Now obviously, you're not going to get the exact same reaction from another pair of fresh-faced youngsters opening up their first major home console (not unless they're hamming it up, anyway). But perhaps you could have a non sequitur video that's only tangentially related to the holidays. Or video games for that matter.

Here's a few for your consideration.

First, the Japanese Zelda rap commercial. It's directly game-related, entertaining and doesn't even mention the holidays so persons who abstain from Christmas or what have you don't feel left out.

Second, President Obama and his talk with kids about Christmas and The Sims. Very much on-topic, if a bit hard to hear and there's a lot less screaming.

Finally, how about Easter Bunny hates You? Sure, it's not related to video games and it's the wrong holiday — but it's way more entertaining to watch than two kids flipping out over the Nintendo 64.

Got your own holiday YouTube recommendations? Hit me up in the comments — I'll be at my sister-in-law's house, pretending to not be Jewish. Happy Holidays everyone!

The DS's 2009 was solid and varied, with an all-new Legend of Zelda, Rhythm Heaven, and Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story hitting alongside third-party contributions like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and Scribblenauts. But 2010 may provide the DS owner with even more bang for their buck, thanks to the following first and third-party games.

Yes, 2010 will be a very good year for the core gamer, even better for the RPG enthusiast. But will it also something to offer beyond epic adventures and sequels to earlier DS games? Well... let's take a look at some of 2010's nearly confirmed lineup.

Note: We'll be looking at every platform's currently announced and estimated 2010 slate over the course of the rest of the week-and much much more.

Golden Sun DS
The beloved Game Boy Advance role-playing game series continues on the Nintendo DS following an all too long hiatus. Details are scarce, but the game should feature a cast descendant from the original Golden Sun games' heroes.
Glory of Heracles
Nintendo kicks off the year with this Greek themed role-playing game, the sixth in the series, but the first to find an audience outside of Japan.
Okamiden
Capcom's sequel to the Clover fan favorite goes infinitely cuter with the introduction of Chibiterasu, the young pup who may be the son of Okami's Amaterasu. The game's Celestial Brush drawing action should work well with the DS's touchscreen.
Professor Layton & The Final Time Travel
Nintendo hasn't announced a North American release for the third Professor Layton puzzle adventure, but if it sticks to its schedule, it will hopefully deliver The Final Time Travel in 2010.
Picross 3D
It's on Nintendo's release list, but without a date. Frankly, if Nintendo of America doesn't see fit to deliver the 3D spin on the addictive nonogram title sometime in 2010, we'll personally fly to Nintendo HQ and start busting some heads.
Dragon Quest IX
Square Enix's mega-popular (in Japan) role-playing game series should make the transition from console to handheld here in the Americas sometime this year. The publisher just recently trademarked the game's subtitle in English, so we're hopeful that slime-slaying is within our grasp.
WarioWare D.I.Y.
Nintendo's create-your-own WarioWare microgame software will offer as many nose-picking games as players can come up withn. Create, share and play games that take mere seconds to play.
Final Fantasy Gaiden
Another Square Enix role-playing that isn't confirmed, but sure is likely to get a North American release next year. This classic fantasy RPG keeps things old-school, but looks cute and stylish enough to not feel dated.
Infinite Space
PlatinumGames goes in a very different direction from MadWorld and Bayonetta with their third title for Sega, the strategic spacebound RPG Infinite Space. The NudeMaker co-developed game looks like a unique offering amongst the fantasy RPG heavy lot.
Ghost Trick
The creator of the Ace Attorney series delivers Ghost Trick, an adventure game that puts players in the role of a spirit who can manipulate objects, coming to the aid of the still living.
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth
Phoenix Wright won't return in Ace Attorney Investigations, something he may object to. Instead, Miles Edgeworth takes over, offering more of the familiar, but still popular point and click crime solving meets courtroom drama.
Korg DS-10 Plus
The synth program expands in this sequel of sorts to cult hit Korg DS-10.
Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver
This pair of Nintendo DS remakes puts a new coat of paint on 1999 classics Pokemon Gold and Silver. You know how this works. Collect Pokemon and make 'em fight!
Sands of Destruction
The world is in danger and only turn-based battles can save it! Sega's publishing this imageepoch-developed RPG in January, giving English speakers a chance to enjoy Sands of Destruction's combination of traditional gameplay mixed with fighting game elements.
Shantae: Risky's Revenge
WayForward's cult favorite heroine returns with a new platformer, courtesy of the DSiWare shop.
Again
It's title may not stir up much enthusiasm, but this graphic adventure game comes from Cing, the folks responsible for titles like Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Who doesn't love a good SMT game? Well this one is spacier and more black hole filled than any other!
Nintendo DSi XL
Ah, the Nintendo DSi XL. It's like a regular DSi, but bigger. Bigger screens, bigger touch pens, bigger price. It's all here!

