Magazines in the Bathroom are a Thing of the Past: The Present and Future of Portable Gaming

I Just bought a DSi.....I thought I was a pretty loyal PSP gamer, but when My Umd drive went to crap, I had to send it in. What a better opportunity to pick up the "competition".

You see, I am a die-hard portable gamer. I work at a Fire Department and I love being able to grab my PSP in the morning and throw it in my bag I bring to work. It's great to be able to lay in my bunk during my downtime at work and play games, since I've bought my PSP and DSi my X-box 360 is collecting dust......sure, I busted it out when UFC and Fight Night round 4 came out and played the hell out of each of them for a couple of weeks, but portable gaming is where its at.

I've always thought that the Nintendo DS was a "kids toy".......But being without my PSP for a couple of weeks, I decided to pick one up. I bought what I feel are the "essential" games for the system: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown wars, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (loved SOTN), Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (is it me or does every DS game have a subtitle?). I also picked up The World Ends With You and Dragon Ball Z: Origins (I love using the stylus to kill stuff).

I have to say I'm hooked on my DSi.....Like i never imagined....who woulda thought something that seems gimmicky could work so well....now i've tried the WII and I'm still not sold on it, but the DS is a great piece of hardware.

First off, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is a blast, albeit a short game. I actually bought this as a used game from Gamestop.....beat it....and returned it within the 7 day-full refund deal.......However, I actually missed this game so much, I went back and got it again because it's so much fun......slashing your sword (stylus) through the enemies never seems to get old for me......It's so well done on this game and I hope they make a sequel with more gameplay......I picked up Zelda beacause.....well.....its Zelda, a no-brainer. I read that the controls were like NG:DS somewhere, except when I started playing I was a tad bit dissapointed. Link is not as quick and agile as Ryu, but this is; after all, an RPG, so there's alot more gameplay, which brings me to one of the big downsides of the game: The Temple of The Ocean King. This part of the game is a legendary downer for gamers all over the place....if you don't know what I mean, do an internet search on it and you'll effortlessly find someone bitching about it. I almost returned it because of this, but it is really a superb game otherwise and I decided to get over it and keep it.

I have yet to really delve into the other games, I played a few hours of GTA: CTW, and from what I gather it's a pretty good title. We'll see with the others, once I get through with Zelda.......

I Just got my PSP back from Sony yesterday and they sent me a nice refurb with a foam padded carrying case and a strap.....it took a little while to get everything back up and running......i.e.: set up my psn account again, update the unit to five-point-whatever it is at now. I played a little bit of FF Dissisdia and went back to my DSi.

The Facebook App for The DSi with the new update rocks.....it has an FB icon in your picture album that lets you send pictures straight to your acct.......

I've been a gamer for about 25 years. I'm 31 right now and I would have to say 20 of those years I've been what many would call a "hardcore" gamer.
I have been brainstorming alot of ideas lately for the future of portable gaming....since I believe it will continue to explode, given the astronomical success of the DS........In the next few days I plan on putting them on here, so stay tuned and let me know what you think. I just wanted to start this blog and let you all know what my present status is and provoke some disscussion.....thanks for reading.