R4 DS Card - Turn Your Nintendo DS Into A Media Player With The R4 DS

The Nintendo DS console is one of the most popular Hand held game systems in the world. Much like the Nintendo Gameboy console, it has a following and a user base that is rivalled by no one. It doesn't seem to matter who released what hand held console, the NDS (and now the new Nintendo DSi) continues to outsell every single one.

The biggest gripe however from Nintendo DS owners is simply that the Nintendo DS doesn't really do much more than just play games. In comparison to the Sony PSP for example - which can play movies, music, display pictures, etc? The NDS looks like a kids toy.

Now, anyone that owns a Nintendo DS knows it is far from just being a little kids toy. It has some of the most engaging games for a hand held console, and a huge following. It's also one of the most "home-brewed" game systems on the market today. By that I mean that there are literally hundreds of independent programmers that just LOVE to create games for the Nintendo DS / DSi. And what's even better is that they love to give these games away from free. They don't want money for it, in fact they frown upon anyone that does want money for their home brew games.

And there are really thousands of these games available online, all easily downloaded. But you need a way to utilize, use and play these games. Naturally they are not released in cartridge form. They are released as files on line, which you have to download and then put onto a card. So just what is this card? And where can YOU get it? The card is the R4 DS Card - its shaped just like a regular Nintendo DS cartridge, and allows you to store and load files from microSD Cards (That slip into the R4 DS Card in it's very own microSD card slot)

Once you have the R4 DS card, you then have the access and the ability to play all of these home brew games and applications. Now, there is more to this than just playing home brew games. Remember what we said about the Nintendo DS lacking in it's ability to play back Movies, music, and other types of media files? Well, once you have the R4 DS Card - you can do much more on your Nintendo DS / DSi than just play games. You'll have the ability to watch movies on the NDS, just like with the PSP. Any movie you have can be put onto the R4 DS Card to then be played back on your Nintendo DS. Whole movies, entire TV episodes, etc.. You'll also be able to play your MP3 music right on your NDS console. iPod style. It will pretty much turn your NDS into an iPod style MP3 player.

It is also very important that I point out that the model of the R4 DS card that you need to purchase depends entirely upon the type of Nintendo DS console you have. You see, the R4 DS Card was released when the original Nintendo DS was released (Not the newer LITE model, but the original GREY colored unit). And while any R4 DS Card will work in both the original Nintendo DS and the newer Nintend DS Lite consoles, the original R4 DS Card will NOT work in the newest Nintendo DSi systems. They simply were not designed to do so.

Not to leave any console without the ability to use the R4 DS Card, the R4 DS manufacturers released an updated version of the R4 DS Card, in the form of the R4i SDHC Flash Card. The R4i SDHC was designed specifically for the newest Nintendo DSi consoles. But unlike the original R4 DS Card, the R4i SDHC will also work in all of the older / original Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite systems too - making it fully backwards compatible.

So which one you purchase really only depends on which console you have. If you have the original Nintendo DS or Nintendo DS Lite - then the R4 DS Card - the original version - will work just fine for you. If you are thinking about upgrading sometime in the future to the Nintendo DSi console - then I would urge you to instead purchase something like the R4i SDHC card, which will work with your current set up - but is also future proof against your upgrade wishes. And of course, if you only HAVE a Nintendo DSi, then you should only be looking at the r4i SDHC card.

No matter which version of the R4 DS Card you purchase, you'll have all of the same features and functions, allowing you to turn your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi into much more than just a hand held gaming system.

Find out more about the R4 DS Card and the R4i SDHC for Nintendo DSi by visiting ModChipStore.com - the official USA and Canadian R4 DS Card distributors

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