Like Q-Games' PixelJunk Monsters, Starship Patrol is a classic tower defense style game, but with a focus on resource management, strategic weapons placement and a clean, unique visual style. From the same developer of Reflect Missile, Art Style: Digidrive and PixelJunk Shooter, Starship Patrol should be on your radar when it arrives in Europe next week.

It will then come to North America as Starship Defense on January 18. For screen shots and the official description, with defense spelled "defence," click on.

Starship Patrol [Nintendo UK]

That 1.5 million breaks down to more than 550,000 Wii consoles and more than 1 million Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi portables, according to Nintendo's internal estimates. In terms of frequency, that's over 150 Nintendo hardware units sold every minute, more than 2.5 smiles put on faces every second.

Yes, those are impressive numbers. But one of those numbers was more impressive last year, when Nintendo says it sold more than 800,000 Wiis during the same time period.

In 2007, Nintendo sold a comparitively meager 350,000 Wiis during the Thanksgiving spending spree. That year, Nintendo boasted that Nintendo DS sales topped 600,000 during the same week long period, a number that jumped 20% the following year, nothing that compares to the new 1 million unit sold record held by combined DS and DSi sales.

Since Nintendo sold 506,900 Wii consoles and 457,600 Nintendo DSs during the full month of October, we'll bet the company will have something to brag about when November's tally rolls around. While we suspect it won't shatter November 2008's amazing, "historic" records,, we wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo branded things topping the charts.

The official Nintendo of Europe web site has details and first screens on the Nintendo DSi downloadable title, promising 200 stages of action-puzzle-strategy in the Q-Games fashion. With the developer's recently released Art Style: Digidrive making DSiWare a better place, we're looking forward to giving Reflect Missile a shot.

Reflect Missile [Nintendo UK]

Last week's leaked Best Buy Black Friday ad outed the two new Nintendo DSi bundles, each packed with a unique assortment of DSiWare, which left us wondering if the DSi would come preloaded with games from here on out. Apparently not, as Nintendo's official announcement plays the "While supplies last" card.

Otherwise, the information is the same. You've got the Metallic Blue DSi packed with five Mario titles - Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, Dr. Mario Express, WarioWare: Snapped!, Mario Calculator, and Mario Clock; and the White DSi bundle with three Brain Age Express titles, Clubhouse Games, and Photo Clock.

"These limited-edition bundles come packed with some of the great Nintendo DSiWare games and applications that have made Nintendo DSi such a big hit with shoppers young and old," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "The special price and pre-installed titles make the bundles a huge value for the holidays."

So if your retailer is participating and you're done playing Guitar Hero, this might be a good time to upgrade to a Nintendo DS with two cameras and downloadable games.

I sat down at Nintendo's Redwood City office to get a good look at the single-player mode for myself (since all I had to go on were Nintendo Power previews and Stephen Totlio's experience) before diving into the multiplayer mode. I was given a choice: I could replay the same demo Nintendo Power and Totilo had already covered, or I could be one of the first to see the second dungeon in the game – the Snow Temple.

