Overview

Sony's latest attempt to lift a slice of the handheld pie so ably scoffed by Nintendo is the PS Vita: a chunky black slab of portable PlayStation. So here we have our full-blown PlayStation Vita review.

It's a substantial revamp of the company's handheld legacy that started with the PSP and has evolved, until now, through five largely identical models since its 2004 debut.

Each step saw minor revisions - three of which, the PSP-1000, 2000 and 3000, were basically size revising updates - and attempts to chase a rapidly changing market.

The PSP Go added a sliding-case design further shrinking the device, and ditched Sony's original proprietary UMD disk format in favor of download only software.

Even now the original device is lives on with the latest PSP, the E1000, undergoing a budget focused strip down with a cheaper build and removing all but the most basic features to squeeze the last out of it as a piece of (almost) throw away fun.

In many ways, despite the new name, the PS Vita is another revision of the PSP legacy but one with plenty of much needed evolution. The same basic form returns and it's still a dedicated games machine. If you want a PlayStation Phone then you'll need the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, an Android based device that can play Android games and PS1 titles.

The PlayStation Vita does have wireless options, with one of the models sporting a 3G connection but it's for updates and online gaming rather than communication.

The lesser model uses WiFi for the same functionality, and at a cheaper price: the 3G PS Vita will set you back £279 while the WiFi one will cost £229 when the console is released on February the 22nd. Shop around though as there are plenty of deals and trade ins to be had.

The PSP sold well but suffered from a lack of star software and focus. There were no essential games, and it's multimedia abilities, by SCEE's own president and CEO Jim Ryan's admission, "confused consumers".

This time the PS Vita is aimed squarely at gaming. The multimedia functionality is still there (and with a 5-inch OLED screen it has the potential to rival most smart phones and even dedicated media players) but the marketing and message is clear: this is a games machine.

It's even got a certified killer app with Uncharted: Golden Abyss proving that this is a full fat gaming experience, capable of providing PS3 quality fun on the go.

The real revolution however comes through the control options. First up there are dual analogue sticks that let you play exactly the same games, and in exactly the same way, as you would on your PS3 or Xbox 360. Something that now seems essential for gaming on whatever platform and demonstrated clearly by the persistence of dual stick controls on iOS games, and the slightly embarrassing admission/compromise of the Circle Pad for 3DS.

Then there are the extras: the twin front and back touchscreens, the motion control (using a three-axis gyroscope and three-axis accelerometer sensors) a microphone and dual cameras. There are uses for all of them with high profile touchy, wavy and visual gameplay mechanics across the launch line up.

Initial impressions are that this is what PSP wanted to be: a real portable PlayStation. Neither a phone nor a tablet but a fully formed, uncompressed gaming console you can throw in your bag.

Features

Features

There's no denying that there's some impressive grunt inside the PS Vita's black plastic case.

The combination of the Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore CPU and PowerVR Series5XT SGXMP+ quad core graphics chip mean that this is running near PS3 quality games, helped along by the 512 MB RAM and a separate 128 MB of VRAM.

A game like Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a clear system seller largely because it looks ostensibly like the original game on PS3.

There is no sense of any lowering of aesthetic standards that you might get on 3DS or iPhone. Visually this is competing on a PS3/Xbox 360 level with the same advanced rendering capabilities and dynamic lighting. Although frame rates can dip when a lots happening it's still and impressive leap forwards for handheld gaming.

The standout feature is its 960 × 540 qHD resolution OLED screen. At 5-inches it's a bright and sharp joy to watch, despite its being a touch down the resolution and pixel density ladder from an iPhone 4S' 640×960 screen which rocks 326ppi over the Vita's 220ppi.

It's also a capacitive touchscreen which is used in games and navigation, while there's a second touch pad on the rear of the machine, used almost exclusively for gaming inputs.

The other control mechanisms are an arrangement of buttons and sticks familiar to anyone who's ever picked up a PS3 Dualshock (there's no haptic feedback, mind). The triangle, square, cross and circle buttons sit on the right of the machine, the D-pad on the left. There's also a home button to navigate between open apps, and separate start and selection buttons.

You've also got three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, meaning you can control your games simply by moving the device in your hand.

This enables you to aim simply by moving the device around - great for games like Uncharted though if you're sitting down you might need a swivel chair!

On the top of the machine are the triggers, a power and volume control as well as two ports. One for game cards, the other is an accessory port. The Vita SD storage card slots in at bottom and a standard sized sim used by the 3G model pops in the left hand side.

One odd form factor is that the machine is slightly too wide for easy typing. The on-screen keyboard is a good size and responsive but the width of the machine means that in a natural holding position your thumbs can't reach the middle. As a result you either have to use a slightly stretched grip or resort to single digit stabbing.

As well as capable stereo speakers there's a headphone jack and microphone for use both in game and with applications like Party, a cross game chat system that lets you communicate with others on your PSN friends list.

There are also front and rear cameras. They're both 640x480, 0.3MP VGA level devices so while classy photography isn't really an option they're serviceable enough for communication and use in games. The AR Reality Fighters uses them to put your face on a characters and to project that character in to the real world, for example.

One criminal drawback is the lack of internal memory. You'll have to fork out for Sony's proprietary Vita memory cards, essentially a tweaked SD card. Games come on their own cartridge-style cards with storage space for saves and update so if you're only gaming it's less of a concern. However, if you want to take music, picture or videos with you you'll have to pay extra for the Vita specific cards. There are a range of sizes planned from 2-16GB.

Connection-wise both models come with standard Bluetooth and WiFi connections while the 3G model also includes, well a 3G connection.

In the EU that's provided by Vodaphone, and the £279 price tag includes a free 4GB memory card, a PAYG SIM card which when topped up with £5 will get you a free downloadable game - WipEout 2048 - and 250 MB of data lasting up to 30 days with full Vodafone 3G connectivity.

The PlayStation Vita 3G will also be available at other high street and online retailers with the option to top up £5 and get the WipEout 2048 game free of charge.

Gaming

Gaming

As previously mentioned gaming on the Vita looks incredible. After all the talk of CPUs and GPUs, the key thing is that games look every bit as good as their larger console counterparts.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss really does look as good as any launch PS3 game and better, even, than a handful of more recent console games. Visually it blows the iPad/Phone and Nintendo 3DS out of the water.

Because these are more akin to full size console games there are also equivalent full size loading times. You can get back into any game you've left running in the background almost instantly but firing up something like Uncharted from scratch can take a couple minutes.

Battery life

Gaming also takes it out of the machine's battery, though it's actually not too bad considering the processors and screen. Play something constantly with a sensible screen brightness and you'll get about four and half to five hours out of it. So, okay for short trips but best to keep the charger in your bag, a habit i-devices have ingrained into most of us by now anyway.

Loading and battery concerns aside the quality of the entertainment on offer is strong.

Wipeout 2048's futuristic racing looks beautiful with sharp, detailed environments blasting past as you compete. It's also one of the games to utilise cross play, letting you play against PS3 opponents on certain Wipeout tracks.

Then there's something like Escape Plan. It has a dark children's cartoon feel as you guide little claymation flavoured characters past a series of slicing, electrocuting death traps. What stops it becoming a simple 2.5D platform puzzler is its lovely, characterful animation and touch controls that have you jabbing and swiping at the screen. You can even 'pinch' the little heroes using the front and rear pad together to make them run.

