hawthorngallery.net

The Nintendo DSi was launched in the UK on 3rd April – how is it doing? Reaction to the Japanese launch in November 2008 was spectacular, with 172,000 sales in the first week, but let’s be modern here and check the progress of the DSi by that barometer of opinion, Twitter. “Me and @simonriding just bought a Nintendo DSi and GTA Chinatown Wars. Fun times ” says rBex – sounding good so far… “Finally found an awesome case for my new DSi!!!!” is MagnificentMel’s contribution, still, she sounds pretty happy. I’d like to know what makes that case awesome but I guess there are only so many characters in a tweet… Personally I want a DSi not to play games on, but to have a laugh stretching pictures of peoples’ faces, creating cartoons in the Moving Notepad application then adding sound with the built-in microphone – basically being a bit creative and a bit silly in equal measure. One of the new features is an audio player, compatible with AAC (iTunes style) files but not MP3, with various filters and time-stretch effects to play with. Similarly the cameras at 0.3 megapixel VGA may not be amazing quality but the scope for editing and generally having fun is huge. There are around eleven different special effects, from face recognition to morphing together of images, mirror effects and comparison of facial qualities to calculate how much you look like your friend. Having said that, some of the games they have in Japan do sound pretty good, so who knows? The new games are bought online form the DSi Shop using DSi Points (formerly called Wii Points). You can buy DSi consoles in all the major retailers.