Picross DS

I find it very sad that I don't know anyone that plays Picross DS. I am not surprised either. I only have about, say, 4 friends that own a DS, plus maybe a handful of online acquaintances. The other reason I am not surprised is the cover art for the game. Look at it. Gosh it looks boring! I had read a lot about the game and it got excellent reviews from pretty much every source I know, still when I stepped into the store and held the box in my hands, I hesitated!

I guess what I’m trying to say, if you own a DS, run and buy Picross DS! NOW! You can finish reading this when you’re back. It should be under $20 nowadays, brand new! (The game doesn't have a feature to reset the memory so do NOT buy it used, also, it only saves data for 1 user, so buy an extra one for your significant other.)

OK now that you have the game, let me tell you a little more about it. The game is incredibly addicting. It has an obscenely good learning curve, and the difficulty increases oh so slightly as you play. You’re given a grid with numeric clues leading to some random pixilated work of art. The music is quite groovy, there are a couple to choose from, and when puzzles get too long you can just turn it off when you get tired of the looping.

There’s also “daily picross”; where you get to test your picrossing skillz once a day. The system gives you a grade and keeps track of your progress. There is a puzzle creation mode where you make your own crazy drawings/grids to share with your friends. Speaking of which…

There are tons of neat wireless features (for playing with a friend nearby) without the need of having your friends buy the game. You can play about four party games, like a hangman-esque guess the word game, a Pictionary-esque one and you can also race to finish a random puzzle.

Using the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection you can challenge anyone for a duel, race to solve two puzzles. There are probably more game modes for when you’ve got friends online. Finally you can upload your home-made puzzles for friends to download and likewise you may download puzzles from friends or from Nintendo.

Now turn on your DS, hook it up to a Wi-Fi and add me to your friends list. My friend code is: 197688 952441. I’ve spent hours creating some neat puzzles you might enjoy. Post your friend code as a comment in this post and I’ll look you up. Oh, and thanks for getting Picross DS. You’ll love it.

EDIT: I just found out the came CAN be reset, it's on the instruction booklet. I'm a moron.

My Wiilemma

I got my tax refund a couple days ago, and decided I’d spend some of it in gaming stuff. I set apart a $100 budget for such things. It was a late Saturday night and the only place open for business was a nearby Wal-Mart. There I went intent on buying assorted accessories to further pimp out my Nintendo DS.

Ah, imagine my surprise when my beloved spouse stumbled upon an unattended Wii entertainment system! I inspected it carefully to assure it wasn't a decoy, and then posted a guard to watch the console while I went for help from a store associate.

Have you ever wondered why the heck don't they manufacture more of those blasted Wii things?! The demand is evident; why not meet it with an increased production ratio? Why not keep shelves stocked with these fabulous white boxes of joy? I had to put it on lay-away, simply because I wasn't able to afford it at the moment. But I surely wanted to secure it before some clueless lady buys it for her undeserving child! It was then when I realized Nintendo's clever marketing campaign! You see, by keeping the supply limited, people feel more compelled to buy!

Visualize these scenarios:

• You walk into the store and there's a stack of Playstation-3s there. You say to yourself: "Ah! The third station of play! I must have it! I desire it so that I don't care if it is, as its name implies, a Playstation upgraded with better graphics but no innovation!" Then your conscience tells you: “Dude, there’s no way you can cough up the money for this overpriced blu-ray player. Maybe we should come back later, not like they’re going to run out of those, anyway.” You sigh and walk away.
• You see a shelf full of Xbox-360s. Then you see the Microsoft logo on the box and run away.
• You spot that very last Wii in the store. It s also the first one you see in months. You say to yourself: “WIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111” You say it out loud, actually. Then your conscience says: “Look at that poor Wii! It needs a home! Somewhere it will be loved! I wonder how much I can get for a lung on e-bay…”

As you can see, Nintendo is an evil corporation, and they’re making me spend money I don’t have. Oh, by the way, did I mention I got a Wii? WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111one