Light

Upstanding light is important when producing images in either 2D or 3D. The idea of understanding light is to know where light sources are, they strength/density and importantly, where they reflect, illuminating other parts of an environment/characters.

I have selected two images to analyse the light within them. One image is pure artificial light and the other is lit up from natural light.

Natural Light Image: Mass Effect 2

This scene is lit up by a natural light being a sun. It gives off a bright light, shining down on the ruined city in the background and the three character's in the foreground. Other light sources are given off by Commander Shepard's (N7 armour) assault rifle, in front of the other two character's.

Natural sunlight (green), shines down on the landscape and characters from the top right of the image. It illuminates everything in the foreground and the buildings closest to the characters in the background. The main areas in which the light is strongest are the brightest. That natural light is then reflected (red) from the brighter surfaces to surfaces left of Shepard's armour and then onto the other characters.

Man made light (blue) is only produced from one source: Shepard's assault rifle and reflects onto his hand. Some of the light also reflects around its original source. As the mans gloves are a dark shade, they absorb most of the light shining down, therefore reducing the lights reflective capabilities.

The second image I analysed is lit up by artificial light, in this case being a spot light.

 The Iron Man model has been lit up purely by one spot light (yellow), shining  onto the model, from a 160 degree angle, lighting up the top of the head, chest and the models quads.
Other light sources (blue) are coming from Iron Mans eyes, chest and hands, all directed into the black surrounding, to set the figure as the center of attention in this image. The black surrounding is also effective in this case as black is a colour which doesn't reflect light. Instead it absorbs it.
Light bounces (orange) from the spot light and the figures light. Spot light reflections, light up either side of the face below the eyes from the light below the neck, areas below the chest are lit up from the legs shine.
Other reflections (the arms) are lit up from light reflecting off the torso, and streaks of light getting through the initial model around the edges.

How Has Sony Gained a Foothold in the Handheld Gaming Market and Competed with Nintendo’s Handheld Consoles?

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How Has Sony Gained a Foothold in the Handheld Gaming Market and Competed with Nintendo’s Handheld Consoles? http://gadyear2.blogspot.co.uk/ 09/02/2013 Liam Gallagher-Vaes

Handheld games consoles have been a technological change in the games industry, but have never been named superior to static games consoles. But what has the games industry done to try and create the static gaming experience in the form of a portable console, and how successful have their efforts been? I will be writing about how the games company Sony has marketed their handheld consoles the PSP and the PS VITA. I will focus on comparing their content, hardware and functionality from a technological perspective to Nintendo, Sony’s new handheld competitor. I will extensively talk about what they have done differently in marketing for a particular target audience and their technical device knowledge, and their consoles changes for the future.

Before Sony’s handheld consoles came along, Nintendo dominated the handheld market with their top selling portable Game Boy. The Game Boy dates back to 1989, and continues to update its potential with new features. Aside from the Game Boy, there were many other handheld consoles available that tried to compete against the Game boy’s supremacy, such as the Sega Game Gear, the Atari Lynx, and the Bitcorp Game Mate. Due to their lack of popularity, not all of these handhelds were available worldwide and couldn’t beat the sales of Nintendo’s handheld consoles.  In comparison, the Game Boy sold 118.69 million units worldwide since its release. The Game Boy was constantly improving in appearance, graphics, games and functionality. By 1998 Nintendo managed to develop having colour graphics and a smaller, more portable console with the Game Boy Color. Then by 2003, Nintendo had developed their technology even further with the release of the Game Boy Advance, with even more advanced graphics and interface. By 2009, Nintendo had released a whole new set of handheld devices called the DS. They ranged from the simple dual screened console, one screen featuring stylus touch technology to the more advanced DSi XL, which featured larger screens, a built in camera and microphone. All of the consoles had a vast series of games available for an audience of all ages and in a variety of genres.

