DSi Unboxing, First Impressions
Wow. This thing is awesome.
The latest update to the Nintendo DS line - the DSi - finally released today, and boy is it hard to put down. Let me show you what it’s all about. Hey, the bigger guys can get to do their own “unboxing” special reports when they get the systems ahead of us regular folk, why can’t we join in the fun, too, right?
This is the DSi box. Slightly wider than that of the DS Lite, and with the nifty new icons and… what’s this? If you sign on to the DSi shop you get 1000 free DSi points! Sweet.
The open container, with the multitidue of instruction manuals - Quick Start Guide and full-on bathroom reading-sized guide, in English, French, and Spanish. Nintendo loves money, hates trees.
The guide, new charger (yes, new - your old DS Lite one won’t work, sadly), and… THERE IT IS! The gorgeous new system.
Comparison shot of screen and body size next to the DS Lite. It’s going to be hard to put down my Zelda edition Lite, but that blue is so damn tempting. And you know what else is? The DSi Menu and features. Hey, I have a picture of that, too!
So there you have it, folks. My very own DSi, prepped and charged and ready to go. The menu is a breeze to navigate, either clicking with the directional pad or sliding a scroll bar on the bottom of the touch screen. The internet connection works very well (better than the Wii normally does, actually), and linked right up with the DSi shop, where you can download the free Opera browser. That’s right, no more searching eBay and bargain bins everywhere for that lousy browser attachment for the DS and DS Lite; now you can have your very own, stored in the DSi’s internal memory. And it provides a good, functional version of the web. I hit on GameLemon’s homepage in no time and was able to scan around to different sites as well.
And the first game I tried in it - the newest release, Rhythm Heaven. And oh man is this game a blast.
The demo is available on the Nintendo Channel on the Wii, which you can then transmit to your DS (any version). If you haven’t tried it already, I highly recommend you do so, soon. Well, what you should really do is go out and buy the actual game, but if you don’t have $30 laying around or just want to wait until a less ungodly hour of the night to do your game shopping, then by all means, download the demo and enjoy. I’ll have a full report on the title soon enough.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:40 am
awesome report, man. Incidentally, I really like that charcoal black look that (through the magic of photography, I presume) you have in that last picture
they should totally come out with an official version just like that 
April 6th, 2009 at 7:01 am
Yeah, it was after 1am and I couldn’t get the lighting perfect, and the flash wouldn’t cooperate. There is a black version, but it’s a true, matte black, not a charcoal like you said. I’m sure there will be more colors sooner or later. Give it a few months.
April 6th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Oh man I’m jealous! I finally got around to buying a DS Lite last October from my new job monies and now it feels like old news. At least it can still play Gameboy Advanced games (and other things…cough). Do you think that rumor about the blue DSis and Dragon Quest 9 is true?
April 6th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Oh don’t worry, my DS Lite isn’t going anywhere. Among those “other things” you mentioned, I still want to pick up one of the newer Guitar Hero games at some point (Decades or the upcoming Modern Hits). But yeah, the DSi is pretty damn cool - especially the menu system, the browser, and the fact that you don’t have to completely shut down the system if you want to switch game cartridges (what a novel idea!) - just tap the power button once to go back to the menu, swap games, and push play again.
What DQ 9 rumor are you referring to? The only exclusive DSi’s I’ve heard about so far are the Kingdom Hearts and Ace Attorney editions (both Japan-only for now).
April 6th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
That is a nice bonus, I like the idea of that menu system. Ah, I finally found what I was talking about earlier: http://kotaku.com/5156158/lets-get-a-good-look-at-that-blue-dsi
I’m just thinking…who in their right minds would choose such an awful blue for a release color? No offense to your new DSi =]
April 6th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Oh, I see what you’re saying - that the blue one was perhaps supposed to be bundled with Dragon Quest. Well, I actually think it’s a cool color, and at the very least a bit different from the black. That one’s cool, but it’s so plain, and after owning a white DS Lite at one time, and now having the gold one, I figured that the more colorful option was the way to go.
As much as I don’t really WANT to spend an extra $170, I’m still holding out hope that they’ll make a green one with a Triforce on it when the new Zelda comes out. We shall see, I suppose.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
You’re right, black and white do get boring. I bought the sparkly pink DS Lite last year, which is surprisingly a nice champagne-rose color. One of my friends, a manager at Gamestop, told me last year that they were going to bring out another Zelda themed DS Lite with a triforce on it…but alas he got my hopes up (maybe it was a cruel joke).