I love my Nintendo DS. I have well over a dozen games for the thing currently and had nearly twenty at one point (before I donated a few to a hospitalized friend). I easily spend more time playing games on it than my dusty PS2 or even my PC. It’s got decent capabilities for my tastes, a well stocked library of games, and is portable! I don’t spend enough time at home to get my gaming fix in. The DS has been a great investment.
My only complaint with it has been the cartridges. I have a stack of plastic cases taking up space in my apartment because I’d feel far too guilty throwing them out. I have a pocket in my knapsack dedicated to carrying cartridges. This can be really annoying when I want to switch games on the subway and accidentally spill them everywhere. Cartridges are clunky and aggravating to have to keep around in this day and age.
I’ve always said that the solution could have been solved if Nintendo had the mind to. It could have traded in both cartridge slots for an SD and expanded the capabilities of the built-in wireless. Offer up a DS-exclusive service like Steam for purchasing new games and put kiosks in retail stores for those unfortunate enough to not have readily available wireless access. Problem solved and suddenly the device is 10x more useful and valuable.
Well, I don’t know if Nintendo has had secret spies following me around these past few years, but it looks like they’ve listened! The Nintendo DSi will have an SD-card slot (in lieu of a GBA slot) and are planning to offer a download service! Finally they get it right!
The future could be today if it weren’t for commercial interests…