Well… my Nintendo DSi arrived back yesterday.  I unboxed it and turned it on, and upon first inspection, I was quite pleased.  Both screens seem devoid of any pixel troubles.  Also, they fixed another problem I had, which I believe a lot of the launch DSi’s had, where you can see a bit of light shining through off to the left of the left edge of the bottom screen.  According to the little slip of paper that I got back with my system, the repair was valued at $75.00.

I quickly noticed, though, that my bottom screen seemed very blue.  It seems that they replaced the bottom screen with one that is either not calibrated properly or just plain bad.  It has a blueish tint to it that is very noticeable, especially if whatever being displayed is bright.

Here, I tried to photograph it.  You can notice the bluish hue to the background of the bottom screen.

Yeah, maybe it wouldn’t bother some people.  It bothers me, though, more than the stuck pixel.  And if I’m going to pay $170 for a handheld game system, shouldn’t it at least have a good display?

So, that’s disappointing.  I called Nintendo this afternoon and explained the problem to a representative, who was very nice and set me up to send the DSi back for service again.

While I am disappointed that my DSi came back with a more distracting problem than the one I sent it off for, I have not been disappointed in the service.  The repair was completed promptly — they shipped the DSi back to me the day after they received it.  Also, when I called in today, I didn’t have to wait on hold to speak to anyone; I was connected as soon as I finished picking the options in the phone tree that indicated I wanted DSi support.  And the representative didn’t give me any grief along the lines of “It’s normal for the screens to look a little different, you know.”  So, no problem with the service, whoever replaced the screen just thought I wouldn’t mind so much if it was… blue.  (Or just plain didn’t notice.)

Hopefully, everything will go right this time.

Update: After about two weeks, I received my DSi back again.  This time, they seem to have replaced the entire unit with a new one.  However, the screens are both great, all of my DSiWare and saved data is here, so, I’m a happy camper!

This may be new, or it may have been there since I got my DSi a couple of months ago.  It’s hard to notice unless the background is very dark.  But once I noticed it the first time, now I’m always looking for it…

Would you believe that Nintendo is offering to fix it under warranty?  Or at least, “inspect and repair if necessary.”

I’m shipping it off to them tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.

Follow-up: Nintendo DSi – Stuck Pixel, Part 2: What’d they do to my screen? (August 13th, 2009)

But, one of the coolest things is the Virtual Console. Through the Wii Shop, Nintendo is selling games that were made for previous systems. It’s cool to be able to revisit some of these games that I played growing up which I haven’t gotten the chance to see in a while, since I sold my Super Nintendo years ago and I have no idea where my Nintendo 64 is.

Anyone who has played any older Nintendo system is familiar with some of the games available for the Virtual Console, like Super Mario Bros., or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, or Mario Kart 64. My series of Virtual Console mini-reviews will focus on games that were less popular during their original run.

First up is ActRaiser, which was released for the Super Nintendo by Enix in 1991.

I think this game is a lot of fun. You play as “The Master,” a deity or something, and the objective is to make the land good for the people who live there. There are two kinds of play, side-scrolling action sections and overworld simulation sections.

To begin with, each region is inhabited by monsters, so you control a sword-wielding warrior and proceed through a side-scrolling platform level, fighting monsters and a boss at the end.

Once the region is cleared, you enter simulation mode, where you control an angel, through which you control the development of the town. You must protect the people from monsters, tell them which direction to develop the town, and send things like lightning, rain, or wind to clear obstacles of development or make other things happen. Each town has its own small “story” that develops while you are building it, and it always leads to you having to complete another side-scrolling action stage.

The two play modes aren’t completely separated, though. How well you do in the action sections directly affects the maximum population of the region that can be reached during the simulation sections. Reaching certain population levels gives you extra health for both sections, and certain events in the simulation sections (many of them hidden) give you extra lives, spells, or MP to use during the action sections.

If I had to say what I’m disappointed in, it would be that many of the action levels are a bit short, and the game as a whole is also a bit short. I’m also disappointed that they chose to make the sequel, ActRaiser 2, action-only (eliminating the simulation mode). The game is pretty simple on the surface, but the action-simulation alternation adds an interesting level of complexity to the game that is fun to use. And achieving the absolute maximum population in the game is trickier than it might appear at first.

Anyway, my conclusion would be if you are a Wii owner and are looking for a cool old game to play for the Virtual Console, you should definitely try this one if you haven’t played it before… It makes for a lot of fun.

Some extra screenshots:

Introduction

Pre-action stage animation

The first action stage

Platform elements are here as well

Inside a pyramid

Each stage ends with a boss fight

This guy looks mean

Some spells make quick work of the bosses

Beginning a new town

Eliminating monsters

A view of several towns

I believe this is the absolute maximum population... a perfect game