Nearly all the games on offer make intelligent use of the varied controls options. Uncharted uses motion controlled sniping and gesture-based QTE's in combat. It's also got by far the best use of touch controls to show off your new toy. When Nate's climbing rock faces you can 'draw' over the available handholds and ledges. He'll then scramble across the path.

Trying to hit an entire route in one sweep actually becomes a satisfying meta-game in it's own right. There's also the ability to scale ropes by stroking your fingers in a climbing motion on the rear touchpad; something that always makes an onlooker smile.

Then there are the games built around the new controls. Little Deviants is a series of party games - variants on Whac-a-mole games, ball rolling challenges, motions controlled shooters and more - that has you stabbing at the screen and waving the entire machine around you.

Similarly Frobisher Says is a Bishi Bashi Special style assortment of madness as you race through challenges that last seconds - counting the number of cats that appear on screen for a fraction of a second, say. It's numerous instructions are yelled out by a manic Kevin Eldon creating a genuinely funny if short lived experience.

There are also more traditional offerings. Games like Unit 13 is a fairly traditional third person military shooter, and as such has little use for the extra control methods. Instead it makes logical use of them by letting you tap on screen to select options and change weapons.

There's a good number of titles as well. At launch 25 games will be available with another ten in the 'launch window', basically the week or two after the Vita goes on sale on February 22nd.

It's a wide range as well with everything from more 'hardcore offerings like Unit 13, Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Ninja Gaiden, though to more casual offerings like Plants vs Zombies and Motorstorm RC. Sports fans get things like FIFA, Hot Shots Golf and F1. Plus there are kid friendly titles like Ben Ten and Lego Harry Potter.

The PS Vita also carries a full-blown PSP emulator so you'll be able to fire up almost any PSP titles without a problem.

In Japan, Sony operates a UMD Passport scheme, allowing Vita gamers to download digital copies of any PSP title they already own without any extra fee. However, it is unclear whether this service will be available in the UK. If it's not, it would mean that PSP titles would need to be re-purchased - but we'll bring you an update on this as soon as we know more.

Functionality

Functionality

The PS Vita is a simple device to use. You swipe up and down through pages of apps and games that appear as little floating Smartie like buttons. Anything you have open, Apps, games and media, stack up on a series of pages you can scroll through left to right, or shut down by 'tearing' the page off.

It's an intuitive and tactile system with buttons wobbling and the screen stretching and warping gently as you interact with it. It's easy to see why Sony chose to forgo the PlayStation XMB they'd previously rolled out across various TVs, cameras and other areas of their electronics division.

In terms of apps on the console there are currently things like Near, a location-based service much like Nintendo's Street Pass system. It collects information from the area, people and games around you. Party is the previously mentioned chat system and there's also a Group Messaging app.

The Vita specific PlayStation Store isn't yet up so there's no way yet of knowing what the full range of additional applications will be in Europe. Things like Facebook, Flickr, Skype, Twitter and foursquare are on the way, though, through Social Essentials - Vita's take on social networking.

While the media side of things have been played down, the PS Vita does do it all. Whatever you want to use can be transferred to and from the machine directly on the PS3. Through PC you can easily use Sony's propitiatory Content Manager Assistant which lets you set folders for images, music and video as well as back up your device. Or you can just use the device like a portable harddrive.

The apps that let you view or use your media are all easy to use, although browsing could be better - when you've got a lot of content it's a slow old slog to scroll though it all and the scroll bar is more for decoration than any practical use.

These are the currently supported media formats. The Vita focuses on the more commonly used ones but it's worth bearing in mind that PS3 added extra formats to it's original line up though post release firmware updates

Music: MP3 MPEG-1/2 Audio Layer 3, MPEG-4 AAC, WAVE (Linear PCM)

Video: MPEG-4 Simple Profile (AAC), H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Hi/Main/Baseline Profile (AAC)

Photo: JPEG (Exif 2.2.1), TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG

One area that does need serious attention is the almost unusable browser. There's currently no support for Flash or HTML5 with the machine only getting friendly with the bare minimum of Javascript and cookies. There are serious and basic functionality issues eitherway, however.

There's no ability to re-orientate the screen, leaving you with a letterbox view that only loads what is visible. Attempts to scroll through sites simply reveals a blank screen as you wait for the Vita to catch up.

There's also a remote play feature, which allows you to use the Vita to take control of your PS3. In theory this means you can play PS3 games on the PS Vita over a network. Some titles work already though many don't, and Sony is keeping its cards close to its chest about how functional the Remote Play feature will be moving forward.

Verdict

Verdict

This is fitting of the original PSP2 tag that it earned early on in its life.

It improves on the PSP in almost every way, adding the dual sticks that developers can't do without, as well as the touchscreens and motion controls of other gaming systems. Still, it does feel like a reaction, rather than an innovation.

There's nothing new or revolutionary, simply another means to play games and watch movies.

We liked:

As a portable console this is about as good as it gets. This really is a portable PlayStation and lets you ditch Temple Run in favor of full sized, big budget games.

Both the graphical capabilities and the screen make for a luxury mobile experience while the controls combine the best of traditional and more creative inputs, enhancing but never detracting from the gameplay.

The price, too, is fair. Other high-end mobile devices cost far more, and while £230 isn't exactly pocket money, it's still a heavily subsidised console.

We disliked:

The web browser really is awful. Blank sections of screen, juddery loading and lacking features, it might as well not be there for all the use you'll get out of it.

The size of the machine also makes it a little unwieldy to use the way it's meant to be held: if your thumbs fall naturally on the sticks then reaching the middle of the screen is uncomfortable and vice versa.

Verdict:

Before you decide to 'go Vita' you need to be sure about what hole you're hoping to fill. If it's mainly games on the go then knock yourself out. It mixes the best of everything out there with games that are PS3/Xbox quality right down to Angry Birds level bits of fluff.

The controls, both traditional sticks and the motion and touch stuff, are all great.

It's also a capable media player with the various social apps also looking promising. But this is really a games machine and should be viewed for purchase as such. It won't worry more versatile i-Things, tablets or media players anytime soon but if you want fun first, and a few other features second then it's worth investigating.

Nintendo 3DS: Overview

The UK release of the Nintendo 3DS on 25 March 2011 saw Europe welcome the latest offering from arguably the most innovative company in the gaming world.

Nintendo is responsible for iconic household names like Super Mario, SNES and Gameboy all of which have made a massive contribution to how we play today.

But the Japanese company has also been busy redefining the modern medium with its most recognised bit of kit - the Wii, dragging everyone from nine year old girls to 79-year-old grandaddys around the TV to wave a white remote in the air.

• Read: PS Vita review

Nintendo's current handheld line – the Nintendo DS – has had a similar amount of pull on the public, creating a world where everyone's a gamer. You might be Brain Training on the bus or leaping over spike pits at lunch, either way you're a part of a video game boom (at least in terms of awareness) that's never been seen before, and that's largely thanks to Nintendo.

After such success you might forgive Nintendo for resting on its laurels and, indeed, since the UK release of the first DS back in 2004, the progression of the portable has been something of a slow evolution.

Sticking a couple of extra letters on the end of each edition, with devices like the DS Lite, the DSi and the DSi XL Nintendo made the common alterations; making things bigger/smaller/lighter, adding a camera here and a bit more power there.

The core of the DS remained the same though; a book-like, dual-screen handheld with the touch functionality that augments the gaming experience with an extra dimension of interactivity that spawned the DS success in the beginning.

But now, with the release of the Nintendo 3DS, Ninty is having a punt at revolutionising video games for a third time and 'extra dimension' is the key phrase again.

