My grandson and I took a trip recently. His DS and DSi accompanied us. If you are under 20 you can stop reading now because you know all of this. The DSi is the latest system from Nintendo and is a computer in so many ways. Of course you can game on it. The thing I find just astounding is the ease that it connects to wireless networks or other DS systems. At one point he and 5 of his cousins were all playing Mario Kart. An ad hoc network set up by 11 year olds. Listening to all the screaming, yelling and laughter, I had to wonder why so many out of touch parents are opposed to the idea of kids playing video games with each other. How is that less acceptable than sitting around and playing a board game? Certainly you need exercise and like anything else, excess is not a good thing. Too many people ignore the fact that it allows kids to communicate and play while simultaneously introducing them to the intricacies of networking.In addition to the ability to easily network locally, the DSi connects to the Internet with astounding ease. You have the ability to go online and play games with people all around the world.
The DSi has a camera so the budding photog can take digital pictures with his DSi. Then the photos can be tweaked, toyed with, totally messed up and you can share them with your friends. This feature led to a great deal of hilarity and outrage as various cousins had their noses enlarged, the eyes blown up or their teeth colored.
You can play with sound as well. The DSi has the ability to record and play your own sounds. In addition you can hook up your headphones and listen to tunes you load through the micro SD card slot.
The touch screen and dual screens provide an additional resource. This thing is so cool, I am tempted to get one myself. At $169.00 at Amazon it is good value for the money, an amazing toy and an equally astounding learning/teaching tool. There is a wealth of software cartridges for it and you have many, many choices that do NOT involve first person shooter type games.
The Nintendo DSi is well worth checking out.
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