A New Phase for Nintendo Handheld Game Consoles
The choices for handheld consoles these days are wide-scaled and choosing the right one for you is detrimental. Nintendo has been around since 1889, grew with the times, and have since developed new handheld consoles with different features to cater to players’ specific preference. Nintendo has since then opened a new phase to gaming, improving every aspect of it for the player. This is a comparison between the Nintendo DS and its revision, the Nintendo DS Lite. The Nintendo DS (short for ‘dual screen’) console was primarily created to compliment the already existing consoles by Nintendo: the Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP (special), and the Game Cube. However, following its release in 2004, sales took an unanticipated rise as the DS proved to be substantially popular, and rather than being a so called equal to the Game Boy Advance, it turned out to be the forerunner for Nintendo at that time making the Nintendo DS the new must-have in handheld gaming. Nintendo’s new innovation which brought portable gaming to a whole new level and style.
The DS also obtained new features from Nintendo that have never before been attempted on a handheld console: The Nintendo DS displays an LCD screen working alongside a touch screen; hence the term ‘dual screen’, giving players options depending on which game they are playing, of whether to hold the device crosswise or lengthwise. It has a built in microphone, allowing game developers more leeway in creating new games, and players more options for how the games are carried out. It also offers access to the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, also accessible through Wii, which offers a wireless connectivity in order for players to interact with one another from small distances. It has a fairly similar body design to its derivative, a design Nintendo refers to as ‘clamshell’.
In 2006, a revision to the Nintendo DS was released. Slimmer by a third, and 20% lighter: The Nintendo DS Lite; which possesses the same features as the DS but with an improved LCD screen, more conveniently placed microphone, a cover for the GBA slot to avoid tiny fragments from getting lodged in between, and adjustable brightness, which, when set on maximum is five times brighter than that of the DS. The DS Lite doesn’t have much technical hardware difference when compared to the former DS, but its design is surely another new step forward. The DS Lite was released in Japan, as opposed to the DS which was the first ever Nintendo Handheld Console to be released outside the country. In addition, the DS Lite came with dozens of colors and limited edition models, compared to the limited choices for the DS some might find this a good enough reason to upgrade. Though others might say that with the way this industry is going, developers will almost always create just enough of an improvement to be worth of another sale. The adjustable brightness, even on its own, would be enough reason to upgrade. This option allows for players to set the screen to their own preference, hence, changing the way a seemingly similar game would look.