Iwata: DSi launching worldwide by summer 2009

by Ross Miller { Oct 31st 2008 at 11:30AM }

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has announced that the Nintendo DSi will be shipping overseas "by summer 2009," narrowing the previous US launch window of "well into 2009" set by Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. According to Reuters, Iwata said, "Specific plans will be unveiled by our local subsidiaries, but an autumn or year-end launch would probably be too late."

As of this writing, the DSi is now officially available in Japan. The DS Lite's launch spawned some iconic photographs of people waiting in seemingly endless lines to pick up the portable. That doesn't seem to be the case this time. According to ground reports from IGN, many stores in Tokyo opted to take only pre-orders and/or set up raffles where winning customers could come by at anytime that day to pick it up. Hype-inducing photo ops: Denied.

Tags: dsi, europe, nintendo-dsi, summer, summer-2009, us

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

religiousjedi @ Oct 31st 2008 11:33AM

I wanna love you too iDS...er, DSi. But my Lite and iPhone are happily married!

D:

Mr Khan @ Oct 31st 2008 11:35AM

Fah. You can't trust Nintendo of America to import anything anymore. Not with Reggie's recent trash-talking of Disaster, as if it were beneath NoA's notice

I wouldn't be surprised to see them go back on that

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 31st 2008 11:49AM

If you've seen the recent reviews of disaster then yeah I can see why he's skeptical....then again all they're releasing over here is absolute shit so I'd rather see that over here than wii music.

samfish @ Oct 31st 2008 12:00PM

err...what reviews would lead you to believe that? Most reviews are giving it a solid 8/10.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 31st 2008 12:07PM

The 50, 60, and low 70 it has so far. I also take away the nintendo magazine score, as that's hard to take seriously. Don't worry I do the same for ps3 and 360 too. I've never heard of any of the other places giving it an 8 so far except for IGN, but I've heard of the others so it's easier for me to take them seriously.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/disasterdayofcrisis?q=disaster

samfish @ Oct 31st 2008 12:20PM

I think you're being far too negative on it. Famitsu gave it a 8/8/8/7 (which, if I did my math right, comes out to a 78).
Regardless, the bulk of the MC scores have it above 8.0. Even if most reviews were giving it a 7.0, that is NO reason not to put a game out. A 7 might not be a GREAT game, but it's not a horrible embarrassment that should never see the light of day, either.

iag25 @ Oct 31st 2008 12:21PM

Disaster Day of Crisis is a great game. Has like Time Crisis 2 elements with some rpg elements (upgrading and equipping items). The wiimote function is also not overly used. Usually used to rescue victims and perform action sequence. IMHO i think it is on par with warioland.

tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 31st 2008 12:31PM

"A 7 might not be a GREAT game, but it's not a horrible embarrassment that should never see the light of day, either."

I agree there, but it was far from the scores I was expecting due to all the fanboy hype I saw going from site to site. I guess that's more my fault then anyone else's though for listening to random fanboy #40 on message board X.

Nigeria @ Oct 31st 2008 12:37PM

If you remember playing Virtua Cop in the arcades, or have any sort of attraction to light gun games, then you'll enjoy Disaster. It has flaws, but the good far outweighs the bad.

Mr Khan @ Oct 31st 2008 12:39PM

I've heard most of the faults come from the game's variable graphical quality (some parts look great, some look shit), and bad VA

Otherwise, it's supposed to be a good use of the Wiimote, in that it does have a lot of different gimmicks, but the recurring reviewer theme is that "none of them outstay their welcome"

Dragod @ Oct 31st 2008 11:37AM

Meh... without a GBA slot, it's not really worth it. I'm still using my DS Phat, anyway...

D_Average @ Oct 31st 2008 11:52AM

No thanks, I bought an ipod 4 years ago with more space.

iofthestorm @ Nov 1st 2008 4:18PM

Congratulations, you are winner of useless comparison of the day! Would you like your facepalm in ASCII, or JPG?

D_Average @ Nov 1st 2008 4:33PM

Congratulations! You're the winner of most ignorant reply of the day. The DSi ONLY plays AAC format rather than the more common MP3. Common sense says that anyone with a library of AAC's would already have an ipod thus negating the purpose of the DSi's existence.

Lonecow @ Oct 31st 2008 11:56AM

I hate that I'm actually considering buying this. All the extra features sound stupid, like they did on the Wii, Photo Channels and music options I never use.

But oh God do I use the VC and the absence of the GBA slot does suck, BUT if I can get those same games saved to the internal memory of the DS, then that is a convenience that is worth the money of rebuying the games IMO. I know a lot of people don't agree with that, but I think I might actually have to invest.

Though not on day 1. I want to see what games are offered first. But if Zero Mission and Metroid Fusion are there Day 1 then sadly so will I.

samfish @ Oct 31st 2008 12:22PM

Only downloadable games are region locked. Regular DS games aren't.
Still kinda sucks, but hardly is surprising.

naxe @ Oct 31st 2008 12:49PM

@ samfish

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2008/10/06/nintendo-dsi-is-region-locked/

it is locked.

