Nintendo's latest hand-held line is the Nintendo DS (NDS). The NDS is great for graphics and has some pretty cool games, but I think the way the technology is implemented could use a rethink. Here's why:

Many of the games require you to use the stylus, which is great if that's all you're using. However, it can be extremely difficult at times to use both the stylus and the d-pad or other buttons simultaneously. Games that don't require the stylus don't have the same functionality, but they're typically easier to play (at least in terms of controlling your characters). Games that only require the stylus are just fine, but sometimes, you need a little extra bump from some actual controls; the stylus itself is controlled only by your hand, and if you don't have pretty steady hands, it can be very easy to screw up and end up with zero Marios or a very unhappy Ekans.

Now on to the microphone. Some games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, require you to blow into the microphone at certain points. This can be extremely frustrating. You could just blow really hard at the screen, but that would only get you minimal results. The best way to use this feature is to put your mouth right up to the microphone and blow. The problem with this is the microphone's location. Finicky as it is, it also happens to be in a place that requires you to take your eyes away from not just one screen, but two. You might be able to see the top screen if you're doing it just right, but this doesn't always help you.

So, the question is: should Nintendo change the way the DS is played? Perhaps simply moving the microphone to the bottom would help. Perhaps it would also help to make it more sensitive, though this could cause problems if you're playing outside on a windy day; have a fan blowing; or just happen to be breathing in the general direction of the microphone. Making it slightly larger could work, but that would also mean a larger console to compensate unless you decreased the screen size (which I don't think anyone would be happy about). And what about the stylus? Should something else be conjured up to replace it? It is extremely useful and vital for some games, but in others, it's simply a pain in the neck.

Also, I know some people have sore thumbs after playing for a while with such small buttons. Here's one suggestion: replace the d-pad with a ball. I have a track ball instead of a mouse for my computer and it works wonderfully; I don't have to move the base all over the place and the movement is pretty smooth. Why not apply the same principle to a Nintendo portable? Replace the d-pad with a ball that has medium-low sensitivity and you have an easy-to-use method of movement. Using the L and R buttons to turn wouldn't necessarily give you the up-and-down looking feature that's sometimes very useful, but that could be solved with two small L buttons and two small R buttons - one set for looking up, and one set for looking down.

And notice I said medium-low sensitivity; the one problem I see with a ball instead of a d-pad is that if the ball shifts, you could find yourself walking off of a cliff instead of body-slamming your opponent. I suppose one could come up with a control stick like on the N64, moving the stick to move your character and turning the stick itself to the left or right to turn; pressing a button atop the control stick and holding it down would allow one to move the control stick to look in any direction. The only problem with this, of course, is that the NDS - being a portable - is built to be compact. But perhaps they could have a slot for it to fold into, much like the antenna on a radio?

These are just some of my own ideas. But as it is now, I think the stylus makes the DS easier in some games and much harder in others, and the microphone isn't all that great either. What do you think?

It aint that hard I mean I can do it with my eyes cut

No offense, but your post is slightly annoying.

If you wanted to just say yes or no, you could have just voted.

Future posters: please post thoughtful replies instead of saying yes, no, it's easy, it's hard, etc. Those answers are covered by the poll already.

On a more friendly note, I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you. Sometimes it is quite easy, as I stated in my initial post, but it is also difficult at times to use the DS. I much prefer the Gameboy line.

Meh, it's not that hard, some games can be a bit challenging, but that's the fun of it. I personally don't mind, but I'm going to vote sometimes

I think that the stylus can make it a little hard...

But, I don't think that the DS is "too hard"... Like vizwiz123 said "some games can be a bit challenging, but that's the fun of it"

the ds is really actually fairley easy games i like them alot

The touch screen makes things too easy or hard, with very little middle ground. For example, the Zelda DS games have easy combat because most of the time, you just tap something and you run over and kill it automatically, but Super Mario 64 DS is too hard because you have to use the stylus or D-pad to move. Neither method works well, and I feel it destroyed an otherwise perfectly good remake.

I feel the perfect example of using the touch screen properly is Wario Ware Touched. It's so awesome because it isn't some mashup of different playing controls, and therefor can focus on taking the touch screen for all it's worth.

I don't think the DS is too hard. The touch screen annoys me sometimes (like in the zelda games) but it doesn't really make it harder.

It's not Hard at all! It's actually a bit too easy

I wouldn't say they're that hard, I just get bored easy from playing them. I don't like DS's period.

only sometimes the ds is hard but most of the time it is easy

Sometimes I find games to be a bit challenging to use the touch screen for the different components of the game, but I personally like faster paised games, so it evens out.

Lagslayer : I totally agree. It is really hard to move in the Mario games. And yeah, I guess some things can be relatively simple; but others are just...bah.

I don't have the problem with the mike, maybe I got good lung power. As far as the stylus and buttons at the same time it can totally be frustating at point, u have to switch so fast sometimes I end up dropping the dang thing.

fightorace : Yeah, I know. It's ridic, huh?

Ah, the mic. I completely forgot about that. I find it usually works, but if you have to blow into it, it has to be at the perfect angle or it won't work. Additionally, if you make too loud of a noise, the game doesn't register it (difficult when you want the salvage arm in Phantom Hourglass). It picks up talking very well though, like when you make the parrot talk in WarioWare Touched.

I wouldn't know...I don't play DS. it seems very uninteresting..that's just my personal opinion. I'm only replying to this post to ear more Viz. LOL....

I ditched the stylus for when I play. It's much easier to play DS while using my fingertip because it feels like a more natural motion and I do not need to worry about dropping anything. i don't like the DS that much, because its so boring and cumbersome. I prefer my PSP which has more FUN games in my opinion.

The only thing I don't like about the DS is the Mic. If you're in a noisy place, such as a bus, you can't use the mic: the other noise blocks it out.

