The Nintendo DS Lite came to the UK this week. I'd been thinking about getting one for myself, rather than borrowing one of the kids' DS Nintendos as I've been doing recently. Normally, I wait for a trip back to the US to buy items like this, as they're often a little cheaper. But the prices were good -- £100 (about $185) versus around $145 or so with tax in the US, from what I can see. So I went for it here today and was immediately pleased with the decision.

I won't go into depth about the whole size and weight thing. There are plenty of reviews out there covering this stuff and this great screencast I saw a month or so ago. Instead, I'm going to touch on some general impressions, especially as a parent considering these for the kids.

The DS Lite is much smaller and lighter than a regular Nintendo DS. When I play a game, I'm often sneaking one in before going to sleep. So I'm holding the DS above me and looking up, which gets tiring. Immediately, I could feel holding the DS Lite was much easier.

Thinking like a daddy, I've also realized this means less weight to be trucking around in my backpack. Two boys, each with their own DS, that's me carrying them in my pack to places like when getting our haircut, to football practice and so on. Hmm, maybe upgrading their DSes would be good for me. More on that in a bit....

The screen is excellent, in terms of the better brightness. I've been playing Trauma Center: Under The Knife (great game, separate post on that in the future) for the past two weeks or so. I've been stuck on one operation. I can't say that seeing things more clearly alone is the reason is why I finally got past it today. But it did help.

The longer stylus is also great. My hand keeps cramping up with the old stylus, to the point that I dug out a longer stylus from an old Palm I had to use instead. No need with the DS Lite.

As I said, I went in to get a DS Lite for myself. I also have a PSP, and I've written how for the kids, I've found the DS to be better (see Sony PSP Vs. Nintendo DS: A Parent’s Perspective). But now almost a year after owning a PSP, I've made the shift myself to the DS being the better gaming platform.

OK, as I've written, I'm not a big shoot-em-up game fan, nor a racing game fan, nor a sports game fan. And that pretty much covers what seems to be 95 percent of the games for the PSP.

Over New Year's, I did have a great week getting through The Sims 2 on the PSP. I really enjoyed that, despite the pig-slow load and save times and the occasional crashes. Of course, I think The Sims 2 was out on the DS well before it came to the PS plus would have been easier to play with a touchscreen.

I've also enjoyed playing Star Wars: Battlezone 2 on occasions over the past few months (put people in the Star Wars universe, and suddenly a shoot-em-up sounds fun!).

That's pretty much it. Detlev Johnson was trying to get me into some Lord Of The Rings multiplayer game that sounded cool, but I really want some strategy game I can play on my own.

Meanwhile, after seeing the Trauma Centre commercials on TV constantly (hey, branding works!), I decided to get it on a trip to the US recently. I remember years and years ago loving playing a similar game on the Mac. So when I can grab a little time here and there, I play.

Chris Raimondi also gave me a copy of Brain Age at our SES London show (thanks, Chris!), which I've been doing at least once every week (UK users -- buy yours here or learn to say things in a US accent. The US version doesn't respond to my wife unless she does that). So that's been another reason I've been grabbing a DS from the kids more and wanting my own.

A new Ages Of Empire is about to come out -- there's Zoo Tycoon that's also of interest to me, more reason to go DS. Plus, I've already got Animal Crossing: Wild World, supposedly for the kids but something I like playing at. And as I've written, the Atari Retro pack with Missile Command still rocks. Color me a DSer!

I still wish the screens were bigger and that the DS had some of the multimedia capabilites of the PSP. But I don't use the PSP much for that anyway. In the end, I guess I've given up on the PSP as a gaming platform for me. Sorry, Sony -- you had your chance but Nintendo rocks.

While I went to get a DS for myself, tomorrow I'm pretty likely to get them for the boys, as well. Why? The unexpected trade-in offer. Game is giving £40 credit, while Gamestation is giving £45. Plus, Gamestation gives you a free game (any game) with your purchase. So that's £100 - £45 credit - £20 for the typical cost of a game and it's £35 effectively for an entirely new unit, one that's lighter, with a fresh battery, that hasn't had two years of knocking about, with clean screens before I realized how important screen protectors were for heavy handed kids. I was sold.

Downsides? I am a bit concerned that maybe the DS is too small for little hands. That sounds odd -- small should be better for little hands. But little kids are clumbsy, so having something larger to grip on might be better. But they seem OK with mine so far, when I actually let them touch it, that is :)

Also, after buying two different cases that never worked, I finally found the perfect case for kids and the Nintendo DS at Game. I don't see it on their web site now, but Lik-Sang carries the case for anyone who wants to order from them.

The protector is cheap -- like $7. It clips on easily to the Nintendo DS and stays on. It doesn't slip off. It doesn't cover any of the buttons or screens, like some protectors do. But everything external has a nice shell of plastic to protect against drops. Plus, the bottom of the protector has nice shaped ridges that make it easy to hold on to. Once I put my kids' Nintendo DSes into these, I stopped worrying about them getting broken.

It took forever for a decent case like this for the Nintendo DS to come out. I didn't want to go back to square one with the DS Lite. But checking Lik-Sang today, they have similar cases for the DS Lite. Phew.

By the way, I also found the perfect game case. Originally, I went for an official Nintendo DS case, which has room to hold some of the games in a pocket. But it's not a zip pocket, so the games were always falling out. In addition, the case itself didn't provide protection for the DS when taken out of the case.

Instead, I came across a game wallet at Game. I've got two now. Originally, there was one to hold a few DS games and more space for Gameboy Advance ones. Then a new version came out with more room devoted to the DS. I still see that in the stores, while online, this version looks like it will give even more room to DS games. The wallet opens into three sections and holds the games fairly securely when open. Just never put a DS game into one of the plastic slots that have already held an GBA game, because it will have stretched to much to hold it tightly. When closed, nothing falls out. The kids are under strict instructions that all games go from the Nintendos and into the wallet. And sometimes, they even do this :) Eventually, I'm sure someone will come up with a case absolutely guarantees none of the games will get lost. Until then, Game has the best I've found.

A plus -- and minus -- is that the Lite uses a mini-USB plug for charging. Wow! This is great in that it's one less power adaptor I have to worry about. I love that USB is slowly becoming a standard charging means for some many things. I should be able to charge it off my laptop or using my iPod, phone, Dell Axim or any of the chargers I have that take a regular USB port into them. On the other hand, I've got to dig out and find if I have a car USB charger, because the old Nintendo DS car charger I have will no longer work. I'm sure I've got one somewhere. If not, they're pretty cheap.

(Postscript: As it turns out, while it looks like a mini-USB socket, none of my mini-USB plugs will fit into it. Annoying.)

Surprisingly, the Lite doesn't come with a wriststrap. I find it useful to have one, but I don't know if the kids use them much. There is a connection for a wriststrap, if you buy one separately. Need some? Again, Lik-Sang's got some (what don't they have!).

A slight downside is that GBA games, while still accepted, stick out of the case a little bit. They're still in pretty far and secure. There's no real chance you'd accidentally break one off. I like that they were so flush with the old ones and love that it effectively means you have two games available to the kids without them having to seek out the game wallet, which I don't always take with me. Would have been nice if they could have been flush in the Lite, but even better might have been the ability for the DS Lite to hold two different DS games (or a bigger screen, or to take an SD card, or...)

That's about it so far. Well, one last thing. Back to the cases, I may end up getting one for myself. Pdair makes leather ones in various colors, like this one in white or this one in black from a UK supplier. I like that the case is thin yet still has room to hold three DS games.

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