Nintendo DS Lite: Not Just the IPod of Gaming

So once again Nintendo has maimed Sony in the arena of innovation. While the PSP is on life support, the Dual Screen is about to reach the height of its popularity with the combo-release of the sleek DS Lite and New Super Mario Bros. Forget that the polar-whiteness of the machine makes it look like a marketing idea stolen from Apple. Whereas the IPod didn't really have that much to offer in terms of innovation for MP3 players, the DS Lite is different from any handheld before it.

I borrowed a PSP for the week and was not convinced I needed one; I played the DS Lite for 5 minutes and I was convinced it was the best handheld ever. The drastic difference in attitude was precipitated by the overwhelming sense of innovation that the DS Lite had to offer. The touch screen simply changed the way you played a game. While Sony was busy sticking with its Playstation paradigm of copying Nintendo's innovations and making it better, Nintendo was busy with its own agenda to evolve the gaming world.

I can just imagine it now: Two perfectly lit board rooms, each with a large oaken table in the middle. One room contains the Sony executives and engineers, and the other houses Nintendo's masterminds. They are both staring the GameBoy Advance SP, wondering how they can improve on it. In both rooms, executives identify that the screen is too small and therefore, too limiting to the experience. A Sony engineer pipes up with a simple idea: "let's make it bigger". Simultaneously, in the other room, the Nintendo engineers respond with: "let's make two of them."

I encourage you to just try a game that uses the touch screen. Something like the mini-games in the New Super Mario Bros., or Meteos (a brilliant puzzle game). Try the wi-fi connectivity with a single cartridge. It will recall the wonder you felt the first time you played a video game.