The Nintendo DS just went from Maybe to Absofuckinglutely. Even if no more DS games are ever released ever beyond the E3 list, I'd consider it a well-planned purchase. DS versions (That means dual screen by the way... the DS is a fliptop double screen Bluetooth voice-recognizing touch screen six button GBA. Oh god I need a towel.) of Mario Kart, Wario Ware, Mario 64, Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime are all forthcoming. I need two of them already.

Look at this:

That's Mario Kart on the left, obviously. Racing on top screen, map on bottom. The bottom one is the touchscreen, by the way. Uses a stylus. Interesting that Metroid Prime: Hunters has the game screen on the touchscreen half. An in-game map will most likely be the most common, most useful and most boring feature of the DS.

Notice how there's two player characters in the Animal Crossing DS screenshot. TWO PLAYER CHARACTERS. Wireless AC. PORTABLE, WIRELESS, MULTIPLAYER ANIMAL CROSSING FOR FUCK'S SAKE. Genuine stylus typing, not D-Pad typing. This is going to make having a RL job extremely difficult. I wonder if you'll be able to import your old town into the DS version. At least your character, I hope.

The DS will also play GBA games, which has been hotly debated for months. Nintendo can spin this all they want - they've been claiming that the DS and GBA will co-exist - but a $150 DS is going to replace the $100 GBA like Paige Davis replaced that first Trading Spaces host.

Then there's this:

That, my unbelieving friend, is a brand new Legend of Zelda game for the Cube. Notice the realistic look. Now, you can take this one of two ways. You can say "Hey, I really enjoy Zelda games of all types and looks, but this is quite a surprise given how vehemently Nintendo defended the cel-shaded Wind Waker." Or you can go "Ah ha! Nintendo realized that a cartoony looking Zelda was a mistake, and now they're giving the fans what they implicitly promised way back in the Spaceworld 2000 tech demo!"

Either way, you're getting this game. With the runaway success of Ocarina of Time, A Link To The Past, and The Wind Waker, we're learning that Zelda is a series that can afford to reinvent itself whenever it likes... Wind Waker 2 and this new Untitled Realistic Zelda game will continue to prove this out. Hell, I'm even including the Cube/GBA hybrid game Hyrule Adventures in that.

And, yeah, Sony dropped the PS2 price to $150 with Network Adapter! So now I can buy a new one without fear once I'm ready to tackle Resident Evil Outbreak again! (I'm really digging Red Dead Revolver right now, so my troubles with REO have been momentarily backburnered.) Plus, I'll then have an extra Network Adapter. I believe Mike has already put dibs on it. Hoo hah.