Turn the Nintendo DS sideways and then open it. It’s like a book! ROFL!!! They should totally make it so you could read books on it, but they should only make 100 books available at first and it should only be available in Britain– like so.

One hundred of HarperCollins’ classic books will cost only £20 as part of an e-book test that Nintendo will be trying out in Britain starting on December 26th. Turning pages will entail a simple finger-swipe on the touch-sensitive lower (or rightmost, in this case) screen. I’d guess that the collection will come on a DS cartridge but that, if successful, Nintendo would harness the DS’ Wi-Fi chip and build an online bookstore.

It’s an okay idea, I suppose, but the fact that the DS is mostly owned by kids, has limited screen space, and doesn’t have that sweet e-ink that big boy e-book readers have might pose some challenges. It might actually take off with kids, though. Offer enough kid-friendly books and you might see them reading more often. And it might also appeal to big kids like me who own a DS but don’t want to shell out for a Kindle.

[via SlashGear]