hile Nintendo touted their “revolution” at E3, they also touched on “innovation.” This mainly came in the form of their highly ambitious dual-screened DS portable system. But, for all the good change can bring, it can also end up backfiring on you when you least expect it. The GI editors got together and wracked their collective brains on the pros and cons of Nintendo’s little handheld and we present you with the concluding chapter in our series.

Dual-screens, wireless gameplay, instant messaging…what’s not to love? Here’s what we’re all looking forward to from the DS.

1. Two words: two screens. Never before has a portable system (since the Game and Watch units), or non-portable system, ever utilized the use of two screens for gaming. It’s a truly innovative idea and one Nintendo is really banking on to draw gamers in with.
2. Wireless capability is the name of the game for the future of portable gaming, and Nintendo is hoping to cash in on the idea with their own proprietary Bluetooth-like wireless technology as well as an as yet unnamed wider area wireless system.
3. No system can live without good games, and Nintendo seems to have a nice cache of games lined up for the DS. While not much has been outright confirmed, WarioWare and Mario 64x4 definitely got everyone at E3 excited.
4. Chat functionality. Being able to walk down to your local park and start chatting away with a friend via your DS sounds like a cool idea. Awhile ago, Nintendo announced a special deal with AOL, stating that if the company did go online with their games, they would do so with that internet giant. Perhaps we’ll see an AOL-branded instant messaging feature for the DS?
5. Graphics processing is more and more important in games nowadays, and the DS is shaping up not to disappoint. The unit will be able to handle some pretty complex 3D graphics, taking the world of portable gaming out of the restrictions of the 2D world.
6. The touch screen. No other system has tried to use a touch screen for portable gaming (at least no mainstream portable system) and Nintendo is hoping to create some truly innovative game titles using the technology.
7. Potential innovation. The opportunity to really use the DS’s two screens lies in the hands of the game developers, and if they can create some truly innovative titles that take full advantage of using two screens, the DS could go down as the most revolutionary portable ever (much to the happiness of Reggie).
8. GBA backwards compatibility. Being able to play your old Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles is a very smart move on Nintendo’s part, at once giving themselves a huge market of gamers who have brought their previous products, as well as those looking for something new.
9. The headphone jack. It’s sad that we have so say that this is a positive, but the glaring omission of a headphone jack on the GBA SP enraged many a gamer. Thankfully, Nintendo has decided to include a jack in the DS, and will hopefully also include a pair of headphones bundled with the unit.
10. Expansion possibilities. While the DS can handle Game Boy and GBA carts, it’s also been mentioned that the cartridge slots could also accommodate other things, like a camera. Could the idea of gamers running around, snapping pics and then wirelessly messaging them to friends soon be a reality?

Like Newton said, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction,” meaning that for every good quality of the DS there are potentially drawbacks and negatives. Here’s what has us worried.

1. The stylus. Many a gamer at E3 walked away from the DS with a sour taste in their mouth thanks to the unit’s stylus, which proved to be innovative, but sometimes annoying. The biggest culprit was Metroid Prime: Hunters, which featured a control scheme that used the stylus for both strafing and shooting, a combination that ended up being far less than intuitive. Also, currently there’s no place on the unit itself to store the stylus, which could lead to many a lost styli (if that’s a word).
2. Size, no matter what other people may tell you, is always an issue. While the GBA SP was a nice palm-sized portable system, the DS is looking to be a behemoth when compared to that pint-sized offering. Either you’re going to have to buy pants with gigantic pockets or Nintendo will need to shrink the DS a bit.
3. Age demographic. Take a look at the publicity shots of the PSP and you’ll see hip, young teens and early twenty-somethings running about town and generally acting cool with their sexy little device. Check out publicity shots for the DS and you’ll likely spot four young girls sitting on a picnic table, having all sorts of girly fun. Nintendo has always gotten struck in the rut of being deemed a “kiddy” system, and desperately need to break out of that image. Unfortunately, girls on picnic tables don’t help them out too much.
4. Wireless support. We all know how Nintendo’s approach to online gaming turned out (or didn’t) with the GameCube, which leads us to worry about their dedication when it comes to the DS. True, instant messaging is cool, but we were hoping to see a much more direct online approach from Nintendo when it come to the DS, as well as games that really make use of the feature.
5. Tiny buttons. Unless you’re a tiny-handed freak of nature, your meaty grip will likely cover the entirety of the face buttons on the DS. Nintendo needs to either spread the button layout out a bit, or increase their size. Nothing is more annoying than accidentally pushing a wrong button, especially when it’s not your fault because of a faulty layout.
6. Too much emphasis on touch screen use, not enough on actual “dual screen” use. While the touch screen feature is indeed cool, we need to see more game titles that make use of both screens at once. And no, we’re not talking about games that use the second screen as a map or inventory hub. We want to see games that take the “dual screen” idea to a whole new level, and hopefully Nintendo can deliver.
7. No analog stick makes Game Informer Online very cranky. The PSP features a tiny, sexy little analog stick, making the unit not only even more sexy, but also more user-friendly when it comes to 3D gaming. So far, the DS doesn’t sport an analog stick, which has us worried.
8. The GameCube track record. While it shouldn’t necessarily be a determining factor, the lackluster reception of the GameCube could ultimately hinder what sort of games we see on the DS. While ardent GameCube and GBA developers will likely strongly support the DS, what about the developers who either canned GameCube development or never supported the GBA? Will there be much reason for them to jump on board or will they simply go with the big dog Sony and get behind their PSP?
9. Price could end up being a touchy subject, although Nintendo hasn’t released any official price points yet. While the original Game Boy launched in 1989 for about $150-200, today’s discerning gamers seem to be more comfortable with a $100 handheld. Ultimately, it all comes down to the price that Nintendo announces, but we’re starting to get the idea that it could be in the $150-200 range.
10. A successful launch is something that Nintendo really hasn’t seen since the days of the N64, and frankly we’re a bit worried that Nintendo can pull one off for the DS. We’re mainly worried that Nintendo may be rushing the system and its games to better compete with the launch of the PSP. Nintendo NEEDS to have a launch line-up with some notable games like Mario or Metroid. Gamers have gotten fed up with waiting months and months for new titles on the GBA and GameCube, and hopefully this trend won’t translate over to the DS.

-The Game Informer Staff