What kind of correspondent would I be if I didn't go for the latter? A copycat, that's what!

What Is It?
The Snow Temple was described to me as the "second" dungeon in the game once Zelda and Link are sent to the Tower of Spirits to restore the Spirit Tracks of Hyrule. The level began outside the snow-covered structure with the train parked out front and Zelda hovering beside Link.

What We Saw
The temple had about three floors and judging from the main room that requires puzzle solving, I'd say I completed three quarters of it before having to stop to play some multiplayer.

How Far Along Is It?
The game comes out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that could well be a final version of the game.

What Needs Improvement?
My Snow Temple For An Item-Toggling Button: Link started this dungeon with the Whirlwind item and earned the Boomerang about halfway through. To use an item, you've got to select it from a menu so that it appears in an icon in the upper right hand side of the lower screen. Tapping that icon activates the item and then you do whatever is required of you to use it (blow in the mic for the Whirlwind, draw a path on the screen for the Boomerang). There came a point in this dungeon where you had to use the boomerang to create a path of ice over water (by crossing its path through an ice torch and back across the water) – and then quickly change to the Whirlwind to activate a switch out in the middle of the water. Because the ice path melts quickly, your timing has to be spot on and it can get pretty fiddly when you're trying to bust out the Whirlwind, aim it and THEN blow into the mic. I died at least twice, wishing in vain that a tap of the shoulder button would switch between items.

Dude, Where's My Zelda? As soon as I set foot in the Snow Temple, Zelda shrank and faded away with a sigh. It turns out she can't go with you or help you within the Temples and you can't talk to her for advice the way you could with other companion characters in other Zelda games. This turned Spirit Tracks into an experience that was an awful lot like Phantom Hourglass. Phantom Hourglass was good, so that's not an automatic minus – but I think people were expecting the all-new Zelda gameplay to be a consistent feature instead of an area-specific thing.

What Should Stay The Same?
Shallow Learning Curve: Truthfully, I never beat The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and it's been ages since I've touched it. But it really didn't take long to master the stylus-only controls and the menus weren't at all difficult to navigate and interpret. People who missed out on Phantom Hourglass are going to be just fine adjusting to Spirit Tracks.

Sure Rings My Bell: The entire temple was based on moving three bells into a main room together so that Link could trigger them in a sequence to open a door. This objective was communicated entirely through visuals (little panels with bells on different note lines, panels on the floor, etc.) and all of the puzzles were familiar slide-the-block, clear-the-room-of-monsters affairs that I know and love in Zelda games. I got so caught up in the familiar, simple gameplay, I didn't mind dying twice and getting stuck three different times.

Final Thoughts
Despite not having beaten Phantom Hourglass and not really liking The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (yeah, I said it – you wanna fight?!), playing Spirit Tracks felt like coming home. That's probably the best feeling I could ask for from a game, especially so close to the holidays when I long for that feeling and have all this extra time to play games.

But anyway, Spirit Tracks has multiplayer. Boy does it ever have multiplayer, and boy did we ever play it. Here's what we liked:

What Is It?
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks' multiplayer mode is akin to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube – four people each control one color-coded Link and move around the same map as the other Links. The difference in Spirit Tracks is that instead of trying to help each other, you're racing each other to collect Power Gems and trying to royally screw each other up on the way.

Note: It's local-only.

What We Saw
I played two matches against a developer and two publicists at Nintendo's Redwood City office after finally getting my hands on the singleplayer mode.

How Far Along Is It?
Spirit Tracks it out December 7. I was playing on a normal-sized cartridge that may have been a final version.

What Needs Improvement?
Little Bit Laggy: When dashing around the dungeon map, things start off steady and the Power Gem drops are few and far between. As the match picks up pace, however, and players start falling into traps or getting sliced up the Phantoms, huge amounts of Gems will suddenly spill out onto the map. That plus all four players frantically running to that point to scavenge Gems caused a couple of super-laggy moments in an otherwise smooth experience.

