I try not to pull too many stories from the Joystiq empire, but this one is a doozy. The headline says it all: the DS Lite is to be dated and priced on May 4th. Nintendo seems to be revealing a lot of E3-type info prior to E3. Kind of makes you wonder what they will say at E3.

As are most, I’m guessing a price right at $149.99 US. Maybe $10 cheaper. If it comes with a game, I’ll get it no questions asked. Without one, it becomes much harder to justify. It’s so hard to choose between games and paying for a wedding, you know?

I finally laid my hands on Metroid Prime Hunters yesterday. My hands have yet to thank me for it. Everything you’ve read about the hand cramping controls is true. The DS is just a little too heavy to be held with one hand. Tilting it on its side for Brain Age is easy enough and works well, but here it’s pretty difficult. There is an option to use the buttons for aiming, but that sort of defeats the whole purpose of the game—that being to demonstrate PC-esque aiming in a handheld game. In and of itself, the aiming is damned good and rivals said PC. I’ve found myself getting headshots and what not on a somewhat frequent basis, which is cool. Landing those really nice shots is pretty satisfying, as it should be. It is a little disorienting to see “Headshot!” appear in the context of a Metroid game though. But that’s a whole ‘nother barrel of peanuts I’ll get into another time.

I’ve heard that this game is easier on the hands if you’re playing on the resplendent DS Lite. Anyone care to comment? (Given the history of comments so far, probably not.)

All the hype was true. I didn’t really believe it. Nintendo said they would have Grandma’s and girlfriends gaming in no time. I scoffed—scoffed, I say—at the notion. Well, it seems my scoff was undeserved. My fiance is positively enamored of the game.

Every review I’ve seen makes it a point to say somthing along these lines:

Brain Age can’t really be called a “game”…blah…blah

My response to this is: yes, yes it can. It’s not a conventional game, but it is a game. Just like Math Blaster and Oregon Trail. So there.

I would also like to point out that I am a victim of the much maligned “blue” phenomenon. It doesn’t seem to affect Annie much though. What’s the deal? I was literally trained in elocution, damn it! Sigh… Anyway, Brain Age is very fun so far. Perhaps the best word to describe it: scrumtrilescent.

If there is anyone who would like to contribute the official spelling of scrumtrilescent, please do so. Will Ferrell, are you listening? Drop us a line at: sense[at]8bitninja.com

UPDATE 4/26/06: Okay, I’ve gotten a lot of traffic through this story and I noticed a lot of people don’t seem to be getting to the site that is actually hosting these comparison shots. Please click on this link to find them, or click “comparison shots” below.

Kotaku has posted some comparison shots of the NES and DS versions of Final Fantasy 3. It looks like Square has squeezed some pretty impressive graphics out of the DS. I’m not a huge Final Fantasy buff, but this game looks pretty good. Also reported recently, the game will support Nintendo WiFi in some form.

—from Ruliweb (via Kotaku)

If you’re old enough to remember the original Game Boy, you probably remember that Tetris was its defining game. Tetris on the go is basically perfect, if done well. I picked up Tetris DS on Friday, and I’m happy to say it was done very well. Basically, this game is a no-brainer for anybody with a DS.
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Daily Game has some new shots of Dino Master for the DS. I’ve never actually heard of the game, but it sounds interesting. Players dig up fossils and re-assemble them to create dinosaurs. So, what do you do with live dinosaurs? Have them battle to the death of course! Sounds fun.

Game Brink has a posted a review of the Japanese version of Contact for the DS. This looks to be a good game. Little detail is discussed of the much vaunted online component but the review is very positive. Basically it’s a quirky Japanese RPG with a good story, good music, and lots of style. The review does state that combat is a little stale. The review also notes that people who want to enjoy the story should wait for the US release. My Japanese is somewhat lacking, so I guess I’m stuck waiting.

–Box art image credit to Game Brink.