Christmas Gaming On The Cheap

With Christmas just around the corner *Gulp* the little ones will soon be bombarded with adverts for the latest and greatest video games and consoles, and obviously they’ll want one, but with the cheapest of the next generation consoles weighing in at a meaty $330 or £180 its not within every-ones price range, but there is another option:

The Nintendo DS ($130 or £99.99) - when I first played on one briefly, I wasn’t that impressed but as time went on I realised this is one of the best console’s on the market at the moment, and with a plethora of affordable games available for it you and your wallet are bound to be happy. The console itself has two screens hence the title DS (Dual Screen), one just a simple LCD, the other with a built in touch screen you operate with a stylus (you get two with the package don’t worry) and some of the games available for the system truly make use of this innovative control system. It also comes with built in Wi-fi straight out of the box, so you can connect to friends and play them online, not to mention that you can also purchase an Internet browser that allows you to surf the internet via any wi-fi hot-spot. The DS can also play Gameboy Advance cartridges, and with no CD’s your not going to be able break the games as easily as you could with say an Xbox360. Many retailers are offering deals on the Nintendo DS such as the console, plus accessory pack, a brand new game and an older one for very low prices

The system has been out a while now, so not only are the latest and greatest titles available for the system (with a large amount scheduled for the run up to christmas) but also many of the classic games from the system can be picked up cheap via second hand video game retailers such as “Game” or “Gamestation” in the UK, or sites like Ebay, below is a quick look at ten of the best in my opinion:

Trauma Center - Under The Knife - not really a game for little kids, but an interesting one non the less, you play a doctor in the game and must perform operations on various patients using the touch screen, its kind of like a real life version of operation, the anatomy is realistic but not too gory and it even has a reasonable back story.
Mario Kart DS - Mario Kart has been a major fixture on every Nintendo console since the SNES, and this version is brilliant, it even has a retro mode which allows you to play on tracks from old versions of the game, such as the SNES, N64, GBA & Gamecube, not to mention you can thrash your mates online.
True Swing Golf - True Swing Golf is a golfing sim, which allows you to hit the ball using the touch screen, swinging the stylus over the ball at greater speeds makes your ball go further, the controls are intuative and fun.
Tetris DS - The grandaddy of the Nintendo portables returns on the DS, its pretty much the same game with a few gameplay tweaks, oh and online play which is brilliant.
Star Fox Command - Star Fox (or Lylat Wars) as it was known in the far east was an instant classic when it first emerged on the SNES, featuring amazing graphics for its time, and while the graphics have improved a tad, the gameplay has been ramped up to the maximum, controlling the ships completely with the stylus, I actually prefer this version to the SNES classic.
Cooking Mama - one for the little ones, but still a good laugh for the older kids in the house (yes DAD i’m talking about you) - with Mama’s help you have to prepare and cook various dishes using the touch screen, chopping and slicing is great fun, and a lot safer than the real thing.
Spongebob Squarepants - A brilliant little platformer controlled with the stylus, engrossing and fun.
Sims 2 Pets - The Sims 2 Pets continues on from the PC game in style allowing you to customise lots of things about your home, and your pet, essentially you are a vet and must help the animals that come into your care, earning more money to be able to upgrade your facilities to help more pets, and improve your surroundings.
Yoshi’s Island DS - Yoshi the cute dinosaur from the Mario games is back in his own game, you carry baby Mario around on your back and must defeat all manner of baddies whilst keeping him safe, cute, adorable and addictive as hell.
Picross DS - Solve a puzzle and see the picture behind it, that’s the premise and whilst it sounds fairly dull, its actually very fun and really makes you use your mind, the best way I could describe it is like a obscure version of Sudoku.

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