The DSi is Freaking Weird

The Nintendo DSi released in north america (the only continent that matters) today to some mixed anticipation.

I was first in line this morning to pick it up. Initially, I had thought I would pass on Nintendo’s latest handheld effort because I was perfectly happy with my DS Lite. But then, I had been happy with my DS “phat” too until I realized it had really been an ugly piece of hardware. Now I’ve thrown my Lite into oblivion and embraced the DSi if for no other reason than because I have no self control. Also it has two cameras. The DSi isn’t much lighter/thinner than the Lite, but it was still the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box. It’s amazing what such a minimal decrease in size and weight can do. The system is far more portable than ever before and it feels great. The glossy finish on the outside has been replaced by a matte sort of…. thingy. I don’t know the technical term, but all I can tell you is that I prefer it. It feels great and it looks at least 3/4 slick.

When I first turned on the device it decided to walk me through some things. I set up my language and birthday among other things. All standard things that must be done. Then the system forced me against my will to take a picture of myself. Said picture now serves as a sort of wallpaper image which graces the top screen when the system is on its main menu. Speaking of the main menu, it has more in common with an ipod cover flow than anything else. It’s not quite so sharp in look, but you do flick menu items around before deciding on what you’ll do. It’s pretty spiffy, to be honest. You can even back out of games and go back to the DSi menu by tapping the power button (not holding it down) which is great since the DSi is far more useful now even when you’re not playing a game. Plus with the short bursts of fun iWare games provide you’re going to want to switch games without powering the system off repeatedly.

So far I’m pretty happy with my purchase. I assumed the device would not be at all worth buying, but despite the supposed “minimal update” to the DS hardware I’ve found myself toying around with a lot of camera features and even some of WarioWare Snapped (which I’ll post impressions of later if someone else (iKevin) doesn’t first. However, the device has caused me to look at myself a lot more with the camera tool and I’m just not sure how I feel about that. I feel weird.