The most popular platforms (DS, PS2, Wii) will always be filled with shovelware.

Admittedly, there’s a distinct lack of non-games and games ending in “z” on the PSP. Or remakes of GBA games. Or floods of sudoku and condescending ‘training’ games. Oh well.

Sony’s comments can be taken either way. If Nintendo’s handheld audience is already so very wide then it’s fair to say it my not expand further with the DSi. See?

Reading comprehension. Get some.

But still, I did miss the “any time soon” and I apologise for that. That was my error. I’m far from infallible. …and now I’m being an apologixt, I’m Pe–no, I won’t go there.

Right, with that buffer there… I think the DSi is going to be a huge flop. From what I remember, it has a 0.3 (not 3, 0.3) megapixel camera, the same as very old cellphones, the SD card slot is limited to only 2GiB cards and less, and the battery life has been cut in half (as I know I’ve seen posted here). And I haven’t mentioned that it loses its GBA slot and therefore all backwards compatibility, too.

The only positives? The upper screen is now a touch-screen, and the screens are a tiny bit bigger (extra emphasis on the tiny bit). Oh and it’s a bit thinner, and it has an online shop thing.

Nintendo US is also hesitant to bring the DSi to America any time soon, and that’s probably because it sees the same thing. The DS Lite is great value for money at the moment, it’s a great earner for them because it sells so well, and people are generally enamoured with it. If they bring the DSi out, it might cause confusion with the DS Lite brand and actually bring negative press towards the DS in general which would reflect upon the DS Lite, potentially hurting sales.

Really, for the minor boons offered, I think the caveats are just too heavy. Nintendo loaded it down with too much useless junk, the camera and the SD slot they could’ve done away with, and they could’ve spent time ensuring that the battery life remained as it was.

I was enthusiastic about the DSi a bit ago too, when I thought that the battery life was the only issue… third party batteries can fix that. But when I read about the rest of its design flaws? Eesh.

So I think that the DSi won’t have much of an impact either, simply because it is a bit of diddling in my honest opinion. The DS Lite is a grand little hand-held console, and I think Ninty US would be wise to stick to their guns and stand by their stance to not bring it out too soon.

They need to see which way the wind blows with the device in Japan first, at the very least.

[Edited to add "any time soon", regarding the post below.]

Other than perhaps the Wii.