DS Lite - First look!

[Geezer]

Nice to know they got hold of it, but ****ing Yesasia have just this second sent me another email informing me the ship date of my Navy DSL has changed yet again to the 9th April!!

Gods sake!

That date means diddly squat. That is just a random date chucked out to (hopefully) keep you happy
They won't sell it to you at your preorder price until the market price drops and no-one know when that will be.

This whole affair has really pissed me off, I just want my DS Lite and I want it now ft:

The company I'm surprised at is Play-asia, after the PSP mark ups I really expected them to be loving this situation, their decisopn not to supply any at the moment strikes me as odd.

[Weavus]

The company I'm surprised at is Play-asia, after the PSP mark ups I really expected them to be loving this situation, their decisopn not to supply any at the moment strikes me as odd.

Not that odd considering that there are ZERO on the market for them to source at any price at the moment. Even if they were charging $500 they still would not be able to ship any so there is no point in even trying to gouge the market and piss people off.

[IanE]

This whole affair has really pissed me off, I just want my DS Lite and I want it now ft:

The company I'm surprised at is Play-asia, after the PSP mark ups I really expected them to be loving this situation, their decisopn not to supply any at the moment strikes me as odd.

Boohoo! Maybe, they're not supplying them as they can't get them>?

[segages]

Jeesh these things are like gold dust.

Just been reading kotaku's attempts to get them for a competition. They managed to snag a white one last week but Den Den had very little of the Ice and Enamel Bluey's. A smaller store got a meagre 5 units! It's like an ultra slow trickled roll out and the only chance of getting one is by queuing up the night before.

I was hoping to pick one up over the counter in the next week or so but unless there's a mass increase in units, I don't see it happening

[dogsout]

Don't mean to rub salt in your wounds fellas but mine came this morning and I can't put it down. I'll try and post some links to pics later.

[Mad Gear]

Where from!!!??

[dogsout]

I got it through a mate, I was first on the preorder list and he only managed to get 5 in the end.

[iameightyseven]

Well, I managed to get a Crystal White DS Lite from BuyGame2.com recently. Here are some impressions:

As you've likely noticed in photos, the DS Lite looks much better compared to the original DS. It seems that Nintendo has been keeping a close eye on Apple and how they make and market their products (especially the ultra-popular iPod line) and it really shows in the DS Lite. The unit is smaller, thinner, sleeker and just plain sexier than the original version.

The most noticeable difference from the original DS, apart from its visual appearance of course, are the screens, which are vastly superior to the original's. The difference is almost literally day and night as the DS Lite's screens are both much brighter than their DS incarnation's. That means that any and all games that you play on it will look much sharper and cleaner. You may also notice some things in certain games that you may have not noticed before, due to the brighter screens. I applaud Nintendo in this regard because these screens seem to be even better than the PSP's, and the PSP has a heck of a screen.

The outside of the DS Lite is also different. It's now like the PSP's, meaning that fingerprints will be more visible now if you are concerned about that.

Nintendo has also made the buttons more comfortable on the DS Lite. Rather than the clicky type on the original DS, the buttons on the DS seem to be more responsive and have a better overall feel to them. They seem to be a bit similar to the Game Boy micro's, so if you own that handheld you sort of know what to expect then regarding the handheld's face buttons.

Nintendo also changed the location of the Start and Select buttons, placing them below the "ABXY diamond" instead of above like on the original DS. The power button, meanwhile, has become a slider and is now located on the right side of the unit. Those of you who have accidentally turned of their DSes no longer need to worry about that anymore.

The location of the stylus has also changed. Instead of it being on the back of the handheld, it's now placed on the right near the power slider. Personally, I think this was a good decision by Nintendo. It makes getting to the stylus quicker and easier. Plus, speaking of the stylus, the DS Lite comes with a thicker, longer stylus that is much better to use than the original, which I didn't really find that bad to begin with. It's still nice to see Nintendo enlarge the stylus, though.

One minor complaint I have with the DS Lite is the fact that Game Boy Advance cartridges stick out about 1 cm. Now, it isn't a really big deal, but it does get a bit annoying when you see that you have this black thing sticking out of your DS Lite. Thankfully, for those times when you don't have a GBA cartridge plugged in, you can plug in this cap (provided with every DS Lite) to cover the slot up and maintain the DS Lite's original form.

