Nintendo's pattern is to release an improved device every 18 months or so. It doesn't matter when you buy it, in two years a better version will be out. So waiting for "the best" hardware is pointless - wait for games, or wait for a price point, or don't wait.

Joe, I can understand where Anthony is coming from. Usually the 2.0 handheld from Nintendo (like most hardware and even OS, iPhone, PSP, Windows 7, etc) is usually the better purchase. You don't have to wait forever, but 2.0 is typically the sweet spot. I passed on the orgiinal DS and I'm glad that I got the Lite instead. I'm in the same position for this handheld, but more importantly I'm waiting to see who will bring out the titles that I want to play VITA or 3DS-2.

Not exactly accurate. The DSi took away the ability to play GBA games. Not better in my estimation.

You wait for the device that is right for you.

Which is what I am doing.

I think the DSi was way better than the lite. It had a better screen, a camera, mp3 player, online store. To each their own though.

Indeed. For me, couldn't play GBA games, I don't need a camera or MP3 player and the online store didn't interest me much at all.

My DS Lite still makes me happy to this day.

I agree with that Anthony, wait for the device that is right for you.

But not with your comment about early adopters being mad. Nintendo's pattern is predictable and when they do release a new 3DS Lite in a couple of years, I won't be fretting over my 3DS purchase.

I had a DS at launch and played it to death with games like Tetris and Mario Kart, then eventually moved to a DS Lite and gave my DS to my friend's kid.

And speaking of devices that are right for our own tastes/needs, the glossy finish on my black DS Lite and 3DS absolutely blows when compared to matte finish on my original DS and wife's red and black DS Lite. I also preferred the original size and if not for the 3DS would have bought a DS XL.

I agree they have no right to be mad.

Think that will stop them?

What is the gaming community's obsession with dual analog sticks? I don't think that is healthy. Sure it helps with FPS games, but that is one genre out of dozens.

My prediction is they are planning a new model with a better battery life and announcing some games for the Holiday season.

@Ephriam: One of my biggest gripes with Wii platformers, like Super Mario Galaxy, is that there is no intuitive way (or often no way at all) to control the camera while also being able to move your character around. This is not a Wii-exclusive problem, of course (the Metal Gear Solid games on PSP also have the same issue), but it is one that I feel that newer systems should not have, as it is easily solved with a second analog stick. The lack of a right stick does not make these games unplayable, per se, but the inclusion of it would make them better.

On the other hand, I have found twin-stick shooters, like Geometry Wars, to be unplayable and way less fun when there is no right stick for shooting.

EDIT: And just for posterity, I've been playing games since well before the introduction of the right stick, and I don't play FPS games, either.

Analog movement in conjunction with touch screen control for left handed people is why a second analog stick matters.

I was hoping Nintendo would redesign the 3DS with a second analog stick before it came out because I am left handed. I wrote about this in the past.

Maybe its because I am not left handed, but how does that change anything? I am seriously asking. I want to understand.

Do games that don't use an analog stick allow you to swap basic controls (example: putting movement onto the a/b/x/y and actions to the d-pad) I don't recall any game that allows for that. But I don't look at the control customization very often.

I can understand that games for the Wii would be a problem for lefties as most games assume the player is holding the Wii Remote in their right hand and the nunchuck in the left. Which I think is a bit wrong.

@Ephriam Knight: You are assuming everyone is Right Handed. Lefties need analog sticks on the other side! Dual analog sticks solves this issue. The original DS solved the problem by being symmetrical, 4 buttons laid out like a d-pad on either side.

Edit: High five Ben Alford! I can't play Wii games because of being Left Handed... how do you cope?

It isn't that DS games required one to change the options for left handed control (unless you are holding it book-style) but rather they just mirrored the input of the d-pad/left trigger to the right buttons/trigger. I know there were one or two games (that I played) that assumed the player was right handed on the DS but I can't recall them with much certainty right now. It typically revolved around having the player switch between buttons for action input and stylus for action input (which is a game design faux pas for me at least).

I actually don't have a problem with using the Wii Remote/Nunchuck combo, though I do see why some do. I chalk this up to using PCs with mice on the right side for so long. I don't play console shooters "southpaw" either, again, probably because console controllers always had movement on the left side.

I wrote with a pencil long before I used a DS/3DS though.