The PSP (Playstation Portable) was Sony’s first attempt in the handheld gaming market. It was released mid 2004, to gain a financial advantage in the new age of the handheld market. This was months before its biggest competitor Nintendo, released their new handheld console; the DS. The PSP was a multimedia, portable gaming device. It was the first handheld to feature a wide liquid crystal display (LCD), giving portable games a new, revolutionary look. Although the PSP had an LCD screen, the DS counteracted that with dual screens. The PSP allowed players to access the Internet, via Wi-Fi, which also allowed players to compete at certain games online over PSN (Playstation Network). Players could also link up and play locally via the Bluetooth connection or Infrared. The PSP allowed players to download files such as videos, pictures, games and music directly from a computer or Playstation 2/3 console via a USB cable, Bluetooth or from the Playstation Store. The DS had an exclusive online community called the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Service; it didn’t however have an online store for users. It meant that DS users didn’t need a Wi-Fi connection to play against each other, but they did need to be within a designated distance to get a connection. The DS did feature one online technical advantage over the PSP. When players were gaming locally, only one player needed the game, as the others were able to download it from the host game owner.  The first series of DS (late 2004) didn’t feature music or video playback, and consumers were unable to connect it as an external storage device to any computers or consoles.  The DS didn’t have an external SD memory card. It all data was stored internally, this means you were unable to expand the memory of your DS.
The PSP was able to store all this media content using an SD card, available in a number of different capacities. Aside from internal media entertainment, Sony introduced the Universal Media Disc (UMD), which was an exclusive format for the PSP. UMD’s were mini discs, available in the form of video games and films. The discs were necessary in order to support the high amount of data and graphics the games/films featured. The DS used mini chips (solid state mask ROM) for their games. It allowed better portability and the game chips featured memory space for its saved data. The DS included backwards compatibility, having a cartridge slot for GBA games (Game Boy Advance).
The PSP’s interactive controls were the same style as most handheld consoles; four, multifunctional buttons, a directional pad, pause button and two trigger buttons. Aside from the standard button layout, it also featured an analogue stick and a lock switch. The analogue stick was specially designed for the PSP to use for in game character controls. Compared to the Playstation 2, having two analogue sticks made character and camera control easier, so only having one on the PSP did limit gaming experience. PSP games using a multi view camera such as Gran Theft Auto and Final Fantasy, however, had configured tracking camera capabilities. The lock switch allowed users to ‘lock’ their console when transporting to avoid accidental use of the console.  For example when listening to music on the go, as without the ‘lock’ button, if knocked, the console may accidently perform unapproved tasks.
The PSP included a rechargeable battery, which didn’t have to be removed when charging, unless to replace it with a fresh charged one. The battery on average would support three hours of use, but would slowly decline as it aged. New, longer lasting batteries became available as the console grew in popularity. The DS also used a rechargeable battery, which functioned the same way as the PSP. Their batteries lasted up to fifteen hours, really jumping ahead of the PSP’s average of three hours; this is because of the lower graphics count on the DS and it use of LED screens.
As the years went on, Sony continued to release new and better PSP consoles to keep up with the technology developing in the handheld gaming market. With the DS releasing a lighter version of their already popular predecessor, a new PSP 2000 was released in 2007. It had a sleek design and came in a selection of colours. Its new feature was a built in microphone for online interaction with other players. In 2009, the PSP Go was released. It was half the size of the original, and the screen would slide up, revealing the controls underneath. In 2011, Sony took one last shot at a new, cheaper version of the PSP. The E-1000. It had no UMD slot, and only allowed PSN game downloads. This was only one year before the release of Sony’s new handheld console, the PS VITA. Nintendo had already released theirs; the DSiXL, and already had plans for another handheld for 2011; the 3DS. Sony’s PSP was released a few months before the DS. The console was more advanced than the DS in functionality, sophistication in digital games and online entertainment. By the end of the first financial quarter, the PSP had sold around three million units. This quickly changed when the DS was released, nearly halving PSP sales by 50%. Sony may have been beaten in sales by over thirty million (as of 2012). They still gained a strong technological foothold over Nintendo, which would be paving the way for the new PS VITA.

