I've been reading Gamers With Jobs' Pass The Press lately. They picked up a recent Penny Arcade topic, regarding ESRB, the Entertainment Software Rating Board.
I was considered an adult by the time a ratings system for videogames reached Finland, so it never really affected me. I've been thinking about the issue over the years, seeing more and more anti-videogames stories in mainstream media.
Fact: Grand Theft Auto or the Hitman series are not meant for children. Fact: they are played by children. Most parents don't seem to care, yet are eager to join in on the blame game.
My parents did check out what kinds of games I played and I had to explain what I was doing in them and why (yes, my mother was interested in my alter-ego's motivation). They also said when they disapproved and explained why, although I was never banned from playing a game. Then again, this was back in the 8-bit days, the Commodore 64 being my platform of choice (well, C=128D, to be specific). I reckon that if I was a kid these days, I wouldn't be allowed to play Hitman or the like, with highly realistic violence.
Most gamers seem to not understand why the ESRB is targeting gamers via the Penny Arcade campaign. It looks like the ESRB has sort of given up on the parents. Grownups seem to be either of the "anything goes" or the "ban the sick filth" school of moderation. Maybe if the little gamers themselves (say, under 16 years of age) understood that the ratings are there to protect them, their parents would also get it.
I firmly believe that a child shouldn't play Counter-Strike all day. It makes you obsessive and aggressive. Kids shouldn't discuss the best way to murder an unwitting man (or how to achieve it with a golf club). But this is just common sense. The ratings absolutely cannot achieve this, no matter how strictly implemented they are at the retail level. Parents must take an interest in what their children are playing - and why, and how. Better yet, they should play the games with their children.
The ratings are there just to inform the parents of the general level of, say, harmfulness of a game so that they can easily make a decision to purchase or not. They should understand that buying their kids a kid-safe game is not a permit for them to not care what their kids are playing. They should care, if only because the games are important to the children and thus they should be of interest to their parents.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Rest and relaxation
It's been a hard couple of weeks at work. I haven't had time to play games, really, and I've been so tired that the brain hadn't really worked for the last day at work. However, I took last weekend out of the schedule and just laid down on the sofa for two days, watching bad movies and playing videogames. It was sweet.
I played some single-player Flatout, Halo 2, Gladius and Advance Wars DS. I completed the Advance Wars campaign. I can't applaud the game enough, it's very good indeed. The difficulty was just about perfect, even though the AI does not convince. I don't see how I could've beaten some of the harder missions against a human player.
I've mentioned Flatout before, but now I got down to playing it solo. It's just very enjoyable, although the difficulty is a bit too high. Not devastatingly so, but enough to probably frustrate quite a few people. I'd prefer all games to be like Burnout 3, where any beginner with a pad can complete the races, but it takes effort to score well. Still, the physics-powered racing with beat-up cars in really atmospheric, run-down tracks is something of a unique experience. Much of it is down to the handling model, which differs considerably from the car game norm, but I'd say it's for the best.
I haven't played Halo 2's singleplayer campaign until now. I played it in co-op for a couple of days, which didn't quite convince me to buy the game. The single-player fares a little better, but I'm afraid it just doesn't get up to the sublime levels of the original game. Part of it is down to the inconsistent technical quality: there's pop-up, flickering, disappearing models, missing textures, shaky physics and so on. Bumpmaps are overused. Then there's level design: the environments are somewhat cluttered. They don't feel like the finely crafted arenas of the first game. Then there's the story - while I'm nowhere near finished with it, I really dislike its dual-nature, especially regarding the protagonist.
Regardless, it's a blast, but not as much as Halo was. The third instalment is eagerly awaited, make no mistake, and there have been plenty of really standout moments already. The actual grind of the moment-to-moment gameplay just doesn't feel as satisfactory.
The weekend's real champion comes in the guise of Gladius. It was little noted when it came out, despite scoring a respectable 80% on Metacritic. I'm into tactical battles and Gladius really rubs me in a good way. Good production values don't hurt, and it looks like the game also puts up a fight. Still, progress could be faster; now it feels like an hour's worth of playing doesn't do much to your fighter school's progress. The 3D models, animation and texturing aren't anything noteworthy, but it's all solid and the overall feel is elevated greatly by the careful animation of the character's faces. The actual combat is a little slow and the menus are cumbersome. Otherwise a great experience so far, and highly recommended to all attracted to, well, turn-based gladiatorial combat! I know it grabbed my wife for the whole of Sunday. She hasn't gamed six hours straight since last summer. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not, but it was great to see her really get into a game.
