Monday, November 30, 2009

NDS Nintendo DSi LL - Expected on Thursday

«©NCSX» The Japanese tend to make their game machines smaller as time goes by. The bulky PS3 slimmed down earlier this year to the aptly named Slim PS3 and the PSP-3000 is slightly slimmer than the PSP-1000. Nintendo reverses the trend towards smaller sizes by releasing the Nintendo DSi LL last week. It's a big'un and bigger than the NDS, NDS Lite, and NDSi. The prices for the NDSi LL are still higher than expected but they've moderated a bit since the launch last weekend. NCS will receive a batch on Thursday of this week and our pricing is set at US$259.90 for either the Dark Brown, Wine, or Natural White color variants. We'll be bringing them in on a weekly basis and prices will probably be stable this month. Blame the weak dollar.

The Nintendo DSi LL's screens measure 4.2" compared to 3.25" on the original DSi but it's also a larger and bulkier handheld to accommodate the larger screens. The battery lasts 13-17 hours according to Ninty. A selection of software is preloaded into the system as follows:

» DSi Internet Browser (standard software)
» Moving Memo - Create animations and share them (aka
Flipnote Studio)
» Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters (Note: Japanese language)
» Brain Age Express: Math (Math is the universal language)
» Meikyou Kokugo Rakubiki Jiten (Japanese dictionary program)

Preorders are welcome to ship on Thursday of this week. Please note that NCS doesn't expect any supply shortages from Japanese suppliers but we're leery of importing bulk quantities at higher prices, especially with the yen near 14-year highs against the US dollar.

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