Mobile Phones Blog

The Nintendo DSi – the future of mobile gaming?

October 28th, 2008 by Thomas

The recently announced Nintendo DSi comes with a lot of spec and features that don’t sound at all out of place on any of the just released smartphones; 3.25″ touchscreen, Wi-Fi support, built in web browser, music player, camera, and the ability to download games; it’s only the lack of any calling or texting features which stop it from being sold on contract in the local Carphone Warehouse or something.

The new handset, which goes on sale in its native Japan on the 1^st of November (followed by an early 2009 worldwide release), follows on from the DS Lite, and incorporates two VGA cameras, which will be integral to some game titles, and can be used to take pics of mates’ faces and the like.

As the pictures here show, the DSi also comes with a microSD card slot, yet another feature synonymous with mobile phones. Naturally, the entire internet has been busy pondering about when or even if Nintendo will (hopefully) follow this leap forward with a DS phone.

It would make sense, seeing as the iPhone can handle titles such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sony (apparently) will be releasing a PSP Phone, Nokia are still surging ahead with their N-Gage series, and, well, who knows what might crop up on the G1 and future Android handsets?

Speaking of Android, the DS already has a dedicated fanbase of developers creating homebrew software, such as DS Linux, a which runs Linux on the DS (no, really?) and NitroTracker, a popular tracker (virtual music sequencer) program, and so the implementation of an Android-style open platform, or even an App Store-esque proprietary system (most likely) would be a wise move.

The pics on show here, from Nintendo.co.uk offer a tantalising glimpse of what might be in store for us in the future.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 5:13 pm and is filed under General, Google, HTC, Mobile Gaming, Nokia, Smartphones, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.