Nintendo Autumn 08 Conference - The Details News

The rumours were true - a new Nintendo DS is on its way boasting all of the improvements and new features that were leaked earlier in the week.

Revealed at Nintendo's Press Conference, the DSi features slightly bigger screens, a 300,000 pixel camera and music-player support. Although the 0.3 Mega-Pixel camera sounds a little feeble by today's standards, it's worth noting that it's approximately two and a half times the resolution of the DS screen (256x182). So viewed on the DS, at least, images should be pretty clear.

Of course this comes at a cost in terms of battery power, with Nintendo's figures suggesting the battery life will be reduced by nearly half on maximum brightness.

In addition, Nintendo confirmed a downloadable service similar to Virtual Console and WiiWare for the DS, which will allow DS users to download titles using the newly rechristened Nintendo Points. Those who by a DSi when it launches across Japan on November 1st will receive 1000 of these shiny points to spend as a special incentive.

Nintendo also revealed the alleged Wii 'pedometer' that hit the headlines earlier in the week, is actually a peripheral for the DS.

During the conference Nintendo also unveiled a number of new titles for both Wii and DS (check out the show reel vids), amongst which include the likes of Punch Out on Wii, Mario & Luigi 3, amongst many others.

Finally, Nintendo's attempt to improve the much-maligned Wii storage issue has been temporarily addressed with the promise of a new patch allowing Wii owners to store downloaded content onto SD cards. Exactly how they're getting around the piracy issue with this remains uncertain.

No mention of the Wii HD though...