Titles such as Brain Training and Nintendogs offered rewarding entertainment to people who wouldn't consider themselves gamers. There was the occasional Mario and Zelda to keep the gamers happy too, but the success of the DS has been driven by the sheer variety of software available for it. The quality was variable but accessibility was near universal. The huge success caused an avalanche of similar titles and soon the DS was swamped with fitness, puzzle and general self-improvement titles. Around the time the DS Lite arrived, Nintendo launched Brain Training: the self-improvement software had been a huge success in Japan and was quickly adopted in other markets.īrain Training and its sequels alone are probably accountable for half of those 10m UK sales. Continuing redesigns and improvements have helped, but this is only part of the story. The DS Lite was launched in 2006 and started attracting an audience that had ignored the chunky original. The big kickstart was the initial redesign. Combine these and you have a console that has shattered long-standing gamer/non-gamer barriers. The DS's catalogue is far more varied than the sports 'n' shooting console norm. The trend was recently confirmed when the DS overtook the PlayStation 2 to become the biggest selling games console in UK history.īut why has the DS done so well? You can credit three main factors: the welcoming interface, which has been crucial in opening up the appeal to non-gamers with the DS you didn't need any of the traditional gaming dexterity to succeed – the ability to jab at a screen with a stylus was usually enough the sleek, minimal styling of later models helped but most important of all has been the variety of content. The console has now shifted more than 100m units. But while the PSP has done well enough – it has sold more than 50m units – Nintendo's ugly duckling has grown into a phenomenon. Even the inclusion of two screens wasn't enough to get anyone excited.

The PSP was sleek with a gorgeous widescreen display. I n 2005 it was widely assumed, by anyone not actually employed by Nintendo, that the Sony PSP would win the battle of the handheld games consoles.

Nintendo ds