Nintendo DS Lite

Hope everyone had a great time over the holidays. As for me, I got a new toy over Christmas, a DS Lite. I have played with the idea of getting a PSP for awhile, but after looking at the DS Lite and the games, I dropped a hint that I wanted one. The DS Lite is a great little gadget, and the clam shell design is a big plus. It seems that today’s portable devices are designed from the start to either require a peripheral case, or get really scratched up. That said I will probably still get a case in the future if I can find one that doesn’t have cartoon characters all over it. Note to Nintendo and surrounding companies, some adults do actually use a DS Lite.

The first game I picked up was The Legend of Zelda – Phantom Hourglass. This game uses the stylus for everything and just like the Wii, this method of playing games is both innovative and extremely fun. The second game I’ve been playing a lot is Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon.

Zelda is 3D while Rune Factory is completely sprite based. Right now both games have got me really addicted, but I’m stuck in Zelda at the moment and putting a little more time into Rune Factory. Over all I am really impressed with the DS. The graphics won’t blow you away by any stretch, but the games are really solid and fun. Using the Stylus feels natural from the start in many of the games I’ve tried, and the form factor and size of the DS work really nicely. I have already popped the thing out of my pocket to play for several minutes only to have to snap it shut and board a bus or train. Once you get back on you snap it back open and away you go. The only real down side to owning a DS is if you are a reader like me, it may cut into that time, since most of my reading is done on transit. I’ll cover the DS in more depth in the future.