DSi in North America on April 5th

Yes, finally the most solid of announcements has arrived. Nintendo of America has announced that the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo DSi, will arrive on our shores coming April 5, 2009. The system will retail for an MSRP of $169.99; which is just $30 more than the current DS lite, but equal in price to a core PSP-3000.


As you can see above, the DSi will be launching in two colors for North America: Onyx and Blue, dropping the White model previously available in Japan. Also interesting, Nintendo has taken the Sony approach of adding icons to the package to display what the system can do, such as: doubling as a bag, capable of receiving waves, and granting you permission to speak with a box. But seriously, it's just pointing out the camera, mp3, DSi Shop, WiFi, and chat abilities.

Also on April 5th, Nintendo has announced that Rhythm Heaven will be released... thus forcing me to get a DSi. Why? Because I'm still using a DS Phat, and I planned to get Rhythm Heaven at launch; if I'm going to be at the store on thesame day .. I might as well buy the system. Plus, for me, the DSi isn't going to replace my DS Phat, as in my mind it's more so a different console than DS lite was. For one, there's no GBA slot, so if I want those features of certain DS games, I'll need my old one still, but at the same time it has DSiWare and camera features that can be used in games; it's not just a new body with brighter screens.

So, yes, hopefully this April you can look forward to both coverage of the DSi launch, as well as a Rhythm Heaven review. See you then!

Full press release at Nintendo Press Room
Official website: www.NintendoDSi.com