Even more on analogue to digital interfaces.
Image via Sydney Morning Herald
A poll of the office here as well a scan of the blogs bring a fairly tepid response to the new Nintendo DSi. However I am optimistic that it’s actually going to prove to be a pretty significant leap forward when all’s said and done.
From a feature standpoint, there’s not a lot to mention:
- Slimmer, smaller form factor
- Larger screens
- 2 x built-in camera
- Updated Wii-style interface
- Music playback
- Photo manipulation software
- DSi Shop/DSWare download service
- Increased internal memory / SD Card support
- No GBA port
But I think that the dual cameras ought to enable some pretty revolutionary new gameplay. I don’t think that Nintendo really means them to be image capture devices. Instead I think they’re meant as input-capture devices. Dual cameras mean that the movements of two people can be captured at the same time and mapped onto the same field of play. I can imagine lots of scenarios where this could be really revolutionary. Or consider that dual cameras could allow for some pretty amazing augmented reality gaming as one camera captures your surroundings, another captures your actions and the game maps both together.
Combine this with some other new input devices that are starting to appear and the DSi could do for portable gaming what the Wii did for living room games.
I see this as another example of a couple of trends that I’ve been following over the past year or so. The rise of analogue to digital interfaces or the importance of measurement are both facets of a desire to digitize aspects of our physical world so that the associated data can be manipulated by services. The value that the DSi will bring won’t be in its hardware as much as it will be in its software. Value isn’t in things it’s in the services that ride on top of those things. I also think this can only be good news for cash strapped manufacturers as they look for new ways to delight their customers.
Tags: Nintendo DSi
Matthew Erickson Says:
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pmI have to say I have much less faith in Nintendo’s ability to actually realize the potential of the dual-camera interface. They have an unfortunately long history of creating peripherals (and other hardware iterations) that offer unique opportunities to both first and third-party developers which are never realized. And I say that as a proud owner of a DS Lite. Even the very heart of the DS (the touch screen) has been marginalized to some degree. When offered the choice between the d-pad/buttons combo or using the stylus I personally have nearly always opted for the buttons for reasons of accuracy, simplicity, and lack of hand cramping.
Obviously there are some games inseparable from the stylus (Trauma Center, Hotel Dusk, Nintendogs, and to some degree Animal Crossing). However, I feel as if the DS development community has discovered a few key methods to integrate the stylus into gameplay and then just recycled which has been mirrored on the Wii.
Perhaps it’s the nature of the market and a mere symptom of ballooning up-front investment by developers (and thus, less willingness to take risks) but I feel as if Nintendo needs a disruption from within (to take their ideas even further) just as they have shaken the industry with the DS and the Wii. And (as you say) that begins with software.
Then again, I hope I’m totally wrong and Nintendo shocks us all.
adrian Says:
October 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pmHi Matthew, you’d probably know better than me but I have to think that Nintendo’s ability to execute is better now than its been for over a decade.
They are flush with cash from the Wii, and while PSP sales are improving, it seems Sony are still sticking with the basic platform and not really innovating.
So Nintendo’s got a big warchest and no close competition breathing down its neck. A perfect time to really move things forward. If they can’t do it now it will be a real shame.