Nintendo Mobile Goes Multimedia, Wireless

The Nintendo DS, the company's next iteration of its popular handheld gaming systems, will include instant message capabilities, movie playback and free wireless competition, according to this CNN Money article.

Nintendo has been roundly criticized for the decision not to include Internet capability on the GameCube console, particularly after the Sony Playstation2 and Microsoft Xbox gathered hundreds of thousands of users online. Instead, Nintendo cast its lot with mobile devices.

Not that the competition is any easier in that sector. Sony is set to launch its PSP handheld within a year.

It's not just game developers working on mobile entertainment systems. Handspring's Treo combines a cell phone, palm pilot and digital camera together in one device that has a color screen size comparable to the Nintendo GameBoy Advance, currently the number one handheld on the market.

As all of these handhelds get smarter, it's likely that competition will split up along niche markets. After all, I'm more likely to need a Treo than a GameBoy for my daily life – but that certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't also like to have some interesting games to play. And my friend's six-year old is clearly more interested in my GameBoy than he is in my new super phone.