Trap Door Confusion: There are trap doors in every map that are either random or triggered by switches. I honestly couldn't tell you which, though, because sometimes I'd press a switch and a trap door would open and sometimes the door seemed to open and shut in a kind of rhythm. It was confusing – and that much more frustrating when I fell into one because I didn't know if I should blame somebody for it.

What Should Stay The Same?
Spreading The Phantom: Numerous Phantoms – those big guys in helmets from the last Zelda DS game, Phantom Hourglass – wander the maps, prowling for Links. When one spots you, a little icon pops up above your head, indicating that it's got a bead on you. If you fail to run for your life, the Phantom will speed toward you and cut you – costing you precious Power Gems and precious seconds as you scramble to get up and recover them before the other players get there. The fun part about this mechanic is the bit where you can pass the Phantom's bead onto other players you run by – like spreading Chlamydia. It's amusing.

The Invisible Zone: One map we tried out had a patch of water in the center that rendered players invisible when they ran in. You could still see ripples where their feet landed in the water – and if you look closely, the ripples are color coded like the Links – but with all four players running around in there and Phantoms bearing down on one or more of them, it was blind panic. And freaking awesome.

Mario Kart-style Pick-ups: Occasionally, an orb with a question mark on it will fall from the sky. Players that snag this pick-up are treated to several things like a random Gem drop, invisibility or a lightning strike that you can inflict on other players. It keeps things interesting and can be the salve to the wound of a player who just went from 51 Gems to two after a string of Phantom infections.

Single Cartridge Play: I am so happy that it doesn't require four people to actually buy the game to enjoy this mode.

Final Thoughts
The multiplayer mode in Spirit Tracks certainly isn't the main attractions of the game – but it's a solid addition that deserves to be played if you can tear yourself away from trains and princesses for a little while.

According to that report, which appeared in the Nikkei newspaper and has since made its way online, the price for the new, larger DSi will remain the same, 18900 yen. The large screen DSi, three-quarters of an inch larger than the current model, is said to be aimed at an older market, the type who likes big buttons on their telephones and large print books.

While the jumbo Nintendo DSi is planned to hit Japan this year, says the Nikkei, a release elsewhere is said to be under discussion. Nintendo announced the original DSi in a similar fashion, officially unveiling the device last October then releasing it domestically before the end of the year.

We're checking in with Nintendo of America for comment and will update if they have anything interesting or confirming to say.

Nintendo To Release Large-Screen DSi In Japan [Nikkei - subscription required]
任天堂がDSiの進化版を年内に販売！iPhone対抗か！液晶も大型化 [via NeoGAF]

That leak was discovered while perusing the "error code 206602" entry at Nintendo.com, an entry which has since been scrubbed of any mention of the Nintendo DSi Speak Channel. Searching Google for that entry shows its former existence, which previously read: "To redeem a Nintendo DSi Download Ticket number, such as for the Nintendo DSi Speak Channel, enter the number off the Nintendo DSi Download Ticket in 'Settings and Features' off of the main Nintendo DSi Shop page, then select 'Nintendo DSi Download Ticket.'"

If true, it wouldn't be the first resource for DS or DSi owners to utilize voice chat. Previous Nintendo DS games, such as Metroid Prime Hunters and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, had voice chat over wi-fi built-in.

A DSi Speak Channel definitely sounds in line with the company's plans to offer such functionality via the DSi Shop, not to mention falling in line with Nintendo's naming conventions, looking at Animal Crossing: City Folk's Wii Speak accessory.

What do you think? Would you pay for a Speak Channel on the Nintendo DSi? And just how high are you willing to go?

