The light-

            The screens on the Nintendo D.S. are back-lit like those of the S.P. and micro.  If you look on the bottom left corner of the Nintendo D.S. you con see a little sun, the is the button to turn on and off the light.   Back-lit screens have a light in the back to allow play in the dark.  When back-lit screen were first introduced to the S.P., they were a big hit. Now all hand-held video games have them.

Pictochat-

            Pictochat is a new feature that is only on Nintendo D.S.  It is on no other video game system.  Pictochat uses the Nintendo D.S.’s bottom touch screen to draw pictures with the stylus and send them back and forth between up to 64 people with in a certain range of 60 feet.  If you look to the left of the Close up of the bottom screen of the Nintendo D.S., you can see the button for the pictochat which then goes into a selected chatroom.   Pictochat has 4 chat rooms that can carry 16 users per chat room.

WiFi-

            Wifi is a new feature for Nintendo.  Wifi is wireless internet connection for certain multi-player video games.  With Wifi, a video gamer can play a Wifi compatible video game while in the United States with some one in maybe Japan or with some one in Europe or any where else in the world.  There are only two things you need to get for Wifi connection at your house.  You will need a broadband internet connection and a wireless router.  If you don’t have a wireless router at your house, you con buy one at almost any store that sells electronic devices for about thirty dollars.  Even still if there is some reason you con not buy a wireless router or internet connection, Nintendo has merged with Wave port to allow you to play Wifi compatible video games at participating McDonalds.  To find a near location with WiFi compatibility, please visit <www.nintendowifi.com>

D.S. downloaded play-

            This feature is only available on the Nintendo D.S.  It is one of the new features for Nintendo.  Downloaded play allows two different Nintendo D.S.'s to play on only one video game cartridge.  This is possible because one D.S. has the game and it goes into the two player mode where the D.S. without the game is in the welcome screen in the download section where in about thirty second he or she will download the game. The download will last until the D.S. is shut off, then it will disappear.  Also at participating  locations, you can bring your D.S. to certain stores such as “Wal-mart” and “Game stop” that have download stations where you can download demo's and trailers that will stay on your D.S. until you turn it off.