What you’re seeing here is the beginning of a new thing I’m going to start doing on a regular basis. I hesitate to call it a “column”, simply because columns tend to have a train of thought that is somewhat connected or at the very least travel along the same tracks. Up until now my role at Aeropause has been that of a news monger, essentially regurgitating things I read and hear from people and writing it up, adding some sort of snippy remark wherever I can fit one in. But, honestly, it just isn’t me. I’m not the guy who you should send into the eye of the hurricane with a camera — I’m the guy who takes the footage of the hurricane and adds zany sound effects to it afterwards. There are plenty of better, more connected people (even on this site!) to feed you the day’s news. I hope to offer something else that nobody else is. With time what I am offering will become more clear. I won’t lie to you: my inspiration draws heavily from the writings of Jerry Holkins, also known “on the street” as Tycho from Penny Arcade. I don’t intend to completely rip him off, but I do aspire to be more than “PA but without the comic”.

Glad that’s over.

Let’s talk about the DSi, something I’m sure you’re sick of having shoved in your face by now. The television ads for this thing have eaten up at least fifteen minutes of my life being repeatedly thrown in between my favorite shows. Both ads are somewhat strange and uncomfortable to watch, but the one for Rhythm Heaven strikes me because at the end they announce that the game is available for “Nintendo DSi and DS”. I mean I do get it: they are trying to aleviate confusion amongst those who may not understand that the DSi also plays standard-issue DS games, but this wording would imply to the uninformed that the DS and DSi play different games. This is something that will be true in the future when DSi-only games come out, but why needlessly confuse the masses ahead of time? I suppose this is a problem that Nintendo signed up for when they decided to reach out to the non-gamer.

I did purchase a DSi, and much like when I purchased the DS Lite, I am almost ashamed to admit it. When I purchased a DS Lite I got some heckling mainly because I had a perfectly functioning DS “phat”. But I couldn’t go back to using the original DS after seeing the Lite any more than you could go back to living in a cave and hunting for food with a pointy stick.

The DSi was a different experience for me, though. With the Lite I knew what I was getting into right away. With the DSi, I honestly don’t; mainly because the true value of DSiWare — hence the value of the DSi itself — has not yet been fully revealed. On the surface, I actually lost some ground as the DSi does not feature a GBA port, so I’m somewhat ashamed to say I traded a system that plays two kinds of games for one that plays half that number. But, truly, the DSi is really quite different from the DS or Lite, and I dont know if Nintendo is doing a good enough job of really telling anyone that.

It almost feels like the DS grew up and got a job. Theres a new interface that flows like the bastard child of XMB and the Wii Channels System. Theres a built-in web browser. The camera utility is more robust than it has any right to be (even if the cameras themselves are not). But the star of the show to me is the DSi Shop and the ability in general to upgrade your DSi with “apps”. The comparison has been made to the iPhone but considering the DSi has buttons and the iPhone does not I feel like I can take the downloadable games on the DSi more seriously.

Aquia (I refuse to place the Art Style Series moniker in front of it) is in the running for my favorite puzzle game since Lumines. If this is the type of thing I can expect from DSiWare then please sign me up. It has old-school style mixed with a pretty sharp presentation both visually and audibly. It doesn’t hold your hand, however, but it is customizable to your own difficulty desires and shape and size of the peices you work with. If you like puzzle games and you don’t mind the difficulty curve please use some of your 1000 free points on this game.

My DSi has assumed the throne my DS Lite previously occupied atop my Wii. I keep my charger over there and whenever my DS is not being played I place it atop the Wii (after brushing away the cobwebs and dust) to hibernate and to heckle the Wii in general about how much more use it gets than the Wii. My Wii assumes a very specific role in my life: Virtual Console player. When I get that burning itch to play Ocarina of Time I will play my Wii. But then the stars fall out of alignment and the Wii goes back to dormancy. If Nintendo releases this service for the DSi then my Wii is well and truly screwed.

I keep hearing about Bioware’s intentions of releasing upwards of two years of DLC for Dragon Age: Origins. I can’t recall feeling the same blind joy that most people expressed… I suppose I am too cynical and skeptical but this is exactly the kind of thing I recalled expecting when EA took over Bioware. If done correctly, they will make a truly complete and epic game and allow us to expand on that later. If done “The EA Way” (patent pending) then we’ll get the barebones game for our $60, and the rest sold to us in bits and peices as time passes. I don’t say this lightly as I am really looking forward to the title, and I have enjoyed many of Bioware’s past efforts, and I’ll even give EA credit for the past two or so years of not being quite as much as a douchebag company, but if you are reading please don’t sell us half a game for full price.

Oh and last month I put out a story about OutRun Online Arcade coming “next week” and seeing as how that passed nearly a month ago it appears I either got a bad tip or I was lying. I’ll let you decide. However, the game is supposed to come next week again, except that this next week is not in the past. I suggest checking it out.