Nintendo DSi Speak Channel in the works? [Kolma.info]
Nintendo error code support points to DSi Speak Channel in the works [GoNintendo]

That game, Nintendo DSi owners, will be the first retail release to claim the title of first DSi-only, the first to be packaged with said warning. System Flaw from Storm City Games is billed as an "innovative, action shooter" that uses the DSi's built-in cameras to" turn your surroundings into the playing environment, and your DSi into a weapon against attacking enemies."

And it hits next week, shipping to retail on October 27. Monster Finder is due until next year. My humblest apologies for the error. You'd think I would've known.

For further details on the first DSi-only game and screen shots of alien invaders attacking coffee cups, hit up the official site.

System Flaw [Storm City Entertainment]

According to a listing from online game rental outfit GameFly, spotted by Siliconera, Monster Hunter will be published by Konami in January 2010, likely the first DSi-only game to hit North American store shelves. As previously reported, the game uses the Nintendo DSi's built-in cameras to snap pictures of collectible beasts in the vein of Pokemon and Sony's PSP game Invizimals.

Monster Finder [GameFly via Siliconera]

Given previous portable announcements, consider our enthusiasm for yet another port of Don Bluth's beautifully animated Dragon's Lair measured. A Nintendo DS version of the game was announced a few years ago—along with a PSP version—resulting in little more than a press release and pair of posts on Kotaku. Maybe this time Digital Leisure's porting hopes and dreams will become reality?

You shouldn't really be lacking in platforms on which to play the thing, but if you have a long-running Dragon's Lair streak and Nintendo Points to spare, watch for it.

USK via GamerBytes

Other less spritely items are also available, including the colorful arcade shooter ColorZ for WiiWare and the bite-size DSiWare offering Clubhouse Games Express: Family Favorites for the Nintendo DSi. For descriptions and pricing, read on for official details.

WiiWare

Contra Rebirth
Publisher: Konami
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) - Fantasy Violence
Price: 1,000 Wii Points™

Description: Chief Salamander and his Neo-Salamander Force travel back to 1973 A.D. to invade Earth. They land in Central America and take control of the Shizuoka ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula. There, the aliens plan the destruction of all the "Contra" on Earth. The Galactic President calls on Lance Bean, a member of the elite "Contra" warriors, to save the day, but his sudden disappearance jeopardizes the safety of the planet. Now, Bill Rizer and samurai Genbei Yagyu are the last hope for Earth. They must pick up their weapons and defeat the evil Neo-Salamander Army before all is lost. Experience the fast-paced, action-packed, side-scrolling adventure that pioneered the run-and-gun genre.

ColorZ
Publisher: Exkee
Players: 1-3
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Comic Mischief
Price: 700 Wii Points

Description: With ColorZ, go forth in your spaceships on a mission to clean up virus-infested planets. Immerse yourself in a new gaming experience that will reveal mind-hand-eye coordination skills you never knew you had. Absorb viruses of your own color, but steer clear of the others. If necessary, you can cleverly merge your ships together to create new colors. Buzz past your enemies to keep your combo and clock up a new high score. Explore an extra dimension with the game's multiplayer mode and share the unique experience of cooperative play between friends. Pool your forces, synchronize your movements and become a unified team of up to three players to meet the challenge together.

Wii Virtual Console

Super Return of the Jedi
Original platform: Super NES™
Publisher: LucasArts
Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) - Fantasy Violence
Price: 800 Wii Points

Description: Join the Rebellion and crush the Death Star in a giant universe filled with all the action and adventure of the Star Wars® finale. Take command of five different characters - from Wicket the Ewok to Princess Leia - and go up against the Empire's worst, from Jabba the Hutt to the Emperor himself. You're going to need every ounce of Force you've got in you. Battle in actual movie locales, from Jabba the Hutt's palace to the Forest of Endor and the Emperor's Tower. Cross sabers with the darkest of the dark side: Bib Fortuna, Jabba the Hutt, the rancor, Darth Vader and the Emperor.

