I said I wouldn’t buy any handheld anymore but the Nintendo DS however gave me a good excuse, with something only Nintendo does best: originality. This is not your typical console, not a pocket version of whatever it is you already play from your couch. It is a new game experience and one that shouldn’t be missed.

The lack of games at the moment is a big shame though, but the ones already available show off very well what the hardware is capable of. At this right moment, I only own one game and one demo, being Project Rub (or Feel the Magic XY/XX) and Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt. And these two are enough to show us that the future of gaming is going to be very interesting.

Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt is a first person shooter and gives you new ways of how consoles can handle these. I hate joysticks for FPS (see below) but the DS has given me new hope. One way of control is tapping the screen where you want to shoot. Nice, but silly. The better way, in my humble opinion, is using the thumb stylus. You attach it to your thumb and slide your finger across the screen like you would use a mouse. On-screen menu buttons allow you to, for example, change weapons. So the differences between PC and console FPS are finally disappearing, something I, for one, have been waiting for a long time.

And then there’s the originality in games. While Nintendo offers Wario Ware Touched!, Sega has a similar game with a more adult theme: Project Rub. The story is simple: You see a girl, you fall in love and you want to impress her. This results into a lot of mini games where the DS hardware is used in every possible way. You’ll be hitting scorpions of the girl’s back, rubbing obstacles out of the way, unbuttoning the girl’s dress (!), blowing a boat into the sea with your own breath and stopping missiles fired by a big mech (The pen IS mightier than the sword!). The game is great fun and not too hard, until you complete it and unlock hard mode at least. There’s a lot of extras too, as you can replay all the mini games for stars and search for bunnies in the main game. This unlocks new dresses and accessories for the girl, who you can admire in 360 degrees and even touch, although she tends to get angry if you do.

I can’t wait to see the Wi-Fi capabilities of the DS being exploited a bit more. The multiplayer in Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt works like a charm and Nintendo plans on bringing the DS online on the Internet by the end of the year. Nintendogs, Animal Crossing and Yoshi’s Touch & Go are all on my wishlist, but it’s taking ages for them to get to Europe. And with the PSP arriving anytime soon (now, tomorrow, 2007), all I can say is,… it’s a good time to be gaming.

As I hear lots of people asking me the same question over and over again, “Which handheld should I get?”, I will give you all the same answer: Get both. The DS will show you a new gaming experience, while the PSP will give you a sexy piece of hardware that you will just love showing off. There are some great titles coming to both consoles and you will be missing out on some amazing games if you own only one.

But I guess this doesn’t help most of you, so if cash is a problem (and isn’t it for all of us), then get whatever you need most. Do you spend a lot of time on the train and need an mp3 player, Playstation2 quality graphics and want to watch a nice movie on the road occasionally, get the PSP. If you never leave the house and always play indoor, if you need a refreshing new kind of gaming and care more about gameplay than graphics, get a DS.

What will I do? I think you already know… *sigh

Update: Check out this video to get an idea of the current/future games on Nintendo DS