Nintendo confirms new look DSi

By Jim Reed
Newsbeat technology reporter

Nintendo is close to overtaking its competitor Sony

Nintendo has confirmed it will start selling a new version of its handheld DS console in Japan this Christmas with a UK launch likely early next year.

The dual-screen Nintendo DSi will come with a camera, digital music player and improved wireless internet.

Thinner than the current model with a bigger screen, it will go on sale in Japan on 1 November 1 for 18,900 yen, or about £102.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said the new DS camera would let players edit photos using a basic paint program and then share those files with friends.

Music feature

"We want our customers to individualise their Nintendo DSi," he said.

The music player will let users change the speed of the sound to slow down and speed up music and speech files stored on an external memory card.

Nintendo is close to overtaking Sony as the largest maker of video game systems in the world after three years of strong growth.

Its Wii console far outsells both Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's XBox 360 in both Japan and the UK, according to research company VG Chartz.

In the handheld market, the DS is the leader with 81 million units shipped worldwide.

But in Japan, Nintendo has started losing out to Sony's rival Playstation Portable (PSP). Games magazine publisher Enterbrain reckons the PSP has now outsold the DS for five months in a row.