The PS VITA was released early 2012. It was a huge change in functionality to the PSP. The VITA maintained the same physical appearance and button layout of the PSP but had some new extras to meet the standards of its time. The VITA had two analogue sticks, to optimize game experience, a new interface layout, built in camera’s on the front and back, a touch screen, with multi gesture capabilities, and also a multi touch surface on the back. Compared to Nintendo’s recent 3DS and DSiXL, Sony felt that they have taken the lead in the handheld gaming market. The struggle for Sony was that their variety of games didn’t meet the expectations of the audience range Nintendo had with their games. The consoles layout and games were very detailed, complex and solely made for hardcore gamers. Prime examples of these are Uncharted and Call of Duty. The DS, whether it is the original or the 3D version maintained its simplicity in its controls and the graphics. The 3DS graphics are a little different, allowing players to enable 3D mode in 3D compatible games to create a three-Dimensional experience. The DS has an array of games ranging from action (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon) to small pick up and play puzzle games (Brain Training). Sony’s marketing intention is to focus on what they know, the hardcore gamers. Aside from its state of the art portable technology, Playstation exclusive games were another key element to marketing the VITA. Games such as Metal Gear Solid and Little Big Planet were reinvented to the handheld console, which made them appealing to current Sony gamers. To promote the VITA’s technology, a few mini games were released for consumers to play, in order to view the potential of the console. Built into the VITA’s camera was a scanner, which scanned a shape printed on a card, transforming it into a virtual mini game. When the player moved the camera, the games environment stayed still, allowing the player to look around the level as if it was real. Table football and cliff diving were a couple of the games available. This technology was also available on the Playstation 3. The console featured the motion sensing remote called the Playstation Move and the Wonder Book, which worked by the Move’s camera scanning a code in a book, turning the pages into a virtual reality gaming world. Having this technology already available, it was a simple task for Sony to re invent it into a smaller, portable format for the PS VITA. (See Blog post: ‘CS 2000 Words’).
In the industry, the technology is still in the early stages of development. But in the future, it will give Sony the advantage over Nintendo. Although the VITA mainly has a hardcore gaming market, it is still very popular, because people who enjoy the static Playstation get a very similar gaming experience on the go with the minor reduction in graphical detail. Nintendo also has exclusives too, which have been reinvented, but compared to their static motion console; The Wii, the technology isn’t as advanced on the DS, minimizing the games reinvented optical performance. Aside from the reduction in mobile technology, Nintendo still dominate in digital games sales from the sheer variety of digital game genres. The PS VITA still remains to be the most technological advanced console on the market, currently rivaling Nintendo’s DS consoles. But it is unable to compete against Nintendo’s overall digital game sales, because they target a larger audience.

Both Sony and Nintendo have their advantages be it in the technology or the advanced experience in targeting a variety of audiences. However, Sony was able to establish their foothold in the handheld gaming market by integrating gyroscope and touch sensitive capabilities into the form of a multimedia, mobile gaming device. As both companies evolve, Sony will have an advantage in the features their games can include, thanks to their more sophisticated technology, therefore increasing their potential in higher unit sales over the DS consoles. Even though these handheld consoles will always be popular because of their accessibility and portability the dominating technology in portable gaming and practicality will always be the mobile phone.

Bibliography

Link (A-Z)	Date it was read	Reasons for search
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/sony-psp-e-1000-is-a-cheap-psp-for-europe-with-no-wi-fi-50004756/	26/01/13	Pre release review on the PS VITA talking about its potential in the handheld market and the technology
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/364006/psp-outselling-vita-21-new-sony-data-reveals/#	06/02/13	Current PS VITA sales since its release, compared to the DS
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/04/gameboy-timeline-HD2.jpg	02/02/13	Timeline of the Game Boy to the DS
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?74015-what-is-the-average-battery-life-of-nintendo-DS	02/02/13	Forum discussing the DS battery life
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/sony-sells-70-million-psp-units-worldwide-still-firmly-in-ds-r/	06/02/13	Total PSP sales since 2004 release
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-24-3ds-and-ds-sales-rougly-equal-after-same-time-period	06/02/13	Expanded information on DS and 3DS sales, listing total sales (used for a secondary source to check over sales digits)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/the-sony-psp2/	24/01/13	Article announcing the PS VITA and its potential (secondary back up source)
http://uk.gamespot.com/games.html?platform=1026	02/02/13	List of DS games on sale
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/918340-/62204840	23/01/13	Forum discussing the PSP’s battery life and its changes over time
http://uk.gamespot.com/games.html?platform=1069	02/02/13	List of PS VITA games on sale, and games still to be released
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/oct/29/sony-psp-sales-fall-but-more-sold-than-you-may-expect	06/02/13	Article about how the PSP sales have reduced since the DS release
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/23042	02/02/13	Nintendo Sales article: by 2009 the DS outsold the Game Boy
http://uk.playstation.com/psp/	24/01/13	An overview of Sony’s handheld products
http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/psp-homepage	24/01/13	General overview and article about the PS E-1000
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/sony-consoles	02/02/13	Timeline covering all of Sony’s handheld and static consoles
http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_DS	02/02/13	Total Nintendo DS sales

CS 2000 Words

How Has Sony Gained a Foothold in the Handheld Gaming Market?