The mic was in the start placed in the bottom but they moved it on request to the middle.

DavidLS : No way! Really? No, jk, I see what you're saying. But it's pretty obvious that this is an old review that Fire Mario pulled off of some gaming site.

I don't think it's too hard. I could live with something like that for the ability to use a stylus.

Actually, it's not. It's my own opinion. I think the DS can be very frustrating at times. Nice of you to say that the thread was unoriginal, though; thanks a lot for that.

The mic and stylus are the main problems. I think they should have a fold-out mic, because that would be much more convenient. As for the stylus, I don't think it should be a part of it at all. Sure, it has its uses at times, but most of the things I've done with the stylus I would have no trouble doing with just the buttons, or even a ball (like in a track ball mouse).

Yes it's too hard.
Because it's too small to play the way you'd like to play. especially with the pen thing..ugh! I remember I was going to buy one when it first came out..luckily my cousin got one..I played it for no more than 5 mins and got frustrated because it wasn't controlling the way it should have. Or maybe because my hands are huge.

I think that might be part of my problem as well. I have big hands, which makes things that have fine details or that are small (like the buttons and stylus on the DS hard. I have trouble sometimes with inaccuracy on laptops because of the keyboards. xD

Actually its pretty easy except for MPH which i was no good at aiming at the People online because it looked really horrible when you were far away but somehow i still got shot in the head for some reason

I totally respect what you are saying, I think the DS is now due for some serious re-modelling and something next generation to come out, I am not talking 3ds here, but in general anything that requires a stylus is pants to me, including my mobile!

Sometimes it can be pretty annoying, but other times I can deal with it. Most of the time I really don't have much of a problem though.

I think it's pretty fun. I especially love the Zelda Games. The phantom hourglass is my favorite because it continues after windwaker, has a good storyline, and was the 1st LoZ game to feature multiplayer (Battle Mode) which is very fun.

Well yeah i guess some games are hard to control it could go for some remodeling because the game was so hard for some anyways

i have a bad broken stylus and a stuffed up A button but i can still play easily.

NO. It's far too easy, if anything. They went and geared it towards children, even though children don't like games geared towards children. There were some great GBA games, but not so much for the DS. It's hurting Nintendo. It had so much potential.

I think the touch-screen controls for the DS make the games a little more skill-based, at least in reference to pure touch games like Pokemon Ranger. If you don't enjoy using those controls, then you probably just shouldn't get a DS. Oh, and a track ball would hurt my hands far worse than any D-pad because of the repetitive motions. You can just hold down a D-pad in a direction continuously, which involves less effort and is important in many game scenarios. I don't care about the mic controls at all really, they're unimportant for the majority of almost all the games.

no the ds is great why would it be hard

I never bothered getting a DS. The touchscreen would either interfere with gameplay because you need to constantly switch to the stylus or it would be completely pointless. It's sort of like Wii in that aspect. They make the controls more to show off the system than to make it enjoyable for the player.

not at all i've never had problems with Nintendo's consoles
you want hard play a gamegear in real life

Not really, because most of the games are pretty easy and I beat the games in one day sometimes.

I would say sometimes because the stylus can get me confused in some games.
Although, in some other games, such as Mario & Luigi RPG 3, they use the stylus when your on a specific character and/or for some minigames to create a mixture to make it easier than using a D-pad.

I don't think it is my little two year old cousin can play it
it's actully quite easy compared to most of the systems.

Honestly? The DS is simply way too easy for me. Why? Out of FORTY-NINE DS games beaten, I found only one to be proven difficult. Which one?

Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Why? I couldn't copy the music. Reason? I'm deaf. I eventually figured out how to cheat my way around, using the colors. That's all.

NDS' games are so simple, I tend to beat them less than a day or two. If it's really challenging or long, it takes me a week, take a day or two.

The DS is probably the easiest system to use and play...

I've never not beaten a DS game. The only one that gave me difficulty was The World Ends With You, and I was playing that on an emulator... for a game that needs a touch screen, it's harder to play on a laptop.

I agree with you that some of the nintendo DS's features can be difficult to use, but I've found this to not really make a significant difference in the systems games. The main reason for this is that in my opinion, most of the DS's games are just so easy to start, that a difficult control scheme will not make these easy games difficult to play. Personally I think that the touch screen was kind of an annoying addition (especially since mine was never calibrated correctly) and the gimmick actually prevented me from playing some good games. But even so, it wasn't actually too bad if yours worked correctly.

Some of the DS features can be annoying, it's true, but I think that when done right, games can sometimes coordinate the controls to make it seem better than other games. Take LOZ Spirit Tracks, for example. Sure, the whole flute thing was annoying to do, but it was fairly easy control-wise. You just had to take a sec to get used to it. I think that the DS itself is okay, it's just that a lot of games for it really suck.

DS is not hard for me! But some levels of my games can be hard & frustrating!

Not really once you play for a while you get the hang of it.

At first, when I saw DS, I thought you meant Double Spoiler. (that game is hard) The "difficulty" of the DS really depends which game it's made for. Super Mario 64 DS was made harder because of the lack of an analog stick, and using the touch screen to move wasn't a big improvement either. In a game like WarioWare Touched, though, using the DS's touch screen was a great innovation. The mic I do have trouble with sometimes, but usually it's just if you're blowing into it or not.

I don't think it's hard I played my friends it was easy to get used to

The Nintendo DS isn't to hard  most of the games I had on it would be easy except for some of the Pokemon games because its really annoying to get past some of the gym leaders but the rest of the other DS games are to easy.

The DS is easy most of the time, not much of a challenge to play while using the stylus, but some games are a challenge to play with.

it depends on the game alot of the games ive played you dont need to use both at the same time