The Nintendo DS game system is a handheld game system that premiered on the market in 2004. Prior to that, handheld game system sales had declined dramatically and more people played games on their computers. Today, the hand held market is blooming, thanks to the introduction of the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo DS Lite that came out a few years later. Both have the same startling features that have never before been seen in a handheld video game.

For starters, the Nintendo DS has two LCD screens. The bottom LCD screen is touch activated and can be used with a stylus or the traditional numbers, depending on which game you are playing. The full color 3D graphics on the games is really something to behold, too. As is the full stereo sound that can be heard through the headphones. You can even use the microphone to set a voice activation for your system. The Nintendo DS is really state of the art.

As if those features weren’t enough, Nintendo packed even more new technology into the system, including PictoChat. With this system, you an use the WiFi to connect to 16 people in your network and send them messages. You can use the stylus to scribble messages on the screen and send them off to friends in your network.

Want to communicate with even more people or challenge them in multi player games? Use the Wireless Lan software to play with people from across the world. The sky is the limit when it comes to playing with the nintendo DS.

And when it comes to games? The Nintendo DS has them all. You can find all of your favorite Nintendo games for this system as well as use the games for the GameBoy Advance. One of the best aspects about the Nintendo DS is that you can use one DS card for more than one player. This eliminates buying separate cards for anyone else, even yourself, playing on your handheld unit.

You can purchase the Nintendo DS in a myriad of different stores as it is easy to get today. The prices are reasonable as well, especially when you consider that this is the best handheld video game on the market. The average cost for the system is $150, but you might be able to get a better deal by looking online. Games are not costly, either, and run about $30.

If you have been looking for he perfect graduation gift for someone or just a good gift for yourself, try the Nintendo DS. Once you pay this game with its high end graphics and sound, as well as see the different options when it comes to games, you will wonder why you ever did without it.

The Nintendo DS still leads the way when it comes to handheld video games. There is nothing else like it on the market and best of all, it is available in many outlets for a lot less than you would expect to pay for a game player with such performance. Check out the Nintendo DS today!

There are six major video game consoles available at retailers right now; Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, and Nintendo DS. It can be hard to choose which one is right for you. And after you add in the old consoles too, it makes the choice even more overwhelming. Don’t worry too much though. Just ask yourself a few simple questions outlined below and you can easily decide which system is right for you. The points to consider are price, graphics, game selection, and other capabilities.

Price -

Probably the single biggest factor for someone choosing a video game console is the price they have to pay to purchase the system itself. Prices range from $599 for the Playstation 3 down to $129 for the Nintendo DS. And if you really want to save money you can buy past generation consoles like Playstation, Nintendo 64, and Super Nintendo and spend no more than $20 for a used system. The prices for games should also be factored in when making your choice. PS3 and Xbox 360 games are usually $59.99 new, while Nintendo DS games sell for $29.99 new. Games for old systems are hard to find at regular retailers, but they are usually quite a bit cheaper if you buy them online.

Graphics -

The graphics are always improving with the newer video game consoles, so the newer systems will always have the best graphics. The Xbox 360 and PS3 have the best graphics and can display in High Definition if you have a TV that can display it too. The Wii does not have the same graphical capabilities as the other two, though many casual gamers will not be disappointed. The Nintendo DS and PSP lack the graphical power that the home consoles have because they are portable. And the PSP can display graphics quite a bit better than the DS.

If you are considering older systems, each generation is roughly at the same level graphically no matter which system you choose. Playstation and Nintendo 64 are about the same, as are Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. But the Nintendo 64 will have better graphics than Super Nintendo, which in turn is better than the original Nintendo.

Game Selection -

The main reason you buy a system is for the games, so you have to be sure the games you want to play are on the system you choose. Some systems have very wide selections of games because they were so popular, like Playstation 2, Playstation, and Super Nintendo. With these systems you can almost always find a game in the genres you like. If you really like a particular series of games (Mario, Halo, Final Fantasy, etc) you need to be sure to pick the system that those games come out on. Mario games are only available on Nintendo consoles, including Gamecube, Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, and Super Nintendo. Halo is only on Microsoft’s systems, Xbox and Xbox 360. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy has changed systems. You can only find the newest Final Fantasy games on Playstation 2 and you can find older ones on SNES, Gameboy Advance, and Playstation.

Other Capabilities -

Many systems have features unique to them that might be important to you or change game play dramatically. For example, the Wii uses motion-sensing controllers so all of their games use a different style of game play compared to the other systems with a regular joystick. Likewise, the Nintendo DS has one touch screen, another screen above that, and is portable too. If portability is important to you be sure to choose one of the portable systems PSP, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, or Gameboy. If online games are and important feature, you should choose the Xbox or Xbox 360. They have the most capable online features.

After considering all these questions you can decide which features are the most critical for you and choose the system that best meets that criteria. If you are on a tight budget but want a wide selection of games to play, you should choose Playstation or Super Nintendo. The systems and games are very cheap now and thousands of games were made for them. If you want the best graphics and online games, you should probably choose the Xbox 360. It has some of the best graphics and the best online setup.

Once you have weighted all these options you should be well on your way to choosing the best system for you. Now go buy it and start enjoying your gaming purchase.

Most game lovers have debated about subscribing to an online video game rental website. There are many, many benefits to online video game renting.

–There are no due dates. You can play each game title as long as you want without having a set time you have to return it.

–There are no late fees. You can keep your game titles for as long as you like without having to worry about late charges to your account.

