DSi Games Downloads - For Beginners

By Dana Goldberg

In 2008 Nintendo DSi was first released in Japan and gamers from all over the world were excited to take advantage of the new handheld-console's ability for downloading the games from the internet, even though DSi games provide advantage there are some reasons to avoid like typical adware, spyware and virus issues that currently plague PC owners.

You can get tons of downloadable content for your DSi in the Nintendo DSi Shop. You can use your Wii Points (also called Nintendo Points) to buy games. DS games can be played on your DSi unless they were made for the Game Boy Advance slot like Guitar Hero: On Tour. Some of the games are only available from the DSi Shop like the DSiWare games.

The download process is relatively simple. Once a game is bought, it is first downloaded to the either DSi's internal memory or an external SD card. The content should be transferred to the internal memory before it can be played, however. Nintendo solved this issue with the Wii, as Wii Ware games can now be played directly from a SD card; hopefully a firmware upgrade for the DSi will allow games to be played from a SD card also. It is important to know that while DSiWare applications can be backed up to a SD card, they can only be played on the DSi which downloaded the content.

There are hacked DS games online, but these are illegal and many of them have spyware, adware, and other things that could hurt your DSi. You can't play these illegal games on your DSi because of a firmware update. This is like when you download a game onto your SD card, you can only play it on one DSi. It won't be playable on another DSi.

The creation of the DSi Shop gives Nintendo DSi owners access to downloadable games and content in a similar fashion as the popular Wii console. But it is important to remember to limit one's downloads to only those legally available through Nintendo. A adware and virus-free DSi is a happy DSi.

About the Author: