With a kind stroll past the fully stocked shelves of certain money-making videogame retailers you will likely happen upon one section that suffers from some strangely colorful disorder.

That section most definitely houses the Nintendo DS and its robust software library.

It's a sight to behold.  Candy critters of the average and anthropomorphic varitety pepper every nook.  I'm sure I enter some sort of Wonderland walking into this aisle.  A land where cute is in, and I can imagine I'm a teacher or a baby or a dog or probably even a  sky-diving, horn-tooting, troubadour.

How incredibly surprising that I,  a previously-secure-with-my-gaming-sexuality hardcore console gamer,  stand in front of this cacophony  of colors and bravely reach my arm through.  It's more fun than the average software hunting romp.  It takes time and patience to click back and forth between the pink squirrels and cute glasses-wearing female math instructors before finding that beautiful seed of gaming goodness.  It could be compared to a one-off at a small record shop where you pull out a Roxy Music among the slog of ill-devised Christmas albums.

And on the Nintendo DS there really is a wealth of fun  and engrossing experiences that can be completely unique and new.  I knew I needed some gaming on the go for my commute to school and choosing between a DS and PSP was a tough choice;  at first.  I started to see handheld gaming as an art form all its own.  The PSP felt more like  a console conversion made to fit in my hands than a device that segmented itself from the home experience.

Handheld gaming is more akin to a book.  You snuggle up alongside it and play it before you go to sleep.  You use it to dull the bore of a lulling train  By its nature you can create a secluded bubble and live there with your little handheld universe.  It's a feat to forget you're sitting in your living room but it's totally something else when you realize you're suddenly three towns over because of a missed train stop. 

There's something powerful about knowing that at any second at any place in the world you can be in and out of a game and experiencing something in a fashion you can't anywhere else.   When talking about gaming the handheld adventure is too often minimized.  Blame it on big budgets and head honchos and the other guys we like to blame things on.  It's really a necessary avenue to get to understanding and loving gaming as a whole.   

They can compliment each other so wonderfully, console and handheld.  Like chocolate and peanut butter, jelly and peanut butter, bread and peanut butter, and the often overlooked but delicious ice cream and peanut butter.  To go along with my wonderful console I've developed a serious and dangerous affair with my handheld.   I initially felt like I was stealing kisses from a foreign seductress.  I've gotten past those illicit thoughts.  I can comfortably say I game on a handheld, and I'm proud. 

Applause.