Gadgets and gizmos

 by: David Turnbull

The Nintendo DS was a long anticipated handheld console, and no one knew what to expect. Nintendo has controlled the handheld market for a long time, but had been slimming in the general console section. And with news of the Sony PSP, could Nintendo still stay on top?

Holding the Dual Screen may be a little awkward at first, just like the GameCube controller is at first, but once you play for a bit it gets very comfortable, though people with bigger hands may have trouble pressing the R and L buttons, as I have had multiple times. The free demo you get with a Nintendo DS may be fairly short, but it's easily worth the price tag ($0.00). There are three training challenges you can do (Regulator, Survivor, Morph Ball). Out of the box you can do wireless multiplayer, which is very fun, but does get slightly repetitive with the choice of only 3 maps, all of which are fairly small. Remember the Nintendo 64? Well, the graphical capabilities seem to be around that, if not slightly better. The textures can seem a little dodgy at times, but the characters, effects, and objects are nice enough not to want to gouge your eyes out.

The DS launch brought a lot of debating. Games were lacking, Sony fanboys were bagging it out, and generally, as I said before, no one knew what to expect. The Nintendo DS is a solid handheld system and has a bright future.