A DS for the Discerning Gaming Mama
Posted on Nov 02, 2009 by Chris in DS
My girlfriend recently bought a Nintendo DS. Personally, I have avoided getting a handheld system because, already having a Xbox 360 and a constant flirtation with the PS3, most of my conscious time not working, eating, or watching movies is spent with video games. Another cruel mistress is not something I am looking for.
For my girlfriend to get a DS, however, I was completely supportive. So were our friends, probably more so than if we were to suggest we were going to get married. A few of them already owned DSs, so we had a steady stream of borrowed games to look forward to. There was no question it was a good idea. The only real question was what colour to get.
The week before, when the idea had first come to her, my girlfriend and I were out trolling the big box stores for a new microphone to use with Beatles Rock Band. It was at one of these stores where she spotted a variety of DSs in a rainbow assortment of colours. Black, white, red, light blue, pink… so really, it wasn’t exactly a rainbow assortment—maybe a rainbow coalition. Our friend owns a pink DS, and it is known to all of his friends as the Game Girl. The different colours of DSs are meant to express different personality; at least, that’s what the ad type says. And we were buying into it. Which is why it wasn’t one of those previously mentioned colours that we got excited over; it was the one we found in a special edition box. It was a bright, bold lime green.
When we went out to purchase my girlfriend’s DS it took us a little work to find this edition again, so much that at one point I thought we may have dreamt it up. But oh no, my friends, we found it in all its phosphorescent glory. We were so happy that we had discovered it again that it took us a moment to notice that it was packaged with a game as well. Bonus!
Additionally, this special edition came with a DS carrying case, designed in a faux-Japanese style. It was cream-coloured with streaks of green spreading almost organically across the cover. Perhaps the DS wasn’t lime green at all. On second thought, it was really more of a green tea.
But that was okay. It came with a game, after all. I was sure that we would get plenty of use out of Personal Trainer: Cooking. I had heard of Cooking Mama, and I knew there was an Iron Chef game out there. How exciting. I looked at the packaging closer and saw that the cartridge we would be getting was only a game if by game you meant cookbook and if by winning the game you meant cooking chicken well enough that you wouldn’t poison your friends. I slightly shuddered. It was a practical DS application. It had nothing to do with the games I imagined having fun with like Scribblenauts. It wasn’t even practical in the Brain Age sense. This was not a game one could play on the bus or streetcar. This was meant for the dirty, messy kitchen counter (and let me just say that the practicality of an electronic cookbook is suspect at best).
Still—it was green, and after questioning the $20 extra she would be paying for the special edition, we walked out of the big box store with the DS and a copy of Scribblenauts. In retrospect it was a good purchase. We both play it, though I still lean towards my Xbox. The cooking game remains unopened like most of my paper and print cookbooks, but the case is surprisingly useful and quite nicely designed. When she was unpacking, it my girlfriend said, “If I don’t use the case for the DS, I can always put my tampons in there.” While the case is still carrying just the DS it’s clear that if our friend has the Game Girl, my girlfriend now has the Game Mom.
