Nintendo DS: Day 215 (The DS Lite)
14 June 2006, late evening
Yesterday I wandered around Yonge and Eglington looking for a Nintendo DS Lite. I had been informed by the Future Shop website that they had one in stock, but when I arrived at their store they were all sold out—as was the Toys R Us, EB Games, and random video game store in the area; Dufferin Mall’s Toys R Us and EB Games also didn’t have any; Ditto the Eatons Centre and the Future Shop downtown. The DS Lite is selling fairly quickly by the looks of things. I managed to find one today. Best Buy lets you order online for pick-up, which is what I did, and I picked my unit up just North of Yorkdale Mall.
Now, as you may be well aware, I am already the happy owner of a Nintendo DS. It’s probably more than a little decadent to replace it after owning for about a half year. I liked my DS a lot, but it just doesn’t compare to the DS Lite. The Lite is really what Nintendo should have put out from the get go. The original system, which is ugly in and of itself, is all the more ugly when compared to Sony’s PSP. I think one of the big things holding the DS back when it launched was the fact it didn’t look nearly as good as the PSP. (The fact it lacked some really good launch titles didn’t help matters I suppose.) The Lite still may not be quite as nice looking as the PSP, but it certainly comes close. Of course, the Lite has the advantage of not being anywhere near as fragile as the PSP.
I haven’t had a chance to play with it for an extended period of time. I am hoping the smaller and lighter form factor will make the unit easier on my poor wrists.
The Nintendo DS is a nice portable system. I think everyone should own one.
I agree. The DS lite is great. I’m surprised you just went out and bought one. What are you going to do with your old DS?
Also I think the DS lite looks nicer then the psp. Its smaller, brighter, and its white matches the ibook. What more could a person want.
by Krishna on June 14 2006, 11:05 pm #
I have saved the poor old DS from being sold to some random stranger for now! I never imagined Ram would be so indifferent to his electronic goods. First he installs XP on his iMac now he trades his old DS for a new and prettier one! Is this signs of times to come? I hope not. :s
by sh!ma on June 14 2006, 11:37 pm #
You bastard, they’re out of stock now.
by Dave on June 15 2006, 10:44 am #
apparently Toys’R’Us has a bundle coming with SMB + system. And Future Shop supposedly has one now: $150 for system + Brain Age (which is supposed to be great value even standalone).
I agree, it’s a must-own, plus Nintendo WFC is platform-wide (unlike PSP’s Wi-Fi), which makes it even more compelling. $150 just sweetens the deal.
I was considering getting the Euro exclusive black when I go visit * L *, but it’s 150 POUNDS, or 200 Euro.
by Weiguo on June 15 2006, 4:18 pm #
The Toys R Us one starts next week, but I didn’t want to wait that long. Krishna has Mario, so I thought I would just steal it from him when he is done. I’m not sure if FutureShop is giving away Brain Age though. In the US you could get it from Circuit City and Best Buy, but you needed a coupon. Sucks they didn’t do something similar here.
The thing I like about the white one is that you don’t really notice fingerprints the way you do with the blue one, which my co-worker owns.
$200 Euros is a stiff price to pay for a black DS Lite. Are you sure it won’t come out in that colour here eventually?
by ramanan on June 15 2006, 4:44 pm #
I’ve been reading up on allowing the DS to play off the GBA for Roms, and I think I can do it based on what I read, but has anyone actually done this before? I know it can be done a Pacific for $150, but the parts on ebay only cost about $60-80, so I think I’ll do it myself.
I hear that the games don’t save well though.
I haven’t seen that bundle deal at futureshop, I’ll take a look again. I think they are back in stock as of today though. But time will tell if I get my hands on it.
by Vic on June 16 2006, 11:48 am #
Thanks for the information Weiguo.
I just picked up my DS lite and will be playing it when I get home. I got New SMB and Advance Wars.
My plan is to wait until more people have modded their DS Lite and I have a larger wealth of experience to build upon.
Right now, I’m just not sure if you can still “short” the firmware update block in the DS lite (as is done on the DS).
by Vic on June 16 2006, 4:49 pm #