The 3DS originally launched for well over £200 - closing in on £300 in many stores. But after poor sales, Nintendo has slashed the price drastically, and the console can now be picked up for a little over £110.

At first glance it looks like a shinier, sleeker version of its brothers and it still has the same dual-screen, touch sensitive set up. This time, however, the top screen boasts the ability to beam your gaming experience in full auto-stereoscopic 3D - that's 3D without the need for a pair of 3D specs.

Ok, so the likes of Avatar have already reignited the 3D interest for cinema and Sony's pushing 3D gaming on the PS3 – pricey TVs and cumbersome glasses included - but unassisted, palm of your hand 3D is a completely different and massively exciting prospect.

The Nintendo 3DS has the potential to be a massive stride forward from its predecessors and another landmark product that Nintendo can lay claim to. If it works, that is. We've been working on our Nintendo 3DS review for the last week - here's the verdict...

Nintendo 3DS: Features

To look at the, the Nintendo 3DS is more or less classic DS design.

It's slightly smaller than the DSi in terms of sheer size, at approximately 135mm x 74mm but is a bit thicker at 20mm deep compared to the DSi (137mm x 75mm x 19mm) and weighs around 8 ounces with battery, stylus and SD card on board.

It looks that bit sleeker though, with curved corners, angled edges and shiny gloss finish. This time the lid houses two cameras rather than one (necessary for the 3D camera we'll come on to), both placed centrally at the top of the panel, and each about half the size of the DSi's camera.

Placed at the back on either hinge, as with the DSi, are the two shoulder buttons which look slightly smaller this time in that they don't protrude quite so much as on the last model. The hinges themselves carry on the gradual lines of the device to complete the look.

Lift the lid on the 3DS and the more sophisticated design ethos is continued with a black, gloss finish border that makes up the front face of the 3DS and surrounds the top screen. It's a neat departure from the single colour-scheme we're used to.

In terms of how the new device is to hold, the 3DS doesn't feel quite so expensive or solid as something like the Sony PSP. The d-pad, face and shoulder buttons are small with that distinctly 'clicky' feel. We'd also say that when fully open, the top panel encroaches on the space your fingers need around the shoulder buttons. A minor quibble that's only noticed every now and then, and who's to say we don't have chubby fingers?

Where the 3DS does trump the PSP in terms of control, however, is with its new analogue nub – officially called the Circle Pad. The point of analogue control has obviously been a tough nut to crack for designers of portable games consoles recently.

Sony's current handheld has a flat nub with imprinted grip, something that has been criticised for being difficult to manoeuvre because of its flat design that sees players slide their thumb around awkwardly rather than pushing and pulling as they would with a stick.

Having gone down the nub route as well, Nintendo's Circle Pad is still a bit of a chore to push around compared to a proper stick as well and Sony's NGP will likely take the analogue control crown when it releases with two full-on sticks.

What does help the Nintendo 3DS, however is the fact that the Circle Pad has a concave surface. The shallow banks of the nub act as a nest for your thumb and mean that you have at least something to push and pull against to an extent without slipping off.

The Circle Pad was responsive with a quick snap back to the centre once it was released. We had a couple of handhelds to play with, however, and one demonstrated a particularly sticky Pad which didn't come all the way back to the middle if it was pushed to its boundaries

Since this was just one case, though, we have to give the 3DS the benefit of the doubt, although it does make us wonder whether the nub design could be prone to stickiness over time.

Also of note the placement of the front facing camera, now above the screen rather than on the join between the panels and the addition of three new buttons (Home, Start and Select) under the bottom screen.

Getting onto the technology that drives the 3DS, that lower screen is LCD with the resistive touch capabilities that can be controlled with the included, 4mm, extendible stylus your finger. It measures 3.02 inches and has a 320 x 240 resolution.

The top screen is the important one though. It makes use of lenticular lens technology to create the final 3D image. Simply put, the screen uses a series of long thin lenses called lenticules that have cured fronts.

Because of their shape the lenticules direct the pixels' light in different directions and each eye sees an alternate column of pixels. You can probably fill in the rest: Two images are rendered by the 3DS' GPU, they are sent to separate eyes by the lenticules and, as you probably know, by seeing two slightly separated versions of the same image we get glorious 3D.

Of course, to look as good as the current Nintendo DSi, the 3DS needs to have twice the resolution, and it has exactly that and then some.

Where the DSi screen ran at a resolution of 256 x 192 This time we're treated to a 3.53 inch wide-screen LCD display zapping 16.77 million colours in what Nintendo's calling 800 x 240 pixel resolution (what it actually means is you get 400 x 240 in each eye and then the same in both eyes when in 2D mode). Not only does the 3DS present you with unassisted 3D then, it's bested its predecessors significantly in terms of resolution in the 2D arena as well.

PAPER: The 3DS comes with a wad-like and not-exactly-environmentally-friendly multi-lingual user guide

What's driving the 3D machine hasn't actually been officially disclosed and without being able to take the console to pieces just yet we have to rely on reports that the handheld contains a twin ARM11 266 MHz processor and the PICA200 GPU from Digital Media Professionals.

Also reported is 1.5GB of flash storage, 63MB of RAM (although some contesting reports suggest 96MB) and 4MB of dedicated video memory. Also tucked away inside the body is a motion-sensor and Gyroscope, which will come into play later.

All this is powered by a battery that Nintendo has estimated will offer 3 – 5 hours of life and longer when playing games from the DS back-catalogue using the 3DS' backwards compatibility.

Not too different to the DSi then, although after putting the 3DS through its paces it seems that the avid amongst us will only hit the minimum estimation - we were out of juice at three hours of constant play in full 3D. Nintendo does, however, provide a nice little charging cradle as part of the package and the handheld had no problem lasting the day when in sleep mode.

Nintendo 3DS: Performance

The 3D effect that's conjured as a result has a focus on depth rather than throwing objects out of the screen at you all the time. How much depth exactly depends on the design of the game itself and player discretion. A slider on the side of the top panels allows gamers to adjust the level of depth, acting almost as a visual volume button.

The slider will probably be used in varying amounts as people take to 3D differently. We had the effect on maximum for the most part though and found the effect to be sharp, deep and with very little ghosting when we had the 3DS positioned in a way that hit the 'sweet spot'.

And the sweet spot is crucial. You need to hold the 3DS so that it's central, still and head on if you want the best effect. It's by no means hard to find the right angle, it's the one you'd most naturally adopt, but movement does interfere with the picture significantly.

The amount of forgiveness you get for straying depends on how 3D your image is in the first place. If the images are split to a greater extent to give the impression of more depth, the difference will be more apparent once you start to angle the screen in such a way that makes one image more prominent than the other.

The games we played

We were able to get our hands on two games; Nintendogs + Cats and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition. Nintendogs + Cats boasted the greater amount of depth and so even a degree of sideways rotation of the 3DS caused flickering of the image and the occasional split-second blackout. Titling the handheld forwards and backwards doesn't have the same amount of visual degradation, though.

Street Fighter could take more movement in all directions before the image started to ghost significantly. There was generally less depth in Street Fighter, though, since the focus is on two players – there's no gameplay element that requires roaming in and out of the foreground so the background plays an aesthetic role.

But there are two camera angles in the 3D Edition of Street Fighter - the traditional side-on view is 3D only in the sense of having different layers of 2D cell-shaded art stacked on top of each other.

