My birthday's coming up in a couple weeks - March 12, to be exact - and the only thing I want is a Nintendo DS Lite. I thought about getting one last year around the same time because I had pretty much quit playing my GBA and felt it was time for a new handheld, but I put it off and must now face the decision of whether or not to wait an extra 3 weeks and get a DSi instead. I'm leaning toward the Lite, but some of the features on the DSi are kinda tempting:

DS Lite                                                                                     DSi
3-inch screen                                                                         3.25-inch screen
GBA backwards compatibility / accessory slot                SD card slot
Microphone; No camera                                                      Microphone; 0.3 mp inside camera / 3.0 mp outside camera
No music player                                                                    AAC music player that I don't need
Nice Cobalt/Black                                                                 Weird Blue OR Black
$130                                                                                        $170

     I know there are more changes being made, but those are the ones that matter to me. Screen size shouldn't be a big concern. I don't necessarily need a music player, although it could be used to free up some storage space on my crappy 1st-gen iPod Nano. Playing GBA games is far from my biggest concern, but neither do I expect to buy too many games from the DSi store, though it is something to look into. The camera and hardware specs are the real determining factors, as I don't have my own camera and 3.0 megapixels is a good deal more than my phone has on it. Some of the image editing tools look neat, too.

     Also, the price. I could buy a whole other game with the $40 saved, if I go for the DS Lite. The games I'm set on are FF Tactics A2, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin ($15 @ Toys R' Us!), and Pokemon Platinum, which I preordered on a whim the other night. I'm still mulling over Chrono Trigger, FFIV and Professor Layton in my mind, and would like something to break myself away from all the strategizing. Any suggestions as to good games would be appreciated. I'm also looking at maybe buying Persona 4 (thanks to Vinny & Jeff) and the complete Cowboy Bebop series.

     So tell me what you guys think. I'm probably gonna stick with the DS Lite, but give me some good reasons as to why I shouldn't. And just give your general opinions on the DSi itself. Cool or no?