I have made a great start to my 2000 word report on the games company Sony, and their role in the handheld gaming market. I chose to focus my report around a particular company because there are so many aspects of handheld consoles I could cover, across a vast range of companies from the past and present. I was also the owner of a PSP, the VITA and a DS so I can input a lot of personal information about Nintendo's foothold in the handheld market and Sony's attempt at competing with it.

Throughout the report I will be comparing Sony's devices to Nintendo's and how each of them target their particular audience. In a nutshell Nintendo have released a broad range of games or all genres, and designed a handheld console, which is both small and simple to use, making it an all round universal console. Sony's consoles have primarily focused on making their static games on the Playstation consoles portable for hardcore gamer's.  The PSP and VITA maintain the same detailed controller layout to their static fathers, giving Playstation gamer's a similar gaming environment, instead of having to adapt to a new one. Their handheld technology also dominates Nintendo's consoles. But for what they excel at in technology they struggle for in unit sales, as the DS is by far a more attractive console for people of all ages.

Nintendo's extensive array of portable consoles from the Game Boy to the DS have remained sustainable in targeting a massive audience of all ages with their variety of games. Nintendo have always stuck with the casual, but challenging approach to their games be it puzzle games or all out action/adventure games. The idea is that any game a player of any age picks up, won't feel intimated by the games sheer controls and sophistication. Each game is as simple as the next. This is what has made Nintendo's handheld consoles so popular. They have found a simple and popular design in interface and physical look and stuck with it to keep their audience happy. 

Nintendo's static consoles the Wii and the Wii-u have a vastly superior technology to their portable devices, but remain on the same universal audience wavelength, by having an array of different games of different genres available. The games are configured to the consoles motion sensing and touch screen capabilities. Games such as Mario and Legend of Zelda are very popular Nintendo exclusives and were reinvented to meet the technical specifications of all of Nintendo's consoles. 

I have completed my first draft of my essay and had a couple of fellow peers read over it. I originally aimed for the essay to be from a financial marketing perspective, but found that I had actually been writing from a technological perspective. I talked in extensive detail about the PSP and VITA's technology, comparing it to Nintendo's consoles. I did include information about their sales and each consoles personal advantage, but I do believe that technical talk has dominated the essay. This forced me to change my title a little from including information about marketing and distribution to simply comparing the devices technical sophistication.

Below is my research conducted into Sony and Nintendo's handheld consoles



Sony PSP, Overview

The PSP was Sony's first big step into mobile entertainment. It was among the 7th generation of games consoles and was first released in Japan in December 2004 and then worldwide in September 2005. The PSP was the first handheld console to use an optical disc format, or Universal Media Disc (UMD). Games weren't the only form of media available in the UMD format. Films became available on the PSP too, It was also possible to transfer music and video files from a computer or Playstation 2 console via USB. There were endless possibilities to what was available on the PSP for the time of its release. It had other exclusive features such as the 3.8" LED display, bluetooth and built in wireless. In later models such as the PSP lite and 2000 Slim, introduced a larger 4.3" screen and a sleek, more portable design.


By 2011 there were 5 different models available: The original PSP, 2000, 3000, the PSP Go and the  budgeted PSP E-1000. The newer models had their own unique features. The 2000 and 3000 was available in a variety of colours such as red and blue. It was also thinner with a built in microphone and bigger screen. The PSP Go was a much smaller console with a slide out control pad. The recent PSP E-1000 was a budgeted version of the original model. With the PS VITA on release Sony decided to make one final push with the PSP and made a simple version of it. Its major draw backs was having no Wi-fi and no more UMD. All games had to be purchased via The Playstation Store on your console and transferred
over.

Original model

PSP 2000 (slim/lite) 2007

PSP 3000 (2008)

PSP Go (2009)

PSP E-1000 (2011)

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gamesgear/sony-psp-e-1000-is-a-cheap-psp-for-europe-with-no-wi-fi-50004756/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable
http://uk.playstation.com/psp/
http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/psp-homepage
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/27/the-sony-psp2/
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/918340-/62204840

The PS VITA

The PS VITA was released early 2012. It was Sony's second handheld console following on from the PSP released in 2004. The main new features of the VITA was the additional analogue stick, multi-gesture touch screen and back surface and a guide button, returning your console to the main menu during any activity of the device.

After the PSP E-1000 was released, UMD's were no longer used in Sony handheld devices. This introduced the game chip and micro memory card available in a variety of sizes for the VITA.

