Issue Date: June 7, 2009

Download games right to your hands

Nintendo joins wireless world.

The DSi offers beefed-up Wi-Fi access.

Nintendo DSi, the third and latest iteration of the best-selling handheld gaming machine, plays audio clips and has two built-in cameras to take photos that you can modify. But the real news is that the DSi lets you directly download video games and apps via the Internet, just like its competitors do.

The $169.99 device, available at major retailers, connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and you can browse the DSi Shop, where new offerings arrive every week. Games, or DSiWare, are paid for with Nintendo Points (2,000 points equal $19.99), bought through the online shop or at retailers such as Best Buy, GameStop and Target. A simple game like "Bird & Beans," in which a bird snatches falling beans with its long tongue, costs 200 points. The camera-enabled "WarioWare: Snapped," which actually uses your face and hands as the controller, is 500 points.

And Nintendo seems determined to make online shopping easy. The DSi has improved wireless access and added an SD card slot so you can store downloaded games.

-- Charles Herold