Nintendo DSi XL makes a good thing better
April 10th 2010 11:15
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From: Star Telegram
Nintendo DSi XL
Price: $189.00
Age rating: Everyone (comes with parental controls)
Nintendo's DSi portable game system is the industry standard, and now there is a new version that figures to make the system even more popular. The DSi XL is as advertised -- extra large, with two 4.2-inch screens and an enhanced viewing angle. The system is smart-looking in burgundy or bronze with a matte finish and has a bigger stylus for touch-screen functions. The DSi XL also comes with pre-installed applications such as Brain Age Express Math, Brain Age Express Arts & Letters and Photo Clock, which enables you to take photos to use as background for the clock as well as compile a photo album. There are dual cameras with the system, one pointing at you and the other outward like a traditional camera.
Flipnote Studio allows you to test your animation skills and also has a calendar you can use to keep track of appointments or other important events. The DSi Browser connects you to the Internet wherever wireless is available, and then you can download more than 100 games, interact with other users and browse the Web. It plays Nintendo DS games from its huge library, among them new entries such as America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking. And DSi Sound has a built-in voice recorder and the ability to play music stored on memory cards.
All of this will be familiar to those who are Nintendo DSi junkies. For first-timers, the XL is worth the extra $20 for the enhancements and built-in apps. There are also parental controls to keep younger gamers from accessing the wrong kind of material from the Internet.
One of the highlights for this novice user was the Brain Age games. These challenge your math skills, power of recall and ability to unscramble a revolving circle of letters to form a word. For parents who are ambivalent about their kids spending too much time with video games, the Brain Age features are a terrific learning tool. And for more mature (a kind way of saying old) players, Brain Age Math and Arts & Letters can help keep your mind sharp.
There is a Brain Age Test to help determine where you stand now in relation to a 20-year-old, which is considered the peak learning age. Training allows you to try any number of exercises that are stimulating, but sometimes gives you flashbacks to your school days and going blank during a test. But it's a fun way to pass time on a plane or in the waiting room of the doctor's office.
One point to remember when using the stylus: Because the Brain Age games include a time element, you may rush and make an inadvertent scribble on the screen. That will result in a wrong answer, which you can erase, but it costs you time. Also, work on your penmanship, as we found that the system couldn't always correctly identify the letters we were printing during Arts & Letters training.
-- Pete Alfano
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