DSi Going All-Purpose?

Nintendo’s top dog, Shigeru Miyamoto, is currently brainstorming ways of turning their DSi handheld into an all-purpose machine that can act as a guide, map, reference book, and even a coupon dispenser. "We're putting as much energy into building such a system as we would for any game," Miyamoto told reporters. "We have received a lot of requests."

This comes on the back of the DSi selling over 2 million units in Japan since last November, and over 300,000 units in both Europe and North America in just the first two days since its release. If this new idea was a success then it would help Nintendo bring in even more revenue than they’re currently receiving from both DS iterations and the ever-popular Wii.

Sony has tried something similar in the past, but it didn’t really catch on and are instead remembered as short-lived marketing campaigns, but Nintendo are confident that the services that they’ll aim to provide won’t meet a similar fate. They’re already seeing success from their online store – that borrows certain features from Apple’s App Store – and offers its users cheap games and applications that they may download onto a memory card.

Shigeru Miyamoto’s eventual goal is for people to walk into museums and get information beamed to their DS that will act as their guide. Similarly students could download lessons and tests onto their handheld whilst in class. Miyamoto believes "What's important is that you can access these services without having to carry around software cartridges," he also mentions that another key ingredient to success will be the fact that their services will be free, unlike many mobile phone companies, who charge monthly subscriptions.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed