Acekard has released the Acekard 2i for the Nintendo DSi. The new flash cart has the ability to run Homebew backups, store and save files, and use Action Replay codes. The Acehard Team released a video below showing the Acekard 2i on the DSi. So for now the flash cart works, well until the next Nintendo firmware release.

The upcoming Nintendo DSi was released in Japan on November 1, 2008, and for the month of November 535,379 of the DSi units have sold. The DSI will not be sold in the USA, or outside Japan, until either the first or second half of 2009, the exact date is still undecided.

The DSi is not exactly a successor to the Nintendo DS Lite, but rather an alternative, with some pros and some cons. Here’s more information:

The Nintendo DSi is about 12% thinner (2.6 mm) than the Nintendo DS Lite. The new handheld has two VGA (0.3 megapixel) digital cameras; one on the internal hinge pointed towards the user and the second one on the outside of the shell. It also has larger screens (3.25 inches, up from 3 inches) and improved speakers. The power switch has been replaced with a power button, as the original DS had, now located next to the bottom left side of the touch screen. The DSi has five brightness settings compared to the DS Lite’s four; however, battery life is reduced compared to its predecessor. The internal rechargeable battery may still be replaced by the user at the end of its useful life of (typically) several hundred charge/discharge cycles.

A new SD card slot is utilized for external storage of pictures and downloaded software and to play AAC audio. The front slot for Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridges has been removed, thus removing the unit’s backward compatibility and its compatibility with accessories that require the GBA slot, such as the Guitar Hero: On Tour grip, which is essential to play the game. The removal of backward compatibility also prevents Pokémon Diamond and Pearl players from migrating Pokémon from the GBA Pokémon games, which is essential if they wish to complete the Pokédex or obtain some rare legendary Pokémon unless you access the G.T.S., or global trading system. The DSi has 256 MB of internal flash memory. Photos can be synced to the Wii’s Photo Channel.

All existing flash carts for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite are incompatible with DSi. Also, similar to the Wii, the DSi will have upgradable firmware like its competitor, the PlayStation Portable. This is a first for a Nintendo handheld system.
It has been reported that the DSi utilizes region locking for DSi-specific software, since it provides Internet services tailored individually for each region, but the DSi itself does not have region lock-outs, so Nintendo DS games from any region can be played. In addition, the DSi uses rating-based parental controls, which differ by country. The WPA and WPA2 support is not backward compatible with original DS games. Only DSi services can use WPA.

Us techies love to see our favorite gadgets broken apart to help us gleam some understanding. The latest gadget to become naked and humiliated is Nintendo’s forthcoming portable DSi, the followup to the popular DS. The DSi features a camera and MP3 player, and from the looks of it, one nifty motherboard. See below for more pictures.

Nintendo’s dual-screen DSi was released in Japan yesterday, and several flash card devices were tested on the system. The results were bad, with every single device failing on the system.

R4 – Failed
EZ Flash V – Failed
CycloDS – Failed
G6 DS Real – Failed
M3 DS Real – Failed
Supercard DS One – Failed
iTouch DS – Failed
FCard – Failed
NCard – Failed
M3 DS Simply – Failed
U2DS – Failed

There may be more that have yet to be tried, but as for now, the DSi seems to be impervious to the wonders of pirated flash cards.

Nintendo has narrowed the stateside release of it’s DSi handheld to summer of 2009, according to company president Satoru Iwata. Meanwhile, the unit sees release in Japan tomorrow. It will be priced at about ¥18,900 or $192. Nintendo has already shipped 200,000 of the slim, dual-cam handheld device with another 100,000 to follow next week.