BK on the new nintendo DS Lite

DS, itself.
All my life I've been a huge fan of Sony. Starting with the original playstation to PSP. For some reason, xbox or nintendo never appealed to me as much. I love owning it up with the Chief in Halo or owning it up with Capt. Falcon on smash brothers, but it just wasn't the same as what playstations offered. However, all my thoughts changed when the new Nintendo DS Lite decended down from heaven.

It premiered on June 11th in North America. On the same day, I ordered my DS Lite with a copy of New Super Mario Bros. from Gamestop with overnight shipping.

I think the biggest things that people can recognize about the new DS is the brightness. This thing is amazing. With PSP, I had trouble playing in the car even with the brightness cranked up to the max. Now with the Lite, I can easily squash down on koopas.


That's the difference between the minimum brightness(top) to the maximum(bottom). Sorry for the poor camera angles, but it's hard to angle it well in front of my isight camera (check out the reflection of orbitz gum from the tv =] ). Can you notice the difference in the color of my DS interface? (around the screens) Yes, it's darker on the maximum compared to the minimum. Why? Because of my isight camera is automatically focusing according to the amount of light it's receiving. So even my camera is detecting the level of brightness the Lite is giving off.

DS, the games
I love the Lite system, but I knew that games would be a problem for me. I still haven't found a game that I can pick up and play for hours and hours. Definite breaks are required between stages that I get stuck on in New Super Mario Bros and mario kart ds can offer so much racing time, and the repetitive missions of Metroid Prime Hunter gets dull. But, I got to say that the new nintendo's WFC is raddddddd. A well designed multiplayer functionality makes any game 10x better. I can easily log onto nintendo WFC any time of the day through my home's Wi-fi or any hotspot and shoot some red shells at Luigi or own it up with Samus with people across the globe. It's well-designed, quick and easy to access.

New Super Mario Bros
What can you say? It's a brand new 2D mario world and you're out to save Princess Peach again. Some cool things such as the HUGE mushroom that turns mario into a giant like the commercial you saw on tv, a TINY mushroom that turns mario into a small dot, a turtle shell that allows you to hide mario in it and spin for attack and defense.

Mario Kart Ds
Ever played Mario Kart? Yep, It's basically the same great play except some new maps, cars, and maybe couple new characters. Biggest thing? first online play of Mario Kart ever is on the DS. Although it can be very difficult with everyone "snaking" across the race track, you still got to try it out.

Metroid Prime Hunters
First time actually playing Metroid. This game totally reminds me of Halo, but you're a girl named Samus; not the hardcore saving the day Chief. The game gets really repetitive. Every stage has the same concept. Few enemies, small bosses, and a major boss at the end. Most annoying thing? after you beat the major boss, a 3 min timer goes off with an alarm telling you to evacuate. I can't stand that alarm sometimes. Oh, and if you have some hand pains due to arthritis, you miightttt have some trouble playing the game. I don't know if it's just me, but this game made my hand numb as hell for the first few hours. Imagine you're playing counter-strike on the DS. The mouse becomes the stylus, keyboard (for movements) becomes the directional pads, and mouse1 click becomes the L-trigger. Imagine how much your left hand would be cramped holding that small DS Lite. Of course you can configure the settings, but it hardly brings any change.

Above three are great games, but I can't wait to get my hands on some good RPGs like The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or Final Fantasy III.

Hope you survived reading, skimming, or even jumping down to the bottom of my dreadful review on the DS Lite. I know, I know it's been over a month since its debut, but I always wanted to write a review. Anyway, if you own a DS, shoot me an email and maybe we can exchange friend codes and own it up racing or fragging.

Want more on the DS?
you can check out cnet (of course) or this review (a lot of pictures and details that I am too lazy to go into).