Playing on the Go

As pointed out just a few days ago, the Nintendo DS is selling like crazy. I’d normally insert some ambitiously witty comment here to help demonstrate how well the handheld is truly selling, but there’s nothing that can be said to fully explain it. Should the sell rate continue as it is, there shall be no man, woman or child on the planet without the Nintendo DS. Okay, well maybe that is stretching it a little, but you get the idea.

But here’s the thing. If you were to ask any DS owner who has also been a loyal Nintendo customer of many years as to how Nintendo is utilizing the system and its capabilities, they would likely prefix the answer with the “under” qualifier. While the company has at times tried new things with the system such as DS Download Stations, the DS Browser, and a downloadable kiosk at Seattle Mariners games, the system hasn’t had the extras that past Nintendo portables have. The Game Boy Color actually had a digital camera and a printer that you could buy. It was cheap technology, but technology that was far ahead of the curve at the time. Sadly, Nintendo has yet to really explore truly innovative ideas with the system.

Nintendo fans aren’t really looking for true innovation, however. Plow around on the web concerning the subject and you’ll quickly find that what is most commonly demanded is an equal of the DS Download Station in Wii form. Or a way to play Wii Virtual Console games on the DS. During the early stages of the introduction of the Wii, Nintendo vaguely hinted at these sorts of possibilities. But aside from that, there’s been no indication of when to expect such a thing or even if it will actually exist someday. Given the enormous sell rate of both the Wii and the DS, you’d think that this would be inevitable. The combination of the PSP and PS3 is able to do exactly this. Yet, the combination of DS and Wii is only around three hundred dollars less than that, meaning that the package will already be guaranteed to exist in more homes already. Plus, you’d think that if such a feature were available, Wii owners without a DS would be compelled to purchase one.

To sum it up, it needs to happen. And pretty soon. Nintendo loyalists are getting pretty antsy about getting this type of service, and frankly, Nintendo is running out of reasons to not do it. Nintendo is obviously one to innovate and surprise, given the Wii. But hopefully the company will not forget to think outside the box with the hardware already available to consumers.

nintendo, nintendods, nintendowii