GBA, GBASP, Micro, DS, DS Lite.

Am I the only one who thinks that Nintendo is putting out too many variations on the same theme? Don't get me wrong, I love how creative the company has been of late, especially in a time when the game market is all about better graphics and more sequels. But I only have room on my desk for so many portable consoles.

As it is I never know if I should carry around my Micro and my DS. Both play GBA games. I like my Micro; it's slick, it feels nice, but it's also redundant.

It's only been a year and a few months since the DS hit. Do we really need another one? Sure, it plays the same games, but this glut of form factors is starting to drive me nuts. And all of those people who purchased their DS in the last six months, heck, maybe in the past year, are going to feel like they got short changed.

And in the long run, this is only going to hurt early sales of Nintendo portables. Nintendo is teaching us to wait and see. Wait and see if the price is going to drop in three months, wait and see if a better design is coming down the pipeline. Wait and see if all of those early adopters are going to be short changed.

Microsoft is known for releasing software that still isn't perfected and then chasing it with upgrades and updates. I don't want Nintendo to earn a name for itself doing the same thing with hardware.

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