A second camera angle, however, rotates the side-view around so that it's more a diagonal over-the-shoulder shot and this is the angle at which to get the best 3D effect. The characters become full 3D models and the sense of depth is much more obvious and complete as objects in the background have depth to them as well as looking further away.

There're also some examples of protruding pixels here as well; because of the angle, the outside of your character's body – particularly the elbow, for example, as certain punches are thrown – noticeably occupy the foreground in comparison to your opponent who appears in the background.

The best example of a 3D image coming out of the screen we witnessed, however, was during Nintendogs + Cats, when our kitten came right up to the screen and then poked its head clearly beyond the glass.

In both cases though, like we've said, the 3D effect is more one of depth. When we're considering how much more immersive the gaming experience becomes, it doesn't work in the sense of surrounding your head and making you feel like you're actually sitting in the game, but it does make you feel like you could stick your hand into the world and touch everything.

It also enhances the graphics, not necessarily in a technical sense of quality, just in the way objects look more realistic and solid because of their added depth.

It was when our cat pushed its head right out of the screen that we started to really appreciate the extra graphical quality the 3DS has over previous iterations, regardless of the 3D wow factor. The graphics in Nintendogs & Cats are far more detailed than previous versions, showing off the extra power and resolution of the 3DS.

Using the 3D slider to turn off the effect, there wasn't too much difference in visual quality when playing both games in 2D. The lines in the backgrounds of both games became sharper in 2D but only negligibly, there a more noticeable dulling in colour with 3D mode activated though.

Outside of its gaming capabilities, the 3DS tech is also used for a 3D camera with a 640 x 480 resolution and an active pixel count of around 300,000. The photos that come out of the other end are good for a bit of pointing and cooing but we found them to be a bit grainy and the 3D effect is actually a case of have 2D images layered on a 3D plain.

For the core Nintendo audience, this will be more than impressive and a nice gimmick, but after playing 3D games that use the tech so well we couldn't help but be a bit disappointed by the camera.

Another trick in the 3DS repertoire is its augmented reality, which makes use of both the camera and the on-board gyroscope. Face Raiders, for example, is a small first person, sci-fi blaster that sees you move the 3DS around to target enemies in a similar way to GunRange for the iPhone 4.

When you miss an enemy and shoot the backdrop it breaks away, sending debris floating towards you and revealing the view from the camera.

It's a simple game but it does seem like a bit of an error of judgement since moving the 3DS around so vigorously means that you'll inevitably lose that sweet spot at some point. The 3D usage in Face Raiders, however, is comparatively less than what we've seen in the full games, with not too much moving in and out of the foreground, which is probably a good thing for the above reason.

There's also a group of more specific augmented reality games that make much more use of the tech. They're activated by putting a yellow card on a clear surface like a desk and pointing the 3DS camera at it. The best of the bunch sees the card turn into a tree covered island before your eyes giving you the task of finding and shooting a number of targets.

By moving the 3DS around the scene as if it were actually there you can look around trees, behind objects and even down holes that are two deep for your desk to accommodate in order to find the targets.

A lot of the other AR features are probably better described as tech demos more than anything, they're there to look impressive but don't actually do much. 'Star pics' is especially guilty of this; it uses separate cards with famous Nintendo faces on them which spawn statues of Link, Kirby, Mario and Samus depending on which dedicated card you put in front of the camera.

Once they're standing on your desk you can change their size, pose or glide them slowly along the table. There's nothing more to them than that, but hopefully they'll be the start of something much bigger.

There's a social element to the 3DS' as well in the Street Pass system. This automatically exchanges things like high-scores and custom characters which other 3DS portables in close proximity.

It also tries to encourage gamers to use the system and keep their 3DS active in sleep mode at least by rewarding them with a piece to a jigsaw puzzle for every new person (and their virtual Mii avatar), more interestingly, a piece to a jigsaw puzzle or XP for a basic RPG action game centred around your Mii.

The 3DS could pick up our fellow users the second we walked into the office, so it seems sharp in terms of connectivity there. The related mini-games are overly simple but will be enjoyed by gamers with a gotta catch 'em all mentality. Besides, it's more a way for Nintendo to keep 3DS consoles active so that they can automatically grab updates and software from the net using the Spot Pass system over WiFi.

Nintendo 3DS: Verdict

While 3D gaming still splits opinion, this is a relatively cheap, accessible way to enjoy it and the quality is more than good enough to offer an impressive and immersive experience.

We liked:

The revelation that is glasses-free 3D visuals in a handheld device. More to point, the fact that it works so well. Okay, there's a definite sweet spot that you need to maintain if you want that 3D image to remain sharp but it's not really that hard to work it out.

Couple this with the extra power and resolution that the 3DS has over its closest ancestor and there's a much better graphical showcase on offer for 2D lovers as well, which is why we can expect bigger and better looking games than what's been possible on the DS to date.

The new price is very attractive, too.

We disliked:

The camera. For us it fails to be much more than a gimmick. Perhaps we're coming from a hyper-critical perspective and may fall just outside of the audience Ninty is hoping the camera will please but, with its slightly grainy quality and 2D layering, it's little more than a toy to us. A good chunk of people will be pleased with it for that reason though.

We're not completely taken with the application of the augmented reality tech either, especially the Star pics feature which has little more than slightly movable statues of Nintendo greats to offer. However, if there's any company we feel we can trust to take the foundations of what feels more like a tech demo and turn it into something great, it's Nintendo.

Verdict:

The 3DS outdoes its predecessors significantly when it comes to power and visual output, which means Ninty players can look forward to demanding names like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid in the future.

This is a device that's going to grab everyone all over again but, at the same time, it's got plenty to offer the gaming hardcore as well and that's just as big a step forward as the specless 3D visuals.

Nintendo DSi XL: Overview

Nintendo releases the new Nintendo DSi XL in the UK this month, featuring a notably bigger screen and a wider viewing angle than 2009's version of its popular handheld gaming console, the DSi.

The Japanese gaming giant's top brass – CEO Satoru Iwata and game design genius Shigeru Miyamoto – have made a lot of noise in Japan about how the new extra-large DS should appeal to older gamers in particular.

Especially those consumers that buy up the latest brain-training games and are more likely to spend money on ebooks and other types of non-gaming software for the device.

But all of that marketing strategy talk aside, the true Nintendo fan really only wants to know one thing: "Is this sufficiently better than the handheld I bought last year to enjoy Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Wario and all the other classic first party Nintendo games that gamers buy DSs for?"

COMPARE: A comparison of the DSi XL with the DSi

After all we, most probably like you, have spent a good wedge over the last five years on DS consoles, from that first 'phat' grey Nintendo DS that launched (to widespread confusion on the part of Nintendo fans at the time) at E3 way back in June 2004 through to last year's DSi.

The original model was followed by the DS Lite in 2006 with its glossy white casing, slimmer form factor and four levels of LCD screen brightness, and then came the aforementioned DSi, which launched early 2009 in the UK and was again even thinner, with a slightly larger screen (and saw the end of GBA cartridge-support in favour of an SD card slot, AAC playback capability, and two cameras).

MATT UNDERSIDE: The stickiness of the DSi XL's bottom is a bonus

Having spent the best part of a fortnight playing through Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the new machine there is no question that it is Nintendo's finest handheld gaming console to date. Although the question as to whether it is £160 better than your current DS Phat or DS Lite or DSi still remains…

Nintendo DSi XL: Features

Both of the new colours of the Nintendo DSi XL – wine red and dark brown – indicate that Nintendo is no longer slavishly following the lead of the Apple iPod with a its glossy white sheen, as they were widely accused of with the first DS Lite console.

