally bump my DS up to full volume or have it turn off in my pocket!

The screen was made slightly bigger than the lite, but I can't tell the difference unless they are held up side-by-side.

The DSi also sports an SD-card slot which supports SDHC. I popped in my 8gb micro-sd card and it worked without a hitch. Having some extra space is nice, but the internal memory can store 400+ pictures and also has room for the downloadable apps/games. It's just a matter of time before the DSi firmware is cracked and you can play retail games/homebrew from the SD-card without the need for a flash cartridge.

I like the design of the DSi much better than the lite. It just feels good when playing games on it.

Cameras DSi 3/10 ---- DS Lite null/10
One word--Useless

The cameras on the front and back seem to be of the same quality--poor. The quality is good enough to trade pics with your friends and post on the internet, but not for printing photos. There is also a facebook button which uploads photos of your choice directly to facebook (no menus or anything!) Sadly, the camera/s are slow. It takes a long time to boot up the DSi and enter the camera mode (10 seconds?) After taking a picture, there is delay before you can take another one. Finally, there is no option for taking video. The DSi is obviously no replacement for a digital camera.

The image "morphing" features are cool little additions, but there really needs to be more options. Why are there no picto-chat features for editing images? I want to draw funny faces on my friends and add text! Also, why can't I take the "stamps" and apply them wherever I want? The face recognition is cool, but doesn't work half the time (i.e. when wearing sunglasses.)

The DSi doesn't need the cameras. They are never going to be used in retail games as the games must also be compatible with the older DS models. The cameras probably drove the price up too. *Sadface*

Operating System DSi 5/10 ---> DS Lite 7/10 ---> Wii 8/10
The built-in user interface looks very similar to the Wii. There are buttons arranged in a horizontal line on the bottom, while the top screen shows a random picture from your collection. Why is the interface not an exact replica of the Wii? Only 5 icons can be on the screen at any point in time, yor the rest you must scroll to the right. Annoying. Not to mention that by default all the precious screen space is filled up--Settings, Cartridge, Picto-chat, Camera, Microphone, Download Play.

Second, using the touch screen is mandatory... In some places. Everything on the main menu can be accessed using buttons. However, if you go into the options menu or camera menu, you MUST use the touch screen to select options. This is a dumb move on the designers part.

Finally, unlike the Wii operating system, you cannot access it during a game. This means you can't pause the game and take a quick picture. You also can't turn on and off the wireless card from in-game. If you are playing a game like Pokemon, you must make sure the wireless is turned on in the options menu BEFORE you start playing the game. It is not dynamically turned on and off as needed. Goodbye battery life.

Battery Life DSi 8/10 ---> DS Lite 10/10
I can play a game on the lowest screen brightness for more than a few gaming sessions. I hear it is worse than both the phat and lite, but if I don't have to charge it everyday (erm.. Smartphones) I am happy.

The charger is once again different than all the others. Why Nintendo changes the size and shape of the charging port is beyond me. It just creates more confusion and waste on the consumer end. Also, the part that plugs into the wall is slightly larger than previous iterations.

Downloadable Content DSi 3/10 ---> Wii 6/10
The downloadable content for the DSi sucks. Period. I can pay $2 to download a mario themed calculator. That definately won't be taken away by the teacher when I whip out my DSi during math class. Much of the content is simply stripped down versions of DS games. Puzzle League, Tetris, and Dr. Mario all have "express" versions for $5 which allow you to play the games that were released years ago. No online play, no wi-fi play, no extra modes, no stat collecting. I would much rather pay $20 and grab a physical copy of the game with all the extra features. That aside, it will be interesting to see what kind of games appear on the DSi downloads.

I have two big complaints with the entire system. First, the Wii and DSi are two separate entities. Even though both of them can be tied to the same Nintendo account, points and games are not shared. Now I have $15 left over from my Wii purchases and $10 from the free points that come with the DSi. Tracking this has got to be a pain.