–You won’t have to return your games to the store. It can be somewhat of a hassle having to make a trip to your local store to return your gaming titles. Returning your games with online video game renting is as simple as going to the mailbox.

–You don’t have to buy a game before you know if you’ll like it. Don’t you hate purchasing a brand new release before you’ve played it just to find that it wasn’t as great as you suspected? By using online rentals, you can play games first before you commit to buying them.

–You don’t have to sit around waiting for available titles. With local renal stores, there is a limited supply in stock. You often find yourself waiting for interesting games to become available. With online video game renting, there is always a game in stock, so you won’t be waiting on the game you want forever.

–Discounted used games are awesome with online video game renting. Gamefly and RentZero both offer discounts if you try something out and would like to keep it. This way, if you play a game before buying to make sure you’ll like it, you won’t have to make a separate trip to the store to purchase the video game. You can simply choose to keep the game and it will be charged to your account at a very low cost.

–You can set ESRB parental controls on games if you wish. The ESRB is a non-profit program that rates video games as to what age group should be playing them. Their ratings are placed on the outside front and back of every video game so you will know if it is appropriate for your child. ESRB ratings are: Early Childhood–for ages 3 and up, Everyone–for ages 6 and up, Everyone 10+–for ages 10 and up, Teen–for ages 13 and up, Mature–for ages 17 and up, and Adults Only–for ages 18 and up.

Gamefly is the most well-known online video gaming rental company. They offer a free 10-day trial or $8.95 for the first month. There are over 7,000 game titles to choose from, which is the most of any online video gaming rental company. Gamefly has many shipping locations all over the United States, so the turnaround time to receive your games is 1-2 days. Games are available on 9 of the major gaming platforms and new releases are available immediately. Gamefly also provides gaming information and walk-throughs.

Gamemine is another online video game rental company. Gamemine offers all the perks listed above and more. They also rent movies for PSP. They have game titles for new and older Generation systems. Gamemine also provides game information and walk-throughs. Another plus to renting from Gamemine is they offer a “speed-boost” after 90 days of renting with them. On your 91st day, you can click a button online, telling them you are sending your current video game back, and they will automatically send you a new game without waiting for your current game to be mailed back to them.

Another good online video game renting company is RentZero. RentZero offers a free 14-day trial for signing up. They only have around 4,000 game titles available on 6 different platforms, but they also have plans starting at just $9.95. RentZero is the cheapest online video game renting company there is.

video games have gone from strength to strength over the last 20 years. The consoles have got bigger & better, the games are getting more and more advanced and the players are getting better. Is there any sign of the computer game industry slowing down? No!

But one of the latest installments in the video game industry is the ability to download games, not only on your console but also on your average PC. Ps2 Video Games are now easily downloadable from websites. Once downloaded you can burn them straight onto CD (with software provided by the websites) and play them on your console. You can actually download as many games as you want! And most of the sites offer you a selection of videos, movies and music as well. You could be playing one Ps2 Video Game whilst downloading another!

If this all sounds complicated to you, it isn’t! It’s as simple as signing up to one of the Ps2 Video Game Download websites, searching for the video game, movie or tune you want to download, waiting for it to download, burning onto blank CD and you’re away! Downloads only take a few hours for video games and a few minutes for songs.

Which Video game download sites are the best ones though? There are a lot of them out there and a lot of them are scams, only offering you old games. Make sure the site has a money back guarantee and 24/7 support. These are definitely the main factors when parting with you money. (Which is usually only a small one time fee.)

With the average video game console costing upright to the 300 dollar level and each game average about 60 dollar, its easy to see why people are going to rent instead of buying games. There are definitely pros and cons in renting video games and I will list them here for your consideration, because at the end, you are the customer and you have the right to choose. Now on to the Pros of video game rentals:

Pros:
- Many online video rentals offer tons of new games, even those titles that have just been released.
- Deliveries are always fast, usually a bit within a week of your order.
- There are usually no late fees for any games and all can be kept for as long as you like.
- After a few months, used games are offer to the players or renter for a discount price, which is much cheaper than how much you would pay at any video game storefront or retail store location.
- There are always good customer services to help with your problem, any problem with the shipping of your games or just a problem with the game itself.
- Membership is much cheaper than what you would expect to pay from a regular storefront rental store.
- Some online rental stores even offer instruction, review and cheats for your gaming pleasure.
- Rebates and special offers are always being offer by online rental sites.

And now prepare for the Cons:

- If you are not a regular gamer and don’t usually rent more than 1-2 games a month, then you could be wasting your money, so just make sure you know how many games you’ll be able to rent for a month before signing up. You might even consider a month to month contract plan if you are busy during certain time of the year.

- Some sites charge you a fee even if you do not rent any games, make good use of your membership or else even a good discount contract won’t save you much.

- The wait time for a video game to come through is sometimes too long for some people, If you suddenly have the urge to play a game, you might have to wait up to 3 days for the online rental game to come but it is a different story with storefront rentals.

So here we have it, the pros and cons of video game rentals, and if you have decided to go on and try online video game rental service, here are a few tips-

-Find a rental site that offer the game for your specific console, not all rental site offer games for all consoles.
-Each plans for these rental site is different, consider how much free time you have before choosing a plan because that could possibly save you a lot of money in the end.
-Before finally choosing a rental site, check if they have free trials, if they do, that’s great! and it’ll allow you to have a feel on how long the shipping time is.