Hasta La Gadget!

It’s bigger, it’s bolder, but is it really that much better? Nintendo’s heralded DSi line grew in more ways than one late last month, and now that you’ve had a handful of weekends to toy with yours, it’s time to answer one majorly important question: how would you change it? We found in our review that the DSi XL was a solid option for those without a DSi of any kind, but we didn’t feel that it was worth the $190 if you were just upgrading. For those that bought in, do you find yourself agreeing? Is the new size something you’re into? Would you have made it a touch larger / smaller? Is the screen up to snuff? Do you think Nintendo went far enough with the advancements? Open up in comments below — just keep it clean, okay? Your kids are probably reading.

How would you change Nintendo’s DSi XL? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 May 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Until we reach the time when tattoos make checking blood glucose levels cool, we’re going to need another way to keep kids with diabetes healthy. And hey, kids love videogames, right? Bayer’s Didget is based on the company’s Contour glucose meter, but instead of connecting by USB it’s shaped like a Game Boy cartridge, enabling it to slot into a Nintendo DS or DS Lite. When kids upload their scores to a custom game (the less than thrilling sounding Knock ‘Em Downs: World Fair) they’ll unlock new characters and items, but there’s one fatal flaw in this plan: the system necessarily isn’t compatible with the DSi (or its XL brother) and we’re guessing the big cartridge slot isn’t due for a comeback in the 3DS. In other words, this meter is on a fast-track to obsolescence.

Bayer Didget blood glucose monitoring system does double-duty as a DS game originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since Nintendo first asserted sole domination over the handheld gaming market with the release of the paperback-sized Game Boy in 1989, the company has striven time and again to make its pocket systems smaller, meeting fantastic financial success along the way. Nintendo did it with the Game Boy Pocket, the Advance SP, the Micro, the DS Lite and again ever so slightly with the DSi — the last even at the expense of backwards compatibility and battery life. Now, for the first time in the company’s history, it’s made an existing platform bigger, with questionable reasons as to why. Does the Nintendo DSi XL squash its predecessors flat? Or is Nintendo compensating for something? Find out inside.

Continue reading Nintendo DSi XL review

Nintendo DSi XL review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s intentions to dominate handheld gaming were already pretty clear back in March of 2008 as game studio after game studio lined up behind the iPhone (and iPod touch by extension). Now look at the graphics above. Yeah, based on the report from Flurry Analytics, Apple’s casual gaming approach is carving out a nice slice of the US revenue pie related to gaming software. The PSP was hit especially hard dropping from a 20% share in 2008 to just 11% of US revenue last year. Numbers that highlight just how ridiculous John Koller’s spin maneuver was after the iPad launch. Speaking of which, you have to wonder how these numbers might be affected once developers have a chance to spread out on the iPad, looming Nintendo 3DS or not. Especially with early data showing robust pre-sales and games accounting for almost half of the iPad apps being tested. See that chart after the break. Mmm, pie.

Continue reading Apple increases gaming share at the expense of DS and PSP

Apple increases gaming share at the expense of DS and PSP originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s a global gaming company to do once they’ve soundly dominated the portable market? Why, covertly get the DS into schools and restaurants, of course! Shigeru Miyamoto, who created undercover gems like Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda, recently informed the AP that his company would be rolling the DS out “in junior high and elementary schools in Japan starting in the new school year,” though few details beyond that were available. We do know, however, that this invasion into the education sector is more than just a fluke, with Miyamoto noting that this very area is where he is “devoting [himself] the most.” Of course, the Big N already has a nice stable of mind-bending titles, but getting actual teachers to embrace the device in the classroom would be another thing entirely. In related news, select McDonald’s eateries in Japan will be using the DS to train part-time workers, though mum’s the word on whether the Cooking Mama franchise will be cashing in here.

Nintendo slipping DS handhelds into schools, McDonald’s training sessions originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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