Both are also fairly conservative, a deliberate design choice to attempt to appeal to older users that are unlikely to go for bilious green or hot pink.

Perhaps the coolest aspect of the new DSi XL is the fact that the console has a matt finish on the underside which means that you can pop it on a table or pretty much any other flat surface for those extended Zelda sessions.

DS-READER: The DSi XL easily doubles up as a decent enough ebook

The DSi XL also comes pre-loaded with A Little Bit of... Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: Arts Edition and Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera Function, as well as the Nintendo DSi Browser, which means that you can get online via the console's Opera browser wherever you have a free Wi-Fi connection.

And while the web browsing experience on the DSi XL is hardly going to give the iPhone a run for its money, it is the best internet experience yet on a handheld games console. A country mile better than attempting to surf the web with Sony's PSP. Which certainly counts for something.

One of the other nice touches out of the box is the DSi XL's larger pen-like stylus - perfect for the larger-fingered gent and a clear indication that Nintendo is properly starting to design its consoles for use by (western) adults and seniors.

The most obvious benefit here is, of course, that larger 4.2-inch dual screen which, compared with the 3.25-inch screen of our old DSi, really makes gaming on the DSi XL a lot more fun.

We have completed the new Zelda on this latest Nintendo handheld and going back to playing the same game on a smaller screen on a DS Lite or DSi is just not an option.

It is difficult to quantify, but if you like to get lost in Nintendo's (read: Mr Miyamoto's) greatest games, we would certainly say this latest large-screened DS was well worth the £160 investment (or whatever that price would be minus the trade-in value of your older DS).

Playing other recent classics such as New Super Mario Bros on the DSi XL only served to convince us that this device is something considerably more than an 'annual refresh' of a popular handheld rolled out by Nintendo in order to sell a few more units.

It actually made the game better and more fun to play. As well as looking loads better it became easier to judge jumps and distance on the screen – a vital component to any Mario title.

DR KAWASHIMA RETURNS: Brain training game is bundled with the DSi XL

If pushed, we might suggest that the fact that the games are displayed in the same 256 x 192 resolution as they are on the DS Lite and DSi means that they appear slightly blockier on the DSi XL.

However, there is no way we would trade back to the smaller screen after playing on this. Though Nintendo fans will no doubt be hoping to see 2011's iteration of the DS feature a better resolution screen.

In addition to better visuals, the DSi XL has slightly better sound quality than its older brother, something that is sure to delight many public bus passengers in the coming years, as the kids whip out the new console on the back seat.

Nintendo DSi XL: Verdict

If you already have a DS Lite or a DSi and are an occasional gamer (or brain exerciser or virtual dog trainer) then you might not be persuaded to part with £160 for what is essentially the same machine with a slightly bigger screen with better sound and a larger stylus.

However, if you are the type of gamer that plays every new essential Nintendo DS release through from start to finish, you will immediately realise the need to upgrade to a DSi XL, because it just adds a lot to your gaming experience.

Sure, you might need slightly larger pockets to carry it around, but then the DSi XL's predecessors could hardly be described as pocket-sized.

We liked:

The bigger screen, the crisper sound and the 'phat' stylus all appealed to us. Though we are not sure if this is because we fall into the 'older gamer' category (eyesight and hearing and basic motor skills all declining) or because we just like seeing Link and Mario on a larger, better screen. The latter, we like to hope.

The DSi XL means less hand cramps for adult gamers. One issue with the DS Lite and the DSi was the fact that you had to have the slim hands of a pianist (or the small hands of a child) to really be able to play it for any length of time. No longer. The DSi XL now means that even fat-fingered rugby lads can still enjoy pretending to be a squat Italian plumber for hours on end.

A bigger screen and a better stylus allowed us to achieve a better overall control of games, particularly where the perception of distance is key to controlling your on-screen character, as in New Super Mario Bros.

We disliked:

It's still fiddly to get online via your home Wi-Fi. Nintendo really needs to make whole process of getting this thing online a lot easier. The strategy is to sell mini-games via the internet, but that is not going to work if people get bored with the hurdles of connecting to their home router.

The slightly larger form factor means it is less portable. This is hardly a deal-breaker, because the DSi will only fit in the largest of combat trouser pockets, but compared side to side with the Sony's new PSPgo, for example, the DSi XL seems huge.

That 'wine red' colour – even though we are in the demographic that Nintendo is aiming to market the DSi XL to (ie old) we would still prefer 'iPod white' or glossy piano black. Whoever decided to plump for 'wine red' instead made the wrong design choice.

Verdict:

The DSi XL is the best way to play Mario and Zelda and Metroid on the bus to work to date, which effectively makes it the best handheld console yet developed

Plus the bigger screen means that we would actually consider using the DSi XL as an electronic reader and, occasionally, as a portable web browser.

We don't even mind throwing it in our man-bag, because the build quality is solid. This thing will not break unless you stand on it or throw it at a wall in anger.

For adult gamers it is a must, because it feels a hundred times more comfortable than the previous versions of the DS, which were essentially designed for children

It just goes to show that smaller is not necessarily always better in the cut-throat world of consumer electronics and portable games consoles.

Sony PSP Go: Overview

Sony's first PlayStation Portable PSP handheld gaming console was first announced at E3 way back in 2003 and first arrived in UK stores in September 2005.

Fast forward four and a bit years and Sony has finally released a pocket-sized version of the PSP, dropping the hugely unpopular Universal Media Disc (UMD) format in favour of digital downloads via its online store.

The PSP was Sony's attempt to capitalise on the massive popularity of its PlayStation 2 while moving across into a new market – and one that was pretty much owned by its number one competitor in the gaming space, Nintendo.

• Read: PS Vita review

And while it's easy with the benefit of hindsight to say that Nintendo's 'disruptive' strategy with its lower-cost, dual touch-screen device has proven to be far more popular than Sony's notably higher-spec and costlier option, the truth is that Sony has still managed to carve out a significant market for itself with the sleeker, faster and sexier PSP.

Perhaps the major problem with both the original models of the PSP, as well as pretty much all of Nintendo's various iterations of the DS in the last five years (including the latest DSi refresh), has been that while they can properly be described as portable handheld consoles, they couldn't really be described as truly 'pocket friendly'.

Unless you favour cargo pants with immense-O-pocket styling.

Until now, that is, because the most immediate benefit of Sony's PSP Go is the fact that it's tiny enough to easily fit into the pocket of a loose-fitting pair of jeans, without too much of an embarrassing bulge.

Sony PSP Go: Performance

If you're a gamer who likes to rock the skinny-jeaned look, then you're still not going to shoehorn the PSP Go into your pockets.

But fashion faux-pas aside, what's the deal with Sony's new £225 price-tag for its latest bit of kit?

As numerous people have pointed out to us since we obtained a review sample of the UMD-free handheld, you can almost get a new PS3 Slim for that price. So why would you opt to buy this tiddler instead?

You might choose to buy it because you want to put some serious time in on your commutes to work this winter with the new Gran Turismo, Motorstorm: Arctic Edge or FIFA 10, (all of which we can heartily recommend).

If you do, then the next thing you'll immediately notice, after the obvious decrease in width of the PSP Go, is the fact that while the 3.8-inch screen is just a smidgeon smaller than a PSP-3000, the colours and screen-brightness have been ever-so-slightly improved.

