Nintendo DS: Encyclopedia II - Nintendo DS - Design and specifications

Nintendo DS - Design and specifications

Nintendo DS - Technology

The handheld unit has a mass of approximately 275 grams (9.7 ounces). The physical size is 148.7 × 84.7 × 28.9 mm (5.85 × 3.33 × 1.13 inches). It features two separate 3-inch (76 mm) TFT LCD screens, each with a resolution of 256 × 192 and a dot pitch of 0.24 mm. The lowermost display of the DS is overlaid with a touch screen, utilizing a stylus, the user's fingers, or an included wrist strap with a thumb cover for use in place of a stylus. The console uses two separate ARM processors, an ARM9 main CPU and ARM7 coprocessor at clock speeds of 67 MHz and 33 MHz respectively, with 4 MB of main memory. The system's 3D engine is theoretically capable of drawing 120,000 polygons per second, with a fill-rate of 30 million pixels per second.

Games utilize a proprietary solid state flash card format resembling the memory cards used in other portable electronic devices such as digital cameras; this semiconductor technology is said to be far cheaper than conventional cartridges and can be used within a system without moving parts to jar out of place when dropped. It is currently capable of supporting cards of up to 1 gigabit (128 megabytes) in size. The unit features wireless networking capabilities for multiplayer games or chat using Wi-Fi. The current software that uses IP is limited, however, Mario Kart DS, Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, Animal Crossing: Wild World, and the yet to be released Metroid Prime Hunters (March 20, 2006) take full advantage of the Internet capability to find local as well as worldwide players to play with.

Nintendo DS - Inputs and outputs

The DS is the first portable console from Nintendo to incorporate stereo speakers. In addition to the touch screen, the DS has, to the left of the lower display, a traditional four-way control pad (with a narrow Power button above it), while to the right are four action buttons (with narrow Select and Start buttons above) A B Y X, following in the footsteps of the SNES controller while hearkening back to the N64 "three-part" digital, analog, and button scheme. On the back, there are the L (Left) and R (Right) buttons, also following the style of the SNES controller.

Perhaps the most innovative use of the touch screen is for the emulation of other controls. For example, with use of the aforementioned "thumb stylus", it can emulate an analog joystick, or with the conventional stylus, its behavior can replicate a computer mouse.

The system also includes a built-in microphone. The first DS game to use this feature was Feel the Magic: XY/XX, in which several minigames require the player to blow or shout into the microphone. Nintendo's pet simulation game Nintendogs uses the microphone and speech recognition to command and train a virtual dog to perform tricks or other actions. Nintendo has also suggested it could be used for communication over a wireless network. At E3 2005, Nintendo showed a demo of a Nintendo DS being used as a wireless VoIP Phone.

Nintendo DS - Firmware

Nintendo's own custom firmware boots the system: from here, the user chooses to run a DS or Game Boy Advance game, use PictoChat, or search for downloadable games. The latter is an adaptation of the Game Boy Advance's popular "single cartridge multiplayer" feature, adapted to support the system's Wi-Fi link capabilities: players without the game search for content, while players with the game broadcast it. In November 2004, Nintendo announced its entry into the feature animation business, suggesting that theatres showing these features could install kiosks to broadcast game content to Nintendo DS units via this same feature. In March 2005, Nintendo tested broadcast kiosks in Japan, allowing players to download a demo of Meteos, extra content in Nintendogs, or extra songs for Jam with the Band. A similar download kiosk was at Nintendo's booth at E3 2005, and had downloadable demos and trailers.

The PictoChat program, which is permanently stored on the unit, allows users to communicate with other DS users over the wireless network by text, handwriting, or drawings, using the DS's touch screen and stylus for input; an on-screen keyboard partially covers the touch-sensitive area while using this mode, allowing for typed and written messages.

The DS's main menu also features an alarm clock and the ability to set preferences for boot priority (booting to games when inserted, or always booting to the main menu), GBA game screen usage (top or bottom), and user information (name, date of birth, favorite color, time, etc.).

There is currently an ongoing project aiming to bring the Linux operating system to the DS [4]. As of June 2005, this project has successfully executed a 2.6 kernel, sash shell, some text games, and added touchscreen support.

Nintendo DS - Compatibility

The DS is compatible with Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridges; the smaller DS cartridges fit into Slot 1 on the top of the system, while GBA games fit into Slot 2 on the bottom of the system. The DS is not compatible with games for the Game Boy Color and the original Game Boy, due to a slightly different form factor and the absence of the Z80-like processor used in these systems. This may be an attempt to separate the DS and Nintendo's established Game Boy line of handheld consoles; the GBA, for example, has the Z80 so it can run legacy Game Boy games. It may also be to keep the DS's price down, since including another chipset would likely have significantly added to the cost of producing the unit. In light of this incompatibility, several projects have started to emulate this platform. One such product is the freely available Goomba emulator[5].

