Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS is going to transform the portable gaming world. It's a complete portable entertainment and communications unit that lets you see the game action from a new perspective. The two screens offer touchscreen control for a groundbreaking control style that sets it apart from other systems. Access items, move characters or navigate menus by touching a stylus to a screen. The built-in voice recognition lets you command your game by voice, while the wireless options let you send text messages, drawings and IMs. This combination of new gaming features and portable communications will shock and impress you. Comes with Rechargeable Battery Pack, AC Adapter, Stylus, Screen Cover, Wrist Strap and playable demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt. Create a local wireless network with up 16 players, with a 30-foot range 1GB of built-in memory for faster gaming and shorter load times Dual slots support both GBA and DS games
In a surprising number of ways, the Nintendo DS is quite unlike any video game system that's come before. First, there's the two screens, one above and one below. The idea might seem like a gimmick -- the screens are far enough apart that you won't be able to see them as one long screen -- but the format works in a complementary way. Depending on the game, the DS serves action in one screen and details, maps, stats, or alternate views in the other. Switching your eyes between screens takes a little getting used to, but quickly becomes automatic, like checking a rear-view mirror while driving. Both screens are back-lit and a little larger than that of the Game Boy Advance SP, so they'll be easy to see in most conditions.  | | Players can control games using the touch-sensitive bottom screen of the DS. |
The bottom screen also functions as a PDA-style touchpad. It comes with a small stylus, as well as a stylus that attaches to your thumb. This touch screen might be both the best and worst feature of the DS. One one hand, it brings the freedom of PC-style mouse control into gaming, but using it also tends to block what's going on in that screen. For example, while playing the Metroid Prime: Hunters, you could use the left thumb pad to move, the left shoulder button to fire, and the touch screen to look and jump. As you track foes on the bottom-screen map, however, your view will be partially obscured by your own right thumb. The good news is that Nintendo has stressed a lot of comfort options, both in the operating system and in their games. Want to play Metroid without the touch-pad? Select a different control scheme in the game's option menu, which also includes configurations for lefties. You can even customize your DS to automatically play the inserted title or to start with the main menu, choose which screen to display your GBA games, to add a nickname for wireless play, and more.  | | Up to 16 players can connect wirelessly within a 100-foot radius. |
That's right, the DS is wireless-enabled. Say good-bye to that daisy-chain of network cables that was previously necessary for portable multiplayer gaming. Nintendo's proprietary wireless format has a radius rated at 30 to 100 feet depending on environmental interference with its signal. Surely, it's more than enough for friends to game from one end of the bus to the other. We experimented in a small, nearly empty parking lot and got great reception at the upper end of that rating. The DS network can handle up to 16 users, though you can expect the maximum number of players to vary from game to game. Also, unlike all but the earliest video game systems, the DS comes with a built-in application. It's called PictoChat, and it allows people to write and draw pictures in a chat-room format. Since it's built in to the DS operating system, you'll always be able to interact with other DS users.  | | The built-in program PictoChat lets you write and draw with others. |
But not all is new; Nintendo has re-invested some favorite features of older platforms into the DS. It's backward compatible to the Game Boy Advance, which means that older Game Boy and Game Boy Color games won't work in this machine but GBA games will run fine (sadly, the wireless feature doesn't extend to GBA games). Like the GBA SP, the DS is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides approximately 10 hours of play on a four-hour charge. Old timers might recognize the A/B/X/Y face buttons from the Super Nintendo controller, though they're not in the same positions. The standard headphone jack and wide-body comfort of the first GBA model is back, coupled this time with the SP's screen-saving clamshell design. In terms of its ability to display graphics and sound, the DS is a little better -- and a whole lot smaller -- than the Nintendo 64. Overall, the Nintendo DS represents a rather large leap in portable gaming. With some mystery shrouding the future abilities of its internal microphone (voice recognition) and its IEEE 802.11 wireless network, the DS may have left some surprises up its sleeve. --Porter B. Hall Pros: - Great design marries innovative new features with great features of old systems and lots of customizable options
- Wireless up to 100 feet
- Built-in PictoChat lets you write and draw pictures with up to 15 other DS users
Cons: - Sometimes hard to see and use the touch screen at the same time
- Wireless multiplayer feature won't work with GBA games
- Can't connect to other wireless devices...yet
Nintendo DS Accessories
 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
Big Brain Academy
Pokemon Diamond
New Super Mario Bros.
