AfterDawn: Glossary

NDSL stands for the updated, lighter version of Nintendo's handheld gaming console the Nintendo DS, known as the Nintendo DS Lite.

The DS stands for dual screens, and the DS Lite is a slimmer, brighter, and overall more lightweight redesign of its older brother, the Nintendo DS. The DS Lite can also use Wi-Fi to connect with gamers around the world.

Originally announced in January 2006, the DS Lite hit Japan in March 2006 and then Australia, North America and Europe in June of that year. Worldwide sales have already exceeded 50 million units and don't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

The Nintendo DS Lite runs on a CPUs working at 67 MHz.

Playing Games

For games, the DS Lite still uses cartridges just like all of its predecessors but they have been redesigned and are much smaller and thinner and can hold more data. The handheld can also play games from previous years with a secondary GBA game Pack slot.

Unfortunately for Nintendo, because they still use cartridges, Roms are a big threat. "Dumps" of these games can be found circulating on the Internet and so far there has never been a protection that has stopped hackers from making full game images of games and releasing them.

Features

The Nintendo DS Lite sports some interesting features that have added to it becoming a huge selling handheld.

The Nintendo DS Browser, created by excellent cross-platform company Opera allows users to access the Internet using a fully functional browser.

Nintendo is home to many huge franchises, most notably Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong and has used the everlasting popularity of those franchises to score hit after hit for the console. The highest selling game, Nintendogs, has moved 20 million units since its release.