I got my Nintendo DS Lite this weekend.  This is a great little portable video game system.  There are already lots of technical reviews out there to go read so I am going to just talk about what was new to me.  First off the last hand held video game system I owned was the Sega GameGear back in ninth grade (15+ years ago).  The problem with that thing was anytime anything moved on the screen it blurred.  Try playing sonic on that thing sucked.  You could not see a thing once you got moving.  The other problem was battery life.  It took six AA batteries and two hours later you had to replace them, not to mention the weight from six of them.  Yes, it was portable but you always ended up sitting somewhere next to a wall socket with the AC adaptor or using the cigaret lighter adaptor in the car.   The screens on the DS are incredible.  They are very bright and don’t have any motion blurring.  Depending on the level of brightness you pick the DS can play from 5 - 15 hours on a single charge.

The other neat feature I did not know about was the DS has built in wireless.  The GameGear and the old GameBoy you had to use a wired system to play with or against friends.  The DS games support the wireless in two ways.  Get a few of them together and they build a wireless network between them with out any supporting gear.  Most of the games support this feature.  The other way is if the game supports it, is play over internet.  Very cool.  They are marked on the box with a little logo saying Nintendo WiFi if they play over the internet.  If you don’t have a wireless router Nintendo sells a little USB stick you can put in your pc to share its internet connection. 

Another interesting thing Nintendo did was allow other gamers play off another DS game with out owning it.  It makes sense and is very cool idea.  So for instance lets say I bought Mario Kart and five of you come over without owning the game.  Your DS would download the game over the wireless network and we can all play.  In the past on every other game system I know of everyone would have had to go out and buy the game before playing together.  Now you don’t get the full game to play.  For example if you are playing Mario Kart off one of your friends DS’s you only get to select one character and not all the tracks are available to race.  Very smart Nintendo, let us play the game and if we like it we can then go buy it.  Nintendo has even taken this one step further.  Most retailers that sell DS games have what is called Download Station from Nintendo.  Now you can walk into retail store like Best Buy or Target and download games to try on your DS before you buy.  No more hoping you are getting a good game or I hope that online review was right on and I am not just flushing my money down the toilet.  Just download it and play it to find out for yourself.  Nintendo has also partnered with Wayport to provide hotspots to play your DS over the internet.  Wayport is the provider for places like McDonands.  Thats right you can now go to McDonald’s, get a big mac and then get your game on while you let that gut bomb settle in your stomach.

So why did I get one of these.  Well I have always loved to play video games but the times that I can play them have changed.  Gone are the college days when waking up on Saturday morning meant I could play till noon.  Now I have responsibilities.  I don’t have hours on end in a row to play video games.  I have to actually schedule time in my day to play.  What I do have a lot of is short periods of time to play when I am not in front of the TV.  Just some examples.

• Oil Change - They say it will take 15 minutes.  It always ends up being 45.
• When my daughter is taking a bath.  I have to sit in there to watch her.  30 minutes.
• Road trip to Colorado this summer. - Days in the car.
• When my daughter is going to sleep she wants me in her room till she falls sleep.  30 minutes.  I used to listen to some podcasts on my iPod.
• On the pot? - Haven’t done this yet and since I get mocked so much from my wife for taking the laptop in there in may become a reality.  Don’t laugh I know many of you who take the laptop in with you. - Time gaming varies. 
• On hold with some dumb companies customer support.  15+ minutes.
• You get the idea.

The DS lets you just close the top and it pauses the game.  Open it up and it starts where you left off.  No more “Just five more minutes.  I am almost to a save point” found on most TV game systems”  This is great for the times I know I will only be playing for 15 to 20 minutes. 

Lastly the games are half as much as my other latest game system, the Xbox 360.  The DS games top out at 35 bucks and they start at 20.  Granted there are games that will never work out on the DS.  Halo 3 and Gears of War will never work on a DS, so there is a reason to own both.

Overall I am excited about the DS.  It may become my main game system just because of how flexible it is for my time to play.  You don’t believe me.  My Xbox 360 writes its own blog.  Go check out how it feels.  Yellow Fuji’s Xbox 360 Blog.

Apple has posted some new Get A Mac ads.  The one below I liked the best, because nothing says computer fun like staring up Microsoft Office Excel.  Yeah, good times!  Play Movie.

I just picked up a DS Light yesterday.  The problem is it is a fathers day present so I don't get to play with it till next Sunday.  I will let you know then what I think.  I also got the new super mario brothers to play on it.  I am really excited to play this game.

They have finally done it and the rumors are true.  Apple is joining the video game revolution.  Look out Sony and Microsoft! Okay, the product isn't real but the video below contains funny parodies of Apple's new ad campaign but instead of promoting Macs they are promoting Apple's new video game box - iBox. Enjoy the fake ads before they get pulled off YouTube.