What to do? (DS color question)

[Shadow_Zero]

My girlfriend is dying to get her hands on a DS and she really wants the "Pure White" one.
Now there are a few options:

- buy it at a local gameshop for 179 euro
- import it from Play-Asia / Lik-Sang ($169)
- wait for an European release (is there any date set yet, or are they even releasing them over here at all???)
- ask a Japanese friend of my mom who's going to Japan this Tuesday to take one along

My gf is a bit stressing about the dead pixel stuff. As I've read elsewhere on this forum, Japan doesn't have any support on dead pixels with LCD screens, so there's not much chance on support from Play-Asia and Lik-Sang on their Jap. import models, right? So if that is really bugging her she should wait for an European release I guess?
The cheapest option would probably be to let that acquaintance get it from Japan...

So what do you guys think?

Here some quotes on the matter.

Quotes from Sumire:

This is Play-Asia's stance on the subject........

Thank you for contacting Play-Asia.com

I am very sorry to hear about your problem. I want to let you know, first, that this is not a fault. Even after years of production, LCD displays are still suffering from the dead pixel problem.

Technically, as a general rule of thumb, an LCD is regarded faulty, when at least 3 pixels are affected, in an area, occupying less than 25% of the screen size. Ie, if you have up to 3 faulty pixels that are spread all over the screen, it is not regarded as faulty. This is the technical aspect.

I do very well know that it is an annoyance to receive a unit that has a flaw in this way, though. In many cases, however, the flaw is only visible when examining the unit, it will not decrease playability and/or the fun factor at all.

At this point, I would recommend using the device for a while, if either the problem disappears or you find out you really are not bothered by the faulty pixel. I want to stress, that especially for the Japanese units, manufacturers give no compensation for these faults. Any problem thereof, which forces us to replace the unit, will need to rise the price of the unit in our shop.

Please kindly take my consideration and report back after around 2 weeks to let us know if it improved.

If you have any further question, please do not hesitate to ask.

And Nintendo Europe....

Dear Customer, thank you for your e-mail.

It would not be covered by the European warranty I'm afraid so if we could help you, it would most likely be chargeable.

Kind regards,

Your Nintendo Team

[Zanza]

I suppose if your really that bummed out about getting a dead pixel you could ask your mums Japanese friend to get one. I have heard of some of the big Japanese electronics stores like Softmap and Yodabashi Camera exchanging PSP's with dead pixels, so they might do the same with the DS.

I would feel quite comfortable asking one of my parents friends to pick me up an item while on a trip, however I wouldn't feel comfortable asking them to test stuff for me, and then go back and possibly argue with a shop assistant to get it exchanged. Guess it depends how well you know them.

EDIT: You could always go down the eBay route, thats where I got my DS from, and for a very reasonable price. The guy even checked it for dead pixels before sending it!

[Shadow_Zero]

Do note that that Japanese friend of my mom lives in Holland. I don't know how many times she travels to Japan
But thanks for the info! I could ask her if she can inform about pixel guarantee.

Yeah, perhaps eBay would be a good option. Haven't checked on prices yet though. According to our local import gameshop we should have new colors this summer, but I do wonder if that's true...

[Shadow_Zero]

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