Accessories For Your Nintendo

Sega Game Gear? Ha! It was about as much a challenge to the reigning king in its day, the Nintendo Gameboy, as a beer league football team would be against the Steelers. Fact is, Nintendo has been pretty much unchallenged in the handheld gaming arena since the original Gameboy, continuing right through to the DS.

That is, until now.

With the latest generation of handhelds, Nintendo is facing some strong competition from the Sony PSP, or Playstation Portable. It’s not exactly a neck-and-neck race, but the PSP is winning in some parts of the world. This is something that Nintendo has never had to face with previous generations of handheld systems. Sony’s PSP is not going to disappear like the Sega Game Gear and most other competitors from past years.

The question in many people’s minds – particularly those who are planning to buy a portable gaming system for themselves – is this: which among the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP is the better investment?

Let’s answer this important question by breaking it down into 4 important sub-questions that will ultimately tell us the handheld that will define this generation of portable gaming.

1. Which console is more powerful? There’s really no contest here. The Sony PSP was designed to be a powerful unit, with two 333MHz CPUs rendering both gameplay and amazing graphics. The screen is built for widescreen gaming, and has a much better resolution than the DS. PSP games take more space as well, because there is so much more to them. Most Nintendo games are under 100MB. PSP games range from 300MB to 1.5GB. WINNER: Sony PSP.

2. Which console has more games? Many experts say that software creates hardware and not the other way around. What would you do with a highly powerful handheld if you won’t have any games to play with it, right? When it comes to depth of gaming library, the Nintendo DS is the runaway winner. Its releases outnumber the releases of its competitor by a ratio of almost 4:1. There are many development companies focusing only on developing games for the Nintendo DS. WINNER: Nintendo DS.

3. Which system has better multimedia capabilities? Many of today’s gadgets perform specialized functions. Ipods play music.

PDAs let you browse the web and manage data. Digital cameras take photos and in some cases, video. Cell phones can act as personal organizers as well as communication devices. However, many device manufacturers are trying to make their hardware do multiple tasks from a single unit.

Handheld game systems are no different. The more they can do, the more attractive they are to potential buyers. The DS has limited audio and video playback functions. The Sony PSP can handle many audio formats and can play MP4 videos as well. It can also surf the web, watch TV (with a TV tuner add-on), store data, and even act as a remote control for a Playstation 3. WINNER: Sony PSP.

4. Which system has the most exclusive game titles? Here again, it’s pretty hard for anyone to compete with Nintendo. The DS has many original properties, such as Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Animal Crossing and a number of others. This is one of the biggest selling points of the DS. WINNER: Nintendo.

So we’re tied, 2-2. Which system is better: the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP? It really depends on what you expect from the handheld machine. If you’re going for functionality and raw power, then choose the Sony PSP. But if you’re looking for a memorable, an exciting, and most importantly, a varied gaming experience, then the Nintendo DS is a better choice.

You’ve got your Wii Gaming Console and you’re loving it. Just like the rest of the world you have been bitten by the Wii bug. When you are having a good time gaming, however, you might not think of the one big downside to the Wii gaming console and that is the Wii remote batteries.

Let’s Look at the Facts

Alkaline batteries are responsible for up to 20% of the household hazardous materials that make their way to local landfills. There are over 84,000 tons of alkaline batteries disposed of each year in America…no small amount.

The Danger

So, why should this be of any concern?

Batteries are not as innocent as they first appear. Once the batteries are taken to the landfills they begin to breakdown and decay. This decay releases the hazardous materials that are contained within the batteries, including mercury and toxins.

Environmentalists worldwide are crusading to reduce the number of alkaline batteries that are making it into our landfills. Their goal is to reduce or even eliminate the number of batteries that are releasing their poisons into the environment.

The Solution

You just want to enjoy playing your Wii Gaming Console, you didn’t want to harm the environment. So what can you do about it? Reducing the number of batteries you use is a great start. But how?

The answer to this moral dilemma is simply to use rechargeable batteries. For your Wii remote controls, a Wii charge station will serve the purpose well. Rechargeable batteries have been known to survive up to 2000 time and will allow you to replace 300 alkaline batteries. Batteries that would have made it into the landfills.

If each Wii gamer used rechargeable batteries in their Wii remotes, there would be a huge reduction of poisonous materials seeping into and harming the land.

Using a Wii charge station may just be a significant part of saving our landfills. Besides that enormous benefit, a Wii charge station will also save you tons of money on batteries and will ensure the next time you are ready to get your game on your Wii remote will have the power to perform.

The Sega Game Gear? Pffft. It was as much a challenge to the then reigning king, the Nintendo Gameboy, as a local football club in Tibet would be when pitted against the Reds of Manchester United. The truth is, Nintendo has remained unchallenged in the handheld gaming department since it released the very first Gameboy, and it has continued to rule the roost with the current dominance of the Nintendo DS.

Until now, that is.

With this generation of portable video gaming consoles, the Nintendo DS is facing stiff and unwavering competition from the Sony Playstation Portable, or PSP for brevity. The battle isn’t really neck-to-neck, but the Sony PSP is winning in certain regions in the world, something that Nintendo never had to endure with its previous handhelds. Surely, the Nintendo DS must realize that the Sony PSP wouldn’t just vanish in the night like the defeated Sega Game Gear.

The question in many people’s minds – particularly those who are planning to buy a portable gaming system for themselves – is this: which among the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP is the better investment?

Let’s break that question down into four sub-questions that will help us determine the answer.

1. Which console is more powerful? There’s really no contest here. The Sony PSP was designed to be a powerful unit, with two 333MHz CPUs rendering both gameplay and amazing graphics. The screen is built for widescreen gaming, and has a much better resolution than the DS. PSP games take more space as well, because there is so much more to them. Most Nintendo games are under 100MB. PSP games range from 300MB to 1.5GB. WINNER: Sony PSP.

2. Which unit has more available games? Many people believe that software creates hardware, rather than the reverse. After all, what good is an extremely powerful handheld if there are no games available for it? When it comes to the size of the games library, the Nintendo DS is the obvious winner. Its games library is almost 4 times bigger than the PSP’s. Many companies develop games strictly on the DS. WINNER: Nintendo DS.

3. Which system has better multimedia capabilities? Many of today’s gadgets perform specialized functions. Ipods play music.

PDAs allow mobile browsing and data mining. Digital cameras take pictures and videos. Cellular phones serve as personal organizers aside from being communication devices. However, the trend these days is for a gadget to at least attempt to become a Swiss knife of sorts for the technology-crazy market.

Handheld game systems are no different. The more they can do, the more attractive they are to potential buyers. The DS has limited audio and video playback functions. The Sony PSP can handle many audio formats and can play MP4 videos as well. It can also surf the web, watch TV (with a TV tuner add-on), store data, and even act as a remote control for a Playstation 3. WINNER: Sony PSP.

4. Which system has the most exclusive game titles? Here again, it’s pretty hard for anyone to compete with Nintendo. The DS has many original properties, such as Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Animal Crossing and a number of others. This is one of the biggest selling points of the DS. WINNER: Nintendo.

So we’re tied, 2-2. Which system is better: the Nintendo DS or the Sony PSP? It really depends on what you expect from the handheld machine. If you’re going for functionality and raw power, then choose the Sony PSP. But if you’re looking for a memorable, an exciting, and most importantly, a varied gaming experience, then the Nintendo DS is a better choice.