Nintendo to release new DS with camera, memory card slot

Nintendo’s annual press conference in Japan has revealed a new handheld game system called the Nintendo DSi, which takes the existing Nintendo DS Lite and adds a camera and an SD memory card slot. The unit is smaller, the screen is bigger and there is no longer a slot for Game Boy Advance cartridges.

The announcement, relayed to the English-reading world via Kotaku, has been expected for some time.

There will also be “audio enhancements” — does that mean it’s a music player?

White and black units will go on sale in Japan this November for $180. U.S. gamers, as usual, will have to wait until sometime next year.

Also coming in 2009 will be Nintendo’s answer to the growing problem of storing downloaded content on its Wii system: the Wii Shop Channel will be reprogrammed to allow saving of purchased games to SD card.