Overall, the DS Lite is one awesome handheld. It's a shame that Nintendo didn't release this back in 2004, but I suppose it's better now than never. The upgrade from DS to DS Lite is similar to the upgrade from the Game Boy Advance to the Game Boy Advance SP in my eyes because the screen quality is greatly enhanced as is the form factor and overall comfortability. Simply put, if you have any doubts about whether to upgrade, cast them aside. This is the ultimate handheld.

[phillai]

Tamashii Sensei, is it sonically louder than the original DS?
It would be great to play Ouendan a bit louder and Resident Evil Deadly Silence is not as scary as the original as it doesn't **** me up so easy due to the DS's weak sound.

[shane3107]

Hi,

I have had mine on order with Yesasia and this morning I received the email below. What I would like to know is whether there really is a manufacturing problem and if it only applies to the light blue model? It just sounds a bit bizzare to me???

Message Begins:-

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you very much for your support to YesAsia.com.

With reference to your recent order (*****) placed on 15-Feb-06, we would
like to have your kind attention that as confirmed by our Japanese supplier,
there is a manufacturing problem with " Nintendo DS Lite Console (Ice Blue)
(110V) (Japan Version)" (YesAsia Catalog Number 1004117840) that the colour of
the end product does not matched with Ice Blue resulting in a call back from
the manufacturer. Only a few of them have passed the final quality check and
flow into the market and thus, we will not be able to provide the
above-mentioned item according to the original schedule. Under such a
situation, we would like to have kind co-operation to choose your own
preference so that we will be able to handle your order according to your
choice.

1. Keep your order and wait for the new batch of end product, which is expected
to be ready in one-month time
2. Cancel your order (if the captioned item is the only item in your order) or
remove the captioned item from your order and have the rest of the items
shipped.

If we do not hear from you by Mar 16, 2006, we will assume that option 1 will
be your preference and keep your order until the new batch of the end product
becomes available for shipment. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience
caused from this unexpected manufacturing problem.

Should you have any further inquiry, please kindly refer to our Customer
Support Section at http://yesasia.com/help/index.asp or contact our Customer
Service Hotline directly.

For better service, please kindly include this email when you reply.

Best regards,
Customer Service Department
YesAsia.com (Hong Kong) Ltd.

[Dazzla]

I got the exact same message for the Enamel Navy version this morning. I've given up with them. I need one before April 8th and it's not gonna happen with Yesasia. I've asked them how soon the $299.99 version would be despatched and how long it'll take to get here. If it's not before April 8th then I'm off to eBay to pick up a Navy version.

[iameightyseven]

Tamashii Sensei, is it sonically louder than the original DS?
It would be great to play Ouendan a bit louder and Resident Evil Deadly Silence is not as scary as the original as it doesn't **** me up so easy due to the DS's weak sound.

The sound quality seems to be a bit better than the original DS.

[Bleeders]

Ended up cancelling my pre-order may as well wait till they're freely available since the DS is hardly being used at the mo'

[nekotcha]

The sound quality seems to be a bit better than the original DS.

Is the volume control slider any better as well, because the one on the original DS was useless - you'd shift it slightly from 'quiet' and end up at 'nearly full volume' at a point less than halfway across the 'slide' area. Rubbish.

Won't stop me buying a lite regardless, I'm just interested.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Ended up cancelling my pre-order may as well wait till they're freely available since the DS is hardly being used at the mo'

I know it looks like a quiet period after the flood of releases in Q4, but there's actually quite a bit of good stuff out there. My DS is getting used as much as ever, which is a lot...

Have you tried Monkeyball, Resident Evil, Princess Peach, and Rub Rabbits? All have been keeping me amused. And up soon - Metroid Prime, Tetris, and of course New Super Mario Bros. Plus I'm still playing Animal Crossing and Mario & Luigi 2.

Looking forward to seeing what Nintendo announce at E3. There's bound to be a load for DS. (not to mention Revolution)

Hope I'm able to get a Lite before Metroid Prime comes out. I want to see that at it's best.