Nintendo, the Japanese group whose cartoon-character offerings dominate the casual – easier to play – video games market across the world, has unveiled a new version of its handheld DS console designed to compete in the iPhone era.

Equipped with a camera, internet browsing software, a larger screen and a variety of accessories, the DSi is an expansion of Nintendo’s four-year campaign to convert more adults into customers for its consoles.

And for the first time, Nintendo’s new machine will accept a removable SD memory card like those used in many digital cameras.

Analysts said that the DSi represented Nintendo’s attempt to challenge Sony’s PSP, the sales of which have been soaring at the expense of the DS, in the process securing a reputation as a more all-round entertainment device and a machine for serious gamers. In keeping with Nintendo’s tradition of offering competitively priced products, the machine will go on sale in Japan on November 1 at 18,900 yen – about £95.

But in what one analyst in Tokyo described as “a truly disastrous bit of planning”, the DSi will not go on sale in Britain, Europe or the United States in time for Christmas. Nintendo fans outside Japan will have to wait probably until next spring for the launch and are likely to experience the usual shipment shortages that have dogged the release of Nintendo products for decades.

Hiroshi Kamide, of KBC Securities, said: “What could have been the must-have toy in a tough economic climate is not going to be on the shelves where it matters.”

He added that the pipeline of games for Nintendo’s Wii console was also looking weaker than might be hoped as the games market builds up for its most important phase of the year.

Although Nintendo used its presentation in Tokyo yesterday to impress the domestic retail industry with a range of upcoming Wii titles, the great majority were of a type that have flopped overseas, even though selling well in Japan.

Nintendo was keen to highlight the “defection” to its consoles of certain titles that in the past have been exclusive to Sony’s platform. Cap-com’s Monster Hunter 2, for example, was a huge driver of sales for Sony’s PSP and became the platform’s first million-selling game. Monster Hunter 3 will be a Nintendo exclusive.

But analysts were sceptical about Wii Music, Nintendo’s big in-house game for this autumn. The game, in yet another attempt by the company to draw the entire family into a shared gaming experience, seeks to exploit the fun of playing various instruments such as the sitar or the bagpipes, in a band. Veteran gamers suggested that the game would hold interest for only a limited time.

The DSi, meanwhile, appeared deliberately crafted to latch on to a variety of trends identified by the games industry as sure-fire successes: cookery recipes, health, “brain-training”, karaoke and photography have all emerged as so-called “killer applications” in the casual gaming market.

One accessory will be the “life rhythm meter” – essentially a pedometer, the results from which are fed into a running daily assessment of the user’s health on the DS. And as well as photography studio games, the DSi will feature software that allows users to produce short animations – something Nintendo expects to appeal strongly to the YouTube generation.

Like all Nintendo addicts, however, they will just have to sit and wait.

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