Now I’m not a huge game player. Mostly this was an impulse buy, but I’m happy I did purchase the Nintendo DS Lite. It does a great job of keeping me distracted from my work. I’m not too big on most of the latest systems. I think they are just too complicated for me to play. I had grown up with Mario and Zelda games so I figured it wasn’t too much to throw out there and I would have something to post on this site.

I saw the Nintendo DS Lite looked pretty slick. Like others have commented on it it looks similar to an Apple product and it looks much better than the original Nintendo DS.

The new design of the Nintendo DS Lite is much smaller than the original Nintendo DS and even smaller than Sony’s PSP. The dual screens are very bright and crisp. They are probably some of the best LCD screens I’ve seen.

The Nintendo DS Lite offers WiFi to play certain games over the Internet. This is a great feature when there’s no one around to play. The only thing about the WiFi connection is that it does not support WPA so I’ll have to pick up the USB adapter if I want to use it at home, otherwise I will have to use open base-stations.

The touch screen adds a need dimension to game play. I think it’s a great addition to the game system and offers a dimension that the PSP can’t.

I picked up New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart, and a sleeve for the system. I would recommend purchasing a case for the system. It has the glossy shiny plastic that is prone to scratches. Also the unit picks up a lot of finger grease but the case I picked up reduces that and the unit can easily be cleaned so it’s not too much of a problem.

The controls seem a little squished for me and I don’t really have very large fingers. I guess its something that I will have to get used to and I don’t think thats too much of an issue.

Battery life is pretty good, but I heard is much less than the Gameboy Advance SP. All previous units had good battery life and this unit is acceptable.

Sound quality is pretty good for two small stereo speakers. Of course its not THX and its not supposed to be but it does do the job adequately.

For $129, if you like portable gaming the Nintendo DS Lite a good buy. The Sony PSP has a larger game selection, but you won’t find the Mario and Zelda titles with that system. That was a bigger selling point for me. I enjoyed the previous Mario games and I would have to say New Super Mario Bros is a must buy if you buy the system. A buddy of mine said what makes the system is the games. If you don’t like the games you won’t like the system. If you like the games then it’ll be something you enjoy. It beats doing work for the most part.

If you have any games to recommend let me know.