I played some single-player Flatout, Halo 2, Gladius and Advance Wars DS. I completed the Advance Wars campaign. I can't applaud the game enough, it's very good indeed. The difficulty was just about perfect, even though the AI does not convince. I don't see how I could've beaten some of the harder missions against a human player.
I've mentioned Flatout before, but now I got down to playing it solo. It's just very enjoyable, although the difficulty is a bit too high. Not devastatingly so, but enough to probably frustrate quite a few people. I'd prefer all games to be like Burnout 3, where any beginner with a pad can complete the races, but it takes effort to score well. Still, the physics-powered racing with beat-up cars in really atmospheric, run-down tracks is something of a unique experience. Much of it is down to the handling model, which differs considerably from the car game norm, but I'd say it's for the best.
I haven't played Halo 2's singleplayer campaign until now. I played it in co-op for a couple of days, which didn't quite convince me to buy the game. The single-player fares a little better, but I'm afraid it just doesn't get up to the sublime levels of the original game. Part of it is down to the inconsistent technical quality: there's pop-up, flickering, disappearing models, missing textures, shaky physics and so on. Bumpmaps are overused. Then there's level design: the environments are somewhat cluttered. They don't feel like the finely crafted arenas of the first game. Then there's the story - while I'm nowhere near finished with it, I really dislike its dual-nature, especially regarding the protagonist.
Regardless, it's a blast, but not as much as Halo was. The third instalment is eagerly awaited, make no mistake, and there have been plenty of really standout moments already. The actual grind of the moment-to-moment gameplay just doesn't feel as satisfactory.
The weekend's real champion comes in the guise of Gladius. It was little noted when it came out, despite scoring a respectable 80% on Metacritic. I'm into tactical battles and Gladius really rubs me in a good way. Good production values don't hurt, and it looks like the game also puts up a fight. Still, progress could be faster; now it feels like an hour's worth of playing doesn't do much to your fighter school's progress. The 3D models, animation and texturing aren't anything noteworthy, but it's all solid and the overall feel is elevated greatly by the careful animation of the character's faces. The actual combat is a little slow and the menus are cumbersome. Otherwise a great experience so far, and highly recommended to all attracted to, well, turn-based gladiatorial combat! I know it grabbed my wife for the whole of Sunday. She hasn't gamed six hours straight since last summer. I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or not, but it was great to see her really get into a game.
Monday, May 22, 2006
The Sisters Of Mercy
I was a teenage goth. I stopped painting my face and dyeing (sp?) my hair right after high school and cut the hair for college. It's been over a decade since my best/worst days. But the music lives on! I never even dreamed of getting to see one of the big ones live, but now The Sisters Of Mercy is coming to the local metal festival, Tuska (translates to PAIN in English, for what it's worth).
It'll be an interesting weekend. The Sisters on Friday, and Billy Idol on Sunday. Considering I go to concerts maybe once in two years.
UPDATE: Gee, now my other long-time favorite is coming over, too. It's been only a year or so since I last saw Paradise Lost, but this year's set lists seem cool enough. And right in the middle of summer, too, in my home city. Now if I only managed to catch Type O Negative and System Of A Down some time. I missed TON a couple of years back.
UPDATE 2: Paradise Lost was mighty fine - not as excellent as the last time, but good nonetheless. Billy Idol did kick butt, I was thoroughly entertained.
Sisters Of Mercy was something of a letdown because there was lots of trouble with the sound, but they did get it together before embarking on the biggest hits. All in all it was all right, but the biggest gripe I have with is volume. They've had to pipe it down in the downtown Helsinki festival and as things stand, I don't see much point going over there when I can listen to music at work louder.
I also put up a couple of snapshots from the Sisters Of Mercy gig, late as they are, since people seem to come to this post from search engines, looking for SOM info.
It'll be an interesting weekend. The Sisters on Friday, and Billy Idol on Sunday. Considering I go to concerts maybe once in two years.
UPDATE: Gee, now my other long-time favorite is coming over, too. It's been only a year or so since I last saw Paradise Lost, but this year's set lists seem cool enough. And right in the middle of summer, too, in my home city. Now if I only managed to catch Type O Negative and System Of A Down some time. I missed TON a couple of years back.
UPDATE 2: Paradise Lost was mighty fine - not as excellent as the last time, but good nonetheless. Billy Idol did kick butt, I was thoroughly entertained.
