On the DS

I can't recall (and am too lazy to look) if I've said much about the DS. So I've decided to rectify that some. I must admit, I've caught a bit of a bug where the system is concerned. Part of that is the fact that it's new, but a lot of the credit goes to the quality of the software.

Meteos has woven quite the spell around me. I find myself playing it quite a bit. It has its roots in the Tetris puzzle genre, but only to the extent that there are falling pieces. And boy do they fall fast. The twist is that you get to launch the pieces back where they came from. But in order to do so you have to overcome the gravity of the world you're playing on. Line up three blocks of the same color and they'll ignite sending anything on top of them skyward, but you'd better hope you have enough oomph to get them into orbit...

Feel the Magic XX/XY was, if not a launch title, darn close. To some extent it's a series of mini-games built to show off the various aspects of the system. But my wife and I both find it charmingly fun. A hopelessly silly story woven around a set of odd mini games. What's not to like?

My wife finds it hard to put Zoo Keeper down. Basically Bejeweled for the DS the stylus makes it much easier to play.

Polarium is another puzzle game that we find time to give each other grief over. Flip the black and white tiles so that the rows are all the same color. Good brain-stretching fun.

And Mario Kart. Very little needs to be said about Mario Kart. Play people all over the world. 32 tracks, half of which are completely new. Lots of play modes and lots of unlockable players/karts. You do the math.

So as you can see, far too much fun is being had with the system. But can you blame me?