E3 was a great trip, but jeez did that plane ride suck! Sure, I met a cool girl on the way to LA from Cleveland and talking with her was a blast plus it helped to pass the time, but getting to Cleveland and my entire trip back was one long snooze fest (and there was no sleep involved anywhere). I had to watch Casanova so I wasn't bored out of my mind! The plan was to get a Nintendo DS before I left for E3, because I could've played it on the plane, but a little birdy in my ear kept telling me to hold off till the DS Lite, because otherwise I'd be regretting my purchase. So was the DS Lite worth a few boring waits on a plane?

I've never played a Nintendo DS before, so I must admit that I'm a virgin and so I'm going to stick strictly to what the DS Lite offers. For starters, the DS Lite is small, and as you can see from the picture the Lite has the same length as an old cassette tape case and the width is only slightly larger. The Lite also has a depth a little larger than the cassette case featured here, but it isn't much. So if you want to get a good idea of what you'll be playing grab an old cassette case and grip your hands around it, as there won't be too much of a difference.

Once the system is opened, the second part of the DS redesign (the first being the size and dimensions) is the screen brightness and controls. Featuring four total screen brightness settings, it looks as if you will always have a setting to fit your gaming need, but be warned the brighter the screen the less time you'll have on one battery charge. For my need, the second brightness setting works perfectly for me, so I can't see when I'd have to go any higher. The X, Y, B, and A buttons are all constructed well and feature a nice sturdiness when you click them. My thumb can cover them all with one press, so I have to angle my thumb a bit in the air, which isn't the easiest thing to do for me (broke it playing soccer one day in gym) but I've yet to run into an instance where I've pushed the wrong button because of the closeness of them all. I can't say the same thing about the control pad, however, as that wall jump of Mario's in New Super Mario Bros. has enraged me once or twice because my thumb can't easily swivel between the left and right side that smoothly, but overall it still feels good under my thumb.

The other controls deal with the stylus, which is held perfectly inside the right side of the DS Lite, so it takes little effort to slide it in and out…except for the first two or three times when it was amazingly difficult to remove the stylus from its holder for one reason or another. The only real gripe I have about the DS Lite controls are the L and R shoulder buttons. When I pick up a controller or handheld for the first time, I typically play with however my hands first meld themselves to the controller. When I put my hands around the DS Lite, I can barely press the two shoulder buttons properly (I actually played for a few hours before I realized there were buttons there). The problem is I like to play with the tips of my index fingers, but the system is so small my natural placement overshoots them and I'm forced to either play with the meaty part of my fingers or either bending them in an arch, which for this double jointed person can lead to pain pretty quickly.

Otherwise, the only other things worth mentioning is the placement of the headset jack and the GBA card slot. The GBA card slot is a slight disappointment, as it is a piece you remove and then have to store if you want to do any gaming at all, and I can see this leading to many people misplacing the piece and having this giant gaping hole in their system for years to come. As for the headset jack, I wish it was placed at the top of the system or at least farther up the left or right side, because the jack being placed at the bottom gets in my way when I have to position the Lite on my lap, for instance, like when I play Metroid Prime Hunters, because it can be hard to hold that system with one hand while the other controls with the stylus.

Overall, despite my complaints, I'm still really in love with the system, as I just love the strict white that permeates every inch of the system. I don't know why a completely white system, like the iPod and Xbox 360 and now Nintendo DS Lite, works so well, but it does. Perhaps P. Diddy knows something the rest of us don't, because he is always throwing those white parties. And I'm sure some of those complaints (if not all) will go away with time, as I get more and more comfortable with the feel of the system.