Nintendo DS Videospielkonsole

Nintendo has been well known for video games in the past decade, and the Nintendo DS only increased their reputation. This system is excellent. It has dual screens (touch screen on bottom and plain old screen on top), good feel, plenty of games, and good multiplayer capabilities.

When you first hold a DS you think, "Wow, this sure looks cool!" You open the lid and see that on top there is a standard viewing screen with a speaker on either side. On the bottom, you see a touch screen, a D-pad on the left with a power button above it, 4 control buttons (A, B, X, Y) arranged in a diamond on the right, and a 'Select' and a 'Start' button above the 4 control buttons. You find that the DS game port is in the center on the back, and in the front there is a GameBoy Advance game card port, as well as a headphone jack. The DS fits nicely in your hands and has a good feel to it, with enough weight to actually hold it firmly, but no so much that it is too heavy. The shiny finish looks nice and makes it feel even better.

You power it up and the screens show nice looking graphics, leading to a main menu. From the menu you can load a DS game, a GBA game, or PictoChat. PictoChat is a simple (but cool!) little chat program for people to interact if they are within each other s DS's wireless range. Up to 16 people can join each of the 4 chat rooms, so you could have quite the conversation going on. The chat features the ability to simply write with the stylus on the screen, drag letters from the on-screen keyboard to the typing area, or simply type a message using the on-screen keyboard. The chat is well designed, looks nice, and provides an easy, fun way to communicate with each other.

When playing a game on the DS, you will find that the graphics are not totally amazing, but well suffice for playing a game. Depending on the game, you can usually see blocky textures from the lack of tons of pixels, but for the most part the graphics blend together to look very nice. They are nothing compared to a PS2 or the like, but they well surpass the graphics of the GameBoys of the past.

The audio from the two little speakers does a very good job. It provides pretty high quality sound, although occasionally when there is little sound coming out you can hear the quiet buzz that a lot of speakers have. When using headphones, the audio is excellent. It tends to be a lot louder coming out of the headphones than the built-in speakers, but there is an adjustable slider on the front so it doesn't hurt your ears.

The battery life is generally about 6 - 8 hours on its Li-ion battery. This is quite good for a portable gaming system like the DS, and it makes it easy to have fun for hours while on a long car trip, etc. It comes with an AC charger that will plug into a standard outlet at home and charge completely in about 5 hours or less, but car chargers can be purchased from 3rd party companies, like Intec and Pelican. These allow you to stay plugged in while in the car and never have to worry about the battery.

The DS comes equipped with built in wireless capabilities for linking to other DS s within about 30ft. for multiplayer games. If your friends have DS s, this can be a great way to play a game together. The DS also comes with WiFi capabilities for connecting to other DS's via the internet. The internet play is free, but you do need a broadband connection and a wireless access point or router. The other option is to buy Nintendo's DS WiFi Adapter, which is around $30, that will allow you to use your DS over the internet just like you could if you had a router or access point.

There are a large number of very good games out there for the DS, and there are also some not-so-good ones. I have the following games: Brain Age, Madden 05, Madden 06, Animal Crossing: Wild World, MarioKart DS, and Need For Speed: Most Wanted. Of those games, I highly suggest Animal Crossing: Wild World, Madden 06, and MarioKart DS. Brain Age & Madden 05 are okay, and I would suggest them if you are bored of your games and looking for something new to try. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is probably one of the worst games ever for the DS, and I highly suggest not getting it. Madden 06 (a football game) is really just an updated version of Madden 05 (although it is still very fun), with slightly better graphics and a few new features. Animal Crossing: Wild World is a very creative, fun game, and it is a good game to play if you want to try something different from all other games. Brain Age is a game in which you train your brain, as the name suggests. You go through a variety of brain games and exercises that are supposed to make your brain work better. The games are fun, but they are not very complicated (they are simple little activities like math problems, counting syllables, etc.) and can get boring after a while. Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a racing game. The menus look great and the features are cool, but the graphics are absolutely terrible as well as the game play. The cars look like slightly shaped boxes, and they don't even drive anywhere near the way they should. It seems like the creators made the menus, got bored with the game, and then threw the rest together to get something out on the shelves. I played it for about two minutes and immediately put it back in the case to sell; it was that terrible. There are many other good games out there for the DS, but I have not had the opportunity to experience any of them.

Overall, the DS is a brilliant game system with many features. The only place it seems to be lacking some is in the graphics. But that doesn't mean you can't have a ton of fun playing the DS. There are tons of games out there for the DS, and a large majority of them are very fun, even without completely perfect graphics. So if you are looking to buy a portable gaming system without spending too much money, I would suggest the Nintendo DS as a good option.