Sisters Of Mercy was something of a letdown because there was lots of trouble with the sound, but they did get it together before embarking on the biggest hits. All in all it was all right, but the biggest gripe I have with is volume. They've had to pipe it down in the downtown Helsinki festival and as things stand, I don't see much point going over there when I can listen to music at work louder.
I also put up a couple of snapshots from the Sisters Of Mercy gig, late as they are, since people seem to come to this post from search engines, looking for SOM info.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Games that I'm excited about
So E3 came and went. This year it was much, much easier to get your hands on the juicy trailers and information, and keynote speeches and whatnot. Nice, that. Some games stood out, but before I go into those, I really must wonder at the lack of enthusiasm towards the Playstation 3.
I mean, nobody seems to care. Sure, it's coming, but nobody's gawking at the trailers, nobody's asking when they can get their hands on one, everybody's saying that $600 is way too much. I for one will not pay $600 for a console. (Well, according to Sony it's not actually a gaming machine.) Nothing we've seen is better than what's on offer on the 360 and the developers are all saying that the machines are so near identical that the games will be exactly the same on both platforms. We'll see how it plays out, but for now it seems that Microsoft has really played their cards so much better than Sony, who's bound to lose some market space to their competitor.
I'll give Sony this much: the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer was cool, especially with the final scene of old Snake. We haven't seen ageing heroes in too many games. Also, points for bringing back Raiden despite the ridiculous fanboy backlash to MGS2's protagonist.
Speaking of things you just don't see in videogames: Assassin's Creed. I've played Hitman quite a bit, so I wasn't that interested in another assassination franchise. But at the time of Crusades? In Jerusalem? As an Arab, killing Christian knights? In broad daylight, amidst real crowds? The trailer was really something, breaking a bunch of boundaries I wouldn't expect to be approached with a launch game for a mainstream platform.
Chrome Hounds: I've proclaimed my love for the mecha genre before. The Armored Core series is one of its cornerstones, so I am thrilled to see it coming to the 360, even if the trailer doesn't show anything spectacular.
Gears Of War: So call me gullible. I've been unenthusiastic about this 360 heavy hitter, but Penny Arcade's slack-jawed reaction to it has me excited. I've been waiting for games to reach a sense of solidity, of real physical mass, and early reports indicate that GOW may have achieved just that.
I mean, nobody seems to care. Sure, it's coming, but nobody's gawking at the trailers, nobody's asking when they can get their hands on one, everybody's saying that $600 is way too much. I for one will not pay $600 for a console. (Well, according to Sony it's not actually a gaming machine.) Nothing we've seen is better than what's on offer on the 360 and the developers are all saying that the machines are so near identical that the games will be exactly the same on both platforms. We'll see how it plays out, but for now it seems that Microsoft has really played their cards so much better than Sony, who's bound to lose some market space to their competitor.
I'll give Sony this much: the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer was cool, especially with the final scene of old Snake. We haven't seen ageing heroes in too many games. Also, points for bringing back Raiden despite the ridiculous fanboy backlash to MGS2's protagonist.
Speaking of things you just don't see in videogames: Assassin's Creed. I've played Hitman quite a bit, so I wasn't that interested in another assassination franchise. But at the time of Crusades? In Jerusalem? As an Arab, killing Christian knights? In broad daylight, amidst real crowds? The trailer was really something, breaking a bunch of boundaries I wouldn't expect to be approached with a launch game for a mainstream platform.
Chrome Hounds: I've proclaimed my love for the mecha genre before. The Armored Core series is one of its cornerstones, so I am thrilled to see it coming to the 360, even if the trailer doesn't show anything spectacular.
Gears Of War: So call me gullible. I've been unenthusiastic about this 360 heavy hitter, but Penny Arcade's slack-jawed reaction to it has me excited. I've been waiting for games to reach a sense of solidity, of real physical mass, and early reports indicate that GOW may have achieved just that.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Recent games
I've been wanting to post about Beyond Good & Evil for some time now. I've put it off because I wanted to get further in the game before getting all vocal about it, but what the hell. Chances are you've already played BG&E. Good for you. But if you haven't, I very strongly urge you to do so right away. It's been out for something like three years.
I knew it was supposed to be good, but this good, never. It really feels like you've walked into an animated adventure, complete with great pacing, acting, art and music. The character design is really very good, although the world could be perhaps a little more engaging. It's written well, and the central gameplay is solid. The camera can be a pain, though.
