Nintendo To Take On Apple With DSi App Store 165
Dave Allen writes "Despite Nintendo publicly claiming no direct competition with the iPhone or iPod Touch with its new DSi console, reports have been leaked about the Big N actively encouraging developers to begin work on small form gaming and non-gaming applications for the DSi's download service.
This is the first step toward Nintendo putting together a direct App Store rival, and could be the marketing hook it's been desperately searching for to convince gamers to upgrade their DS." It seems only fair that since the iPhone is now a gaming platform, the DS is becoming a PDA. And, if the only difference between them is a 3G wireless connection, the rivalry can only get more fierce.
Re:Only difference? (Score:5, Informative)
The DS has an ARM7TDMI and ARM9 inside. The former is clocked at something like 33MHz, the ARM9 (which is used primarily for 3D rendering) at 67MHz. Specs are a little skiffy on the DSi, but the primary processor is an ARM9E at 133MHz. It also has 16MB of RAM, which is something like four times the capacity of the regular DS.
It should allow for some much improved games.
Re:SDK? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:SDK? (Score:5, Informative)
~$2,000 last I checked. The price isn't the problem, it's getting into the program that's the problem.
Re:Pulling i out of thin air? (Score:3, Informative)
Wii? DSi? Sounds like a combination of the DS and Wii names to represent this has pulled feature ideas from the Wii generation.
What did you want them to call it? The DS Lite Plus?
Thrashing (Score:3, Informative)
while you raise a good point, it isn't particularly hard to re-invent paging. ;)
When you reinvent paging, you reinvent thrashing. The PocketNES emulator for Game Boy Advance had a version that ran on the GBA Movie Player, and before heavy optimizations were done to free up some more space for the paging system, Kirby's Adventure thrashed the crap out of the emulator's 192 KiB page buffer.
Re:In other words... (Score:3, Informative)
Not at all. The Nintendo DS has sold over a hundred million units; that's 2-3 times more than Apple has sold iPhones.
And the DS has been out 2-3 times as long. It's not just the iPhone, but also the iPod touch, as well as any future iPhone OS devices that the DS will compete with.
Re:Really bad summary (Score:5, Informative)
People won't be choosing between iPhone or DSi. They are completely different devices.
I own a DS Lite & an iPod Touch. If I had a DSi, there might be times when I'd buy downloads for it instead of my iPod Touch, hence there would be competition.
"Leaked"? It was in the press release. (Score:5, Informative)
Centering the image, for one (Score:4, Informative)
Re:But... (Score:4, Informative)
.
True, you can use a DS with gloves or a stylus when it is cold out.