Gaming Graphical Improvments on DSi

[kennypu]

I'll just hope Nintendo will stall NDS life longer with new NDS versions, I don't need a camera on my DS, my CyberShot is there for obvious reason

BTW, now NDS has touchscreen, camera, and microphone, it's so interactive, wonder what will be implemented on Nintendo's next handheld? NDSi has taken everything an interactive handheld can have except graphical power

true true, i believe all they have to do now is add a built in motion censor, and it'll be complete -.-, maybe a pencil sharpener too :3. Anyways, I just found out(from my mommie xD), that the DSi will most likely not be region-free. meaning it will have regions. I expected this since there will be more interaction between the wii, and the wii is regioned. but this is only for DSi only games/apps, and normal DS apps won't be affected. FAWK!! though, the pre-ordering taking forver =.=. i've been looking on amazon every day every hour now :3. only places are cheap jpn sites that take around $230 for the pre-order. so BS!!

 

[nin10do]

isn't there going to be something to prevent the game to look pixilated?

lol they're not adding a 42 inch tv to the dsi, its just a couple of millimeters. i doubt the change will even be noticeable.

 

[Chrono_Tata]

all gameboys i know of:
gameboy(like DS phat)
gameboy pocket(like DS lite)
gameboy color(like DSi)
gameboy advance
gameboy advance afterburner(not sure about the name, it was a small upgrade that included a built-in screen light)
gameboy advance SP
gameboy advance micro
and there's the 2 adapters for playing GB/GBA games on a console.

You left out the Gameboy Light.

EDIT: Shit. I didn't realise it was already posted. Ignore me.

 

[sadak5]

I don't think the DSi will have exclusive games outside the DSiWare. Mainly because is more expensive make that way, not only for us, the programmers will suffer more. First of all, the PC maybe can improve some games depending on the hardware, but thats because the programmers dosen't do the games oriented to the hardware (that's why the games say's DirectX required). Before any could regret, I'm a programmer, and I program oriented into the API (if you make it in Assembler or C++ you don't get much portability), that's why a game works into an AMD processor, intel, with an ATI card or nVidia. you programm over OpenGL or DirectX, using JAVA or the .NET framework or other API.

Second, if Nintendo let ot the GBA compatibility, actually they removed some of the hardware to put the improvements (actually sond more like a PALM or Pocket PC than a DS

), and if the battery actually have less time, if they improve the graphics the battery will be more drained.

And third, if you note, the programmers actually make their own programming language (mounted over c++ or assembler), and if they make games for more than one plataform, they need to redesign those programs for each language (besides, there are games wich not use the improvements of a better plataform, like Yggdra Union from GBA to PSP).

 

[Zamo]

I don't think the DSi will have exclusive games outside the DSiWare. Mainly because is more expensive make that way, not only for us, the programmers will suffer more. *SNIP*

I also don't think developers would not want to lose out on the massive userbase already established by the DS.

 

[Reaper]

I'll just hope Nintendo will stall NDS life longer with new NDS versions, I don't need a camera on my DS, my CyberShot is there for obvious reason

BTW, now NDS has touchscreen, camera, and microphone, it's so interactive, wonder what will be implemented on Nintendo's next handheld? NDSi has taken everything an interactive handheld can have except graphical power

true true, i believe all they have to do now is add a built in motion censor, and it'll be complete -.-, maybe a pencil sharpener too :3. Anyways, I just found out(from my mommie xD), that the DSi will most likely not be region-free. meaning it will have regions. I expected this since there will be more interaction between the wii, and the wii is regioned. but this is only for DSi only games/apps, and normal DS apps won't be affected. FAWK!! though, the pre-ordering taking forver =.=. i've been looking on amazon every day every hour now :3. only places are cheap jpn sites that take around $230 for the pre-order. so BS!!

It is region-locked

 

[Uruha]

I think increasing pixel pitch is cheaper.
since they are making the screen bigger, there will be bigger pixels and u always want tiny pixels.

 

[Raestloz]

The screen size isn't THAT big, just tens of pixels bigger than NDSL

 

[Tormendo]

It's region locked only for DSi Games not for DS Games^^.

 

[sadak5]

It's region locked only for DSi Games not for DS Games^^.

Let's stay in topic: It's region locked for DSi APP (DSiWare), there no will be DSi exclusive Games outside DSiware

 

[fateastray]

I will only be getting a DSi if it gets a CFW.

 

[Deleted User]

It's region locked only for DSi Games not for DS Games^^.

