The Original DS Console (Nintendo DS Lite)

Member Name: sparksteroid

Product:	Nintendo DS Lite
Date:	18/09/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, graphics, 2 screens

Disadvantages: Accuracy, sound, games available

Anyone who has read my previous reviews on Nintendo products will know that I have always thought of Nintendo as being a bit behind the times. Ever since they started I never thought their games consoles were quite up to scratch in comparison to those of other companies.

Personally I find the Nintendo Wii to be quite an expensive games console to possess, mainly because of all the accessories that are available for it. It seems that it's blatantly designed to be a money generator for Nintendo more than anything and it doesn't really boast any modern technological features apart from the infra-red sensor. However, consoles such as the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 are much more advanced and cheaper to run so to speak. I also know that Microsoft have an infra-red sensor in development for the X-Box 360 but the device will not require you to use any kind of remote control, it will pick up your body movements automatically. Some would argue that the Wii is more about playability.

Nintendo's DS console, which comes with a plastic pen and touch screen technology, came as quite a pleasant surprise to me. The hand held console weighs 300grams, has two TFT LCD seperate screens, two ARM processors, an ARM946E-S main CPU and ARM7 co-processor at clock speeds of 67 MHz and 33 MHz respectively along with 4 Megabytes of mobile RAM and built-in wireless with WEP encryption.

I have mainly only played childrens games on the DS but I am quite impressed by the graphics capabilities of the console which are improved, no doubt, by the LCD screens. In terms of playability using the pen on the touch screen is nice and simple and makes gameplay relatively easy, especially for children. However, the console was bought primarily for my eight year old daughter and after a few weeks of playing on it, the touch screen sensitivity seems to be much more inaccurate and temperamental.

The sound capabilities of the console are not really all that great, but I don't think that's really much of an issue for a hand held console. However, considering the price the Nintendo DS is a handy little piece of technology that can, at least, provide a few hours of entertainment at a fairly decent quality though I would recommend it either more for children or, quite simply, for brain training.

Summary: A good console for Nintendo