Earlier this morning, Nintendo made several major announcements in a press conference in Japan. Ranging from a new Nintendo DS to a Wii storage solution.

Meet the Nintendo DSi

Nintendo's first announcement was a brand-new handheld in the Nintendo DS line of consoles. This revision of the DS brand will be a significant break from the previous DS Lite console. It will be named "Nintendo DSi". (Nintendo DS-Eye, get it?)

Meet the Nintendo DSi

The GBA port will be removed (thus breaking compatibility with games like Guitar Hero: On Tour) and the unit will be made smaller and thinner. The screens will be made larger (3.25 in) and the system will sport a 0.3 megapixel camera that can be used to capture photos and video.  (Photos appear to show two cameras. A hinge camera inside and a front camera on the shell. As of this writing, we are waiting on confirmation of this.) These snaps can then be stored on the DSi's new internal flash memory, or saved to an SD Card.

Comparison of the DS Lite to the DSi

The online capabilities of the handheld are also beefed up. A web browser will be included with the DSi for surfing the Internet. Alongside this browser is access to the Nintendo DS Shop Channel. Wii Points will be renamed Nintendo Points so that they can be used on the Wii or DSi.

The details of the service have not yet been announced, but it appears that it will offer both DSWare titles along with Virtual Handheld (i.e. older GBA) titles. Applications will cost 0 (free), 200, 500, or 800 (premium) Nintendo Points. Apparently, the system will come with 1000 points free for systems purchased before March, 2010.

The SD Card will allow data such as Photos to be synced between the Wii and DS consoles. The system is also capable of AAC multimedia playback and can thus be used as a music player. 

A card being inserted into the system

The system will hit Japanese stores on November 1st. It will retail for 18,900 yen (~$180) and will come in white and frosted black colors. The rest of the world can expect the system sometime in 2009.

Wii Storage Solution

Nintendo also announced a solution to the Wii storage problem. Unfortunately, it sounds like players will be able to download to their SD Card, but not play games directly from the card. Instead, there will be a quick-copy solution of some sort that will move the games into the Wii's internal memory.

It's possible this information comes from a poor translation and that the solution will merely cache the game on the Wii. We'll know more at Nintendo of America's press conference at 12:30 EDT.

New Games

Just to round out the evening, Nintendo also announced several news games. For the DS, we have a new Trace Memory adventure title as well as Mario and Luigi 3. The Wii will be getting Punch Out and Sin and Punishment 2.

Mario and Luigi 3

Nintendo also announced that they will be "refreshing" older GameCube games like Pikmin and DK Jungle Beat. These games will be ported to the Wii and released under the "Games You Can Play on Wii Selection" label.

More Info

Nintendo of America will hold their own press release at 12:30 PM EDT. We'll update you with any changes once they come in.

Special thanks to WiiNintendo for their live coverage of this event!

UPDATE: CLICK HERE for coverage of the American press conference.