Looking for Mario Bros stuff? Try an auction first. You might find it cheaper than in stores. Also, sometimes you will find some weird gifts that your Mario Brothers enthusiasts will love… some accessories, toys, clothing, and other extras that they never knew existed. You might find something perfect for a game room set up.

The Nintendo DS, launched in 2005, revised in 2007 to the Nintendo DS Lite has fast become one of the most successful handheld system in history. Following on from Nintendo’s success with the Game Boy Series, the DS ushered in a new era of dominance for Nintendo in the handheld market.

The main feature of the DS is the it’s Dual Screen technology. The top screen acts as normal, showing off the fast paced and unique action of the many different titles on offer, while the bottom touch screen is where the DS makes it’s money.

Packed with the DS is a neat stylus pen, used to control the action of the touch screen. It opens up many different avenues for original game design and still manages to provide the same vibrant colors and slick gameplay as it’s top-bound brother.

Along with the dual screens you get a decent set of speakers built in, normal button controls, a microphone, the ability to play old game boy advanced games and built in wifi capabilities.

One of the biggest titles that took advantage of the DS’s capabilities was unsurprisingly Nintendo’s own Nintendogs. The basic premise of the game is like the good old Tamagochi, except this time the object of your affection is puppy. Using the stylus on the touch screen you can feed, train and play with your dog and also use the microphone to give voice commands. Nintendogs is part of Nintendo’s range of Touch Generations games.

However, if training small dogs isn’t you thing there are many other titles on the DS which will appeal such as Trauma Center and 2 – a game involving touch screen based surgery – Hotel Dusk – a film noir styled detective drama and even a music creation game involving small underwater animals called Electroplankton.

One of the best things with the range of games of the DS is that even with it’s touch screen capabilities many game designers have still produced fantastic games using the standard controls such as Mario Kart DS and Contra.

Even though the DS does have many good points, it does have it’s drawbacks. The relatively low technical specification of the DS does mean that it doesn’t have much graphical oomph to it. Also there have been many unsuccessful add ons such as an underperforming web browser to take advantage of the built in wifi receiver and an MP3 player. Neither of these additions or the many like them have shown that the DS is only really good at one thing – playing games.

It is here that the DS excels with its huge range of titles from every conceivable genre and so many unique and exciting ways to play. No matter what type of game you want to play there should be something on the Nintendo DS to satisfy.

It turns out that Nintendo has seen the problems with the DS and will be bringing out a 3rd generation model named the Dsi. It’s main feature will be two cameras, one on the outside and one on the inside, just like some phones. How the Dsi’s cameras will be used in any games is still to be announced, but it is set for worldwide release in summer 2009.