Noble Pink Nintendo DS Lite

Wednesday 25 Oct 2006

Nintendo is set to launch the pink version of its DS Lite in South Africa, and not just any pink will do, but ‘noble pink’ definitely gets our approval. Set to arrive in South Africa this coming December, those gamers out there who complain about their girlfriends being non-gamers might want to consider this as a nifty Christmas present for their better half.

Prices and tech specs

Although the pink DS Lite will be available in Europe from the 27th of October, South Africa is not too far behind and so we can’t complain too much! The DS Lite is currently only available in black and white in South Africa, and so it seems fitting then that we are now to receive it in pink as well, us being the rainbow nation and all. The current retail price of the DS Lite is about R1480, so here’s hoping that the colour pink won’t push the price up at all. The estimated retail price in Europe is 150 Euros (R1410 according to today’s exchange rate), so it should be roughly the same price as its black and white counterparts.

Nintendo revolutionised gaming as DS gamers knew it by making the little machine 20% brighter and less than 2/3 of the size of the original DS. The stylus was also adapted to increase a player’s comfort by making it longer and thicker. In addition, the Lite provides nine hours longer battery life and recharges quicker as well.

The start of a beautiful relationship

Now that the technical side is taken care of, I can get right down to the nitty gritty. If you have not yet tried out a DS, waste no more time, try it today. You will not look back, ever - promise. When my friends each bought one I thought ‘hmpphh, whatever.’ I won’t deny that although I was initially interested in this zany machine, and tried out a few games on it, it did not really rock my world. That is, until I got my own. Ok, Ok, I will admit it was not love at first site. Of course I was glad to have finally become a member of this elite little DS club which my friends had going, and the guys thought I was cool. But that was as far as it went. When they tried to enlist me in multiplayer MarioKart or, even worse, to be a member of their band in Daigasso! Band Brothers, I will admit that I probably rolled my eyes in their general direction and generally pitied them. I tried my hand at games like Worms: Open Warfare and even Tetris DS, but the thawing was only slight, and I only halfheartedly warmed up to it. But the more I played, the more it drew me in, until one night I took it to bed with me – yes, you read right, I took my DS to bed with me. Now I know what you are thinking, that I should attend a DS support group somewhere and say ‘Hi, my name is Lisa and I sleep with my DS at night…’ Well, all I can say, besides the fact that if these sort of support groups existed there would probably be millions all around the world, is that if you take that first little step and buy yourself a DS (or just borrow one at first, provided of course your friend does not mind you taking their DS into your bed), you will not look back!

Just one more game!

My fascination only continued to grow and it was always a case of ‘just one more game,’ a phenomenon which I am sure a lot of gamers out there are familiar with. But it was not until I started playing a specific game that I was well and truly hooked. I think I became a Nintendo fangirl the day I started playing Phoenix Wright. I could not put this game down, I found myself playing it every little chance that I could, stealing moments at work, cringing when plans were made to go out – did these people not know that I was in the middle of solving important cases and saving people from jailtime? It consumed me, and that, ladies and gentleman, was just the beginning. I moved onto Animal Crossing: Wild World, and found that even my DS buddies thought I had developed a rare strain of mind disease when I wanted to turn on the game because of the fireworks display or to see who had won the bug-off. Sometimes when characters had made arrangements to visit me but I was tired, I would give the DS to a friend and make them promise not to turn it off in case I offended one of my new friends. I learnt this the hard way, as one day I had invited one of my Animal Crossing friends over for tea, but got tired, turned the DS off and went to bed. Well, the next day she ignored me, making me feel pretty down in the dumps! I know there are some people reading this who are nodding their heads, and some who are wondering if I have just escaped from the looney bin. This question I pose to the latter bunch – have you tried a DS yet? And if not, why are you still reading this? If you go now, when next you read this you will be chuckling at similar occurrences in your life, while you fondly stroke your new friend.

Finding your appeal

You see the bottom line is this, as in everything in life, you need to find something that tickles your fancy and entertains you. What might entertain others or appeal to your friends, need not (and most probably will not) interest you. I have now found DS games that really interest me, like Phoenix Wright and Animal Crossing. I have also recently ordered Phoenix Wright 2, Super Princess Peach and Contact, and I look forward to playing these games to the wii hours of the morning. And I hate to admit that the so called girl games are actually the ones which I have enjoyed the most – I suppose Nintendo knows what it is talking about after all. Although I did try my hand at Nintendogs, I must admit I did not really take to it, proving that you have to find what works for you, no matter which gender they design the game for.

More fun with multiplayer

Multiplayer DS gaming is a whole other story, and probably warrants an editorial of its own, but for the moment I will touch on it because it is very relevant to my current topic of conversation. I had played MarioKart DoubleDash on the GameCube and was thoroughly hooked, but did not really take to MarioKart DS at first, that is until I tried it multiplayer. Of course the first time I played I got horribly beaten because it was my first time, but the other five players (and two CPU’s) had done this before, many, many times before! Despite my shameful losses, I had a blast playing, and the next time I was just a little better, which made it even more fun! Of course, being in last place does have its advantages as you get the explosive blue ball which knocks the first place player over or, even better the powerup which transforms you into a bullet as you whiz past the other players. And I must admit it is such a high to sneak up a few places and then drop some bananas in revenge. Yes, revenge is very sweet in this game, and any one who has ever played it will know that you have not won MarioKart until you have actually physically crossed the finish line! Tetris is also great fun, and can often lead to personal complexes developing when you are doing so well, and concentrating so hard, and some evil person drops a stack of blocks on you. Again, revenge is so sweet! Recently we also tried our hand at multiplayer Brain Training, which is far more fun than it sounds really. Of course, playing with school students does not help, since the times tables are far fresher in their minds, and if you happen to have a level 5 genius as one of your friends you tend to get a bit wasted, but all in all it is really fun and I found myself cheating on numerous occasions by whispering pleas of help to my cubicle neighbour. As if this was not enough excitement already, you have to gulp down your drink and nibble on your pizza without getting indigestion, while keeping your eye on your opponent who could click ‘start game’ at any stage, and often does! This results in much laughter, a burp or two and a very greasy DS.

A noble cause

As you can see, DS gaming is barrels of laughs and fun. If you want to know more about some cool DS games, be sure to check out the reviews on the site. Well, the noble pink DS Lite is definitely on my shopping list. Until next time, keep gaming and remember to take regular breaks to get just a little bit of sunshine.