Add to this the fact that the controls are now hidden away in a slider that pulls out from underneath the screen whenever you want to start playing (or viewing a movie), and you can see how Sony's product designers have so impressively reduced the size and weight of the console.

Yet while the Go's screen is noticeably improved and the hidden-away controls are a clear design win, there are a few minor gripes that we had in relation to Sony's ongoing march towards miniaturisation.

Firstly, there's no option to remove the battery, so you're going to have to ensure that you're no further than three to four hours of gaming time away from a power point.

Not too bad for daily use, but a killer blow if you're on a long-haul flight, perhaps.

Also, for those gentlemen with larger hands, the squeezing of the D-pad and analogue nub into a much smaller space might well prove to be a deal-breaker. Basically, if you have big hands, we would recommend you get at least a half an hour of demo (or borrow) time with Sony's new console before you consider buying.

Still, we did fare far better in terms of overall finger and thumb control and dexterity with the Sony PSP Go, when compared with Nintendo's latest DSi.

Secondly, and this really is the main reason why you may (or may not) choose to invest your £225, downloading games, demos, movies and trailers from the PlayStation Store via your PC or PS3 is pretty straightforward.

But if you have a stack of older UMD games that aren't being made available on the PS Store, then you are going to be a bit scuppered. And we imagine there aren't many gamers out there who will be happy carrying around two PSPs with them, to overcome these issues.

Sony PSP Go: Verdict

Sony's new PSP Go is a beautifully designed bit of kit for gaming on the go and it certainly boasts that all-important wow-factor if you enjoy impressing your mates with genuinely new and innovative tech.

We liked:

While the slider screen initially seems like it might be a little frail, the decent build-quality means that you can happily throw this into your bag or jeans pocket without worrying too much about breakage.

The size is just about perfect for a handheld console – Sony has achieved an almost perfect balance between portability and functionality for gaming and this fits in your pocket better than any other handheld on the market.

Sony's downloadable game store works well either via your PS3 or PC, with a full copy of Gran Turismo (weighing in at just over 1GB) taking no longer than 30 minutes to download on a half-decent broadband connection.

The Bluetooth tethering function is superb – letting you hook up to the internet via your mobile phone and letting you use a wireless headset to Skype with.

We disliked:

After around half an hour of playing with your shiny new Sony toy you're going to have to reach for the duster and pledge, because while the piano-black, glossy finish looks the part, it's very easily smudged by clammy hands.

The cost at launch is nothing less than ridiculous! At an RRP of £225 you could almost afford to buy a new PS3 Slim with the Uncharted 2 bundle – not to mention Sony's penchant for expensive accessorising, with cases and straps and the like all set to cost you even more.

Luckily, retailers are already slashing this price to a more favourable £199, so make sure you shop around.

Another gripe is that there are still no real killer-apps when compared with Nintendo's DS Lite/DSi.

Our favourite PSP games are generally a few years old – and we keep returning to Ridge Racer 2, Lumines 2 and the like. Not a good sign. Gran Turismo is not enough.

Sony also needs to work on the PSP Go's battery life. Without the option of replacing your battery and with only around only 3-4 hours constant gaming on a full charge, this isn't a very useful device for long trips where you are away from a power point.

The lack of UMD-to-download programme for older games is sure to put off a lot of current PSP gamers, who will not want to buy a console that doesn't offer them a way of playing all of their favourite games.

Verdict:

With all of the above criticisms taken into consideration, this is still the best commercially available handheld gaming console on the market.

It feels, looks and plays better than older versions of the PSP and in most ways better than Nintendo's DSi.

Of course, the major issue that's going to really decide whether or not the PSP Go has a long-term sustainable life beyond Christmas 2009, is whether or not third party publishers decide to put their all-important development budgets behind the machine – because Nintendo unarguably has the edge when it comes to winning handheld game content.

And while Gran Turismo is a superb game, it's simply not enough when compared with the software on offer from the house of Mario, Zelda and Metroid.

Content, as the hoary old cliché goes, is king. Sony's new PSP Minis might well prove to be mildly diverting and cheap gaming snacks, but we need to see more quality, full-length AAA-titles in 2010 to be confident that the PSP is still a contender.

Overall, if you're a fan of Sony products, you're unlikely to wince (too much) at that unnecessarily-high launch price.

With the in-built Bluetooth, you can sync with your mobile phone (and use it to tether your PSP Go to the internet – natch!) or sync it to a wireless headset, which we found is particularly useful for Skype-ing.

You can also stuff plenty of games and demos on the 16GB of internal flash memory to keep you going for weeks on end. And if you still need more, you can put it all on a Memory Stick Micro (M2) card.

Dingoo Digital A320: Overview

Launching in China earlier this year, the Dingoo Digital A320 is an attempt to "break the monopoly of foreign brands into the game market." Dubbed 'China's PSP', units are now slowly making their way to the West, and gamers in the UK can now pick up a Dingoo for under £70.

Destined to remain an underground console, the Dingoo A320 is building momentum thanks to its bargain price, out-of-the-box support for classic emulators and a vibrant development scene – thanks to its open source nature.

Enthusiast developers have already coded a wealth of applications, with attentions now focused on Dingux – Linux port, which opens up the console to further possibilities.

What's in the box?

Available in a choice of black or white, the Dingoo A320 packs in 4GB of built-in memory, with a miniSD slot for a further 4GB.

STORAGE: the Dingoo takes MiniSD cards - not a popular format on these shores but cards are nevertheless available

The console also plays your digital video files, a contains a digital recorder, FM radio and TV-out connection.

And if you can stop chuckling at Dingoo's pidgin English packaging, you'll find a charger, mini USB, headphones and composite TV lead inside – accessories that other games companies charge extra for.

Dingoo Digital A320: Questionable legality

Dingoo has bundled several of its own Chinese-developed games on the A320, but the console comes alive by shamelessly ripping off the foreign games they claim to fight against.

Through its variety of built-in emulators, the Dingoo plays over 8000 classic games originally played on Nintendo and Sega consoles such NES, SNES, MegaDrive, as well as arcade platforms.

A dream console for fans of classic gaming formats, the A320 is a nightmare for legal teams across the globe.

The Dingoo is not supplied with any of the classic games it plays for good reason – the rom images themselves are illegal. Whilst you can easily find these games in darker corners of the internet, you run the risk of being saddled with a massive fine if you download them.

Is that a Dingoo in your pocket?

It was on long journeys that the Dingoo made its mark as a credible handheld. Whilst the A320 isn't gifted with the huggable ergonomics of its rivals, it weighs in as the smallest handheld, measuring just 12cm across and 6cm high. The Dingoo happily fits in your pocket.

With its tiny 320x240 QVGA screen, the Dingoo delivers performance close to its quoted seven hours of battery life, even when regularly switching between the console's in-built Aladdin's cave of features.

You look familiar

As far as the interface goes, never before has a console been graced with such a shameless Sony XMB rip-off. Yep, it's very very similar the the XrossMediaBar interface found on the Sony PS3, PSP and new Sony Bravia TVs.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery, as the A320's front-end allows you to easily find the function you want to use within seconds of switching the console on – despite Dingoo's amusing use of English.

Dingoo Digital A320: Performance

As a sub £70 MP4 player, the Dingoo punches way above its weight, hiding some delights behind occasionally impenetrable instructions.

Spend time with the complex features of the A320 and your patience to be rewarded. The console makes light work of DVD rips and other commonly-used online video formats, with the bundled TV-out cable making it a viable source of entertainment on the road, and delivered performance comparable to any budget media player on a hotel TV.

