A parent's perspective on 'new' video games- Nintendo DS Lite in Pink....

Author's Rating:

Pros: plenty of games for all age ranges and tastes.

Cons: initial expense of it.

The Bottom Line: 
Fun- if you're kid's not into it get one for yourself!

Author's Review
When my oldest said she wanted a Nintendo DS Lite for her birthday, I was like a what? To be honest I haven't been playing video games since my Tetris days, So, I really had no idea what this was, so after some thorough research I figured it would be ok for her to have one and it would last her a few years- plus it came in pink.

What is it? Well, for you old schoolers out there it's the new version of what we would call a GameBoy only its much more advanced and a whole lot less bulky than the old school one. Plus, this has not only one but two color screens that you could touch with a pen (that's included).

I'd really shop around on the price for this- my cheapest find was $129.88 over at Wal-Mart, but who knows, on Ebay you could fetch an even cheaper price if you tried hard enough. In the box you get the DS, charger, stylus pen, and directions.

Now, for a lot of games you'll use the bottom screen and use the stylus to touch it. For that reason I'd suggest getting a protective skin, especially for those younger users out there. You can get clear ones for just the screen or some that will cover the whole apparatus, we have one that covers the whole thing and it's got Hello Kitty on it. We also bought a carrying case for the DS too.

The only ‘game' that comes with this is Pictochat, but to be honest we don't use it because there's no one around here to play wirelessly with, but PictoChat is like Instant Messaging. The console isn't all that big or heavy, it's a little larger than a Blackberry cell phone.

Games for the DS run anywhere from $19.99-$29.99 in stores, but there again you could get them off Ebay for cheaper-I bought one hard to find game for $21. There are tons of different games as well, those for younger kids and it goes all the way up to adult. You can also stick Game Boy Advance Games in it too. There's also a mic on the unit and some of the games use it- such as Nintendogs where you can teach your dogs commands.

As far as battery life goes, well we have ours set on the highest brightness setting, so it lasts around a day play wise- we charge it each night or at least for 3 hours. So, battery life is pretty decent for it. I turned our brightness level down a few days ago and it extended the battery life quite a bit, but it did not diminish the screen's performance.

The screen is pretty cool, and so are the graphics for it- way better than when I was playing games. The screen is a decent size so you can see all the details, and the colors are very vibrant as well. The images are very lifelike and real looking.

As far as durability goes, it is pretty durable, this one has been dropped a few times and no problems. As for age range, I would suggest this for ages 7+. There is a lot of reading involved on the games we have, and my oldest is reading well now and can follow along, whereas my youngest is still with her LeapFrog Leapster rather than this- even though she totally wants one.

Overall, this is something I would recommend, sure the initial cost is a little steep so be sure to shop around, but this is something that could last for several years because there are plenty of games available in different age groups. You might even be like me and find yourself playing it more than your kid! It is really fun and I love the interactive games.