At the Kitchen Table

Previously I had LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy and never really played it much. I found that the constantly shifting camera angle was disoriented.

When I got my new DSi XL I noticed LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and decided to try again. This time my experience is much better.

I’m finishing this post after having worked through the entire game in story mode (as opposed to free play mode). It was great fun. LEGO + Star Wars. What more could you wish for?! I’ll probably look into the other LEGO titles: Indiana Jones, Batman, and Harry Potter. I’l skip LEGO Rockband, thank you very much.

One thing I’m wondering about is whether I should do the other LEGO titles on the DS of a Wii. I’m thinking the DS is a good platform for them, so I’ll probably stick with that.

I’ve been playing with my new DSi XL for a few days and have some initial comments. I’ll go from good to bad.

First, it’s way bigger than the DS Lite or DSi. I like that a lot. It’s not like I’ll be carrying it around in my back pocket anyway. It’s still small enough (although it’s the biggest handheld Nintendo’s made in some time) to drop into a backpack or the new iPad bag I am waiting on the delivery of. This from Fossil, but in chocolate brown:

I love the large, bright screens (4.2″ compared to 3.0″ on the DS Lite). I’ve not noticed any objectionably pixelation yet (larger screens but retaining the DS’s historical 192×256 resolution).

I also really like being able to download content for it (aka DSWare). To support that I’ve ordered a 16G SDHC card for it (another wonderful feature: SD card support up to 32G). I only wish that there were classic arcade games available like the virtual console on the Wii.

Alas, my Revolution R4 homebrew kit I used with my DS Lite won’t work with the XL, so I had to order a DSi version that’s reported to work fine with the XL writing my own games. Admittedy I can do that for the iPhone and iPad, but there’s something especially fun about writing games for something as low level and constrained (and so fit to purpose) as the DS.

The dual cameras … meh. I carry an iPhone4 at all times. I’m good for cameras. For the younger audience of the device I can see the cameras being a big win, however.

The one thing I don’t like is the glossy top cover. I fully agree with most of the reviews I read of the XL: the top cover should have the same matte finish as the rest of the outside.

Bottomline, it’s an awesome piece of hardware. I’m very happy with it.

It’s once again time to upgrade my handheld gaming console. Mid 2005 I got a Gameboy Advance SP (GBA). Then, late in 2006, I upgraded to a DS Lite. I looked at the DSi when it came out but decided it wasn’t much of an upgrade for my needs. Certainly not like the GBA to DSLite upgrade.

I get regular emails from Nintendo announcing new games and new hardware. The one I received recently was promoting the DSi XL. That caught my attention. The XL is pretty much just a DSi in a bigger package, and includes a larger stylus. That means it’s easier for us adult gamers with larger hands. Throw in a larger, brighter screen, and SD card storage, coupled with the online game store, and it amounted to a compelling upgrade.