I’m not a 
gamer 
, never have been1. The only game(s) on any of my computers are what comes from the manufacturer. However, I got a GameBoy Advance SP for Christmas (I put it on my list) and I’m really enjoying it.
I’ve been very impressed with the GameBoy unit itself. Great battery life, simple controls (two buttons is about all I can or want to handle), decent screen, and nice and compact.
When I play a game, I don’t want to think that much. I also don’t want to spend a lot of time – about 5-10 minutes max. I’ve gotten a couple of games and most of them have a 5 minute mode.
- Madden Football 2005 – the 2 minute drill is perfect, who wants to play defense anyway?
- Tiger Woods Golf – I mainly play practice rounds, about 3 holes a session.
- Mario Cart – time trials are my friend.
- Dr. Mario – I’ll admit it, I can’t get past level 2 (or 3 or whatever it is).
My only gripe is with the start-up time (especially for the EA Sports games) is way too long. When I have a minute or two to waste playing a game, I don’t want to waste the first 30 seconds on splash screens. 🙂
Anyway, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my new gaming toy and have been playing with it a couple times a week.
- I had the original Nintendo system as a kid, but didn’t play it that much. In particular, I never got into any game with a plot. [up]
Hey, when it comes to Madden 2005, I love playing defense. 🙂
I dunno, defense is hard. Maybe if I read the book and knew what the controls did… 🙂
Wow, I’ve never heard of someone doing such short sessions. You should look into Wario Ware. All of the games are designed to last about 3 seconds each and they hit you with one after the other. Fun but easy to walk away from if you’re short for time.
I was also going to recommend Wario Ware. It’s awesome for gamers like us who like to pick up and put down a game in a few minutes. The startup is fairly quick, it’s easy to get into a gaming session, and if you turn it off in the middle of a round of games, you don’t really feel like you’ve lost any time.
This is what I do. Go and buy a ROM card (512 MB will do nicely). You can see some site here. Then there are sites out there that offer download of games for the rom. I have a 512 MB card and can get about 12 games on it. This is nice becuase if you get bored with one game you have 11 others to pick from. Another good site is here. I do alot of traveling and this has been wonderful for me. Plus you can download all the old classic NES games that for your GBA.
This sounds a lot like what I did – not much of a gamer either, but it’s a nice “empty brain” diversion for me.
I’ve been playing “Mario Golf: Adventure Tour” – which has been a pretty decent little game – I’ve been debating whether to get Madden 2005 or not.
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I’m the same way with handheld gaming consoles, I usually just use them on the bus or for a short break at work. One game I really like is Super mario bros. It’s the same game as from the classic NES so you can whip through levels realy fast and save where you are and start there next time. Give it a try.
GBA is awesome ! I’ve been playin a bit of mario golf myself actually 🙂