Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS, sometimes abbreviated NDS or DS, is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo, and first released in 2004. The console features a clamshell design, with two LCD screens inside - one of which is a touch-sensitive screen. more...

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The DS can stand for "Dual Screen," and Developers' System, from Nintendo's belief that the system "gives game creators brand new tools which will lead to more innovative games for the world's players."

On March 2, 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite in Japan, a redesigned system which is slimmer and lighter with brighter screens, a longer and thicker stylus for the touch screen, and a relocated microphone. It was released later the same year in North America, Europe and Australia. Since the release of the DS Lite, Nintendo has decided to discontinue the original DS.

Design and specifications

Input and output

The lower display of the Nintendo DS is overlaid with a touch-sensitive screen, designed to accept input from the included stylus, or a curved plastic thumb tab attached to the optional wrist strap. The touch screen allows players to interact with in-game elements more directly than by pressing buttons; for example, the stylus is used in Trauma Center: Under the Knife as a scalpel to make an incision in a diseased patient,in pokemon ranger to capture pokemon, and as a writing tool in the included chatting software, PictoChat.

Traditional controls are located on either side of the touch screen. To the left is a D-pad, with a narrow Power button above it, and to the right are the A, B, X, and Y buttons, with narrow Select and Start buttons above them. Shoulder buttons L and R are located on the upper corners of the lower half of the system. The overall button layout is similar to the controller of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

The Nintendo DS features stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound (depending on the software) located on either side of the upper display screen. This is a first for a Nintendo handheld, as the Game Boy line of systems has only supported stereo sound through the use of headphones or external speakers.

A built-in microphone is located below the left side of the bottom screen. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including speech recognition (Nintendogs), chatting online between gameplay sessions (but not during gameplay) in some games (Metroid Prime: Hunters), and for minigames that require the player to blow or shout into the microphone (Feel the Magic: XY/XX, Wario Ware: Touched, etc).

Hardware Specifications

Mass: 275 g (9.7 oz.); Physical size: 148.7 x 84.7 x 28.9 mm (5.85 x 3.33 x 1.13 inches).; Screens: Two separate 3-inch TFT LCD screens, resolution of 256 x 192 pixels each, with dimensions of 62 x 46 mm and 77 mm diagonal, and a dot pitch of 0.24 mm. Note that the gap between the screens is approximately 21mm, equivalent to about 92 "hidden" screen lines. Some games take this separation into account and treat the missing screen area as part of the play field, while others ignore its existence. This fact has created some controversy over which method is best. The lower display is overlaid with a resistive touch screen, which allows for touch contact with the screen (either with the included stylus, the player's firinger, or the wrist strap's thumb pad) to be registered. The system is only capable of measuring one point on the screen at a time; pressing in multiple locations will result in a point in the middle of all the locations being registered.;

Read more at Wikipedia.org