DS Download Station

DS Download Station is an in-store demo service launched by Nintendo in early 2006. As the name implies, these are stations that can be used to download game demos and trailers to ones Nintendo DS. The games can be downloaded by going to DS Download Play on the Nintendo DS' main menu and choosing the DS Download Station (if in range). From there it would load a simple menu & loader application to facilitate loading the demo of the player's choice. The demos remain on the DS until the power is turned off. It normally is unattended.

The download station is actually nothing more than a standard retail DS inside of a sealed box with a special DS Download Station cartridge inserted in it. The cartridge acts as a server for customers to download new game demos or videos. When Nintendo releases a new demo cartridge to retailers they simply load the cartridge into the DS locked in the sealed box. A DS Download Station can distribute only one game at a time, but up to 16 DS systems simultaneously.

The Wii is also noted to have a feature similar to the DS Download Station that would allow people at home to download demos.