Nintendo DSiWare

Clubhouse Games™ Express: Family Favorites
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-8
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points

Description: Choose from five family-friendly games in this Nintendo DSiWare version of the popular Clubhouse Games. Play classic card games like Hearts and Contract Bridge; connect bones to other bones in Dominoes; think strategically in the simple but addictive Dots and Boxes; and move your pieces towards a common goal in Ludo. Play by yourself or use DS Download Play to host as many as seven friends.

As we expect to happen in North America, the first DSi-only game will be from a third party, taking advantage of the handheld's built-in camera as a core gameplay device. Blog AndriaSang points out some of the gameplay details, which features creature collection via the DSi camera, similar in concept to Sony's Invizimals for the PSP.

There's not much in the way of additional details on Monster Finder, which sounds a lot like a Pokemon clone with a title suspiciously close to Capcom's Monster Hunter.

What we do know is that Monster Finder is due to hit Japan this Winter. It may not come stateside this year (or ever) but expect similar DSi-only software from third parties.

Monster Finder [Alpha Unit via AndriaSang]

Software that will only work on a Nintendo DSi will join titles playable on a Nintendo DS or DS Lite that also feature DSi-specific enhanced capabilities, like Ubisoft's Jam Sessions 2 and My Healthy Cooking Coach. Games and apps that will only be playable on a DSi will be visually distinct from past product, sources say.

Those DSi-only games will be packaged in all-white game cases, making them stand out from the standard dark gray cases of currently available Nintendo DS games. Those cases will sport a warning that the software is only compatible with the Nintendo DSi. DSi-only game cards themselves will use a similar white plastic, but it's unclear if those re-colored cards will have any difficulty fitting into a DS or DS Lite cartridge slot.

Another unknown is if DSi-only software will take advantage of the expanded tech specs unique to the Nintendo DSi.

It appears that, like Wii MotionPlus, that Nintendo will be letting third-party publishers take the lead in offering DSi-only software. Nintendo itself has offered plenty of downloadable DSiWare games that are system specific, but it has yet to announce any DSi-only retail games as part of its future lineup. Still a risky proposition, considering the comparatively smaller userbase of the DSi platform and the possibility for consumer confusion.

We contacted Nintendo for comment on the introduction of DSi-only games this year, but the company did not respond to requests before publishing.

While Guitar Hero: On Tour requires a "Guitar Grip" peripheral that plugs into the DS' Game Boy Advance slot, the soon-to-be-released Band Hero also makes use of a rubber drum skin that slips over the portable.

The skin features four tiny color-coded drum pads that tap on the DS' face buttons when a gamer uses them to play drums. The skin won't fit on the DSi because it's not the same shape as the DS, but the only issue is a form factor one.

"It's something we want to work on and we have been investigating ways to get (Band Hero) to the DSi," said David Nathanielsz, executive producer at Vicarious Visions. "But we looked at how many people already have the Guitar Grip and already have the DS and not the DSi."

Vicarious Visions said that both the drum and Guitar Grip peripherals compatibility issues with the DSi are "solvable problems," but not something they're committed to yet.

Band Hero is set to hit the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 this November.

The flipbook animation software, known as Moving Memo in Japan, is relatively simple to use, letting budding animators draw, record audio and upload their creations to the Flipnote Hatena web site.

There is already a wealth of strong stuff on the site, as Japanese hobbyist animators have been working with the software for months. It's definitely worth perusing. This brief animation of Captain Falcon fending off a massive meteor with nothing more than a Falcon Punch, for example, is worth a few seconds of your time. This one, featuring a decapitated Ronald McDonald, is fantastic commentary on... something.

DSi animators not willing to share their creations online can simply share them via built-in wireless or store them to an SD memory card.

Flipnote Studio is available now, no DSi Points needed.

Hammers, hula hoops and other things you use with your hands or hips are not often described as art — at least not as frequently as are paintings and and sculptures. They are not things you often stare at, think about and interpret over a glass of fancy wine.