The second complaint is that there is no virtual console on the DSi. That means no Mario or Zelda on the go. The system certainly has the power, but Nintendo fails again. I own the NES Mario Brothers on the Wii. I should be able to play it on my DSi. Period.

Game Compatibility DSi 10/10 ---- DS Lite 10/10
Contrary to popular belief, there is no region locking on the DSi. I popped in a couple of my Japanese games and they all ran fine without a hitch.

Of note, the North American DSi only supports menu languages in English, Spanish, and French.

Also notable mention, the DSi cannot play GBA games. That means no portable guitar hero and no pokemon ruby/saphire syncing. I can deal with that, I have a Micro for my GBA games (which I prefer to playing them on a DS Lite.)

Web Browser DSi 7/10 ---- DS Lite null/10
The web browser works better than expected. It is zippy as long as there is a solid wireless connection. I could use Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, and a few webcomic sites fully featured; None of that mobile crap. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because the user interface could be improved. Using the touch screen to browse is awesome, but using the buttons leaves much to be desired. Nintendo could have taken advice from the PSP on this one.

I hear the DS Opera web browser is really bad, but I personally have never used it.

Conclusion
If you don't already own some version of the DS, you should pick up a Lite or DSi. Is the DSi worth the extra $40 over the Lite? Probably not. While there are some noticable improvements with the system hardware, many of the "improvements" are quite gimicky.

The game library on the DS however is very strong. There are numerous 1st party sequels (Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Kirby,) along with many new game franchises (Pheonix Wright, Scribblenauts, Trauma Center, Proffessor Layton,) that will keep you playing for ages.

I know if you are a Sony fanboy I won't be able to sway any opinions, but I have owned a PSP for over a year and only played a couple of games I liked. The library has too many re-makes and sequels for my tastes. Not to mention that both the hardware and software are more expensive.

I'm happy with my DSi but I wish some of the features were implemented better. I feel that it is a good upgrade hardware-wise with the potential to see massive improvements. If the Wii was any indication, it could be years before Nintendo decides to fix these problems with a firmware update.

That's my 2 cents.

New Shoes

It's been a long time coming, but I finally replaced my old, beat-up running shoes. Mind you, these shoes have seen endless miles and have trekked all over Japan. I purchased them before going to Japan and wore them every day while I was there. Recently the rubber on the bottom has started to wear off and holes have been appearing on the top. I hate to retire the old guys, but when comparing them to my new shoes, they show their age.

That being said, I bought some new Asics on Sunday when I took Emily out shopping. I tried other brands of shoes, but Asics consistently fit the best. I didn't really buy anything else, but we had a good time window shopping.

On Saturday we had our bi-weekly Anime Ensemble meeting. We got to listen to our recordings of the previous song and practiced the new one. The club is actually going somewhere and has a definite direction! Yay!

Apple

Those of you who know me probably know that I hate Apple.

Why?

The same reason I hate Sony.

Their products are expensive just for the sake of being expensive. You pay for the brand. I can buy the same thing from another company that is of the same quality for far less.

Second, their proprietary software and hardware sucks. Why must Apple use a different format than everyone else? If I wanna hook my laptop up to a monitor I don't want to carry around an adapter cable. If I buy an mp3 player, I don't want to use the included headphones. If I wanna put things on my ipod, I don't want to use itunes.

And now that we are on the subject of itunes, I have been using it lately and I have come to hate it. First of all, I deleted the tunes on my ipod only to learn that I cannot sync it with my library.

Why?

Because I have an 8gb ipod nano and a music collection of 81gigs. Itunes says, "You don't have enough space on your ipod!" No crap! I want you to randomly sync music on my ipod so that I may hear random music in my library on the go. Itunes says, "Nope, you can't do that."

So I have to create a playlist that pulls 7 gigs of random songs from my library and manually sync them over. Fine. I can deal with that.

I've been listening to my random music at work lately and rating them on my ipod for future use. I figure it is a good way to organize my music by what I like and what I don't. Wrong.

