Porta-Party

I picked up a Nintendo DS Friday night while I was waiting to check out Iron Man. I had been going back and forth for weeks over whether to get the Nintendo or Sony portable but, as I was wandering around midtown Friday afternoon, my thoughts coalesced and, suddenly, the choice was simple.

As a PS3 owner, I've been impressed with the connectivity potential between the PS3 and the PSP. It is a very attractive package. Looking at the PSP's graphical output, it really is like having a Playstation miniturized in the palm of your hand. What I realized that night was that I didn't want a mini-Playstation. I wanted something different.

The media capabilities were still a draw but I found that my iPhone filled that bill nicely. I can watch videos, read news feeds, and basically take care of that part of the bargain. It can't turn on my PS3 or stream media from my PS3 but it's not something that I was dying to do anyway.

What it came down to was this: the DS represented a different gaming experience from every other console that I owned and, as I factored everything in, that was most important.

Having fooled around with a few games this weekend (Planet Puzzle League, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, and Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer), I'm more than happy about the choice I made.

Postscript: My sister came to town yesterday to go see Dangerous Liaisons and she picked up a DS as well. She's going to be doing a lot of travelling this summer so she'll need the entertainment.