NBrid

Hell hath frozen over: The Nintendo DS Lite Cometh

Sigh, what have I done. Am I going to wake up tomorrow with a nasty hangover of buyer's regret? Maybe, but probably not. What I do know though is I'm sure to hear about this from the many people I proclaimed DS's "lameness" to, and that is quite a long list.

It's actually even worse than that. Not only have I gone on a two year long DS bashing vendetta, I've held a life long anti-handheld philosophy. I've never owned a handheld before. The pathetic "graphics" and overly simplistic gameplay didn't interest me in the least. So have times changed or have I?

Probably a little of both.

Just once galance at the Nintendo DS Lite (NDS or NDSL or DSL or DSFTW for short) and right away one of the problems with past Nintendo handhelds is gone: the fanboys are right, this is one fine looking piece of machinery. I'd go so far as to say I almost like it's looks more than PSP's even (as long as they are off, PSP's screen still beats the shit out of DS's). No longer does it look like a kid's toy, and judging by the dozen people at Circuit City this morning who looked to all be in their 20 or 30's, it isn't one either.

So is that why I finally caved and got one? No, I did it to shut Hybrid up. Okay, all jokes aside, there were finally a number of games I wanted to play. And not just on DS, in general. I just haven't been in a gaming mood as of late. But as it is, I had to limit myself from getting too many games right away on DS. And with up coming games like Contact (which, I'm not quite sure why, looks really cool) and of course a new Zelda (even if the sailings back), I'm thinking it will be a sound investment into my personal entertainment. Plus the DS should make a nice companion piece to the Wii that everyone who breathes should be wanting. Though I still hate the whole connectivity thing until they can find better uses for it than to unlock levels, games, artwork, ect. in games.

Hold on a second... {{looks over at his DSL}} ...Dammit, it's still charging.

Okay then, I'm still surprised I ended up owning one of these things. When DS was first announced, my only thought was, Nintendo has fucking lost it this time. Sony had announced it's powerful PSP, and Nintendo counters with... Dual Screens! Oh boy! Kill me now! And what was this whole 3rd pillar bull shit? To me that just meant Nintendo knew this was a long shot and so didn't want it bringing down Game Boy's good name when it bombed. It wasn't until E3 2004 when Nintendo released more details, like the touch screen which of course is DS's most important aspect hardware-wise, that I thought, "Hmm..." But don't think I was sold. Ha!

The initial games were a N64 port, to help hammer home the point this was Nintendo 64 era hardware as opposed to PSP's PlayStation 2 era, and a bunch of gimmicky party games. Yawn. I was sure at that pace DS would go the way of the Virtual Boy within a year. Yet by the next E3 in 2005, DS's line-up was starting to look more and more interesting with some quite unique games. Then somehow Nintendogs helped remind people of its existence. I still held out, and still bashed it and anyone who owned one when ever I could. But I was starting to get temped. Then Nintendo unveiled the DS Lite.

It was then I first thought I might want one too. I wasn't 100% sure just because, well just because. So what pushed me over the edge? Reggie? Maybe. Tetris WiFi? Possibly. I don't know, and I'm sure you don't care.

So with that, go re-read this factual DS vs. PSP Crossfire while I go shop online for a wireless router and Meteos (and see if I can win ChuChu Rocket off eBay... I need that game!). By then I hope DS has completed its initial charge.

Now go buy!