ds

The Nintendo DS has officially sold 100,000,000 times. The feat, which Nintendo estimates must have occurred somewhere around March 6 puts the DS in an elite league with just four other systems. The milestone lands the ubiquitous DS, which features ... two tiny screens and a handy little stylus with touch screen capabilities, in the same ballpark as previous handheld champion, the Game Boy (including the Game Boy Color). Also in the plus-100 million club are two Sony systems, including the very popular PlayStation 1 and its heir, the PlayStation 2. (Source: gamasutra.com ) That 'other' Nintendo ... (view more)

While Nintendo boasts that its Wii can make you fit, the game company's popular line of DS "Brain Games" have for some time promised to make kids smarter by challenging them with word puzzles and math formulas. However, a French professor isn't ... buying the shtick. University of Rennes professor Alain Lieury, a cognitive psychology specialist in Brittany, France, recently studied a group of ten year old children playing a variety of mentally-challenging games. Not all were video games, however; Lieury pit more traditional games (including sudoku, Scrabble, and regular old reading and homework) ... (view more)

A few years ago, we used to joke that world video game sales exceeded the Canadian defense budget. Although the latter has raised slightly since that time (from under $10 billion to over $12 billion and counting), the sale of video games has ... absolutely skyrocketed. According to statistics from research firm NPD Group, video games had a record year in 2007, with sales reaching an astonishing $17.9 billion. By comparison, those numbers are up 43 per cent from 2006, a year marked by Microsoft's early start on the next generation of video game consoles. Sony and Nintendo launched their ... (view more)

Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) has fared worse against Nintendo than its PlayStation 3. And, that's saying a lot. In release for a few years now, the PSP's once-glowing potential has been lost amidst the sticky goo of good intentions from Sony's ... executive branch. Although the stylish black handheld boasts a far more attractive appearance and superior graphics, the PSP has been thoroughly trounced by Nintendo's handy DS. What's so "handy" about the DS? Well, it is extremely portable. The most recent edition of the DS, the DS Lite, is un-surprisingly lightweight and durable for a handheld ... (view more)

As Nintendo faces both scrutiny for its admittedly fragile DS Lite and applause for shipping its 20 millionth unit, Sony is doing its damndest to keep up. Provided with a golden PR opportunity as Nintendo scrambles to cover itself over an ... approximate 400,000 faulty portable units, Sony is announcing a slew of new features for the Playstation Portable (PSP), in hopes that it can increase shipments. When it launched the PSP in North America on March 24, 2005, many insiders -- including yours truly -- saw the system's power and Sony's third-party support as a dynamic that simply could not fail. ... (view more)

Despite the fact that, for the most part, Nintendo wares are designed with children in mind, Nintendo is today admitting that many of its new DS Lite handhelds are susceptible to cracking. That's right, the company that has produced consoles -- like ... the N64 and SNES -- that appear able to withstand a living room atomic bomb is telling consumers that its newest product is, well, fragile. The problem lies with some faulty cases, leading Nintendo to assure its DS Lite purchasers that the problem is simply cosmetic, and will not directly affect its gaming performance. Furthermore, according to ... (view more)