In Game Guy’s office are four Nintendo DSes — three Lites of various colors and an original model from 2004. In his hands at home today, however, is the new DSi — the “i” is supposed to mean “individual,” or “individuality” — which Japan has had for months but the U.S. and Canada just received Saturday.

If I wanted to play a game, any of those other DSes would serve well. But Game Guy has DSi in hand this weekend for different reasons.

* Two cameras, one in the DSi’s lid and one in the hinge — the latter one facing the player. For now, that one is good for taking pictures of myself and manipulating them with built-in lens effects, distortion features, filters, kaleidoscope patterns, image overlays and frames. More fun comes from distorting the images with my finger or stylus on the touch screen, even before clicking the shutter.

The cameras are kind of weak — they don’t work as well as I’d like in direct light, meaning this thing won’t replace my iPhone as tool of choice for making quick snapshots. Besides, the cameras are more for fun than anything else.

* A sound recording and manipulation feature. I can capture 10-second AAC sound clips, then distort them with assorted pre-programmed effects or change the effects to create my own patterns (like making a dog’s bark sound like a French horn). Paired with this feature is a visualizer that adjusts to incorporate Super Mario imagery or battling space ships, among other eye candy.

* Better wi-fi functionality. Whereas I used to just play games wirelessly with friends in the same room, now I can surf over to the DSi shop and purchase games or download an Opera browser for DSi and surf elsewhere. The DSi has 256 megabytes of built-in storage and an SD card slot to stash purchases, and first-time visitors to the shop receive 1,000 free purchase points.

* An exterior matte finish that hides fingerprints. For a long time now, hardware developers have thought the glossy surface of their toys looked so cool that everyone else would think the same, too. And they do look cool — until you pick them up and get finger smudges all over them. Then the toys just look like something smeared with Vaseline. I like devices that don’t appear trashy after handling them for a couple hours.

At some point today, I’ll actually try playing a couple other games on DSi. It has slightly larger, sharper dual screens and better processing power than the DS Lite, so the performance ought to be at least as good. However, it’s the other stuff DSi has that I’m in awe of right now and probably will continue playing with for a few more hours.

Whether you think that “other stuff” is worth spending $170 in today’s economy, well that’s up to you. Ultimately, DSi is a gaming device — not quite as fancy as Sony’s PlayStation Portable but getting there. Once the thrill wears off with those other functions, it’s just the gaming that will matter.