Introduction

Well if there has ever been a battle of the handhelds, 2005 is going to be the year for it. With Nintendo getting a strong headstart with their release of the Nintendo DS, Sony is also not far behind with the PlayStation Portable (PSP) coming out in a few months time. Although the hype around the handheld hasn't been that entire great, and the expectations not as high as many would think. Could this handheld keep Nintendo at the top of the handheld market? Will the dual screen system become more than a fancy gimmick? And will the handheld produce good games? All of these questions plus more will be answered if you continue reading!

Design

As with the home consoles the actual design of the machine itself usually isn't all that big of a deal. Just look at the Xbox for example, the thing is huge, and that is an understatement. But when it comes to handhelds you can live and die by the design of the handheld. If you are not careful you can make one mistake and doom the system to an early retirement.

The DS is a dual screen handheld (hence the name) that does make it quite a bit larger then normal handhelds. When the unit is flipped open, it can easily be placed in your hands, and through some various testing with family members I have found that it seems to work with all hand sizes without any flaws. The bottom screen of course is used for the touch pad. The system itself includes a stylus, which allows you to use many of the DS's features.

Does the DS exude that "Wow factor" right after you take it out of the box? The short answer is yes. The dual screen display of the DS shows off quite a bit of slickness, as the overall interface of the DS, which looks like something from the future. Yet Nintendo still holds true to its roots, and seems as though they have gone back to a more "classic" look with their controls, which remind me a lot of the SNES control, one of my favorite controllers of all time.

Do I have any complaints with the actual design of the DS? None whatsoever. I think the color selection is good, I think the overall design of the DS is actually quite impressive.

Performance

The DS sports a dual screen display, with wireless capabilities, chat feature, rechargeable battery, microphone, and of course, a touch pad for the bottom screen. Does it all combine to make it a worthwhile handheld? In other words does all the glamour amount to anything? Yes and no.

One of my favorite features these days is the rechargeable battery, which makes gaming so much easier. Of course when you on the long road trip, being able to swap some double A's is an easier process, the recharging process is just so much cheaper and easier! One of the biggest problems I had with Nintendo's Gameboy Advanced was its lighting, which was appalling! I had to go out and purchase an extra light to try and make my life easier, and even that failed. From my experiences thus far the Nintendo DS has been great in terms of lighting, as I have yet to find any instance where the unit didn't give off enough illumination.

So how does the handheld perform during actual gaming? Well when playing an old GBA game, which does work on the DS, everything is fine and dandy, with the bottom screen just remains blank. Now when playing the new DS games, the bottom screen activates and becomes a touch screen. We see some developers taking full advantage of this feature, either using the touch pad as an in-game gameplay function, or by having it display a map or info while the action stays on the top screen.

One of the unique features that the DS does have is that it supports up to sixteen-player in multiplayer mode, which works really easy. Just get a group of DS users around and the wireless connectors between the units will automatically connect and you will be ready to play. Although none of the current crop of games has really taken full advantage of this technology, it has massive potential to enhance your gaming experience. There is also a built in microphone, which I think could be used for some neat games for the DS but we will have to see.

The dual screen action of the Nintendo DS could cause a lot of the problems if the resolution and screen size doesn't work right, but you can see that Nintendo spent a lot of time making sure that this was a handheld that would offer a nice looking screen, unlike the GBA, and for that Nintendo did a good job this time around.

So what do I think of the DS as a handheld? Well right now (January 2005) I would have to say this is the best handheld out on the market. Whether this will stay that way I don't know. But I do think that Nintendo did their homework with this handheld, and has some really good ideas that could quite possibly translate into a successful handheld device.

Looking Forward

So what do I perceive the future of the Nintendo DS to be? Well this is an interesting question that cannot go without mentioning the Sony PSP. One thing I do think is good for both Nintendo and DS users is that competition "usually" brings out the best in companies as they are continually trying to battle against one another creating better games. The DS has a lot of features, like the wireless play that really haven't even been tapped into yet. All the DS needs is one game that fully utilizes all of the handheld's options and features, and this could really set the handheld off. Will this happen? I don't know. But I wouldn't be surprised if the guys over at Nintendo have some answers for the coming Sony PSP launch.