After nearly a month of playing it, my son and I just finished “The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.” My son got his Nintendo DS and Zelda for Christmas. The family got a Wii. I know a lot of attention is (rightfully) placed on the Wii. However, in the nearly month we’ve had the two systems, the Nintendo DS has been played far more–bar none–than the Wii. Part of this can be attributed to the DS’ portability. Zelda is the other part. This game is great. It’s a classic. It used every part of the DS’ unique design–the stylus (for character movement), the multi-directional pad (for accessing item menus), and–I love this–the mic (for blowing out candles and powering windmills)–to great effect.

With games and systems like Zelda, the DS, and the Wii, it’s hard not to be a Nintendo fanboy. Nintendo is to video gaming as Apple is to consumer electronics/computing. Both companies have creativity ingrained within their respective company’s ethos. Their competitors’ stocks and sales continue to drop. Why? They don’t innovate. Nintendo and Apple do. I don’t own their stock (I should have bought in 2000), but as a consumer, I’m happy to contribute to their bottom-line as long as they create stuff like Zelda.