Color me content with these three new Nintendo DSi XL colors

Man, Japan just has the best Nintendo DS colors. And now they are getting three more: green, blue, and yellow. Try not to compare them to three easy-to-guess Pokemon. But still, the green one, with its black trim, looks fantastic. Alas, I have no reason to need another handheld, and I just picked up a DS Lite for Tara for her graduation. It’s the cobalt blue one, which, honestly, is okay and certainly the best of the bunch, but not the greatest color scheme under the sun. So, uh, yeah. Japan. Hurry on up and ship these across the sea. Maybe by the time they get here, I’ll have a reason to upgrade to a DSi XL. Most likely not, given the behemoth’s size, but stranger things have happened…

Not So Hopelessly Devoted to You, UNO

I needed a little distraction last night. Nothing too involving, nothing too counteractive. Just something. And so, bring on the UNO. It’s one of my favorite games to play before bed. Between the light jazzy background music and simple–if addicting–game mechanics, my eyes begin to droop after a few rounds. This is a good thing; this is what I want. What I’m saying is that I don’t play the game to become King of the Mountain.

So, when I unlocked the following Achievement last night, I couldn’t help but feel like an impostor:

Devotee (25G): Win 40 games of UNO®.

I bought UNO in June 2009. It is now June 2010. A true devotee would’ve won 40 games in maybe that first month alone. Me? Took a year. My player stats currently say this:

Wins: 40
Losses: 79

Ouchie. Well, not really. A lot of UNO is luck, with a pinch of planning and strategy. So, you win some, you lose some. Achievement-wise, all I have left is to win 10 games of UNO over Xbox Live. I believe, at this point, I’ve won three. In short, I have some grinding to do in that fashion, but it’s okay. A game or two here before bed can surely help (me fall asleep). Just hope it doesn’t take me another year to accomplish this; I only have a month of Gold access at the moment.

The guessing game within Picross 3D

There’s not actually a “guessing minigame” in Picross 3D, but this is rather just something I do as I play along. It’s silly fun, and more or less leads to wrong-if-amusing results, but it’s a compulsion, I guess, sort of like when people yell out answers to TV shows like Wheel of Fortune and Deal or No Deal. They want to be right, and they want to hear themselves being right before the point is proven (or not).

Basically, once you successfully complete a puzzle, you’re shown the basic blocky outline of the item before color and details are added, as well as the name of what it is below. During this time, a mere three seconds, I like to guess as to what it is that I just created. I’ve been wrong many, many times so far. Some examples:

I guessed helicopter; it was a bunch of grapes.

I guessed throne; it was a hand giving the peace sign.

I guessed calculator; it was a travel suitcase.

See? Pure fun. Many of the puzzles fall into themes; like, you will ultimately make all the letters of the alphabet or items that belong in an office or, much to my extreme happiness, items from Japanese culture. The backgrounds can help clue you in on things, but sometimes my mind forgets they are there and I just see what I see. I’ve done about 65 puzzles now, still on level one difficulty, but I’m enjoying them more and more as I progress, getting better and quicker at figuring out their tricks. I just gotta work on my guessing…