Are Nintendo DS games making good enough use of the system’s new features?

With Nintendo’s introduction of the Nintendo DS and its radical new features, there is a new question surrounding the system’s launch that we don’t normally see when new hardware is introduced. Read some reviews around the Internet, or hop into our DS forums. You’ll find many people enjoying games like Super Mario 64 DS and Asphalt: Urban GT, but also complaining that these games don’t make very convincing use of the touch screen, dual displays, microphone, or wireless multiplayer. The dual display feature is particularly underused in many of the DS launch titles; both Mario and Asphalt show a simple map at the bottom, as does the upcoming Mario Kart DS and many other games. Then there’s Spider-Man 2, which barely uses the touch function at all. And almost none of the launch titles use the microphone. There are no games in sight expected to take advantage of Wi-Fi online play. Some fans are asking themselves whether these features were worth including on the system if developers aren’t going to take advantage of them.