I'm not sure that it's the right thing to do, but I'll be getting the DSi. The new feature of the store is probably what will win me over, just because I'm a fan of that kind of system. But the camera, media player, and anything else they throw on will not push me to get one.

Of course, I did just get a new DS Lite because I broke my first one, so I might not upgrade immediately. Only when I find about 10 things on the DSi that I definitely want.

I think that it is a great game, but that I expected more. The early stages should have lasted longer and should have more depth, especially the creature stage. I remember an interview with Will, and he was showing how you can grab and drag a dead thing around. Didn't see any of that. And it just didn't seem very realistic. Why, after eating three Bugs, should they be completely extinct? Especially when there's 10 of them. I think that it should have lasted long enough to get used to different hazards, like something big to the north, and feeding grounds to the west, and a friend to the south. And moving from Creature to Tribal felt like it was a different world with the same landmass. Creatures should have stuck around if I didn't kill them.

Tribal and Civ stages seemed to be fine for me, although I was a military nation. The AI should have killed me off at one point, but whatever. I didn't like that tanks/planes/ships built instantly, felt really tacked on. I liked the rest of it. Reasons for the different weapon types would have also been nice, other than it always fires or it doesn't. And maybe some research time would be good, but not required to have fun. And it also should have been long enough to get used to hazards.

Space stage is both great and horrible at the same time, mostly for the same reasons. There are tons of stars, and it's laid out in 3D, not a single plane, which is great. But there are tons of stars, and it's laid on in 3D, not a single plane, which is near impossible to fly through quickly. Nations are too close together for my tastes, running into planets all around me that don't want me there isn't the greatest thing at the start of the stage. I would also like to be able to form a fleet with my own style of ships, instead of needing an ally. That doesn't make sense if you're going to conquer the entire galaxy. Which also seems impossible, since you're probably getting your ship blown up a lot if you're at war. 5v2 is so much fun, although I hear it gets better later into the space age. Invading planets is never explained, which is something I would like to know.

Now, if you read that and think that this means I hate the game, that's wrong. The creators are great, the graphics are good, and while I'm annoyed at probably losing the round I'm in right now, it's the luck of the draw. I plan on playing through this game multiple times, if only to have fun with the creators and imagining what the game could be. Hopefully there will be some patches to fix the major things, like navigating and war in space.