Lite up my life

I finally got a little hands-on time with ye olde DS Lite. It’s a nice little machine, but I think we all knew this, yes? What surprised me was which feature turned out to be the best addition to Nintendo’s re-DSign: the stylus. For some reason everyone who’s played with the Lite has gone on and on about how great the brighter screens are, how sexy the slimmed-down form factor is, and that’s true. (Except that anyone who actually describes a videogame machine as “sexy” really needs to maybe spend a little time with a real girl, possibly angling for a kiss — anything, really, so long as it manages to pull them away from the brink of social disaster and stop having lacivious thoughts about a handheld console.) But the stylus, that’s the real work of art.

Despite the fact that the DS Lite is about 30% smaller than the original design, the stylus is at least 50% larger. It’s a little longer, and much thicker. You can actually grip it; no more delicate tweezing required. This is good news, as I’ve been resorting to a Wacom tablet stylus for my DS play lately to minimize hand-cramping, and the Wacom pen is a little too large to store in the DS stylus slot. Now I can just use the built-in pen as God (or RD&1) intended.

Special bonus: Your handy guide to the DS’s design evolution.


(For clarity’s sake: WTF)

18 thoughts on “Lite up my life”

  1. honestly, wtf. I think you are a little too excited about Mother 3 (if that’s possible)

  5. Tablet styli don’t hurt the DS? I was never sure about that.
    That Mew stylus will definitely hurt a DS, though.

  6. My Wacom stylus has demonstrated no ill effects when used in tandem with the DS, yes. And the Mew thing is probably more of a danger to the twin institutions of Good Taste and Oh God My Eyes than to a DS screen.

  7. “What in the name of pluperfect hell were they God damned thinking?”

    They were thinking pocket monsters should have their own pocket monsters; that a product like this for the DS would be super-effective (or, should I say, ERECTIVE?); that they had to rub it in that Mew-Two, like all clones, is sterile.

    Gotta catch ’em all.

  8. like.. no. People refer to handhelds as ‘sexy’ in a joking way. No-one could ever think DS or PSP is sexy; no-one gets a boner upon seeing one. What they mean is that the console is sleek and attractive.

  11. That Mew stylus will definitely hurt a DS, though.

    I don’t know about that, but it certainly damaged my already fragile psyche.

    Thank heavens no one has made the obvious pun about Pokeballs.

    I think using a Wacom tablet on my DS would just remind me how much I’d like to see Mario Paint make it to the handheld.

  12. No-one could ever think DS or PSP is sexy; no-one gets a boner upon seeing one.
    You obviously haven’t been on the internet long enough to know the extent of fetishes floating around. You have to assume that if someone says something is sexy, they are not only completely serious, but masturbating at that very moment.

    That being said, god damn. Mew is sexy.

  13. My brother brought home one of those mario kart promo styluses from last years E3, and it works well for uncramping the fingers, especially in games like… trauma center. But yeah, having a nice stylus that fits into the DS AND deosnt have a huge strap on it = awesome

  14. I bought this:
    http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-b8-49-en-15-comfortable%2Bhori%2Bstylus-70-11zz.html
    the moment I first got to try my ds. It even clips on the back of the ds and it’s very comfortable. Just slightly thinner than a normal ballpoint pen. I can’t imagine using the normal stylus for any extended playing. That means that the only reason I would consider buying a ds lite would be that it’s smaller, which is a pretty good reason, I guess. I think the screen on the old vesion is plenty bright enough. I just find it strange that they go through all the trouble to redesign the ds, and then the gba carts are too big to fit! Kinda goes against the whole idea of making it look good. I know I keep a gba game in at all times if not only to keep the dust out. There isn’t a whole lot of entertainment value in using the dust cover that comes with the ds lite though.

  15. It is even stranger how there appears to be something translucent oozing out of the tip of it’s penis. :(

  16. Quote: “…huge strap on…” — Shiver.

    Yeah, that was what I thought, too. I always assumed Mew was a girl.

  17. By “hurt a DS,” I meant psychologically.

    Also: isn’t that Penis-Mania Festival thing kicking off in that one Japanese town? I pray that’s the reason for that stylus’ existence.

  18. shiver: Oh God was Trauma Center a pain on the hand. It’s the first time I got tennis elbow; and I’ve played tennis!

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