None of that, Nintendo.

Alright Nintendo, that's enough whoring out your little money maker. Seriously, I am tired of seeing these constant upgrades of your handhelds so very frequently. And don't get me mistaken: this hasn't just started with the DS. Oh no, you'd like to pretend, wouldn't you Nintendo? No, no, this has been going on since...well, the GameBoy Advance.

You see, the GameBoy Advance was a great little upgrade to what was the original GameBoy (which in itself had a few remakes). It brought in more possibilities in terms of what could be played, including upgrades to graphics and music. Everything was looking great. Still, Nintendo figured they would add a new little upgrade anyway. This upgrade became the GBA SP. Now, the SP isn't really anything special, in my book. The better design and the backlight were necessary from the beginning; adding them in later and then pricing $150 for it? Aha.

But it didn't start there. Now I don't know if many of you know, but Nintendo also developed GBA SP+. What did it do? Um...I'm not sure. I'm really not. I think it had a brighter backlight? Around that same time, Nintendo released another handheld that was meant to co-exist with their prized GameBoy Advance: the Nintendo DS. However, it soon became apparent that the DS was far too popular to be ignored, as it became Nintendo's lead handheld.

Still, the GameBoy Advance couldn't give up without a fight. In another attempt to gain appeal, Nintendo, for a second time, remade the design of the GameBoy Advance and shrunk it down to lesser-than-pocket size. And thus the GameBoy Micro was born. It featured no upgrades to the SP at all; all that kept this little guy afloat was his marketed slimness and intuitive design.

About a year later, the Nintendo DS saw its own remake. In 2006 came the DS Lite, which again, seemed like a rather needed upgrade that should have been the original design from the start. The handheld itself is much sleeker, smaller, and has better lighting settings. Sounds sort of like our little friend, the GameBoy Advance SP: a remake that should have been the original from the very start.

Two years after the release of the DS Lite came the DSi, which actually has some nifty upgrades, to be honest. Two cameras, DSiware, and a brand new interface make for a really interesting twist to the usual DS's hardware. However, the DSi also removed the GBA slot in order to make the machine smaller. It felt like a step backwards, for whatever reason. Plus, it seemed incredibly unnecessary to price the product so high for changes that were still, whether you'd like to admit it or not, minor.

And it only gets worse. Not even two years after the release of the DSi comes the DSi XL, which sacrifices easy carriage for large screen size. Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute there Nintendo. Wait a second. Just five years ago you were bragging about how small and easy to carry the Game Boy Micro was and now you're bragging about your "93% larger" screen on the DSi XL? What happened? Why didn't you just make the DSi XL the original DSi from the start? Why are you charging so much money for the same product, only a bit bigger? Come on Nintendo, I know it prints money, but this is a little ridiculous now.

If I see a 3DS BONUS + MEGA i BEST edition in 2013, I'm going to be pissed.

-Taylor

What's it about Tetris?

How does this game still survive so easily among today's gamers? I mean, it made sense back in the early 90's, sure, but now? In this age of FPS's and Shocker Horrors, or whatever the scamps are playing nowadays? For those who don't know, Tetris DS was the latest remake of the original Tetris game, which debuted in the USSR way back in 1984, finally shuffling its way into the west in 1989.

Now don't get me wrong, I love Tetris. I still have my GameBoy (yeah, the fat one. Who needs your DSI Go XL 3000 or whatever it is you play?) and my Tetris cartridge, and I got that when I was four years old. Do I still play it? Nope. Am I damn glad I own it? You bet your ass. I've always been a fan of Tetris. Call me conformist, but I too bought Tetris DS. Why? Because it's Tetris. It's irresistible. But the point of these shenanigans is not to fawn over this brilliantly-designed game, no. The point of this entry is to address the why and how of this game and how it still attracts customers today.

Let me restate my previous statement: This game is brilliantly-designed. Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov really crafted a winner with this one, let me tell you. Why? Because the game is so simplistic, yet so addicting. As you likely know, there's really no way to beat Tetris. You just keep going until you get the highest possible score you can, and then you start all over and try to beat the previous score. In this sense, you're competing against yourself, and who doesn't like that? That's what Ghost Saves are for in the Mario Kart series!

The game itself is simplistic enough so that anyone, and I mean literally anyone, can grasp it easily and get addicted. Tetris is a pick-up-n-play type of game, and it's hard to put it down once you've got it in your hands. There is some sort of self-satisfaction whenever you knock out four lines, successfully scoring yourself a Tetris. Or whenever you can best Level 15. Or whenever you can beat 200,000 points; your old high score. You feel good by completing something that feels easy.

And it is easy, once you play enough. But once you start, you can't stop. You constantly push yourself to play more and beat the last score. You never stop playing because you never stop battling against yourself. Tetris in itself is not game against man, it's man against man; however, in a sense where the man is facing some sort of inner conflict to outdo himself. When we finally get that new high score, we've just bested ourself. However easy it may have been, we did something that was difficult to achieve beforehand, and it was all while having simple fun.

Many other games fall under this same sort of category, such as Bejeweled or Diner Dash, and almost all of these games fall under the large category referred to as "casual games". I myself don't see anything wrong with this category. It might not bare huge fun against others like Call of Duty or Street Fighter, but it brings fun in the form of one-player "puzzles", where you're almost always trying to outdo your previous self. There's nothing wrong with casual games, really. They bring in a new crowd of gamers, namely grandmothers and bored office space-esque workers who just want some simple fun. Of course I'm exaggerating, don't be silly. Like I stated before, Tetris has kept me occupied for a good amount of years and it has still yet to bore me. How many other games have been able to claim that? How many have been able to exist for twenty-five years and still be able to produce remake after remake, continually gaining not only more cash, but more players as well?

Very few.

-Taylor