Unexpected Addiction

When I first saw commercials for the Nintendo DS Lite a couple of months ago, I knew that I must have one. Which is weird... None of the other couple dozen or so handheld gaming systems that have entered the market during my adulthood have tempted me in the slightest. I had one of the original monochrome Gameboys when I was a kid but then I got into PC gaming and my standards became too high for a handheld to fulfill. Before the DS Lite, the closest I'd come to buying a portable gaming system was picking up a Sony PSP in a Circuit City, thinking it was too big and putting it back down. So I'm not entirely sure what attracted me to the DS Lite.

It may have been some subconcious attachment to the Gameboy of my youth, but I don't think so. I only had three games for that ancient brick and honestly was much more infatuated with my Apple IIGS at the time. It may have been my Jobsellian fetish for white Lucite. I've also always liked anything from the land of the riding sun and the DS Lite is quite possibly the ultimate personiphication of all things Japanese. I was also quite happy to see the touchscreen interface and my ears definitely perked up when I heard Wi-Fi. The two cartridge slots also seemed extremely hack friendly.

Whatever the reasoning, I finally nabbed one while my wife was on a trip with the kids for a couple of weeks. I went to the store intending to buy a couple of PC games but wound up fiddling with a DS Lite and passing on the games. Instead, I went home and picked up a new-in-box DS Lite from eBay for a lot less than the $129 the store was asking for it. (Don't feel bad. It was a Wal Mart that lost the sale. Not a locally-owned retailer)

After I bought my new toy, I did some searching on the net and found a lot more than I was expecting. (I like to do my consumer research AFTER I make the credit card payment. It makes me unique.) There are a TON of accessories available for this puppy. Skins, cases, styli, Japanese release software... And what's amazing is that it's all so cheap! Cases average around $10-$15. A replacement charger is $10. For a guy whose used to paying iPod prices for accessories (my iSkin case was $39) DS accessories seem like a steal.

Now even my poor wife is being sucked into my new addiction. Which is a good thing really. I'm sure that my new money-sucking hobby would have gotten me in a lot more trouble if she didn't like New Super Mario Bros so much. We even broke down and bought a second unit. Now I have a shiny black DS Lite and she and my son share the original white one.

So now that Nintendo has worked its way back into my life, you'll be seeing a lot more about the DS Lite and its plethora of games on this site. Hope you enjoy.