Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is a foldable handheld game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in 2004 and 2005. The "DS" in the name is an initialism for "Dual Screen", reflecting the system's most distinctive feature: two LCD screens working in tandem, with the lower screen functioning as a touchscreen. Both screens are housed in a clamshell design similar to that of the Game Boy Advance SP and some models of the Game & Watch series. The DS was among the first portable consoles to support wireless connectivity for local multiplayer over short distances, as well as online play through the now-defunct Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Its primary competitor during the seventh generation of video game consoles was Sony's PlayStation Portable. Initially marketed as an experimental "third pillar" in Nintendo's console lineup—complementing the handheld Game Boy Advance family and the home console GameCube—the DS's backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles and strong sales led it to be widely regarded as the successor to the Game Boy line. A slimmer model, Nintendo DS Lite, which features brighter screens and improved battery life, was released in 2006. The DS and DS Lite were followed by the Nintendo DSi, a revision released on November 1, 2008. The DSi added dual digital cameras, larger screens, more memory, a faster processor, and internal flash memory, and it was later offered in a larger DSi XL model. It also introduced digital distribution of games, but lost com