WORM: one of the less-than-inspiring legal games that comes with the Dingoo

On the audio side, you'll find some surprises, with APE and FLAC lossless audio codecs rubbing shoulders with the usual formats. Dingoo also promises to support additional codecs with forthcoming firmware updates.

Gaming

Dingoo's wish to make a viable Chinese gaming format are questionable, as the bundled software is risible. Graphically uninspiring racing title Ultimate Drift would reduce any gamer into tears of laughter as their rally car leaps to 1000mph. Michael Schumacher would be proud of the car's ability to perform a full 360 degree spin without loss of speed.

With the A320's stated 3D power, the first-party software seldom raises the console beyond JAVA mobile standard. Top-rated Chinese games won't be high of the list of gamers in the western world who purchase the Dingoo for its emulation and open-source nature.

Legalities already discussed, the A320 emulates a wealth of long-dead gaming hardware, including Nintendo's NES, Gameboy Advance and Super Nintendo, as well as Sega's Megadrive. Surprisingly, you'll also get support for several arcade formats, the Neo Geo and Capcom's CPS1 and CPS2, home to legendary coin-ops like Final Fight, Metal Slug and Street Fighter II.

The A320 ships with first generation versions of their in-house coded emulators, and this shows. Whilst gamers report NES and Gameboy Advance emulation as perfect, mixed results are found on other platforms. Dingoo promises further updates to the emulation software.

Open Sesame

If a commendable set of built-in emulators and Dingoo's promise of continued support and improvements doesn't tempt you, the fast-growing Dingoo community should.

The budget alternative to other open-source consoles like Korea's GP2X Wiz, Dingoo development has been opened up with huge possibilities, with a vibrant online community already investigating the quirky abilities of its silicon – successfully porting popular emulators and applications.

Development of the dual booting Dingux allows the A320 to switch between its stock firmware and a fully-fledged version of Linux. Early days of development have already seen a Dingux version of MAME4ALL running on the console. Offering support for over 2000 arcade roms it silences many of the complaints raised by users over the console's built-in emulators.

Dingoo Digital A320: Verdict

We liked

• Long battery life
• Loads of video and audio formats supported
• Vibrant development scene – Linux port available
• Emulation out-of-the-box
• TV-out – for gaming and media on the move
• Value packed – all accessories included

Dislikes

• Square-edges means discomfort whilst gaming
• Varying results from built-in emulators
• Appalling 'first party' support
• Quirky firmware

A flawed gem, the A320 offers a tantalising glimpse into the moment that Chinese consoles began to grow up.

Whilst the Dingoo keeps one paw dipped in China's murky past of copyright melting rip-offs, it packs an intriguing level of features into a reasonably priced pocket-sized console.

The Dingoo is not for casual gamers though – mainstream consoles never launch with the quirks that blight the A320.

In a routine session with the console it is common to see a user lurch from love to undying hatred and back in a single breath.

That said, the Dingoo impresses on many levels and the comments of enthusiast developers point to a very exciting future, thousands of miles away from its homeland.

TechRadar has been playing with the Nintendo DSi - the latest version of the massively popular handheld (which launches in the UK this week) - ever since we managed to get our hands on a Japanese import machine late last year.

Ninty's handheld has been ever-so-slightly improved in a number of ways, with the addition of a couple of new features such as two in-built low-res 0.3-megapixel digi-cameras and much improved music and audio recording and playback options.

• See our Nintendo DSi XL review

While the DS Lite seemed in many ways an almost perfect handheld when we first saw it back at E3 2006, Nintendo's product designers have, impressively, managed to improve upon it by introducing a brighter screen, a fingerprint-friendly matte-finish and slimming down the form factor a tad. The DSi looks and feels fresh and modern and – interestingly – a little less like a games console than its predecessors.

Good value for gamers?

If you are a gamer then you probably want to know what would entice you to shell out another £150 on a new handheld, when the likelihood is that you already have a DS Lite that you are fairy happy with already. Is the addition of two low-res cameras and a few quirky new audio features really worth trading the old machine in for?

Well, if that were all the DSi was offering the gamer, we would have to advise you to stick with the DS Lite (though if you are still gaming on an original grey first-gen DS 'phat' it really is time to upgrade!).

Hardcore gamers may well initially pooh-pooh the latest offering from Nintendo, as there are no major AAA-games on the release schedule for 2009 that you really 'need' a DSi to play. And even though the recently announced Zelda (out later this year) is set to offer some camera-based features, Ninty has been quick to reassure gamers that these are not going to be essential to the gameplay. They are, in all likelihood going to be little more than fun gimmicks - much like waggling the Wii Remote to brandish your sword in the last Wii version of Zelda was. Fun, but hardly game-changing.

However, fear not fanboys, because the real unique selling point here is that, in addition to the above-mentioned improved audio/camera features, a slightly brighter screen and the removal of that old unwieldy GBA slot in favour of SD card support, it is far, far easier to get online with this latest handheld, with the DSi packing in an Opera browser to allow internet-on-the-go. Well, wherever you can find an open Wi-Fi connection, that is…

DSi's killer app

Most importantly, this means that it is going to be much easier to download demos and buy new games or fun utilities from Nintendo's new DSi store. This is really the DSi's killer app. And the fact that Nintendo UK plans to make the DSi store into, effectively, a virtual console system (a la the Wii's weekly game download service), with weekly updates offering instant access to older Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and DS titles alongside new, quirky minigames is why gamers are going to be happy that they made the trade-in.

Nintendo wants the DSi to encourage gamers away from carts and physical media towards buying downloads. Simply store your new downloaded games and utilities on the 256 MB onboard memory or an SD card. Which, as well as being loads easier for the consumer, also has the extra added bonus of combating the rampant piracy problem faced by Nintendo and its partners on DS.

Finally, if you are still not convinced, it is also worth noting that the first batch of DSi-specific games for download includes Wario: Photograph (imagine Sony's EyeToy, but on a handheld, and loads more fun) which – in our opinion – is reason enough to buy one!

A lot has happened in the three and half years since the Nintendo DS made its UK debut.

We've seen a whole new generation of home consoles in the shape of the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

Then there was the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) - a handheld that teamed superior on-the-go gaming performance with the ability to playback audio and video files too. And now we have game-toting multi-tasking iPhone and iPod touch.

So where does that leave the Nintendo DS?

The good stuff

At its UK launch in March 2005, the Nintendo DS had three great strengths:

1) It was truly portable. Its 133mm x 73.9mm x 21.5mm dimensions and light 218g weight meant you really could stick it in your shirt pocket.

2) It had some brilliantly innovative games and gaming features - the mind-melting tasks found in Professor Kawashima's Brain Training, or innovative use of the built-in microphone or Hotel Dusk: Room 215, for example.

3) Long playing times - up to 19 hours at minimum brightness setting.

Nintendo cleverly also made a virtue of the DS's compact size, with two colour displays - one in the lid, flanked by stereo speakers, for the visuals; and a second touchscreen in the base for certain gameplay controls which could be accessed using a stylus, or a finger.

Much of Nintendo DS Lite's success - it's chalked up 20 million sales in Europe since 2005 - is down to the quality of its games.

Compared to Sony's PSP (which arrived in September 2005), the Nintendo DS's games catalogue has been broader, more innovative and exciting.

It hasn't seem to matter than DS's graphics performance was sub-par, or that it relied on horrible chip music and reams of tiny on-screen text.

