You know you're an odd gamer when it's 2014 and you're seriously considering buying a metallic rose DSi XL rather than something more current

I know I suggested at the tail end of 2013 that I wouldn't be buying any new systems this year, but I'm seriously considering tossing that pseudo-promise into the trash so I can pick up a metallic rose DSi XL.

Granted, the DSi XL isn't really a "new" system like the PS4, Vita and Wii U are, and those are the kinds of systems I was referring to when I made the aforementioned end-of-the-year proclamation, but if I were to be completely honest I'd admit my original plan was to avoid buying any new systems, period, in 2014, so I feel kind of like a putz for even considering picking up a DSi XL sometime within the next 12 months.

All that said, I really want one. Especially one of the metallic rose variety. 

Why? Well, I've always wanted one, for starters. And then there's the fact that I've always preferred playing games on original hardware. (As in, I'd rather play GBA games on an actual GameBoy Advance system than on a DS, just like I'd rather play DS games on an actual DS than on a 3DS.)

The question is: should I just get over myself and play all of the DS games I recently picked up (and I picked up a bunch--look for posts devoted to them in the coming weeks and months) on one of my 3DSes? Or should I blow $150 just so I can avoid obsessing about the "black bars" and such?  

Whether it's coral, misty or pearl (pink), I want it!

I don't know about you, but I find it kind of funny how Nintendo's marketers alter, from region to region, the adjectives they attach to the colors of their company's handheld game systems.

Take the pink 3DS that hit store shelves throughout North America earlier today. When systems drenched in the very same color were released in Japan in late October, they were called "misty pink," and when those systems hit the streets in Europe last month, they were called "coral pink."



I'm not sure what verbiage they'll use to describe North American 3DSes covered with this particular shade of pink, but if the DS Lite and DSi XL are any indication they'll probably call it "pearl" or "rose" or something rather matronly like that.

Regardless, I want one. Here's hoping my parents didn't already buy me a flame red one for Christmas--or that they're willing to return it for a coral/misty/pearl pink one.

But I thought Nintendo was killing off the DSi XL?

File this piece of news under "things that make you go hmmm," folks:

According to Amazon, the "metallic rose" (aka pink) DSi XL seen below will be released in North America on Sept. 18. (Pre-order it here.)

As if that isn't strange enough, said DSi XL will be sold at the same price ($169.99) as the still-trying-to-gain-a-foothold-in-the-hearts-and-minds-of-consumers 3DS.



Now, I'm no business guru, but wouldn't it be better/smarter to, say, release a pink 3DS rather than a pink DSi XL at this point in time?

All that said, I'd totally pick up one of these DSi XLs if they were the same color as the "coral pink" DS Lites that took up space on North American store shelves a few years ago.