 It was pretty much the same style and size of the game chips for the DS. They had a much larger capacity for high performance graphics and supported intense detailed games.
Like the Playstation 3, the VITA featured gyro scope and virtual reality technology. The virtual reality system was integrated into the cameras on the device.
When purchasing the VITA it came with a set of virtual game cards. Each card had a coded shape on, which when placed on a surface of the players choice could be scanned, creating a virtual scene in a real life surrounding area. When the player physically moved the VITA around the scene remained still, but the consoles movement would allow the player to look around the secene in extensive detail.
There were a variety of games  available, that came with the VITA. The two I played when I bought my VITA was Table Football and Cliff Diving.

The gyro scope technology was integrated from the Playstation 3's Dual Shock 3 controller and the Playstation Move. The gyro scope brought to life physical motion sensitive game play, immersing the player into the charcters world.

Playstation Move

Wonder Book

Wonder Book commercial screenshot

PS3 Dual Shock 3 Controller

A good example is in Uncharted Golden Abyss. When Nathan Drake is walking over a narrow object such as a log of a pole a dial would come up with a balancing arrow. The arrow had to stay in the middle of the dial to maintain balance. This was done by physically titling the console side to side to keep the arrow central. Other examples from the Playstation 3 are on such games as Killzone 2/3 and Heavy Rain where the player has to press and hold a sequence of buttons while performing an instructed physical movement, like turning a wheel or preparing an explosive charge.

Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PS VITA)

Killzone 3 (Playstation 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FJ9NFaq6lg
4.03min

The VITA's touch screen is very well integrated into Uncharted too. The player is able to swipe and tap the touch screen to fight enemies, climb obstacles instead of pressing buttons and avoid/leap over dangers, barriers. When leaping objects and performing special moves in combat an orange arrow will appear on the screen indicating the direction and angle the player needs to swipe their finger across the screen. this will initiate a small animation of Drake performing the move be it in combat, jumping an obstacle or avoiding dangers.

The orange arrow indicating that Drake has to cut through plants to access the next area.

Tap to interact feature allows players to fight an enemy by simple tapping on them when a fist icon appears over them. When climbing walls, a white glow will appear on possible routes to travel. Simply slide around the route to travel and Drake will automatically move there, instead of pushing the X button over and over to move from ledge to ledge.

Example of a climbing scene (white glow is hard to make out but the yellow rocks sticking out have a white glow that appears, showing what can be used or not)

Examples of combat



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyL1d3BcWgM
3.08 - 3.33min

PS VITA performance reviews

http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadgets/games/consoles/playstation-vita

http://metro.co.uk/2012/11/17/the-ps-vita-is-not-dead-readers-feature-497505/
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/handheld-consoles/ps-vita-1061138/review

Technical research

http://uk.playstation.com/psvita/

http://us.playstation.com/psvita/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/sony-ps-vita.htm

Now I have covered a little bit about Sony's portable consoles market and static consoles to gain an idea of where the technology originally came from, I now need to dig deeper into the handheld gaming industry to find out what Sony has to compete with. From what I know so far, Nintendo's Game Boy/DS market and Apples/Androids mobile phone devices are the key competition as they both have a large experienced head start to Sony as they have developed thousands of different game apps and cards (for DS and GB), which attract a wide audience of all ages and tastes in genre.

Nintendo have been around with hand held consoles since 1989 with the Game Boy. As my essay is focused around the Nintendo market during the period of the PSP's release and beyond, I have included a timeline with all of Nintendo's consoles and their release dates. I have primarily focused my research on the DS's technology, as it was about when the PSP was released.

Handheld timeline, covering a number of the consoles since the late 90's

The Nintendo DS was first released in 2004. It was Nintendo's new line up of handheld consoles for the future of mobile gaming. The DS had a similar layout the Game Boy Advance SP with its folding system to reveal the screen. The DS also included an all new stylus touch screen, which could also act as a secondary in game screen or a display for playing Game Boy Advance games. Having a backwards compatible handheld made it an even bigger seller, as people who owned a Game Boy Advance could upgrade to the DS and still play their old games, as well as the new ones.
The DS had some really cool interactive in game features. I chose Mario Kart as an example. During Battle mode, your car would have three balloons and you have to compete against other cars to knock their balloons out to knock them out of the game. When you had a second to breathe in game you could blow into a small hole in the bottom of the DS to re-inflate your balloons to increase your chance of surviving.
The DS had an exclusive local Wi-Fi network, allowing players to play against each other in a small distance from each other. Not all players needed a copy of the game to compete, only one player needed the game and the other players could download it to their consoles through the local connection.
The console didn't have very good internal storage, but instead, the games featured a small amount of external memory, where players could save their game progress to. The games came in the format of a game chip. The games were small, there fore minimizing the games quality in graphics. Nintendo however never were the type of company that cared too much about HD graphics, creating a realistic gaming experience. What mattered to them is attracting a vast audience of all ages to enjoy a variety of different games, making them vastly outsell the Sony PSP and VITA.

