A blast forward that is a blast

Ladies and gentlemen, please open your pocketbooks and say hello to the Nintendo DS.

Easily the coolest little game device to come out just in time for your holiday shopping — imagine that! — the DS replaces last year’s great Game Boy Advance SP, which replaced the original Game Boy Advance that first came out in 2001. And yet, this really is the upgrade that you must own.

Oh, great, you say, but new technology means outdated technology. Well don’t throw out those old Game Boy cartridges. The DS has two slots, one to load the new DS games and another that accepts the old favorites.

This little wonder is like a cross between an arcade and a Palm Pilot: Below the usual game-view display is a touch screen.

The touchpad is a great new way to interact with most titles. In the DS version of Madden NFL 2005, for instance, gamers can poke the play they want, rather than scroll and choose.

The dual screens (backlighted for night-flight pleasure) add wrinkles. In Madden, the top screen is a standard third-person view of the action. But as the plays are run, the lower screen becomes a coach’s view: Moving Xs and O’s simulate offense and defense. In the Urbz: Sims in the City, while your little Sim is doing something boring but necessary (say, napping) on the top screen, you can give him some long-term goals on the bottom.

Sometimes, though, the touch screen demands too much. I could easily push the control buttons with my left hand and use the stylus with my right to play Metroid Prime Hunters, but only if I had a third hand to hold the Nintendo DS. Luckily, there are different controller options for most games. Old Game Boy titles use top screen only.

Not sold yet? How about wireless play? Each DS is set up with its own WiFi transmitter to take on all comers within 100 feet. For some games, like Super Mario 64 DS, only one person needs to have the game cartridge. The other can receive a quick download and link into the action.

The DS also comes equipped with PictoChat, a program that allows your sketches and text to be sent to anyone near you in a “chat room.” Pictionary, anyone?