Markez @ Oct 31st 2008 12:46PM

Whoa whoa whoa, what's this about VC? Can you play Wii VC games on the DSi, or does it have it's own VC now? Fill me in!

Lonecow @ Oct 31st 2008 12:51PM

The guys on the 1UP podcast Retronauts said it will have a VC but no one knows what it will include. They speculate Gameboy and Gameboy advance games.

bm @ Oct 31st 2008 1:12PM

Naxe: I suggest you re-read your own link.

Lonecow: you're damn right people wouldn't agree with that, in fact, with the volatility of butthurt hateboys across the internet I believe they would be absolutely lynched if they did that. It's not gonna happen.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 31st 2008 1:15PM

naxe

Read your source, please. Only DSi software, which will be DSWare... not DS games.

Anticrawl @ Oct 31st 2008 1:16PM

The lack of the GBA slot is awesome, glad they finally removed the damn thing. I never used mine on my DS Phat or Lite. I have a Gameboy Micro Famicom that I picked up at walmart for 25 bucks for that, slips easy into my pocket, goes everywhere I go and always has a copy of SMB3 or Astro Boy in it.

Lonecow @ Oct 31st 2008 1:29PM

@bm

Right.... because people have completely rejected and lynched Nintendo over the VC or the re releases on XBL. lol Oh wait.

And it is actually easy to obtain a lot of Nintendo and SNES games for cheap still, but Gameboy games are impossible to find. AND you can't even play old Gameboy games on a DS Lite anyway. I doubt that many people would be as outraged as you say.

Plus they said the highest priced game is 8 bucks. 8 bucks for an awesome GBA game, even if I already have it, I've gotten whatever I've payed originally use for it, and $8 isn't that big of a deal. It is a changing landscape of how we receive product. We pay now for convenience, not for a physical copy. It is a strange concept for a lot of people, especially those who like to pirate games, but ultimately it is a model we must learn to accept because it is going forward with or without our consent.

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Oct 31st 2008 2:49PM

If there are to be any retail DSi games, those will be region locked, too.

Nothing official on a DSi VC, but it does have DSiWare.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 31st 2008 3:32PM

They could put a variety of Virtual Console(should be Virtual Handheld >_< ) games on the DSi's Shop.
They are selling Brain Age 1 & 2 on the DSi Shop...

naxe @ Oct 31st 2008 11:59AM

Games are region locked?

No GBA slot?

Costs more then the current Ds lite?

The features for the camera seem cool but a little gimmicky.

The kind that get old real fast.

I dont know if it was just my brothers ds but you cant picto chat with anyone unless their in a 50 foot radius.

Chase @ Oct 31st 2008 12:10PM

Is this the first region-locked Game Boy? Prior to the DSi, I can't remember a Game Boy having region-locked games.

WorMzy @ Oct 31st 2008 12:17PM

Why does "wanna" have three n's?

By "shipping overseas" I hope that includes England.

Also, the games aren't region locked, just the downloadable content. The games aren't changing, ye ken?

WRE @ Oct 31st 2008 1:34PM

Come to Homer's BBBQ.

"The extra 'B' stands for BYOBB."

"What's that extra 'B' for?"

"That's a typo."

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 31st 2008 12:32PM

There are still a lot of confused people regarding the DSi...

The DS is not region locked: You will still can play your imported copy of Ouendan or Jump Superstar in your american DSi. The DSWare is the one that is region locked, simple because the network infrastructure.

The price will not be $180 dlls. Yes, in Japan is the equivalent of $180, but the DS Lite is the equivalent of $160 dlls in Japan. That's an increase of only $20.

The DSi does have less battery in the higuest brightness... one less hour... but, the DSi has an extra level of brightness. Five levels instead of four.

The DSi supportsd SDHC cards, and has WPA2 and Wireless G support for faster transfer. It also has increased RAM and processors to use only on the DS Broswer and DSWare titles, but not on regular DS games.

And the camera pics are not meant to be printed. They are only meant for use in the DSi. You can fully customize the DSi. You can download for example, Metroid skins, Zelda calendars, Animal Crossing or Mario clocks, etc. Most of that DLC is free.

Also, there are some interactive music visualizers: for example, there is a Mario visua;izer on the top screen. Mario is running automatically, and a level with a lot of coins and dangers is generated depending on the song. You then use the shoulders buttons to make Mario jump.

You can watch videos of all this information and a lot more here: http://tinycartridge.com/

Is the best site currently so see what the Dsi offers. Btw... the photo editor is great, specially the one to make a grayscale pic but leaving just one color.

naxe @ Oct 31st 2008 12:48PM

And you know all this because?

Superstar90 @ Oct 31st 2008 1:06PM

He left a link... duh!

I really want a DSi right, if you are right about SDHC support, it is sooooo awesome.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 31st 2008 1:10PM

Yeah, I'm right about the SDHC support. There are some scans from the DSi manual over NeoGAF, and it says it supports SDHC.

Maybe Nintendo will finally update the Wii SD to accept SDHC, because some people will want to use the DSi SDHC card on their Wii.

The Homebrew Channel already supports SDHC.