A lot of the world's stuff can be crudely and often inaccurately divided this way: Objects can suffer or enjoy the liberation of being classified as art — the inspiration for deep thinking and conversation — or objects can be defined as the stuff of utility, spared the fate of being hung on a wall and picked apart. (Music straddles this divide... We might hear it as art, appreciating it or analyzing it. But we may use it as a tool, putting it to use to dance to it, to seduce someone or improve boring drives across Nebraska.)

Yes, a little downloadable DS game, Art Style: Precipice, sent my mind in this direction, triggering my art interpretation muscles just as it did those joints in my fingers that can report to my brain about whether this game is a good use of a subway ride.

Loved
The Best Block Pushing Money Can Buy: One must discuss gameplay first, art fans. Precipice is the latest Art Style game, all of which are simple and one of which was based on cutting and folding boxes. This one defies those who feel Zelda and God of War were the omega of block-pushing gameplay. There are two modes of play (plus relaxing unlockables). Both modes place a little d-pad-controllable man on a floating floor of cubes as more slowly rain from above. He can push and pull them, each step illuminating a tile with a color. Every footfall scores points. In one mode, making full-length paths of a color triggers a multiplier; the other mode rewards points for coating a smaller floor with one color. Plummeting blocks lay foundations for new floors. They'll also kill you if you don't move. The challenge to score, push and climb feels fresh despite being almost entirely what the most tedious Zelda and God of War puzzles are comprised of. Why? I think because it's simple, pure and swift, gameplay for gameplay's sake, motivated by the chase for points.

The Folly Of Man: This game won me over not just because of its gameplay but because of what it made me think about. Its abstraction begs interpretation, like the most simple and mocked modern art. Here is a virtual man striving to reach new heights. And here is a gameplay system that heavily encourages the player to score their biggest points early. And there's a twist. In the game's main mode, the points the player is scoring — the numbers twirling the scoreboard to grand new mileages — do not count unless the little man reaches the top of 10 levels of plummeting blocks. This is not easy, as the bottom-most floor occasionally drops away. A metaphor reveals itself: the zeal for success early in this man's journey can lead to a fleeting thrill, one wiped away, more often than not, by death later on. That early success doesn't count if he can't survive a full journey to the heavens. It is hard to reach that 10th floor, by which time scoring progress is slow. Add this idea: Each step and each push of a block wears this man down. Each labor diminishes his health bar. Only special blocks boost his meter. This is a game where each literal step toward success is debilitating. To live and to do is to decay. How sad.

Hated
The Lumines and Anti-Lumines Problem: All's well, unless the Lumines problem occurs. That's the issue of a game taking too long to get hard, forcing too many repeated playthroughs. The opposite of this problem would be a game being too hard right away before becoming too easy. Both are issues here in the game's two modes. In the main mode, the best scoring tactic — coating the ground floor until it is red — works or fails in the game's first 20 seconds. Failing to do that seems to make the rest of the game, pun-intended, essentially pointless. Score big early or restart. The game's other mode, tower, proves to start too easily, just like Lumines. Both modes are fun, but both reveal disappointing design problems.

I'm glad I played, and I'm glad I got a chance to interpret what I experienced. Next time someone wants to treat games as art — or explore the reliance on block-pushing puzzles — please consult Art Style: Precipice.

Art Style: Precipice was developed by Skip Ltd. and published by Nintendo for download on the DSi on August 3. Retails for 500 Nintendo points ($5 USD). Played all game types. Did not drink wine with pinky extended during any of it.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Thankfully, the ESRB is here to remind us that Nintendo of America will bring the game formerly known as Chotto Panel de Pon stateside. And hopefully soon. Like today's release of Brain Age Express, Puzzle League Express will offer a more bite-sized version of the classic tile swapper.

You may remember (and love) it under its other names, including Tetris Attack and Pokemon Puzzle League. If so, keep an eye peeled for the DSiWare mini-release.