Guess who got a DS Lite?

Thaaaaaat's right. I'm finally "next-gen". Today, after I finally got through a month of what I can only call slow, excruciating torture, I went out and did it.

Recap: This last month has seen me quit a job, give two exams every single freaking day (and that includes weekends) for a week straight, worry over my cat's health (damn Exhema ... is that how you spell it?), watch End of Evangelion (which was such a mindfuck I never want to hear of it again) and set my Microwave on fire while cooking pizza (don't ask).

As you can see, I've been a little ... caught up with stuff.

But today, after two weeks of putting it off due to various aspects of my life getting in the way, I finally went out and bought a DS Lite. On my way to the store, I could hardly believe I was finally getting one. I've used a DS before ... played on my ex-girlfriends' extensively. But I was finally going to get my own. It was a joyous day indeed.

Once at the store of my choice, I asked for the Onyx system, which -- sadly -- they didn't have in stock. Seeing as how I've been wanting to get a DS for ages, I settled for the next best colour -- the navy blue. I then headed over to the games section to check out what they had in stock.

Alas, both Final Fantasy III and Hotel Dusk were sold out, so I bought Elite Beat Agents and Metroid Prime Hunters. The number of games in the DS section was really overwhelming. They were literally everywhere. It's so strange because this isn't something that you really take much notice of when you're visiting a store and just browsing around. You see all these DS games and think "Wow, nice. Good to see they have so much variety on the system."

But when you're actually planning to buy yourself a few titles, the DS section is completely overwhelming. There was so much I wanted to check out. Super Mario 64, Mario Kart DS, New Super Mario Bros., Portrait of Ruin, Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, Trauma Center...

The list is endless. It then struck me I had limited finances for the time being and could only buy three ... four if I stretched it a little. Since FFIII and Hotel Dusk were sold out, I decided to buy just two titles and save the rest of my cash to buy those the day the shop got a new stock.

Once I was out of the store and on my way back home, I almost expected to feel a surge of energy pulsating within my hands, not unlike a Saiyan preparing a big-ass fireball to hurl at a building or something. A feeling of power ... a feeling that screamed "YOU ARE NOW NEXT-GEN!!!!"

No such thing happened, though. In fact, when I got into the car, I almost wondered if I'd made a mistake.

Needless to say, all these doubts were wiped clean away the minute I opened the box. For one thing, the DS was so shiny and cool it nearly blinded me as the light bounced off it and hit me right in the face. Then I got to the system and user settings, which gave me a little while to personalize my new baby. I didn't even know the damned thing had an inbuilt alarm ... that is so freaking cool.

The first thing that struck me was how what the DS really needs is USB support. This might sound awfully judgemental seeing as how this is my first day with the device, but it would be nice to be able to just plug it into your PC and upload/download crap without all the homebrew gadgetry. The problem is, the Lite is so reminiscent of an oversized iPod, you almost expect it to include MP3 funcionality. Alas, this is not so.

But enough of this. I'm going to give EBA another shot. The game is killing me. I can't even get past the second song yet! What I will say, though is that I love the style of the game and how outrageous it is. Long live Commander Kahn.

Oh, and if my writing was a little grammatically incorrect, riddled with typos and highly fanboyish, it's because I still wet my pants everytime I look at the DS sitting here on my desk re-charging its batteries so I can have my way with it all night.

More thoughts on this later.