I am 35 and I feel like it is my age group is the first generation that has grown up with gaming. I think my generation got started on gaming at a very young age and many of us never let go of it, or at least did not want to let go of it. It is not that uncommon on Xbox LIVE to find people in their thirties and forties, and I have come across a few guys in their fifties.

A simple principle in life is gamers want to play video games. But what happens when gamers start getting to much responsibility in their lives? A career, spouse, children, owning a home, all of these things slowly chip away at the endless hours that use to be enjoyed playing video games that we love so much. The answer is portable gaming. No longer are portable games the tool of parents to keep their children pacified for long car rides. This is the new means of older gamers to stay with their true passion in life. When gamers no longer have time to sit down and play video games for three to four hours, portable gaming allows the gamer to pick up a game play for fifteen to twenty minutes and then set it back down. The great feature about handheld gaming consoles is obvious fact that they are portable. Both the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS Lite can help pass time while riding public transportation to work. The Nintendo DS Lite fits into a shirt pocket quite well, it can be pulled out for the morning fifteen minute break, and put away quickly before the boss sees that WENUS report numbers are not the all important factor in your life.

The other key feature in hand held consoles is the fact they can be put down as quick as they are picked up. Portable gaming can also be enjoyed while you are at home besides when you are on the go. When your significant other hollers out, “Honey, come quick!” the portable game can usually be very quickly put to sleep until this earth shattering emergency has been dealt with. If your spouse absolutely has to watch Grey’s Anatomy, and then catch up on the TIVO recorded episodes of Desperate Housewives, the gamer’s access to the family TV can be quite limited. Having a hand held console and a quite corner of the house can save the sanity of even the most patient gamer.

The Nintendo DS Lite is experiencing enormous success. It is even out selling every other console on the market right now. I think there are several reasons for this:

1. The main reason thing is selling so fast is it has fun games!
2. The control scheme is pretty easy to pick up, using the touch pad for most games seems very natural.
3. It fits into the lives of busy older gamers that may only have fifteen to twenty minutes to play.
4. The controls are almost identical to the controls older gamers remember from the Nintendo NES.

So to all the young gamers out there I say to you savor these years of guilt free enjoyment. Enjoy the time you have, the playing your favorite RPG or FPS from the time you wake up at noon until dawn the next day. Soon you will be like me and a career, a wife, two children, and what seems like a never ending “Honey Do List” will cut the all day marathon console gaming sessions down to a meager hour or two every other day. Then you too will have to find ways to sneak in small indulgences of your pixilated guilty pleasure!