Nintendo’s Newest DSi Designed with the Elderly in Mind
From ElderGadget:
Who says seniors are an overlooked market segment when it comes to designing electronics? Apparently Nintendo didn’t get the memo because the gaming giant announced yesterday that it will release a larger version of its handheld gaming console, the Nintendo DS.
This version, named the Nintendo DSi LL, will be 93% larger than the line’s lightest model, the Nintendo DS Lite. The DSi LL will feature a bigger body, jumbo screens, better viewing angles, longer battery life and larger text. Two touch screen pens, a long one and a short one, will also be provided – both are larger than the single pens from the previous DS models. The device will still utilize the same amount of pixels and maintain the same resolution as the other models.
If all this doesn’t convince you that the new DSi LL is elder-friendly, maybe this evidence will help: the new model also comes with two pre-installed brain games. Nintendo’s press release notes that this redesign came about in response to a hoard of requests for a screen that was larger and easier to read.
Speculators believe that most of these requests came from older individuals, who are increasingly comprising more and more of Japan’s population. The DSi LL will be available in Japan this November and will premiere in Europe in early 2010. No word yet on when it’s bound for the states, though many believe it shouldn’t be much longer.