That's probably because, like the Wii, much of the DS's appeal lies with casual as well as hardcore gamers - just look at the range of titles obviously aimed at girls and young women, for example.

Where it's all gone wrong

Despite all of its innovative features and games, time hasn't been very kind to the Nintendo DS.

It's easily bested on spec by rivals like the PlayStation Portable and iPod touch, both of which have been revamped in the years since the DS made its debut.

One key differentiator is the size of the twin displays on the Nintendo compared to its rivals. The DS has two 7.62cm displays offering a non-widescreen 4:3 aspect ratio; the new iPod touch boasts an 8.9cm widescreen display; while the PSP packs a 10.9cm widescreen display.

What a waste

Sadly Nintendo could have easily added a bigger main display from the get-go. Even a casual glance at the DS reveals vast amounts of wasted real estate surround the main display - suggesting that Nintendo could have - should have - snuck in a widescreen version without increasing the DS's overall size.

No doubt this was due to the need to hit a £99.99 price point, but having such a small screen also means you squint a lot - not good.

Grim graphics

The small screen size also belies another increasingly painful failing of the Nintendo DS. Graphically it easily bested by the PlayStation Portable in late 2005, but even the Apple iPhone and iPod touch now give it graphical going over.

Just try comparing the graphics of Lego Star Wars titles on both the DS and the PSP and you'll realise what a huge gulf exists between the two. Crap graphics plus tiny display does not a great gaming experience make.

The Nintendo DS interface also looks rather inadequate compared to the iPhone.

While you wouldn't want to dispense with the DS's physical keypad and control buttons, adding motion sensors like those in the iPhone - or even the Wiimote come to that - would add a whole new dimension to gaming on the DS.

Finger tip control on the touchscreen, perhaps with haptic feedback, would also help bring the DS up to date.

So what should Nintendo do now?

Here are seven things we'd like to see in the next Nintendo DS:

1) A bigger, higher resolution display
2) Much better graphics performance
3) Bluetooth A2DP for wireless audio,
4) iPhone-like touch controls and motion sensing
5) World-class web-surfing and email capability via Wi-Fi
6) Better sound to match that bigger screen
7) The ability to sync games and other content to a Mac or PC

Check out our review of the PSP's follow-up console: PS Vita review

Movie playback is often considered a secondary function to gaming for Sony's handheld console, but its oft-revered screen was specifically chosen for its video ability.

Add to this the fact that it's the most widely owned portable video player after the iPod and that there's a huge catalogue of movies available on its proprietary UMD disc format, and you've got an important portable video device.

First thing to consider is which model of PSP. The second edition, aka Slim, that started doing the rounds very recently is, well, slimmer, has an improved battery life and can be hooked up to a TV (if you splash out more on a special cable), but it's also almost 50 per cent more expensive - not far behind the 80Gb iPod.

You can, however, net a first-generation PSP like this for as little as £90 now, making it great value.

However, you have to factor in the additional cost of either UMD movies - after a disastrously overpriced first couple of years, most of the back catalogue can now be found for well under a tenner each - or a Memory Stick Pro Duo or six.

Similarly, Memory Stick prices continue to fall off a cliff, with 2Gb now as cheap as £16 online, so this isn't a vast expense, unless you do intend on matching the 30Gb of some of the other players around.

UMDs offer the best possible image quality for the PSP. Despite the 480 x 272 resolution being lower than that of the best-specced players, the super-high bitrate a full 1.8Gb UMD produces images that are largely free of artifacts and colour banding.

Coupled with the excellent-quality screen, you'll find a UMD movie on PSP will look much better than a 720 x 480 movie file on other players. Poor sales of UMDs - largely because of their laughable original pricing - means that they're living on borrowed time in terms of sustained new releases, but there's enough of them in the wild to keep you occupied for a while.

Encode-it-yourself

The other option is running movies off a memory stick, which requires either acquiring them encoded in the right format already, or using third-party (such as the free PSP Video 9) applications to convert existing videos.

It's a bit of a pain, but the results are good. Initially, Sony had limited the resolution of videos run from memory stick, but a recent firmware update now enables access to the full 480 x 272. As with the iPod, the sheer number of folk who own a PSP means that, should you choose to throw morality and legality to the wind, you won't have to search far to find a ton of pre-formatted video online.

If you can stomach the proprietary formats and faffing about with removeable media, the PSP's a pleasing device as a video player. It looks and feels good, and sports an elegant menu system. The screen's spectacular given the relatively low resolution, although its glossy cover makes it unusable in direct sunlight.

It also handles music and photos, and includes a web browser. Given its infamously unimpressive games library, it's turned out to be far better media device than it is a handheld console.

Then, unexpectedly, Nintendo got it right with the the Gameboy Advance SP. The Advance SP sported a design that was so elegant and grown-up that it revolutionised the social perception of handheld consoles. Suddenly, unveiling your Gameboy on the plane drew admiring glances regardless of your age or questionable self-awareness. Genuinely pocket-sized and utterly desirable, it seemed Nintendo was taking intelligent cues from the Mac school of design.

But then something went wrong. The Nintendo DS, its latest handheld, has clearly suffered a lengthy entanglement with the ugly tree. It's a genuinely progressive piece of hardware, admittedly, but it's far more likely to draw laughter rather than lust in public.

Silver plastic has had its blingy moment in the sun, and on the DS's fatted frame looks simply tacky - it might be going for Powerbook stylings, but without an aluminium body it feels more like a Camden Market bootleg.

The introduction of new colour schemes next year should do it some favours - the jet black model especially will give it a much sleeker appearance - but it's unquestionably lost the aesthetic war with Sony's impending rival, the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Being a pure games machine with no extra features, the DS is also in the shadow of the PSP's movie and music functions, too.

But where it has won out is in innovation. Its second screen is a PDA-style touchpad, immediately opening up a good half-dozen new ways to interface with games - drawing, rubbing, dragging, pushing, pulling, writing...

The most unexpected surprise from the DS is how intuitive and easy it is to steer Mario 64's primary coloured heroes or Metroid Prime's first-person perspective using the touchscreen and the console's bundled thumb cap.

It's a small plastic nipple on the end of shoelace-like strap attached to the DS, which slips over your thumb so you can use the bottom screen in a similar fashion to a laptop touchpad, without risking greasy, acidic thumbprints all over the screen.

In practice, it's eerily similar to using a Nintendo 64 or PlayStation analogue stick, and nowhere near as gimmicky as it might sound. Even better yet is breaking out the included stylus for the many mini-games on Mario 64 DS - using it to draw paths for falling puzzle pieces or aiming a cartoon catapult at a bomb-filled sky can't help but raise a geeky smile.

Hence, it's the opportunities the touchscreen presents, rather than the DS being capable of Nintendo 64- quality 3D graphics, that's the console's most compelling feature. Its built-in wireless multiplayer (using a slightly modified 802.11b standard) is well implemented and straightforward, though that famous British reserve means you may balk at engaging a complete stranger within a 20 metre radius in competition.

The discreet microphone, too, throws up some interesting possibilities - voice-controlled games could be on the horizon.

With an unexpected rush of sales in its US launch week, the DS has neatly avoided the 'what were they thinking?' obscurity that many predicted. And despite the oddball interface, it is simply enormous fun, filled with genuine possibility, and thus is far more the thinking gamer's handheld than the multi-talented high-brow PSP can ever hope to be.

It's hard not to be thoroughly charmed by it... though perhaps a little embarrassed at the same time.