Could Nintendo do more with the DS?

The DS is the best selling console this generation, if not the best-selling console ever. Everywhere you go, you see a DS. Kids own it. Young adults own it. Elderly people own it. Hyperactive, giggly highschool girls own it. In recent times, it's become the iPod of gaming, far exceeding the popularity of the Gameboys and driving the PSP into the ground.

The word "console" just doesn't do the DS justice any more ... what it is, is a phenomenon. An ingenious device that has accelerated the growth of the gaming industry as a whole at an alarming rate, causing developers to throw all pre-conceived notions they cradled about portable out the window. Clearly, Nintendo doesn't need to worry about incurring losses. Even in a worst case scenario where the Wii tanks, the DS will still stand strong, ready to pick up the slack. The system has been marketed with enough ferocity to keep it going strong even a couple of years from now.


However, this doesn't mean the line has to be drawn at portable gaming. The DS is capable of much more, largely due to the touchscreen/microphone combination. Nintendo is well-versed in the art of releasing accessories for their systems, and while not all of these accessories have been quite useful up until now, the DS might be able to change that. After all, as has been proven before, marketing plays a huge role in the success of any peripheral.

First up is the The Play-Yan media player, created originally for the GBA SP. This little add-on which used SD cards as storage media was capable of playing MP3 audio files and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video files. While the Play-Yan essentially flopped in Japan, chances are this was due to poor marketing. Pushing the device would not have been difficult, had Nintendo bothered to make the effort. For example; if portable anime is possible on a PSP, why not on a DS? A marketing deal is all it would take and I'm assuming everyone would want to share in the success of the DS.


Next up is the Game Boy Advance Video format. Now, by no means am I advocating the use of GBA cartridges to play video ... all I'm saying is, if you can do it on a GBA cart, you can do it on a DS cart. I'd jump at the opportunity to watch video on the go on a DS Lite in the event that the service was priced right. Downloadable content and an iTunes-like service are what immediately come to mind when considering the possibilities.

Look at it this way. Adding music or video to a DS seems far easier than adding games to an iPod. And what about channels? If they're possible on the Wii, they should be possible on the DS, given the device's wi-fi capabilities. News on the go would guarantee a larger install base for the DS.


Knowing Nintendo they've probably considered the possibilities ... question is, are they acting on them? For a company that seems to milk their franchises for all they're worth, one would think they would never let the DS's potential go to waste.