DS Lite, the Hand Slayer!

Ever thought there could be blood on your hands from all that monster bashing on DS Lite? Well, if you're a super sized individual with a palm that could hold a basketball on its own, then chances are you'll literally get to see this. Recent Pocket Gamer blog reveals some of the backward problems no-one really thought about while buying their DS Lite. It seems the handheld is too small and cute for its own good, or the user's, for that matter. After long hours of gaming sessions, the hand starts to feel sore regardless of size, yet large handed people seem to find this out a lot sooner. As the picture implies, the relatively sharper edges of DS Lite cause serious strain on the palm, since the contact surface is way smaller. It's like cutting yourself with a paper knife: slow, painful and deliberate.

"The problem - unsurprisingly - is the smaller size of the DS Lite, which means instead of being able to support your DS without it digging into your hand, you're more likely to end up grinding the more tightly curved bottom corner of the DS Lite into your palm where your life and head lines meet, as you frantically try to press the shoulder button and action buttons simultaneously... Another contributing factor is the flat sides of the DS Lite. The DS Fat, in contrast, has concave edges which spreads the contact over a wider area of your hand. The DS Lite's top edge does the opposite."

Such ergonomic atrocities are nothing new in the games business. By comparison, the original Xbox controller was a wash out, because it was tested on large North American hands and not the more petite Asian versions. Here's the ironic payback of the Japanese market, while DS Lite seems to have experienced things in reverse. Since the community hasn't gone screaming wolf yet, it seems the problem can see some relief. Although it might be funny to see a large individual holding DS Lite with his finger tips, like a crystal glass. Thus started Nintendo's history of making things too small. I wonder if the Wii will come in different sizes as well. Wii Lite!