The Electric Blue DS

[Gadfly2317]

Picked up a second DS (for my wife). A couple things to note.

The color is a lot prettier than the picture on the box led me to believe. Its a really sharp looking metallic blue, almost lapis lazuli. Goes nicely with the electroplankton color scheme!

Second thing, big thing really, is the touch screen is different. You can see it if you hold it at an angle while a dark image is being projected. The plastic seems different. Guy at hte game store, when I asked him, said he'd heard the new screens were more scratch resistant. I haven't noticed any difference its responsiveness, and anyway, I use screenprotecters (a MUST for your DS touch screen) so it doesn't really matter.

Finally, the surface is "slicker" for lack of a better word. I guess I spend so much time with my DS that the little difference in surface texture is noticeable.

Other than that, same solid quality device. If you haven't picked one up because you were waiting for a color choice, this is a really good one.

I'm looking at you Trebor. . . pick yourself up Meteos and Kirby's Canvas Curse and Warioware Touched. . . and that new GI Game of the Month GBA Fire Emblem. . . that would look SO MUCH BETTER on the bright, backlit DS screen!

And then on to Lost in Blue, Metroid Pinball, Mario Kart DS Online, Animal Crossing, Shogun Warrior, Trauma Center: Under the Knife. . .. . . . please. . . .stop. . . . me. . . before I post. . . . again. . . . .

[Superjoint Ritual]

The Apple style white DS is the best looking DS by far... I will buy one as soon as it's released....

Kirby's Canvas is the best handheld game I've played since Castlevania: AoS. If you own a DS and don't own this game you suck...

Gadfly, can you explain Meteos for me ? I havn't payed attention to this game cause I'm not a big puzzle fan.

[Gadfly2317]

The Apple style white DS is the best looking DS by far... I will buy one as soon as it's released....

Kirby's Canvas is the best handheld game I've played since Castlevania: AoS. If you own a DS and don't own this game you suck...

Gadfly, can you explain Meteos for me ? I havn't payed attention to this game cause I'm not a big puzzle fan.

Kirby's Canvas Curse is the BOMB. I think I could be through this game already except I'm trying to find every coin, and I've been playing the speed and line challenges. I've still got three of the 7 sections of the game to open. I've also unlocked that eighth section that you unlock with coins. This is my favorite game of the moment across all systems, with Paper Mario 2 coming in a close second (yeah, I'm STILL playing that one, and probably will be for a long time. It is a LONG game, but extremely cool.) Psychonauts is a nice stoner game with great level design, but its a pretty traditional platformer, so the totally fresh gameplay of the Kirby platformer is kinda putting it to shame and making it seem a lot more dull than it might otherwise seem.

Meteos. . . honestly, I don't really know that much about it other than it looks pretty and its a puzzle game with some buzz around it, made by the guys who brought us Lumines and Rez. I'm such a DS junky right now that I'm starving for more titles; I like puzzle games and that's about all I really needed to know.

What I'm REALLY wanting is Metroid Pinball, Advance Wars, Animal Crossing, Trauma Center, Phoenix Wright, the new Mario platformer, Mario Kart online, Shogun Warriors (if it turns out well) and maybe even Nintendogs. Most of these are supposed to be out in the next six months, so I'm actually really glad the PsP is having a MAJOR software drought. There is not one game I plan on picking up except maybe Death Jr, and even then, with all the DS games, I'm not sure I'd drop the $49 dollars Death Jr. is sure to cost. . .the PsP is my Golf, Racing, and Lumines system right now.

I've been doing some multitrack recording with Electroplankton; sounds really cool if you like strange ambient soundscapes like Aphex Twin's "Selected Ambient Works" only less structured.

Oh yeah, on racing games, a friend with a DS had the launch title Asphalt which I played last week for the first time. It looked suprisingly good, and played ok with the d-pad and buttons. The DS does 3d graphics really well. I've heard the new Need For Speed on the DS looks almost as good as the PsP. With even the standard genre non-touch screen games on DS looking so good--albeit on a smaller screen (I do love the PsP screen)--I'm actually starting to regret having gotten a PsP at all. If I'd actually paid cash for it instead of trading in all my xbox gear and games, I'd be pissed.

[Gadfly2317]

Oh yeah,

I haven't seen the white DS. Is it a sure release in the US/Canada? Do you have a link to a pic? I've seen pics of the red and blue DS; sometimes pictures don't do the colors justice. . . the blue DS looks a lot better than even the picture on the box. . .the picture didn't reproduce that metallic shimmer at all.