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Derived Regulation

Harnessing tech to address a nation's challenges

by Lim Sheng Ming , Brunei Darussalam

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Nintendo is giving me a birthday present, but I have to buy it

Oct 6, 2008 20:32

If I am knowingly guilty of anything, it's being a Nintendo fanboy. Maybe Nintendo knows this and has chosen to release its new handheld console, the Nintendo DSi, in Japan just days before my birthday. I usually wait for the early adopters to get hit by hardware faults, bugs and recalls before I lay down my money. But here's why I want a DSi now.

It's the audio playback capabilities that convinced me. That's probably the strangest thing you've heard all month, but the DSi's in-built capability to slow down tracks makes it the perfect companion for listening to my Japanese lessons on-the-go. The DSi will also allow me to mark out parts of the track for repeat play; instead of constantly rewinding tracks I can just mark out the conversation section and listen to my heart's content. As an aside, I'm surprised none of the mainstream media players (Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc...) have these capabilities out-of-the-box. The closest thing I've found is Winamp, but it requires the PaceMaker plug-in.

The browser. Developed by Opera, the browser uses the dual screens in such a simple way it's astounding: The top screen displays a zoomed-out view of the Web page, while the touchscreen shows a zoomed-in view. As a Web developer who understands the constraints of ever shrinking screens, the DSi's implementation looks intuitive, elegant and ultimately usable. Genius.

The screen sizes are also slightly larger. I'm not sure if that'll help any, but here's hoping! Maybe my eyesight's going, but the DS's screen is too small for my liking.

The DSi also sports two cameras. Honestly, I'm not that crazy about them. Then again, I didn't really care when iPods started displaying photos, either. I'm betting a WarioWare release for the DSi will make use of the camera: "Take a picture of something red!"

On the other side of the coin, there has so far been no mention of battery life. That's never a good sign. Gone are the days of the Game Gear's "6 batteries for 5 hours", but it'd still be nice to have an indication of the length of time between charges.

Like the iPods, the DSi is both smaller and thinner than its predecessors. My current DS is already too small for my hands, forcing me to hold my thumbs at awkward angles. Maybe it isn't the size of the console but the shape? Maybe Nintendo should lose the rectangle and look into something a bit more ergonomic.

The DSi has also dropped the Gameboy Advanced slot, which means no more backward-compatibility. It's unfortunate but bound to happen eventually. Get over it, Internet freaks!

Only 21 more days before the DSi is released. I'd better go line up!

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zorkor

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zorkor says...
The new DS really does look impressive. I hope they keep it well fed with more and more cool games unlike PSP which is dying for new games.

I might consider buying this new DS after the earlier one stopped me due to its smaller screen size.

Best of luck dude!

Oct 08, 2008 07:30

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About Lim Sheng Ming

Tired of relatives misspelling his name, Lim Sheng Ming christened himself "LSM". Born in Brunei, he is currently based in intoxicating Japan where he is supposed to be doing research. A published writer, an accomplished Latin dancer, a Tai Chi practitioner and a committed Lifehacker, he still finds time to follow standards-based Web development and promote Internet accessibility. He is also one of the few who have switched from a Mac (but don't judge him for that).