You can't transfer song ratings from the ipod back to itunes.

You know why? Because syncing isn't enabled. I call SHENANIGANS

Oh and I just noticed this--When you select a song on the window there are 4 little arrows to click on. Guess what!

They link you to the song in the itunes store.

Now why in the world would I want to buy a song that is already in my library?

I'm glad I'm getting a zune now.



Edit: Also, I just noticed that I have duplicate songs in my library. Awesome. Also, itunes runs really slow when playing music and trying to browse my collection at the same time. Good job.

Where's the Exitement?

I post about the most mundane things on my blog sometimes... So where is all the excitement in my life?

Well I just don't talk about it after the fact.

For instance, Emily and I went to the airshow over labor day. We ran into a guy at the train station that had extra tickets. $20 for two was a sweet deal when they are $22 a piece at the door. We had a great time there. Lots of planes to tour and events to see, carnival food to eat (we split a turkey leg. I felt like a caveman holding that thing!) It was warm and the sun was shining all day...

Until it started raining.

We just stole some prime seats to watch the Thunderbirds fly when the rain started. It wasn't bad at first, we sat under my tiny umbrelly. Let's wait it out we said, the'll still fly! We should have ran for our lives back to the train station...

It started raining so hard that everything up to my knees was soaked. Needless to say the umbrella didn't help much. That was a cold and dreary ride home.

Did I also mention that my friends started a singing club called the Anime Ensamble? (I call it Ani-an.) The plan is to sing an intro/outro song from an anime as a group and add an Anime Music Video to it. We recorded our first song two weeks ago (Evangelion - Cruel Angels Thesis). We get together every 2 weeks at CWRU; The first week to practice a song (pronunciation, meaning, ect.) and the second week to do the recording. During free time we work on the AMV together. Cool stuff.

In gaming news I just beat Batman Arkham Asylum and Gears of War 2. Right now I'm playing Fable 2.

In electronic news I sold my laptop and DS lite to Emily. She bought me a blue Zune HD 32GB in return, which will be shipped as soon as Microsoft makes more. I also ordered a blue DSi (to match the zune and replace my lite,) along with an 8gb micro SD card, M3i (for playing Japanese games as the DSi is region locked,) and Pokemon Platinum. I'll make more posts on the full review of my new purchases in the upcoming weeks.

There is a lot happening, I just don't post about it all the time >_<

100

This is my 100th post on this blog. Of course, I logged 205 posts on my Japan blog and 11 on my Goemon blog before the movement of time put an end to those, but I still feel that this is a good accomplishment.

My cousin is in Japan. Read about it on his blog

http://deceive-regret.blogspot.com/

In other news, I have now owned my new motorcycle for over a month now and already sprang a flat tire. It took me over a week, but I finally got it fixed and ready to go. I will buy a new tire before next spring because plugged tires are not exactly the safest thing on the road (especially when there are only 2!)

Speaking of which, I have a running list of things to work on during the winter. The list is rather long which begs the question--Was the bike worth the money? The answer is slowly turning into a no because of all the miscellaneous things I need to do. The right front fork needs fixed, new rear tire, new brake pads, new turn signal, 5th gear needs fixed, and I want to clean up the engine/fuel tank. It looks like the bike will be a money sucking black hole, at least for the winter. At least it will be a good introduction to fixing motor vehicles.

Origami

It is similar to papercraft but has 2 crucial differences: There are no scissors or glue involved. Paper is folded to make cool shapes.

I recently got involved in modular origami at work. Modular origami can be created by using mathematical equations and has limitless possibilities as long as the equations are not broken. Each piece is made up of "modules" or multiple pieces of origami all folded the same way. The pieces fit together using pockets and tabs to form interesting shapes (or an uninteresting cube).

I've created 3 pieces so far: cube, gyroscope, and greater stellated dodecahedron consisting of 6, 12, and 30 modules respectively.

Each module is made from a 4.25" square cut from my daily morning meeting sheet. It's one good way to recycle. I just wish I had more colors....