Hacking No DSi Displays?!

[TraumaHoundNDS]

Since the DSi's release I've been looking for one to fool around with. I was in Hawaii on vacation when it was released so I hit up a local Gamestop thinking they'd have to have one out; nope (not to mention they also had EVERYTHING that was hanging on pegs locked up...I guess Ala Moana is a known haven for 3-piece DS styli replacement thieves.) When I got home I looked in Target, Wal*Mart, a couple of different Gamestops, a couple of different Fred Meyers and nothing; just the same grubby DS lite displays they always had (with some crappy Poke-something game stuck in them...always with the damned Pokemon...but I digress.)

The only thing I could think of that would keep shopkeepers (aside from a strict edict from Nintendo) is the one thing they might lose control of: what pictures people might take with the displays. If nobody's looking who knows what might wind up on there, edited with little hearts and smiley faces on it? Sure, a unit with the camera disabled could be put out but that would make it not much more than a DS lite, really, so it wouldn't be much of a selling point.

I'm reminded of a story the great Ralph Baer once told at the Classic Gaming Expo (back in 2000...I got a pic with the man, handshake like an iron vice) regarding an early invention of his: image digitization. He'd developed a technology where a camera would take a picture and it would digitally display the image on a screen. It was tested in an arcade cabinet (he didn't say which game) where the device would let the high-scorer take their photo to be displayed with their score. Well, it didn't take long before some wiseguy got up on a stool and dropped his pants for his high-score pic. The idea was pulled (as were the games with the test-camera in them.) He also offered a side-note that his same technology was what was used to put the members of Journey's faces into the Journey arcade game.

Anyway...has anyone seen a DSi display out there?

 

[Eon-Rider]

The only store around where I live that has any kind of DS on display is GAME and they have the Lite. =\

 

[klumzypinoy]

No sight of a display DSi where I'm from. Hm, Journey's faces in a Journey arcade game, that sounds really cool

 

[kelvinate]

I have seen a DSI display in Myers stores on George st in Sydney, Australia. I was only there for briefly and did not take too much notice of it. it has full fuctionality with the camera and all the filters I could see. there was a lot of photos on it too.

 

[Martiin]

Gamestop store in CA

 

[jesterscourt]

As of last week, none of the Gamestops around me had one on display, but your post makes sense as to why they may not. Perhaps they will somehow disable the ability to save the pictures, just allow you to see the live version for display models?

 

[TraumaHoundNDS]

As an update, I was in Fry's Electronics on Sunday (to pick up The Dark Spire) and they, too, had no DSi displays. Plenty of other console games out and about including a couple of DDR mats hooked into a PS3 (I think it was a PS3) so it's not like they don't have the space. :/

 

[commdante]

N/o, but typical American behavior ... you've got his pic, remove it and put out an arrest for public nudity.


Stupid Friend-codes crap without a way to shut it off, just put parental control on it!! Oh well, at least the DS has some online games ...

 

[nagareboshi]

Here in Germany neither. I've only seen an unboxed DSi in a locked display cabinet.
I don't think that the camera's the problem. There are so many computer or Macs with integrated iSights in stores. People open Photobooth and start making pictures or videos and I've never seen anything disturbing or offensive.
My personal reason not to display a DSi would be because of stupid people who destroy anything that gets in their hands. Almost every store I went to with DS Lites on display, they were completely unusable because of defect touch screens, stolen touch pens or were even partly ripped off the hinge.
But I guess that can't be the reason either. lol
It still bugs me that I can't actually touch a DSi because I'd really like to know how the buttons and the new surface feels like. Oh, and the slightly bigger display of course

 

[Islay]

Here in Germany neither. I've only seen an unboxed DSi in a locked display cabinet.
I don't think that the camera's the problem. There are so many computer or Macs with integrated iSights in stores. People open Photobooth and start making pictures or videos and I've never seen anything disturbing or offensive.
My personal reason not to display a DSi would be because of stupid people who destroy anything that gets in their hands. Almost every store I went to with DS Lites on display, they were completely unusable because of defect touch screens, stolen touch pens or were even partly ripped off the hinge.
But I guess that can't be the reason either. lol
It still bugs me that I can't actually touch a DSi because I'd really like to know how the buttons and the new surface feels like. Oh, and the slightly bigger display of course

If u get a dsi test it with Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, you will see the difference right off in game play, controleing an army is like 20 time easier.

 

[Tokiopop]

There have been no DS Lites here, never mind a DSi. When the first DS came out, I recall around half of the game stores having a display one, which was taken down a month or two later. There are no Wiis either, just a crappy 360 which no one tries.

 

[Hypershad12]

In most GameStops where I live they have whole rows of DS Lite and DSi displays too.

 

[Gelmax]

There's a much simpler reason why there's no displays: it's been out less than a month. Stores rarely put gaming stuff out for display the instant they get it unless it's a big, long-anticipated launch ala the last generation of consoles or a whole new handheld. The DSi doesn't have enough hype or obvious extra features over the Lite to justify putting an easily stealable or breakable $180 handheld out for display. Camera? Most store managers probably don't even know the DSi has one.

 

[agentgamma]

I have seen heaps of playable 360/PS3 displays at GAME with Street Fighter 4 and a playable Wii Fit display at Dick Smith.
But for handhelds.... no.