::A Geek in Korea::

So, my constant badgering about purchasing a Nintendo handheld to my friends has finally caused someone to cave in. Really, who could resist the Lite anyway? He bought it specifically to play Tetris DS and challenged me to a throwdown once he got online with the console. This isn’t the first time we’ve thrown down the digital Tetris gauntlets. He’s kicked my ass at Tetrinet more than a few times.

I think my undoing is that I always spread myself across about three to four different DS games a month. The library of games to play is so huge, and I don’t like to have my gaming skills grow stale playing something too much. My friend only owns one other game in addition to Tetris, and that’s Brain Training. Tetris DS was out of my rotation for the last few weeks while I worked off my New Super Mario Brother’s obsession.

I haven’t been keeping sharp like I should have on anticipation of him purchasing a DS. He had given me fair warning. I had purchased several online titles and had managed to get online a few months ago, but I haven’t made regular DS online play a habit. I’ve been busy playing Nexus Wars anyway. I’d occasionally get online to play a game or two, but never really felt the satisfaction of sticking an "I" tetrimino in a perfect slot for a Tetris. However, I got the chance to play some good rounds today.

It seems that my friend and I both have our strengths. He dominated me at "standard" tetris mode, easily beating me the majority of our games. I fared much better at the unique "Push" mode created for the dual screen. It’s not that I am better, it’s just that I just have slightly more experience at the moment and was able to capitalize on his inexperience. I’m sure that once he gets as good as he is in the standard mode I’ll stand no chance again.

Now that I’ve managed to get New Super Mario Brother’s out of my system, I might go back to improving at Tetris for a rematch. It’s awesome to have someone to play online against once again. Everyone else, I’d advise you to pick up a DS lite, or a used DS phat and get in on the action when possible. Check my friend’s code page to see if I end up with any other Nintendo DS WiFi games that you can challenge me at.