Nintendo DS Lite
© 2006 Nintendo of America
Two years ago, Nintendo (www.nintendo.com) raised eyebrows when it unveiled a peculiar, two-screened handheld gaming platform. Some called it an experiment and doubted if thumb twitching gamers would adapt to a pen-based interface. Today, all doubts have vanished, and the proof is in the form of the June 11 US release of the Nintendo DS Lite ($130, currently available in Japan). Nintendo's ugly duckling has grown up into a sleek white swan, backed by 142 software titles according to the ESRB’s database (www.esrb.org). These titles use wireless game sharing, Wi-Fi, pen scribbling and speech recognition features, as well as kid-friendly themes like Pokémon and Nintendogs. That's not counting backward compatibility with 900 older Game Boy Advance cartridges. By comparison, Sony PSP’s library of 149 titles slants toward traditional shooters, movies and sports simulations. Game play is no different, however, and all the changes are cosmetic. These include a smaller form, fatter stylus, sliding PSP-like power switch, and an even smaller power plug than last fall's Game Boy Micro. The thing you notice the most, however, are the clearer, much brighter screens which Nintendo hopes will be soon be illuminating darkened buses, pup tents, minivans and bedrooms. Update 2008: a new color scheme: Cobalt/Black, which joins white, pink, onyx, black and red, gold and rose. Accoding to Nintendo PR, the Nintendo DS was the best-selling video game system in the US in 2007, with 8.5 million sold (a total of 17 million total).
$130, Nintendo DS
Teaches: a portable game console
CTR Rating: 96%