­ Here ’s a question : What happen when one of the human race ’s largest electronics companionship makes a move to edge its competition out of the top situation in the portable gambling industriousness ? If you ’re Nintendo , and Sony has made it clear that it wants to demolish you with its new PlayStation Portable , you throw a curve ball bollock and attempt to crush Sony with what you do well : introduction .

Nintendo ’s latest innovation is not a heavy , faster CPU . Nintendo ’s latest foray into the handheld market , a market it much owns thanks to the legendary Game Boy – is the DS . " DS " stands for either " double screen " or " developers ' arrangement , " depending on which way the wind ’s blowing , and it ’s a interbreeding between twoGame Boysand aPDA , with acell phone’smessaging function throw away in for good measure . And the DS ’s new pal , DS Lite , has all the hand-held glory of the DS plus brighter screens and a lowly , lighter , soft - to - pouch package .

So what ’s the big peck with the little 500 ? On the control surface , it ’s just a enceinte , two - screen Game Boy . However , with its laundry list of hand-held firsts , a multitude of possibilities are now receptive to game developers .

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DS Features:

In the next section , we ’ll take a flavour at each of these feature .

DS Features

In creating the DS , Nintendo was aiming for a vehicle that allow developer to do some exciting things never before seen in television gaming , let alone handheld play . Enter the two screens . Demos for the DS render how some of those developer chose to navigate the raw territory . Some game gift two totally different perspectives on the on - screen legal action , while others used the 2nd screen to display gaming peripherals like maps , card and object inventories .

What Nintendo hope is the most innovative aspect about the two screens , though , is that they permit for an completely newinput systemin TV gaming . For all of its dazzle instauration , video game are essentially still controlled by pushing ( and press and pushing ) buttons . With the DStouch screen , there is an entirely raw world of controls that are now possible for gamers . At E3 , some of the most lauded demos for the DS provide gamers the ability to draw their way through a secret plan , control character through sense of touch or use the stylus to " chip at " objects onscreen to createdigital sculpture .

And it ’s not purely for gaming . Also on deck are applications that allow participant to compose messages , utilize an onscreen keyboard and institutionalise and receive text edition substance during game maneuver .

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Microphone

In addition to the touch screen , the DS also allows for vox or sound input into the game . Yes , that ’s right : raw telecasting games could not only render button pushing and sieve trace , but also claps , shouts or screams . developer can create game where player would see to it role throughvoice realisation , but that ’s not all . The mike also allow gamers tochat wirelesslywith each other , a feature popularized by curriculum like Xbox Live .

Wireless

The DS also sport wireless engineering for connecting gamers to one another and the Internet . Many thought that Nintendo would installBluetoothtechnology in the DS , but it opted for the stronger and wider range ofIEEE 802.11 .

Nintendo also look to Xbox Live and its mega strike " Halo " for stirring in allowing the DS to connect gamers to one another . Up to16 peoplecan work each other on the DS , and with a wirelessLAN connection , that telephone number could increase indefinitely . contribute in the possibility of multiple players engaging ingame sharing(using only one cartridge to let many people to encounter the game ) , and you could see why some people in the TV game manufacture are very delirious about the handheld with two heads .

Tech Specs

Prior to put out , Nintendo was passing soused - lipped about the exact specifications of the DS for fearfulness that a competitor might adjudicate and beat it to the marketplace . Now that it ’s out , the company lists these specs :

germ : Nintendo

The Future of Gaming?

With the DS , Nintendo takes a step back from the better - graphics , faster - CPU race that has been the rife personnel for alteration in the video recording biz manufacture . The company ’s leaders say that the industry is running into a dead remainder by only offering consumers well looking game without any real innovation in the paradigm of the gaming automobile .

Nintendo ’s big bet is that what people need is something truly unexampled and something play . With the DS , Nintendo is examine to offer consumers the ability to live video game in whole new way . According to Reggie Fils - Aime , Nintendo of America ’s executive frailty Chief Executive of sales and marketing , " We ’ve figured out the magic of what makes portable plot play so attractive to consumers . We ’ve defeated nine challengers ( other handheld system ) and once again we ’re prepared to win . "

The DS is only more or less more herculean than the oldN64 , but that does n’t bother Nintendo at all . The audience for the DS , Nintendo say , is the older ( men and women aged 18 - 34 ) , causal gamer who traded in his or her Game Boy for a PDA and jail cell phone ; a gamer who does n’t necessarily care whether or not the system renders art at record - breaking pep pill and in once - unimaginable detail . Also , the troupe is hoping that this causal gamer will be more open to a new system that does n’t require the same point of button - crowd expertness as today ’s unexampled games . With the DS , Nintendo is trying to spring - start a variety in the television game industry , and especially in the hand-held industry , that pushes it toward innovative game play and out from hyper - realism . However , not everyone is enthusiastic about Nintendo ’s programme for variety .

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Some developers and psychoanalyst are aweary of put too much parentage in the DS . They say that the success of Sony ’s PSP might fabricate a whole new hand-held food market like the Game Boy did before it . Sony itself is even swash the PSP as this generation ’s Walkman . But do n’t contrive on that wake just yet – worldwide , Nintendo has sold more than 14 million units of the original DS since its release .

So what are some techies ' biggest complaints ? The DS does n’t play medium like CDs or DVDs . It does n’t haveUSBhookups , so every novel affixation is useless without the DS . It ’s not very brawny .

It ’s hard to betray people on something so new that its potentiality have n’t even get to be realise , especially something that ( so far ) seems to be nothing more than a two - headed Game Boy . Nintendo ’s got a unvoiced route in front of it , and this road ’s paved with onetime Virtual Boys , Atari LynxesandSega Game Gears .

However , no one can argue with Nintendo ’s past . The company has one of the most recognizable names in the industry , along with a horse barn of hugely popular titles and a penchant for industriousness - defining institution . It ’s also known for provide great value at lower monetary value – the DS is sell for a MSRP of $ 149.99 , less than the PSP ’s $ 199 damage tag , and the DS Lite goes for $ 129.99 . The Game Boy is one of the most popular toys of all sentence , and the Game Boy Advance is a top vendor in the video game industry – the fact that the DS isbackwards compatible , so it can roleplay Game Boy Advance games in addition to DS games , is a sound move . at long last , the DS ’s wireless capacity open it up for countless future advancements .

For more data on the Nintendo DS and other television game systems , check out the inter-group communication on the next page .

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