One more Christmas gift question - Nintendo DS

One more question for you guys, as I prepare to do shopping for my kids. My oldest son, who is 7, asked for a DS for Christmas. I don't know anything about them. I see there is a DS, DS Lite, DSi, 3DS. What's the difference between them? I tried doing some research, but the stuff I found were write ups done in 2008, so I assume they're out of date now. The Nintendo website is blocked at my office, so I can't look there.

We currently have a Wii, which he enjoys. We don't let him play more than a few times per week, and we'll do the same with the DS. But I don't know which system would be best for a 7 year old. I don't want to waste money on a fancy system that he's too young to get the benefit out of.

I saw the other thread here about game systems. But that seems to be focusing on the bigger game consoles. I'm looking for the small hand held one.

The DSi is the second most-current. It plays all the old DS-style games. The 3DS I'm not sure about, but it takes advantage of stereoscopic games written for it and produces a believable if mild 3D effect.

If it does in fact play DS games with no compatibility issues, that's probably the one I'd go for. It's been out for a year or more so the "New Thing" tax has worn off. Otherwise, get the DSi. The Lite is I believe just a smaller DS and is aged pretty heavily at this point, as has the original DS.

My kids had/have: DSLite DSi DSi XL 3DS.

The 3DS is the best of them all. The 3D effect is neat and it plays NetFlix as well. We've not run into any problems playing original DS games.

Also, look into flashcarts for whatever you get. ;)

mother-in-law bought one for the kids for Christmas this year... we ended up going with the 3DS $145 on sale at target right now... crazy being you can get a new WII or XBOX 360 (on sale) for the same or less... but the DS is one of the top gaming machines for 13 and unders (followed by the Ipad and Ipod touch sadly)

there was a bit of hoopla about the 3d being bad for kids developing eyes... and if you are the "i need 532 airbags in my car to keep my honey pumpkin pie safe" type of person you may want to steer clear of it "just in case"... although you can turn off the 3d effect at the flick of a slider

as mentioned will play standard DS games, will netflix, take pics (in that weird 3d format if you want)... can also download games form online (very similar to the Wii)... will also play MP3s

if I was to buy one it would be the DSlite (would have to be bought used)... it will also play gameboy advanced games (which can be had all day long for under $5 each)...

if you have done homebrew mod to your wii you'll understand this a bit more... you can do the same sort of thing with any of them... would allow you to watch movies, install ROMS for NES, SNES, N64, PSX, atari, game boy, GBA, Genisis, etc... costs about $18 for the card + the cost of the micro SD card you'll need

i'm looking forward to the next road trip... a set of headphones and loading up the system with music, games and movies should help keep them occupied without all the mess and arguing of coloring books and such lol

My boys have the DS XL. It is nice because the screen is bigger.