The handheld does not have a port for the GBA Link Cable, so multiplayer or GameCube-Game Boy Advance link-up modes are not available in GBA titles. Similar connectivity, using the DS's wireless capabilities, will, however, reportedly be possible between the DS and Nintendo's successor to the GameCube, the Nintendo Revolution.

The DS only uses one screen when playing GBA games. The user can configure the system to use either the top or bottom screen by default. The games are displayed within a black border on the screen, due to the slightly different screen resolution between the two systems (256 × 192px DS, 240 × 160px GBA).

DS games inserted into Slot 1 are able to detect the presence of a specific GBA game in Slot 2. In games such as Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Kirby: Canvas Curse, WarioWare: Touched!, Feel the Magic: XY/XX, and Advance Wars: Dual Strike, extra content can be unlocked by starting the DS game with the appropriate GBA game of the same series inserted. Also, some games take advantage of Slot 2 as a way to add extra game features, the first of these being an expansion pack for the music game, Daigasso! Band Brothers (announced as Jam with the Band in the USA), which adds 31 new tracks to its song list. The first use of this feature in Western countries is a Rumble Pak included with Metroid Prime Pinball, which is also compatible with future DS games.

Nintendo DS - Interference

The Nintendo DS system has been the focal point of some controversy due to its ability to interfere with television signals. Many people find it easy to view their DS's activity on the television screen, while others find it difficult to locate the correct channel and tune the signal in. This is possible due to the frequency of the DS, which is on a very close wavelength to other consumer products. Other people find that the DS interferes with cellular telephones, microwaves, and computers (when the DS is in Wi-Fi mode).

Nintendo DS - Wi-Fi Internet Connectivity

Nintendo recently launched Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which allows wireless gameplay. Connection to the Nintendo Wi-Fi network is currently available at public venues, such as coffee shops and libraries, as well as through a home Wi-Fi network. DS Wi-Fi hotspots are now available at McDonalds restaurants through a deal that Nintendo made with Wayport [6]. Additionally, Nintendo announced a similar partnership with FatPort to create free hotspots in Canada. [7]

Jim Merrick, Director of Marketing for Nintendo of Europe, has confirmed there will be around 25,000 hotspots in Europe, [8] including 7,500 in UK alone. [9]

Nintendo DS Wi-Fi works with existing hotspots, but networks that use a captive portal to authenticate users are incompatible because games do not currently include the web browser software necessary to communicate with most captive portals.

A home Wi-Fi connection is also available via an official accessory, the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector, [10], revealed during the DS Conference 2005 in Japan [11] and which will be sold exclusively at the Nintendo official site [12]. The Wi-Fi network expands multiplayer (exclusively for games designed for online gaming) capabilities beyond the range of 30–100 feet, allowing users at the hotspots to interface with each other from around the world. Mario Kart DS, Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, and Animal Crossing: Wild World are the only games thus far to be released with online capability. Future titles currently scheduled for such online compatibility include Metroid Prime: Hunters, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles DS, and Mario Basket 3on3.

In its first week of release, Nintendo announced that out of all the copies of Mario Kart DS sold in the United States, 45% of those buyers went online using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Comparatively, only 18% of all buyers who purchased Halo 2 for the Xbox went online within its first three weeks.

In that same week, a website called DSmeet claimed to be working on a "patch" to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection's limitations concerning finding and meeting new friends online. Some rumors have been circulating that the founders of DSmeet are those who were once in the ill-fated Project Nitro, a group of programmers who attempted to bring a Nintendo DS Multiplayer games online. Could this be what they were doing all this time? (See "Hacking the Nintendo WiFi Multiplayer" for more info)

Nintendo DS - Battery life

The Nintendo DS contains a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery. Although it is removable with the use of a Phillips-head screwdriver, it is only meant to be removed when it expires and must be replaced. Removing the battery will cause the loss of all of the unit's settings (user's birthday, username, etc.), but it will not affect saved data on DS flash cards or GBA cartridges.

Battery life is affected by multiple factors, including speaker volume, use of one or both screens, backlighting, and using wireless. Expected battery life ranges from six to ten hours on a full four-hour charge[13]. The biggest drain on battery life is the backlight, which can be turned off on the main menu screen or on selected games (such as Super Mario 64 DS). However, because the screens do not have the reflective backing of the GBA or GBA SP, deactivating the backlight renders the on-screen image very difficult to see, even with sufficient ambient light.

Replacement batteries may be purchased for USD$15 through Nintendo's online store.

Nintendo DS - Regional division

The Nintendo DS is region free in the sense that any console will run a DS game purchased anywhere in the world; it is the same system everywhere. However, some games which require both players to have a DS cartridge for multiplayer play will not work together if the games are from different regions (e.g. a Japanese DS game may not work with a North American DS game, though some titles, such as Mario Kart DS, are mutually compatible). With the addition of the Nintendo WFC, certain games can be played over the Internet with users of a different region game. For instance, players can compete in Mario Kart DS races around the world.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Design and specifications", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki