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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: NWR_pap64 on October 29, 2009, 10:27:59 PM

Title: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NWR_pap64 on October 29, 2009, 10:27:59 PM

The new handheld features larger screens, a bigger stylus, and three pre-installed DSiWare titles.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=20215

 At a press event in Tokyo, Nintendo officially announced the Nintendo DSi LL, a new DSi model that features larger screens.  Rumors of the handheld's impending release surfaced earlier this week.    

To be released on November 21, 2009 in Japan, the Nintendo DSi LL will have two 4.2-inch screens (in place of the 3.25-inch screens on the current DSi, and the 3-inch screens of the DS and DS Lite). The screen area is 93% greater than that of the older DS models, but will retain the same amount of pixels.    

The DSi LL will come in three colors: Dark Brown, Wine Red, and Natural White. It will also come with three pre-installed DSiWare games (two Brain Training games and a dictionary), and a thicker, larger stylus. The LL will be priced at ¥20,000 ($220), slighter higher than the price of the current DSi.    

The DSi LL will be known as the DSi XL in North America and Europe, and is set to be released in the first quarter of 2010.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on October 29, 2009, 09:36:03 PM

I think the current DSi has 3.25" screens, not 3.75".

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NWR_Lindy on October 29, 2009, 09:43:45 PM

Fixed.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: brian577 on October 29, 2009, 10:35:27 PM

They make the system bigger, but they couldn't bother to put the GBA port back in?  I would've been sold if they had, guess I'll stick with my DS Lite

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Shorty McNostril on October 30, 2009, 02:20:05 AM

Pixel stretch FTW!!!

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Nemo on October 30, 2009, 02:36:40 AM

I don't think this is intended as an upgrade... just an alternative choice for people who have worse eyesight (or want a larger screen for some reason).

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on October 30, 2009, 03:09:00 AM

Nintendo is certainly taking the Apple model of marginally updating hardware to keep sales strong. I remember a time when the significant majority of Nintendo's profit came from software, and not hardware, sales. (This is speculation, but come on--you have to wonder about the profit margin on this device.)

Edit: According to Wikipedia, the original (brick) Game Boy had 144 x 160 pixels and a screen size of 66mm diagonally, which comes out to:
  width = 66mm * sin[Arctan(144/160)]
  width = 44mm
  144 / 44 = 3.26 pixels per mm = ~83 pixels per inch

The DSi LL has 256 x 192 pixels and is 4.2 inches diagonally, which comes out to:
  width = 4.2in * sin[Arctan(256/192)]
  width = 3.36 in
  256 / 3.36 = 76 pixels per inch

Ouch.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: GK on October 30, 2009, 08:28:58 AM

Quote from: brian577 on October 29, 2009, 10:35:27 PM

They make the system bigger, but they couldn't bother to put the GBA port back in?  I would've been sold if they had, guess I'll stick with my DS Lite

Ditto. Well except that I'm still using a DS Phat but you get the idea.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: MegaByte on October 30, 2009, 08:34:40 AM

Pokemon Mini ~67 ppi

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on October 30, 2009, 12:16:05 PM

Old people don't play GBA games.  Kids like Nintendo fans are too small to be playing grown-up hardware like this.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NWR_insanolord on October 30, 2009, 01:30:52 PM

Space constraints were only the public justification for the removal of the GBA slot; the real reason they took it out was to kill the homebrew carts that used it.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: WuTangTurtle on October 31, 2009, 02:28:43 AM

I can see some sales for this.  I've had many friends tell me they love the DS library of games but hate the small screens.  One particular friend of mine loves tactics rpgs but has a hard time finding console releases as most of these are on handhelds now.  If only Nintendo would copy the tv connection feature the PSP has.

Personally though I'm not buying it....said no to the DSi and I'll say no to this one as well.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on November 02, 2009, 04:41:10 AM

I see this as appealing to older casual gamers who normally would need reading glasses to use their DS. This is in line with the bundled apps, and they wouldn't care about the resolution as much.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Crimm on November 02, 2009, 12:11:01 PM

I know my parents can't see the DS screen, and I doubt the DSi is much better for them.  The DSi LL is massive compared to the original DS screens, and the screen on the DSi is light years better.  I assume the new DSi LL/XL screen will be equally good.

The odds they'll be able to see it are markedly better as a result.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Ian Sane on November 02, 2009, 02:04:11 PM

Nintendo's switch from being the company that makes the best games to the company that makes tons of superflous hardware no one wants, needs or asks for is quite irritating.  What's wrong with selling games and making a profit on that?  Why feel the need to "trick" people into buying hardware they don't need?  No one needs a second DS.  If DS sales have slowed down because everyone in the target market has one that's GOOD.  Make new DS games and that huge userbase will buy them.

