How irritating, seriously.
I was originally going to preorder a DS Lite through Lik-Sang, but fortunately, I ran out of money in February. By the time I got paid in March, I discovered a few things that are a bit irritating.
Firstly, Nintendo decided to change the charger. Nobody has created a USB charging cable that fits the DS Lite's charger port yet, and I really don't want to buy two step-down transformers just for the sake of charging the unit in two places like I currently charge my classic DS. So basically there is nothing to be done until either someone releases a USB charger for the unit, or until an adapter for the plug comes out for some kind of universal charging system (like the ones Tandy have.) USB is much better though, because it lets me leech from a laptop if I'm in a pinch.
But most annoyingly, Lik-Sang have jacked the price up to 199 USD. 199 USD... only 55 USD more expensive than the fair price for the unit ( http://www.google.com.au/search?q=16800+jpy+in+usd ). Now, I know they say "supply and demand", but Nintendo haven't changed their price due to supply shortages, so anyone who does jack their prices up is simply being an arsehole for the sake of extra profits. It's not like Lik-Sang have to do extra work just to sit on their butts for a couple of weeks until they get some units.
Anyway, we're in a nice bit of limbo now. I'm just about ready to try one of those private importer people, although I know that it will still involve a few weeks wait and the odds are, when the new stocks come through, some major importer will go back to offering it for a more reasonable price.
You can wait until the discount retailers get some, or sell your old DS for $50 or so and cut your early adopter losses.
DS Lite review
http://news4vip.livedoor.biz/archives/50522626.html
(Japanese)
That 3D Mario is pretty cool.
>>2
Nah, I want to keep the old DS around to help with multiplayer, since everyone I know who owns a DS has a bad habit of not bringing it around when they come over.
I'll just wait until the supplies come back in I guess, then use the Friend In Japan [TM] approach to get it.