Order the Nintendo DSi here

Nintendo DSi

The Nintendo DSi features two cameras and an audio player, and when announcing this Nintendo were very aware that most mobile phones have a better camera and an audio player, and were keen to point out the difference;

"You might share the impression that since many of today’s mobile phones already incorporate similar camera and audio player functions, this news many not seem to play any significant role in further expanding DS. Whilst these functions for mobile phones are offered as extra utility tools, we would like to propose with DSi the entertainment value of playing with and enjoying visuals and sounds by using these functions in more proactive and fun ways in your daily activities."

By this they mean that manipulating the images and sound will be the big thing for the DSi games console, and have suggested some uses for this already.

Audio

Changing the pitch and speed of a track separately by using the Touch Screen

Slowing down a language course to make it easier

Playing with the speed of a music track for special effects

Using the 'repeat run' feature to repeat a section of music or speech for easy learning

Using the built-in microphone to record sounds

Images

Using 11 types of lens in the software for different effects

Changing the image to black and white

Retouching portions of the image with different colours

Combining two faces and comparing features with the face-recognition engine

The DSi Camera and DSi Sound

Image Manipulation

While the DSi cameras are only a modest 0.3 megapixel the potential for image manipulation and creative fun is great thanks to the built-in software. This includes 11 types of camera lens simulators which filter and overlay effects on the picture in real time. These include;

Colour - turn the whole picture from colour to black and white, replace colours and retouch certain areas

Add graffiti to pictures

Face recognition technology - you can combine two faces using different features from each, or go for the comedy basics by adding on glasses or a moustache... You can also take two faces and use the software to compare them and tell you how similar they are with the face-recognition engine

Combine pictures to make a composite image - these can be made up of pre-installed frames from the DSi or frames you produce yourself

Playing with Sounds

The Nintendo DSi has a music player called the DSi Sound which can play AAC audio files (not MP3 files). However, as with the camera Nintendo don't want it to be seen as just an audio player, they want people to "enjoy playing with sounds";

You can separately change the pitch and the speed of the music or speech. Normally when you increase the speed of a recording the pitch will rise with it, so this independent control makes for a lot of creative options

You can also use this for more practical reasons, as described above, such as slowing down a tricky guitar solo to help when learning to play it, or slowing down a language course

The DSi Sound has a repeat feature which is also useful for audio learning

The DSi has a microphone and this introduces a new dimension - you! The ability to record sound and get creative with it makes this much more than "just an audio player"

Storing Your Work

Thanks to the SD card slot on the Nintendo DSi you can store what you've created and share it with others. Any data you want to use in the DSi Sound needs to be in AAC format on the SD card and storing photos on it means you can view them on a Nintendo Wii as well.