This all just seems like short term gain that sets you up for massive backlash later on.  Nintendo's reputation for portables is now that if you buy one there is no security.  With the console/portable videogame model the whole idea is you buy this standard and that is the standard for a few years.  But with this?  DSi is not really a new format but it has games incompatible with the old model so it is technically new.  But it hasn't even been a year and they've got a new model.  And who knows when the true next format comes out?  Is it years away or is it going to be announced mere months from now?  Who knows?  You can't trust them.  And then you're really just the lesser of two evils and all it takes is someone who doesn't manipulate and jerk around the buying public and you're screwed.  It happened to Nintendo already before but they didn't learn.  When you're the number one videogame company and you start acting like you can do anything, you're going to crash hard.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 03, 2009, 12:34:32 AM

I feel like Nintendo has pretty much become Apple.  They'll be rolling out incremental updates on a yearly (handhelds) and semi-yearly (console) basis from now on.  I'm waiting for them to announce a 720p Wii any minute now.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: MegaByte on November 03, 2009, 03:33:12 PM

Is this really much different than what Sony's been doing for years?

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Ian Sane on November 03, 2009, 04:55:02 PM

Quote

Is this really much different than what Sony's been doing for years?

Yeah, but Sony kind of sucks at it.  Nintendo is doing this from a position of power.  So it comes across more as customer manipulation while Sony's is more like laughable incompetence.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: vudu on November 03, 2009, 05:16:37 PM

Ian's right--the original PlayStation and PS2 were utter failures.  And all those Walkmen/Discmen they put out back in the 80s and 90s barely sold anything.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 04, 2009, 12:49:33 PM

The PSP is really the only system Sony's made that you can say that about.  The slimline PS2 was nothing different from what every console maker has done with every console since the Atari 2600 - release a smaller, cheaper version as costs went down and components got cheaper and produced less heat.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: MegaByte on November 04, 2009, 01:09:03 PM

There were like 10 different versions of PS1 and PS2, with various ports added/removed, but nobody cared.  Also, there was the PSX.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: Ian Sane on November 04, 2009, 02:47:08 PM

Quote

Ian's right--the original PlayStation and PS2 were utter failures.  And all those Walkmen/Discmen they put out back in the 80s and 90s barely sold anything.

I assumed the comment just referred to the PSP since like the DS it has had numerous variations in a small period of time and also has a sorta-new-but-not-really model in the PSP Go.  Let's compare apples and apples here: portables to portables.

Sony's plan: you're not buying our PSP.  Maybe if we introduce new models with new features we'll eventually release something you'll buy.

Nintendo's plan: you have a DS.  Everyone has a DS.  Maybe if we introduce new models with new features you will buy another DS that you really don't need at all.

I consider that to be a huge difference.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: vudu on November 04, 2009, 03:38:08 PM

If you don't need a new DS don't buy one.  Why continue to manufacture and sell a technology that was designed 4 years ago?  Release a better product so you'll get new and repeat customers to buy it.

Are you pissed off at Panasonic because they released a new television 2 years after you bought your TV?  Are you mad at Honda because they're not selling the same Accord you bought in 2003?  Why should Nintendo--or any console manufacturer for that matter--be restricted to only come out with a new product once ever 5 years?

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on November 04, 2009, 04:14:46 PM

Quote from: Vudu

Are you pissed off at Panasonic because they released a new television 2 years after you bought your TV?  Are you mad at Honda because they're not selling the same Accord you bought in 2003?

I would be if I had to buy that new TV to keep watching the latest and greatest programming.
I would be if my current one broke down and everything I bought for it only works with the 2003 model.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: vudu on November 05, 2009, 01:57:23 PM

Quote from: BlackNMild2k1 on November 04, 2009, 04:14:46 PM

I would be if I had to buy that new TV to keep watching the latest and greatest programming.

Um, this happened back in June.  :D

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on November 05, 2009, 02:11:09 PM

no, you just needed a small digital box upgrade. and it was Free and works with all current and past television capable of receiving a cable connection.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on November 06, 2009, 12:27:00 PM

I'm starting to think I want a DSi XL.  I have big hands, and though my eyesight is pretty good I tend to hold my DS Lite pretty close to my face anyway.

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: mac<censored> on November 15, 2009, 08:13:35 PM

I don't know why people are whining about this (ok, ok, I know, "people like to whine").

The "dsi phat" doesn't just have a bigger screen, the unit itself is much bigger (for obvious reasons), so there's a clear tradeoff between screen size and portability.  Many/most people who are happy with the existing DS/DSi won't want to carry around the bigger and clumsier Phat, but people with vision problems may find it a welcome alternative, and people who avoided buying the original because of the small screen may be tempted by the Phat.

So really it's an attempt to widen their audience and offer alternatives for people with different needs.  This seems quite reasonable to me...

Title: Re: Nintendo Unveils the Nintendo DSi LL/XL
Post by: KDR_11k on November 16, 2009, 07:54:59 AM

I have a DSi and I don't feel cheated by this announcement because I don't need a bigger system.