Pokemon Pearl
Nintendogs Labrador Retriever & Friends
Super Mario 64
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day
Final Fantasy III
Nintendo DS Reviews
it plays games and allows you to chat with friends. it will play both ds games AND game boy advance games. but that's another story. a color. the nintendo ds is an awesome game console. i have never done wi-fi, but supposedly you can play with anyone around the globe.
you can type in a phrase, and in pictochat you tap your name and the phrase will appear. (OR A LITE, IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER TO ME.). whatever color you choose will be the color of your pictochat window. i also found you can drag and drop letters. anyway, there's a lot more good stuff to know but it would make my review really really long, so in conclusion. MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE. my saintly parents had bestown upon me the silver beauty that is the nintendo ds.
your name will show in the top left corner of your window and any messages you send. i play it all the time. from that i know ds to ds is short range. i have a silver ds. A SHINY, BEAUTIFUL, SILVER NINTENDO DS EMERGED FROM THE CAMOFLAGE OF IT'S CHRISTMAS PAPER WRAPPINGS AND WAS MINE. ds to ds pictochat has a very short range, as does all the ds to ds activities i've done on games like animal crossing (buy it) and nintendogs (also buy it). tap their names to see their phrases.
i would also like to tell you about pictochat. you use the stylus to type or draw pictures. i don't have a lite, but the original is a prize for me considering how much effort i put into getting one with a five dollar allowance. a phrase. at the top of your screen, your friends' names will appear. i would have got one with my own allowance, but instead, on christmas day a few years ago(i think two years) BEHOLD.
1. if you go to the system settings place you can choose. and one year later, last christmas, an electric blue ds was bestown upon my little brother. GET A NINTENDO DS. 3. 2.a username.
and since then it has been a commonly used device. just pick any letter, number, or symbol, tap it and hold onto it and drag it to where you want it.
The casing looks outrageously cheap and is extremely poorly designed (the faces are not flush with eachother when the DS is shut). Nintendo has long been looking for every single way in which they could shrink their gameboy series. Anything else would be original sin. The fact of the matter was I couldn't bring myself to spend 129+ USD on such an ugly thing.
The bulkiness alone strayed me from purchasing this system. I have not seen a DS in public for over a year. Simply put, the DS Lite is the only thing that one is willing to be seen with today. For whatever reason, they felt that an unusual geometrical design which nearly rivaled the size of the original Gameboy would be suitable for their supposedly non-replacement for the Gameboy (which has not seen a successor up to this date). Fairly small being a major flaw of design.
If you're considering buying this for the 30 dollar savings (for a USED model), don't even think about it. Unless you're a non-conformist to the extreme, don't waste your money on this block which looking back now looks like a false-start for the system just so that Nintendo could double their profits considering everyone that I knew owned the original ds has "upgraded" to a lite. I do not know a single person who plays the DS. It really didn't make any difference whether or not it was a capable console with fantastic games. It's basically a SNES stuffed into a fairly small handheld console.
As for the specs, it's not too shabby. From the Gameboy, to the Gameboy color and from the Advance and from there to the SP and micro.
have fun all :) 1) MARIO KART DS. and or course, 4) BRAIN AGE. BUY A DS, and try these games (that I highly recommend):. Up to 6th-gen systems, it's been the standard button controller (which was great). 3) MARIO 64 DS. 2) METROID PRIME HUNTERS. Now, in 7-th, the ds has touch screen and the wii the controller, AND at a lower price than others.
I don't regret spending money for Nintendo DS. It turns into one of the best presents I made to my child. My kid uses the toy almost every day for 3 months already and she didn't tired of it yet. She is very happy teaching dogs to make new tricks and winning competitions.
Surely, getting a new console is a joy. Okay, so this thing may not be as good as the DS Lite. IT has alot of killer exclusives, from Brain Age to Castlevania to a brand new Zelda game, to an updated 2-d scrolling classic. Ah, the memories.
Also, this was a highly anticipated system, second only to the PSP (those two months were HELL for me). I remember first turning it on and watching it light up, the intro screen making that sastisfying noise. The DS sadly isn't my favorite handheld, b ut I give props to Nintendo for constantly pushing the envelope and giving us a one of a kind gaming expirence. The DS's touch screen isn't a gimmick if you use it right.
I remember playing it too, it was a joy, and the stylus worked great. The DS will go down in gaming history for sure. I can still remember that Christmas morning, when I was the happiest kid in the neighberhood, first taking out my sleek, shiny DS from the wrap of the box, all clean, shiny and new.
After all, after getting your hands on the DS Lite, it's hard going back to the first one. It was probally the best expirence with a new console, even when I got my PSP on the very first day it came out. Bravo Nintendo.
ANyway, the games for DS always were showing stregth. While the racing games arent' as good, the DS offers game that you can get nowhere else. Sure, there may be bad racing games, but hey, all those quirky games give this system alot of life.
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