Wi-Fi Functionality

The Nintendo DS has built-in Wi-Fi functionality, which allows communications with a standard access point in order to connect to the Internet or to other DS units through a modified WiFi protocol created by Nintendo and partially secured using RSA security signing. The RSA security signing is used by games in non-online multiplayer mode, by the built-in wireless drawing and chat program, and to download multiplayer game software or game demos (used for DS Download kiosks and multiplayer gaming with only one game card - see DS Download Play for more details). The Internet capability is used to access the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, where users can access services and compete with other users playing the same Wi-Fi compatible game.

2D and 3D Engines

The system has two 2D engines, one per screen. These are similar to (but more powerful than) the Game Boy Advance's 2D engine.

The system's 3D hardware performs transform and lighting, texture mapping, texture-coordinate transformation, z-buffering, anti-aliasing, alpha blending and cel shading. However, it uses Point (nearest neighbour) texture filtering, leading to some titles having a blocky appearance. The system is theoretically capable of rendering 120,000 triangles per second at 60 frames per second and the pixel fill rate is 30 million pixels per second. Unlike most 3D hardware, it has a limit on the number of triangles it can render as part of a single scene; this limit is somewhere in the region of 4000 triangles. The 3D hardware is designed to render to a single screen at a time, so rendering 3D to both screens is difficult and decreases performance significantly.

Click here to read more from InterGames.co.uk