Ask Joystiq Nintendo: Demonstrative Edition

We didn't think the subject of this week's question was confusing until we started to answer it, and then it got kind of confusing. If you have a question for two weeks from now, send it into asknintendo AT joystiq DOT com. On to the question of the week!
Simon Belmont asks:
I just wanted to find out are people with the DS basically out of luck when it comes to downloading demos? Is Nintendo pretty much going to allow people that invested in the DS Lite have to buy the DSi in order to take advantage of some of these new online features? Can DS Lite people get a little love?
When you look at it from an outside perspective (i.e. someone who has, perhaps, been in the late 17th century wandering through castles), it can be a bit hard to parse. The DSi can download things that the DS Lite can't, but the DS Lite can still download things. Both the DS Lite and the DSi (and the DS Phat as well, for that matter) can download demos, through download points in stores, or by sending them through the Wii's Nintendo Channel. Which means that DS Lite owners aren't out of luck re: demos ... unless, say, they don't have a Wii.
What the DSi has that the Lite doesn't is DSiWare, which differs from demos. DSiWare downloads are full downloadable games or applications. This is the major difference between the DSi and previous models, and there are no known plans to bring this service to the previous models.
Here's where it gets kind of confusing. Some of Nintendo's DSiWare games are tiny versions of existing cartridge games -- like selections card games out of Clubhouse Games. These could be considered "demos," but they're intended as standalone products and sold for five bucks.
Every week, we'll answer reader questions about the Wii, the DS, or any other Nintendo-related topic in Ask Joystiq Nintendo. If you have a question, e-mail it to asknintendo AT joystiq DOT com! You need your questions answered, and we need content for this column. It's a symbiotic relationship!









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Doctor @ May 28th 2009 7:09PM
Have any actually good DSiWare games been announced?
Roto13 @ May 28th 2009 7:37PM
There are "actually good" DSiWare games already out now.
The Doctor @ May 28th 2009 7:43PM
Well I feel like an idiot.
Such as?
Nicholas @ May 28th 2009 7:44PM
Art Style: Pictobits!
Roto13 @ May 28th 2009 7:52PM
And Art Style: Aquaria, Bird and Bean, and WarioWare if you can get it to work. >_>
John Z @ May 28th 2009 8:00PM
Dr. Mario is also worth the money ($5 gets you more or less the full NES version with nicer graphics).
But dude. You're The Doctor. You don't HAVE to wait for good games to come out, you just have to go five years forward and get them from the bargain bin then.
Bowser Rogozhin: Princess Nyah DF; Abigail Williams Slayer @ May 29th 2009 6:01AM
There are no good games on the DSi download service, unless you consider butchered Warioware minigames sold at extortionate prices as ‘good.’ But you’re a smarter gentleman than that. These men and women replying have either been caught in the wind of hype, or they're straight up lying.
The Doctor @ May 29th 2009 6:59AM
Well, I personally think the Art Style series is overall an example of good games. The Warioware one I knew about, and know, don't consider it to be worth anything.
Roto13 @ May 29th 2009 12:31PM
Never ever listen to anything Bowser says. And I don't just mean right now. He doesn't do anything unless he thinks he'll be able to complain about it later, and does so regardless of whether or not he's wrong.
Yes, he's one of THOSE.
The Doctor @ May 28th 2009 8:19PM
Thanks for helping my ignorance out guys.
And I *could* just jump five years ahead, but I might end up five decades ahead accidentally. Or my act of asking about games could have been necessary for some of those very games to be created. Wibbly wobbly and all that.
The Doctor @ May 28th 2009 8:20PM
That was supposed to be a reply to me. Or maybe the earlier comment was supposed to be a reply to this.
Josh @ May 29th 2009 1:47AM
I know!
It's the former!
Hardy @ May 28th 2009 8:30PM
American Popstar (Pop Superstar in Europe) is actually a decent game as well. Nothing amazing and the song list is....3 songs... And it's a little childish, but it's actually a decent sims, guitar hero rip off.