It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the launch of the Nintendo DS, and yet here we are. It's been even longer since it was revealed, with newly appointed VP of Sales and Marketing Reggie Fils-Aimé taking the stage at E3 2004 to present Nintendo's vision for the future of handheld gaming.
Now, of course, we know that the console Reggie was clutching was just a prototype. At the time, however, as far as many potential buyers were concerned, that was it. This was to be the Nintendo DS that would end up in millions of homes around the world.
As such, many weren't too keen on the look of the device, with Reggie himself stating that “people found the design clunky and cheap” in his memoir, Game disruption. That didn't help Sony introduced the PSP in the same yearand with its large, glossy single-screen design, it was immediately perceived as a classy, high-end product.
But is the DS prototype really that ugly? In the opinion of this humble writer, no, it is not.