DS (2004)

The DS Lite was released in 2006 and was an upgrade from the original 2004 model. It was a smaller, lighter model. It still featured all the original features and the small 'blow hole' was moved to below the top screen to improve the game experience. Since the original one was below the touch screen it was hard to blow into the hole while trying to look at the screen when having to lift the consoles up to your mouth.

The consoles was very popular and was then released in a variety of different colours.

DS Lite (2006)

The DSi XL was released in 2009. It was a completely new style of DS. As the age of gaming changed so did the consoles. The XL was bigger than the 2004 model, allowing a better gaming experience on a large scale. New features became available such as a built in mic and camera for video chat and online player chat. There was also an online store called DSi Ware, this allowed players to download books and games directly to their DS without having to get up. 

There were of course a number of problems with the DSi XL. The bigger screens reduced the quality of some text based games and made it heavier and less portable. Content that you purchased from the DS Ware Store on the DS Lite could not be transferred and there were no improvements to the consoles internal storage. But the battery life was a lot better.

DSi XL (2009)

The 3DS was released in 2011. It was a new look to the currently popular DS Lite and XL. The console now featured an in game 3D model, creating a whole new visual experience for the player. Only selected games were available in 3D such as Mario and Pokemon. The 3DS could still run previous DS games, but without the 3D functionality. 

The console however had to sacrifice backwards compatibility, making it unable to run GBA games anymore. But many games were available to purchase on the DSi Ware Store. 

The 3D mode worked by the player simply flicking the enable 3D switch reinventing the game they were playing in a new image. The new directional pad in the shape of a disc, functioned like an analogue stick on the PSP. It was used for 3rd person and 3D compatible games, bringing to life the new revolution of DS gaming. 

The DS had improved internal memory meaning it could store media files such as videos and music, allowing offline media playback. It still didn't have external memory units that the Sony consoles had, but it was an improvement.

3DS (2011)

The 3DS XL was released in 2012, after the PS VITA came out. It was a combination of the original 3DS and the DSi XL console. It re created the visual sophistication of the 3DS and the size of the DSi XL, making games even more immersible and visually stunning.
Other than the changes in size, there were no real improvements to the console aside from a better battery and camera/mic quality for a better online and social gaming experience.

3DS XL (2012)

Research Links

The DS

http://www.nintendo.com/ds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-DS/Nintendo-DS-Family-Nintendo-UK-s-official-site-Nintendo-DS-Nintendo-DSi-Nintendo-DSi-XL-116380.html

http://uk.gamespot.com/reviews.html?platform=1026?new_theme=standard

http://reviews.cnet.com/consoles/nintendo-ds-titanium/4505-10109_7-30895578.html

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nintendo-ds.htm

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nintendo-ds1.htm

DS Lite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_DS_Lite

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/portable-gaming/nintendo-ds-lite-review-49277586/

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Nintendo_DS

http://www.displaymate.com/psp_ds_shootout.htm

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/nintendo-drops-ds-lite-to-100-makes-it-easier-to-mario-party/

http://www.cubed3.com/news/4756/1/nintendo-sales-ds-lite-leaves-japan-feeling-blue.html

DSi XL

http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-DS/Nintendo-DSi-XL/Nintendo-DSi-XL-Nintendo-UK-s-official-site-116442.html
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/portable-gaming/nintendo-dsi-xl-review-49305467/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-27-new-worldwide-wii-and-ds-total-sales
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/dsi-xl-dominates-in-japanese-hardware-sales

3DS

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/handheld-consoles/nintendo-3ds-931771/review

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/nintendo-3ds1.htm

http://ds.about.com/od/nintendods101/fr/Should-You-Buy-The-Nintendo-3ds.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/portable-gaming/nintendo-3ds-review-50000079/

http://bgr.com/2012/12/20/nintendo-3ds-sales-analysis-260967/