Yesterday, during Nintendo’s Fall Press Event, the rumors about the company’s upcoming launch have been officially confirmed, bringing a lot of joy to all of Nintendo’s fans. The new device was presented, pointing out all of its new features and showing that many of the rumors started on the Web were right on point.

The new Nintendo DSi has a more compact design, being 12 percent smaller (2.6 millimeters) and it features larger screens than the previous DS and the DSlite (3.25 inches). The GBA slot has been replaced with a SD card slot and built-in memory. It allows playback for music files and it also features two built-in digital cameras: a VGA facing the user and on the outside of the top screen, a 3 megapixels camera. Both cameras will assist users in their actions to individualize their Nintendo DSis, as they will be able to change the facial expressions of the people in the pictures and several other such options.

"We want to change the DS from something that's in every household to something that's for every person," President Satoru Iwata said. He explained that the product targets a much wider audience than before, looking to attract aside from children’s segment, older people, in an effort to make gaming popular with everyone. According to the company’s estimates, one in six Japanese already uses a DS, but this is still far from its goal of making it a must-have for every single citizen. He also added there is still a lot more room for the Nintendo DS platform to expand but for now everything came together just as expected and they are very pleased with the new device released.

Apart from these changes, the company also added a built-in Web browser which will enable its digital distribution service called DSWare. It will provide users access to games, videos and a lot more other content. At this point there is still an uncertainty about the service’s offerings, which will either be free or will cost up to 800 Wii Points. The DSi will be delivered with 1000 free Points.

The release is scheduled for November 1^st in Japan and the device, offered in Matte Black and Matte White, will retail for approximately $179. The dates for release in the rest of the world and other details will be announced by the end of the year by the company’s regional units.

With its DS devices, Nintendo recorded sales of over 77 million worldwide, with about 23 million only in Japan, being way ahead of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation Portable offer, which reached 41 million globally, with 10 million in Japan.

President Satoru Iwata admitted that the development process was rushed because of the staggering DS sales recorded lately, as he was determined to reverse the situation. The new release has all the needed features to appeal to gamers everywhere and the Japan release should offer a hint on how the sales trend will be developing on the global scale.