Honza

Few more

1. Pikmin 3 gets announced
2. Wii gets USB external Hard Drive support
3. Ability to install game disks on the hard drive (like X360 has) - requires point 2
4. Wii gets downloadable game demos - requires point 2

While I believe that point 1 might happen, I guess all three following points are no chances (although I would like them).

Well, what do we know about the region-lock?

1) We know that original DS games are not-locked. But you can still play them on your current device, so they "don't matter" (unless your current device brakes), they are not the drive behind new features.
2) Will DSi retail (non-DS) games be region-locked? Not sure, I hope not, I guess probably.
3) Will DSWare (downloadable) games be region-locked? I guess definitely.
4) If I have an imported device and my friend does not (so the devices are different regions), are we able to play a game from point 2 or 3 in multiplayer together?

Answers to these questions can decide. If the only restriction is point 3, then I will get it. If point 2 applies as well, it will be dificult for me to decide if I import. If point 4 is bad, then I'm definitely not going to import.

Honza

Currently we have two DS-Lites. One turqoise (my son's) and one cobalt/black (my own). The turqoise we bought in England for about $180, my own imported from U.S. for standard $130. In my home country, Czech Republic, DS Lite costs about $230. Same hardware, nearly twice as much...

In my comment for "Will you get it" article, I wrote that I like the new DSi features, but hoped for more. I also said that if some nice limited edition comes out, I might swap DS Lite for DSi.

Limited editions are so rare in Europe, and especially in our country. And I just don't want the ordinary design that everyone else has. Even now I have design that is not released for Europe. You may consider it strange, but design is important for me.

As DSi will be region-locked, this makes it worse. Importing it from US under such conditions? No - I probably could not play DSi multiplayer with other people here. Buy it ĺocally for double the price? Don't want that. And it's not so easy to import it from England, as their shops usually don't send hardware outside their mainland, so it would be just in case I would travel there for some other reason.

And the official reasons for region-locking? Mockery. You can easily do parental control and such things without hardware region-locks. Just lets user set the country/region in the options if you really want it. Region-locking is just a cash-cow.

Bad, Nintendo. You wanted to make more money from me not to import my next console from U.S.A. Well, seems I will probably not buy it at all then, so you will not earn more, but in fact you will earn less. I will not buy DSi and I will not buy DSi games...

What can make Nintendo revise region-lock policy? If DSi is commercially unsuccessful. If people don't buy it, especially in Europe (and probably continue buing DS Lite, if still produced), they may notice what they did wrong.

For me there are some un-answered questions...

Will the Wi-Fi contain WPA?
Will the built-in browser support Flash etc.?
Is the ROM updatable, so later they would add some new features via firmware update?

I like the new features, but I hoped for more. I don't know whether I'm getting it. If a nice limited edition design comes out, then I might swap my current DS for DSi. But I'm definitely not in a hurry to get it asap. Time will tell...

- updatable ROM, so we can download (over internet) new firmware with new features (and of course Nintendo updating the DS firmware)
- WPA/WPA2 support for Wireless
- Web browser built-in, with Flash support
- MP3/WMA player buit-in
- Video player built-in
- SD/SDHC card slot
- Picture slideshow - put SD card from your camera into DS and show the pictures, on both screens :-)
- Skype/Windows Live Messenger software built-in
- Video output so I can connect it to TV
- Most of the points upward would require more RAM, but this is more technical than feature request
- Bigger displays
- DS contains calendar and clock, so built-in organizer with possible ActiveSync synchronization with computer would be really nice touch.
- public API and development tools, that would enable anyone to make/port apps for DS
- last, better hardware could bring fancier games and I believe that now, 4 years after introducing the first DS, it would be affordable to put there faster CPU etc.