It's interesting how taking photographs of the bad guys is much more exciting than fighting them. I wouldn't mind more games about photographers. The photography in Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of that game's standout moments, too.
Another cool older game I've been at recently is FlatOut on the Xbox. We've played it with a couple of friends - going at the singleplayer, taking turns to get through the really rather challenging races. It's good fun. I wonder when mere physics cease to be fun, but that day is certainly not here yet.
There are the physics-based, driver-flinging minigames, too, but I really prefer the singleplayer experience. Well, make that "communal", perhaps... As a bit of trivia, I was on a Nile cruise with a guy working on the game some years ago. (He wasn't at Bugbear back then, though.) I hope the soon to come sequel all the best, although I'm a little worried about the addition of explosions. The original was fine without them, suitably down to Earth, yet over the top.
And yes, I'm still playing Advance Wars DS. It's just really very good.
I knew it was supposed to be good, but this good, never. It really feels like you've walked into an animated adventure, complete with great pacing, acting, art and music. The character design is really very good, although the world could be perhaps a little more engaging. It's written well, and the central gameplay is solid. The camera can be a pain, though.
It's interesting how taking photographs of the bad guys is much more exciting than fighting them. I wouldn't mind more games about photographers. The photography in Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of that game's standout moments, too.
Another cool older game I've been at recently is FlatOut on the Xbox. We've played it with a couple of friends - going at the singleplayer, taking turns to get through the really rather challenging races. It's good fun. I wonder when mere physics cease to be fun, but that day is certainly not here yet.
There are the physics-based, driver-flinging minigames, too, but I really prefer the singleplayer experience. Well, make that "communal", perhaps... As a bit of trivia, I was on a Nile cruise with a guy working on the game some years ago. (He wasn't at Bugbear back then, though.) I hope the soon to come sequel all the best, although I'm a little worried about the addition of explosions. The original was fine without them, suitably down to Earth, yet over the top.
And yes, I'm still playing Advance Wars DS. It's just really very good.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
A note on advertising
You might have noticed the Google AdSense banner on the page. It's there just to test the system, as I want to know how it works. Unless I suddenly begin to get thousands of hits instead of the handful I'm seeing now, there's no money in it for me. The blog is just serving as a professional (as well as creative and personal) playground for me.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Going pro
I became a search engine marketing guy. Today I got my Google certification to show for it.
The more I study Google AdWords, the better the whole system seems. It's easy to use it all wrong, effectively burning money on zero-value contacts, and effective use does necessitate forethrought, planning, upkeep and general knowhow. I'm not saying it's some arcane art which takes months to understand - indeed, the basics are very easy to grasp, just that it's complicated enough to warrant the use of a professional to handle it for you.
Enough shop talk. What's relative (AdWords pun, I am so sorry) is that proficiency with professional tools means more money to spend on games. And games-front, it's been exclusively Advance Wars Dual Strike for me. I'm on the second planet of Knights Of The Old Republic II, but really the lure of Nintendo's strategy goodness is much stronger than the Force. Yesterday, I was thrilled to have to try a mission four times before finally overcoming it.
I've tried to participate in my wife's Animal Crossing Wild World mischiefs (by digging hidden holes and stomping on neighbor's flowers), but even my King Tut mask (which is awesome) can't put up a fight.
The more I study Google AdWords, the better the whole system seems. It's easy to use it all wrong, effectively burning money on zero-value contacts, and effective use does necessitate forethrought, planning, upkeep and general knowhow. I'm not saying it's some arcane art which takes months to understand - indeed, the basics are very easy to grasp, just that it's complicated enough to warrant the use of a professional to handle it for you.
Enough shop talk. What's relative (AdWords pun, I am so sorry) is that proficiency with professional tools means more money to spend on games. And games-front, it's been exclusively Advance Wars Dual Strike for me. I'm on the second planet of Knights Of The Old Republic II, but really the lure of Nintendo's strategy goodness is much stronger than the Force. Yesterday, I was thrilled to have to try a mission four times before finally overcoming it.
I've tried to participate in my wife's Animal Crossing Wild World mischiefs (by digging hidden holes and stomping on neighbor's flowers), but even my King Tut mask (which is awesome) can't put up a fight.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
On pain, and introducing the Handan DVB-T 6000
I've now been using the Nintendo DS for some time. Yesterday, I played for close to four hours. This is mostly a note on ergonomics. Playing the amazing Advance Wars DS, I have absolutely no problem with ergonomics. With Animal Crossing, it becomes an issue after a prolonged stay in the virtual village. (Say, half an hour in my hands.)
