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Wednesday December 10, 2008
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 While still mainly a handheld gaming device, the Nintendo DS could now officially be used as an e-book reader similar to the likes of the Kindle and the Sony Reader. According to Times Online, the Japan-based company struck a deal with publisher HarperCollins to make literary classics available in their digital format on the DS console. Making use of the handheld's touch screen spec, pages are turned by swiping a finger across the page. I do think this is a fantastic idea - Nintendo gets to cater to another set of audience other than just gamers and gamers who also love to read books would definitely benefit from this new development.
Turning the DS into a reader is made possible by inserting a cartridge filled with digital book formats which, in this case, is called the 100 Classic Book Collection. The collection has a wide genre range encompassing the works of Shakespeare, Bronte and Austen among many others. If successful, we might be seeing more e-book cartridges for the DS soon. For now though, the limited number of books that could be read on the device remains a disadvantage. The cartridge will be sold as a UK-only merchandise as of the moment for $30 apiece.
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December 11, 2008 2:35 PM
What is the resolution of the DS? What differentiates the Kindle and Sony eReader is their very high resolution screens that create text that is at the same or near the same resolution as the printed page.
I don't think the DS is high enough resolution which means that after reading Hamlet you'd be asking yourself - "To take ibuprofen, or to take aspirin, that is the question."
December 11, 2008 9:22 PM
The DS has already been deployed in art museums in Japan as a replacement for clunky audio guides. It's brilliant -- an image of the painting or whatever you're looking at appears on one screen and a description on the other. (The description's on the touch screen to allow scrolling.) You can hear the descriptions being read as well as other commentary using the headphones. It is a vast improvement on the traditional way of seeing an exhibit, where you spend as much time reading the text on the walls as you do actually looking at the art, and no fiddling around with the audio guide, which can be hard to follow.
December 12, 2008 11:06 AM
I live in the states. Where could I purchase the classic reader cartridge?