Let's stay in topic: It's region locked for DSi APP (DSiWare), there no will be DSi exclusive Games outside DSiware

Nintendo HAVE implied there will be. I really can't be bothered to search for it on the internet, search yourself. I'm pretty sure it was a Maxconsole article in which a spokesperson said "DSi software will be region locked, and the carts will have region protection. Normal DS games will still be region free, however", or something along those lines.

 

[Fraesh]

actually this topic is senseless beacause its mainly based on hypotheses... why dont you wait a bit and buy a dsi? this should be closed

 

[Movi]

Here's a little bit of techincal-minded speculation:

They got rid of the GBA Port, but i believe that address space is now beeing used for a bunch of stuff. Since all of the I/O on the DS is connected to the ARM7, i believe the now "free" connectors are beeing used for the 2 cameras, and for the SD controller - this is pretty much a given. Also, they talked about incorporating the web browser into the DSi, and as we know from the Opera browser, that needs additional RAM. This used to be provided by additional RAM on the GBA bus, but i guess thats gonna be built in now. So i take a shot that the DS will have an additional 8MB of DRAM (since the Opera expanion pack had this much - so thats my basis).

However, i doubt the developers will be allowed to use that RAM, because of 2 reasons.

#1 The bus is slow compared to the 4MB thats used as Main Ram. Just ask the guy who's developing the Quake 2 DS port.
#2 Nintendo won't license a game like that, fearing it will alienate the userbase. Also, no developer would do that anyway, since theres a lot of DS/DSLites out there, and not a lot of DSi.

As for the rest of the specs? They SHOULDN'T be upgraded, on a simple basis - they don't have to. For all they want to do, the hardware is perfectly capable. If one would *really* want, he can code this up on a DS/DSLite, didn't DSOrganize download homebrew to the SD card via DLDI and the could run it? So there. I was kinda wowed by the PhotoBooth-esque camera effects, but i guess thats just some clever ARM coding.

P.S. This is just pure speculation, and should be treated like so. However, compared to most speculation here I'm trying to base it on technological facts

 

[galneon]

He's talking about something that wouldn't work at all.

Or put simply, I think he's trying to say that games should have a "DS Mode" and a "DSi mode" if the DSi were to have better graphics.

The cart would have two sets of the game on it, say one has higher resolution textures, and it would detect whether it's being run on a "DS" or a "DSi" and choose which set, low-res or high-res, of textures to use.

It wouldn't work though. The idea is just stupid.

Exactly. This just isn't how console games work. You won't see adjustable performance features, nor would they ever consider upgrading ANY performance feature AT ALL considering it's the same platform. Wow, more RAM, but that's only to accommodate larger apps like Opera, and will have no bearing on any non-DSi exclusive games (and probably not even in those).

Console games and computer games have virtually nothing in common.

 

[Fraesh]

Console games and computer games have virtually nothing in common.

except every console is a computer and some are based on linux...

 

[galneon]

Notice I never said "Consoles and computers have nothing in common." I said "Console games and computer games have virtually nothing in common," which couldn't possibly be more true. Learn to read your own quotes.

You clearly have no idea how computer games work. From a developer's perspective, developing for the DS and the PC couldn't be more different. One has standard specs that almost never change in a console's lifetime, and if they do, they require some sort of hardware upgrade. I'm not going to continue my explanation because you're obviously a fool who can't even read his own quotes.

actually this topic is senseless beacause its mainly based on hypotheses... why dont you wait a bit and buy a dsi? this should be closed

Then shut up like the little bitch you are and move on. Thanks.

 

[Shabadage]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned texture filters and the like yet. There's got to be additional processing power somewhere to run those cameras, and since they wouldn't be utilized in DS mode, they could probably find a way to filter them somehow. Smoothing out the blocky textures would be a huge benefit for many, many games. We still don't have confirmation on the screen resolution of the new ones either. I'm willing to bet that they just made the pixels larger rather than adding extra resolution. But if they did, I wouldn't object to a GBA style screen stretching.

 

[galneon]

Interesting point on texture filtering. I remarked in an emulation thread the other day that the DS's biggest problem pertaining to emulation is lack of power to do anything but nearest neighbor scaling. I'd expect to see only nearest neighbor on the DSi, too, with the consideration that the photos can be viewed at full size without scaling if you just transfer them from SD to a computer...

 

[Heran Bago]

The screen size isn't THAT big, just tens of pixels bigger than NDSL

Isn't the resolution the same, just the screen is actually bigger? So bigger pixels, not more of them.