As of Tuesday, DS Lites started popping up on Walmart shelves, followed shortly by Target and Sears. Anyone who isn't of a mind to wait until the 11th may want to poke around their towns, as they might get lucky. It hinges mostly on finding lazy employees, apparently, as the management of these companies have been made aware that the thing isn't supposed to be for sale, so employees who are actually on the ball will refuse to sell it, even if it's in stock.
As for me:
I like lazy employees.
Meanwhile, I had this conversation on the phone with the local EB Games store:
Me: Hey, do you guys have in the DS Lites?
Retail slave: No, actually it's not coming until June 11th.
Me: Yeah, except the Target right down the street has them in stock now.
Retail slave: (stridently) That's because they're illegally violating the street date.
Me: Yeah. Innit great?
Poor EB, their higher standards of release date ethics cost them a console sale. But it's not all bad for them; even though I canceled my pre-order, I bought the games from them, and that's where the profit is.
As for the console itself, it's pretty swank. It has that same glossy transparent white plastic as Apple products, and is small, light, and bright. Every reason I had not to buy the original DS is now out of the picture.
Oh, but be sure to buy screen protectors for it. As anyone with a PDA can attest, stylus scratches all over the screen of your expensive new toy make baby Jesus cry.
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