DS Lite available June 11 for $130

John Falcone Senior Editorial Director, Shopping

John P. Falcone is the senior director of commerce content at CNET, where he coordinates coverage of the site's buying recommendations alongside the CNET Advice team (where he previously headed the consumer electronics reviews section). He's been a CNET editor since 2003.

Expertise Over 20 years experience in electronics and gadget reviews and analysis, and consumer shopping advice Credentials

Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)

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John Falcone

May 4, 2006 5:50 a.m. PT

The Nintendo DS Lite will be available in the United States on June 11 for $130, according to a press release issued by the company. In addition to being smaller and lighter than the original DS, the DS Lite offers notably brighter screens and a more stylish design. The DS Lite has been available in Japan since March 2 in three different colors, but only the iPod-like polar white model will be coming to America--for starters, at least.

American gamers will welcome the fact that the Lite will be arriving in little more than a month and--impressively--at exactly the same $130 price for which the original DS currently sells. By comparison, we ordered our Japanese DS Lite through game importer Lik-sang.com and paid a bit more than $200 after shipping. And as you can see from our early review, we found the improved cosmetics and brighter screen of the DS Lite to be a worthwhile improvement over those of its predecessor.

The same Nintendo press release also confirmed that New Super Mario Brothers will be released on May 15, ensuring that current and future DS/DS Lite owners will have at least one more must-have game to play on their dual-screen portable.

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