Nintendo Black DSi

When you open up the device you’ll see that screens have been upgraded with a size increase. The DS and DS Lite had screens measuring 3 inches but they now measure 3.25. The difference won’t blow you away but it is noticeable and very welcome. On top of that the screen can get even brighter than on the DS Lite. Disappointingly the screen resolution hasn’t been increased but it isn’t really required as the old screens’ resolution looked just fine as they were.

Because of the bigger screen and smaller size of the system the battery life has been reduced a little bit.

Of course the main feature of the black DSi is its two cameras. The outer camera is found on the top corner of the outer casing. This camera is positioned to point outwards while the Nintendo console is in use. The other camera is found on the hinge on the inside of the casing and point towards whoever is holding the system. Both cameras have a resolution of 640x480 (so you can forget the rumours that one of the cameras had a 1.3 megapixel resolution). This resolution isn’t great but it’ll do fine for the screens on the device.

To go into snapshot mode, press the L or R button when you’re in the menu screen. The lower screen has controls which let you switch from the inner to outer camera. You can also take photos when you are using the camera software. In the software you are given a range of photo editing options which run along the top of the touch screen. These allow you to quickly apply different effects which can be a lot of fun.

The DSi black software also contains a draw mode which lets you use the touch screen to draw on your photos. In this mode you can also place premade images such as hearts, stars or speech bubbles on your photos (like Japanese people love doing in those photobooths). You can also add a Mario mask, distort the picture, add a filter or use the kaleidoscope effect on your photograph. The software also includes face recognition which lets you add features such as cats ears which will automatically stay in the correct position on the person even if they are moving (through the live view rather than in a still photo).

One of the more disappointing options on the Nintendo DSi console is the morph mode where you take a photo of two people and supposedly morph from one person to the other. Unfortunately the morph effect looks more like a simple dissolve effect from on image to the next.

The old system menu has been replaced with a single line of icons which you can scroll left and right and then tap the icon for the application you wish to use. As new applications which can be downloaded from the shop have are installed, new icons for them will appear on the menu. When you first get your white or black DSi you will be able to pick from the following: Settings, Game, Camera, Music, Shop, Wi-Fi and Pictochat. One handy improvement I noticed was that you no longer need to turn the system off before swaping a game cartridge.

The Nintendo DSi console is back in black. One of the most popular of the two original colours of DSi console is the black DSi.

If you're from the UK and want to know more about the Black DSi you should visit our sister site. It contains all the information you could ever want about the console for people in the UK. The truth is that it is doesn't make any difference what country you are in, it will be just the same, but that site is more focused with a British audience in mind.

One of the best features of the black DSi Nintendo is, like the white DSi, its camera. The Nintendo DSi console has a camera on the inside and outside. As the black DSi is a fairly cheap device in comparison with the likes of mobile telephones, the camera is not of the same quality in resolution. However Nintendo are not trying to compete on camera resolution, rather they are trying to attract people to their camera by adding fun to it. Different effects can be added to the display in real time, so you see the effect before you take your snap-shot. These include 11 different filters such as black and white along with a range of frames to add humour to the images.

 

Nintendo DSi Black

A more exciting prospect however is the use of the cameras in games. One of the hit Christmas toys of 2008 is expected to be catch a beast, which is played by detecting motion as the player moves the machine around to find beasts. This is similar to a mobile phone game called mozzies which has actually been around since 2004 but never received the success it deserved, possibly because it was only found on less main stream mobile phone brands, namely Siemens. The game would display the camera's output on the screen and show a vast amount of mozzies flying over the real image of the surroundings. The playing would have to move the phone to shoot the mozzies, as the game detected how the phone was being moved by using the camera. It was great fun and everyone who played it seemed to love it.

Similar games could easily be designed for the Nintendo black DSi. This gives the black Nintendo DSi console another form of interaction. Not only will the cameras detect where players move, but also where the black DSi console moves. On top of that it features the standard DS forms of interaction, the microphone, touch screen and standard buttons.

Black is the colour, of my true loves hair, but it's also the colour my future Nintendo DSi console.

The Nintendo DSi black is one of the most exciting games systems of recent times as far as upgrades go. Generally upgraded consoles change little more than their appearance and price, but DSi consoles black matte finish is really just the tip of the iceberg. That's not to say the Nintendo DSI console's black matte finish isn't cool, it is very cool. It stops you getting greasy finger prints all over your console.

Nintendo DSi White | Nintendo DSi Console | blue DSi