But I've played a little GBA F-Zero on it, and it's so excruciating, you'd swear it was meant to inflict pain. I literally can't pass a single game without gritting my teeth in agony. Seriously, I'm not going to buy any straight-on action titles for the machine. Yes, Castlevania may warrant an extended test-run on a friend's copy... Then again, it's really not the ideal environment for those kinds of games, either.
But Advance Wars really does rock a lot. The campaign is ideally challenging - you'll make progress, but the highest ranks take some doing. The additional single missions are very challenging: I haven't been so thoroughly beaten in too long a time.
In totally unrelated news, we bought a Handan DVB-T 6000 digital receiver/HDD-recorder to replace the old VHS VCR. Installation was easy - and free and very able Finnish suport was available on the phone even at 20:57 when I had a problem! The image does seem a little worse than on our previous (non-recording) digital receiver, but otherwise it's swell. We've only tested the thing so far, but the menus seem easy enough and I'm having high hopes. I do think I'll be watching more TV in the near future, if only because it's so easy to "bookmark" shows for later viewing, without the need to manually enter showtimes and so on. It very much eliminates the need for a separate TV guide, too.
Not that there were too many choices in the matter. We weren't willing to pay more than 500€ for the thing (it was 427€), we had to get a twin-tuner model and it had to have a minimum of 160 gb of HDD space. There was a whopping two models to choose from, then, and one of them was getting consistently better reviews. We thought that we had to give up the chance to get data out of the machine, but they've actually added two-way connectivity as a software update to the USB channel. Cool.
But I've played a little GBA F-Zero on it, and it's so excruciating, you'd swear it was meant to inflict pain. I literally can't pass a single game without gritting my teeth in agony. Seriously, I'm not going to buy any straight-on action titles for the machine. Yes, Castlevania may warrant an extended test-run on a friend's copy... Then again, it's really not the ideal environment for those kinds of games, either.
But Advance Wars really does rock a lot. The campaign is ideally challenging - you'll make progress, but the highest ranks take some doing. The additional single missions are very challenging: I haven't been so thoroughly beaten in too long a time.
In totally unrelated news, we bought a Handan DVB-T 6000 digital receiver/HDD-recorder to replace the old VHS VCR. Installation was easy - and free and very able Finnish suport was available on the phone even at 20:57 when I had a problem! The image does seem a little worse than on our previous (non-recording) digital receiver, but otherwise it's swell. We've only tested the thing so far, but the menus seem easy enough and I'm having high hopes. I do think I'll be watching more TV in the near future, if only because it's so easy to "bookmark" shows for later viewing, without the need to manually enter showtimes and so on. It very much eliminates the need for a separate TV guide, too.
Not that there were too many choices in the matter. We weren't willing to pay more than 500€ for the thing (it was 427€), we had to get a twin-tuner model and it had to have a minimum of 160 gb of HDD space. There was a whopping two models to choose from, then, and one of them was getting consistently better reviews. We thought that we had to give up the chance to get data out of the machine, but they've actually added two-way connectivity as a software update to the USB channel. Cool.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Mecha does the 360
I'm a sucker for mecha. That is, fictional Japanese machines of war, typically meaning giant humanoid robots wielding swords and machineguns. So Xboxyde's new images of the forthcoming Xbox 360 Gundam game have me positively excited. Xbox is sorely missing out on mecha. There's only the legendary Steel Battalion, but I don't have the kind of money to buy it. There is a handful of disappointing titles available, but nothing to match the Playstation's Armored Core and Gundam games.
This would be the second reason to get a 360. Last night we checked out Oblivion over at a friend's (med-spec) PC. It was sweet: just like Morrowind, only better. The advances didn't feel like major, it was still the same game, but suitably advanced. The graphical splendor was indeed impressive, but on the other hand the more realistic surroundings made the shortcomings of the gameworld's logical consistency only more grating. That was the first time we thought that maybe we should check out the 360.
Then there's Xbox Live Arcade, which sports the likes of Smash TV, Mutant Storm, Geometry Wars and whatnot. The "XBLA" has interested me from the get-go, but buying a brand new console just to play "old games" doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do.
With Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (I actually used to play in a Ghost Recon clan on the PC) and the new Japanese RPGs coming out, maybe this summer would see me buying a 360. But so far there have been really too few reasons to do so, especially since we don't have a HDTV telly.
