Nintendo DSi: Worth the Investment?

Nintendo DSi: Worth the Investment?

***Short one today, but the DSi is getting ready to hit North America, so here we go!***

Maybe not. It all depends on what you want to get out of your Nintendo DS. Below is a link to IGN's Nintendo DSi Starter Guide. I encourage you to read their guide before you read the rest of my article, so that your opinion is not skewed right from the start:

DSi Starter Guide from IGN.com

Now that you have read about all of the cool features and all of the 'new' things that the DSi can do, let me try to help you save a few bucks before you go out and buy the system on impulse.

First off, if you purchased this system for the long road trip to keep the irritants (read: children) quiet in the car, then stick with the DS or DS Lite. The new DSi has a shorter battery life by up to 5 hours as compared to its predecessors.

In addition, there is no slot for GameBoy Advance Games! While I understand that Nintendo is intending to bring the DSi more in line with the Wii and the Wii Online Store to download games and store them to the console to play for decades to come, let's not forget that while on the road, you probably are not going to have access to a WiFi connection while you trek through the Mojave Desert just as your AC decides it doesn't want to work anymore and you get a flat tire just as you travel out of range of the nearest cell tower.

Right now, I do not see any GBA Games available in the DS Game Mall, so I think Nintendo may have missed the boat on this one.

There are some added benefits to having the DSi as compared to the previous two models in terms of all of the cool technical aspects and added functions that it can perform. I intend to address these in a special article on Saturday, April 4th.

Until then, I felt the need to get this out to prevent unhappy customers on launch day.

To recap, if your primary reason for buying any of the Nintendo DS portable systems, is to keep the munchkins occupied on the long summer road trip, the small weekend trips, or just occupied at home in general, the DSi is probably not the system to go with.

With the shorter battery life and virtually half of the video games no longer playable due to the elimination of the GameBoy Advance Slot, the Nintendo DSi will end up being one of the most expensive paper weights that you have ever purchased.

Instead, stick with either the original Nintendo DS or the DS Lite. Both of these systems are readily available used from BRE Software in Fresno, CA. Or, if you are outside of the Fresno, CA area, check out the BRE Software Online Store.