This would be the second reason to get a 360. Last night we checked out Oblivion over at a friend's (med-spec) PC. It was sweet: just like Morrowind, only better. The advances didn't feel like major, it was still the same game, but suitably advanced. The graphical splendor was indeed impressive, but on the other hand the more realistic surroundings made the shortcomings of the gameworld's logical consistency only more grating. That was the first time we thought that maybe we should check out the 360.
Then there's Xbox Live Arcade, which sports the likes of Smash TV, Mutant Storm, Geometry Wars and whatnot. The "XBLA" has interested me from the get-go, but buying a brand new console just to play "old games" doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do.
With Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (I actually used to play in a Ghost Recon clan on the PC) and the new Japanese RPGs coming out, maybe this summer would see me buying a 360. But so far there have been really too few reasons to do so, especially since we don't have a HDTV telly.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Nintendo DS
We bought a blue Nintendo DS. I haven't been terribly excited about it before, but I am a satisfied customer, now. The plastic looks and feels a little cheap, it's not very ergonomic, it's really quite large and the second screen feels gimmicky. Nevertheless, the whole package does work. And buying one of the colored versions also makes it look a lot better. Personally, I would've preferred the pink one, but my wife wouldn't accept it.
I've known a long time that I must get a Nintendo handheld. We've been thinking about the Gameboy Advance SP, but the DS is newer and it plays the GBA games. What really landed the deal, for us, was Animal Crossing: Wild World. We both played AC on the Gamecube a lot, and this is simply a better version of the same vision. There is one problem, though: the controls feel a little awkward. I don't know if it's because I'm left-handed or what, but I can't find a satisfactory method to control AC for an extended period. Then again, it really is best in frequent but short sessions. The upper screen is almost useless. I think Wild World is the only game, to date, which I've bought on release.
In addition to Animal Crossing, I really wanted Advance Wars: Dual Strike. It kicks butt. I appreciate the challenge: I've already had to yield one mission and I haven't been getting straight S grades. It does some interesting things with the upper screen, but mostly it's redundant. The touch interface works fine, though you don't need it.
Games I'm looking forward to on the DS include the new Pokémon (Diamond/Pearl), the new handheld Zelda (Phantom Hourglass), New Mario Bros, Zookeeper and some Castlevania. Yes, mostly updates to previous GBA successes, but hey, whatever.
I haven't got around to checking out the Wifi abilities of the console yet, so more on that some other time. Looking forward to head-to-head Advance Wars. And crossing animals, of course! Imagine the babies of today: they won't recognize a cable when they grow up. Yes, we used need those on our controllers. Yes, they maimed people, lying around in livingrooms, creating deathtraps and unsolvable knots.
In geek-related news, they rolled out the new Coca-Cola Light. It's okay. I did prefer the old one. I would've loved to post a link to a cool Coke site, but disappointingly Coca-cola.com ain't worth a visit.
I've known a long time that I must get a Nintendo handheld. We've been thinking about the Gameboy Advance SP, but the DS is newer and it plays the GBA games. What really landed the deal, for us, was Animal Crossing: Wild World. We both played AC on the Gamecube a lot, and this is simply a better version of the same vision. There is one problem, though: the controls feel a little awkward. I don't know if it's because I'm left-handed or what, but I can't find a satisfactory method to control AC for an extended period. Then again, it really is best in frequent but short sessions. The upper screen is almost useless. I think Wild World is the only game, to date, which I've bought on release.
In addition to Animal Crossing, I really wanted Advance Wars: Dual Strike. It kicks butt. I appreciate the challenge: I've already had to yield one mission and I haven't been getting straight S grades. It does some interesting things with the upper screen, but mostly it's redundant. The touch interface works fine, though you don't need it.
Games I'm looking forward to on the DS include the new Pokémon (Diamond/Pearl), the new handheld Zelda (Phantom Hourglass), New Mario Bros, Zookeeper and some Castlevania. Yes, mostly updates to previous GBA successes, but hey, whatever.
I haven't got around to checking out the Wifi abilities of the console yet, so more on that some other time. Looking forward to head-to-head Advance Wars. And crossing animals, of course! Imagine the babies of today: they won't recognize a cable when they grow up. Yes, we used need those on our controllers. Yes, they maimed people, lying around in livingrooms, creating deathtraps and unsolvable knots.
In geek-related news, they rolled out the new Coca-Cola Light. It's okay. I did prefer the old one. I would've loved to post a link to a cool Coke site, but disappointingly Coca-cola.com ain't worth a visit.
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