If You Actually Want to Play Games, Get the New Nintendo 2. DS XLThe Nintendo Switch exists, and is a fantastic gaming system that you can, in a pinch, play in a bar, a car, or on the train. Phones exist too, and the games on them are better than ever. So why the hell should you own anything elseQ. Why does Mortons toe seem like the rule and not the exception during sandal seasonA. Mortons toe, in which the second toe is longer than the big toe, has a. Reddit user Toweringhorizon painstakingly assembled the drawing To a Little Radio using MS Paint tools like the oil brush, stretching the medium while. A goat that was extremely bored, ornery, or both decided to smash in the front door of polyurethane manufacturer Argonics Inc. s Colorado office this weekend, and. Because games. The Switchs library is still small, and smartphones still lack those games you can get lost in for days. So if you want a mobile system that can go anywhere and play some of the best games ever designed, you need something from the Nintendo 3. DS family, which despite being seven years old, shows no signs of being at the end of its life any time soon. What is it A souped up 2. DS that finally folds. Like. Its a perfect blend of price and games. No Like. The hinge feels a little cheap. Theres have been six 3. DS consoles over the last seven years, each with some flaw that kept it from being the perfect blend of tech and affordabilitybut the New Nintendo 2. DS XL changes that. As I write this review youll notice I capitalize New when talking about the New Nintendo 2. DS XL. That isnt an affectation on my part. Its part of Nintendos super confusing naming scheme. The New 2. DS, and the New 3. DS launched back in 2. DS system. Its not just a new chassisthese systems can play games the original 2. DS and 3. DS cannot, like Xenosaga Chronicles 3. D, or a wide range of SNES games including Donkey Kong Country, Street Fighter Alpha 2, and F Zero. There arent that many exclusive games, but there are enough good ones that if you already own an older 3. DS system youre probably wishing you had the new one. The New 2. DS, like the New 3. DS, also has a faster processor, a micro. SD slot for on console storage, NFC capabilities for all your Amiibos, two new buttons on the shoulders of the device, and a C Stick analog joystick. This is, in every way, an upgrade over any non New 2. DS, 3. DS or 3. DS XL you might own. The New Nintendo 2. DS XL isnt just an update to the ugly old 2. DS that looked more like a bargain bin knock off than a system from the company that created mobile gaming. With the new device, Nintendo ditches the 2. DSs ugly slab design to mimic the folding design of every other 3. DS. At 1. 50, its 7. DS and a full 6. New Nintendo 3. DS XL the 3. DS XL doesnt include a charger, so I added that price to the total. This is now the mid range mobile console, and unless you really, really like 3. D, it should be the one you buy. Besides being cheaper than the New 3. DS XL, its also much lighter. It weighs 9. 2 ouncesthe same as the original 2. DS. The 3. DS XL weights 1. You might not consider that a major difference, but I definitely notice it when I toss the 3. DS into my purse, and I often forget I have the 2. DS in there. Its also smaller, folded up, than both of the other consoles currently available in the 3. DS lineup. The slab like 2. DS is 5 inches by 5. The New 2. DS XL folds up to 3. Which is not just significantly more pocketable than its predecessors, its also slightly smaller than the 3. DS XL, which folds up to 3. Unlike the original 2. DS, this system isnt punishing people for hating 3. D or wanting to save money. Its the best 3. DS system available, only with a little size and one feature shaved off. It even improves on the New 3. DS XL That system has two big issues with it The game cartridge is always visible, and always ugly, and you need a screwdriver and a little patience in order to replace the micro. SD card. The New 2. DS XL solves both problems by hiding both slots behind a little door on the bottom of the device. But the 2. DS XL is not without a few minor problems. The speakers have been moved from the top half of the device to tiny slots on the bottom that your palms often cover. So when your palms cover the speakers the sound gets muffled, and when theyre uncovered the speakers sound far tinnier. The sliders and hinge feel cheaper too, with the hinge having a little give to it as illustrated to the left. The New 3. DS XL feels positively luxurious beside it. Its the Lexus to this guys really solid Toyota Camry. As someone who has frequently driven a Camry, I am totally okay with that The Nintendo 2. DS XL is more than enough machine for me. With the huge choice of fantastic DS, 3. DS, and New 3. DS games on the system, and a brand new Metroid game just a month away, I dont think this gadgets gonna be leaving my bag any time soon. If you already own a New 3. DS XL, but never use the 3. D than this might be worth a look, and if youre upgrading from the original 3. DS or just dipping your toes into legit mobile gaming, then this is the console to buy when it goes on sale July 2. READMEThe first 2. DS that doesnt force cheapskates and 3. D haters to compromise. It has a similar footprint to the 3. DS XL, but is much lighter. Feels a little more cheaply made than the 3. DS XL, but still feels very durable. Plays a lot of really good games. Summer of Science Q A A Lot of Big Toes Arent the Biggest. Last week, NASA released a glorious animated GIF of the moon passing in front of the Earth that looked like a bad Photoshop cut and paste. The colors do not even line up right. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, the spacecraft to which the pictures were credited, is located at the L1 Lagrangian Point, a fancy name for the point in space nearly a million miles away where the gravitational pull of the sun and of the Earth essentially cancel out. But that would mean the sun was directly behind the spacecraft, and the shadow of the moon should have crossed Earth as it passed in front. But theres no shadow and such lighting incongruities are usually the smoking gun of manipulated images. Those convinced that NASA has been faking pictures since 1. NASA, of course, explains otherwise. The spacecraft, called Dscovr for short, is not exactly at L1, but instead circles around it. That makes sense, because there are four spacecraft at L1, and one would not want them to smash into one another. Adam Szabo, the NASA scientist in charge of Dscovrs Earth facing camera, said via email, As the small sliver of shadow at the right edge of the moon shows, Dscovr is about 5 degrees away from the sun Earth line. Thus, when the moon is between Dscovr and Earth, it is not exactly between the sun and Earth, so no eclipse. But imagine the amazing images Dscovr will capture during the next partial solar eclipse, on Sept. March 9 next year. NASA explains that the mismatched colors are because of the movement of the moon. Each color image is a composite of three black and white pictures taken through three different color filters about 3. By the way, the side of the moon seen in the animation is the far side, not the dark side. It is facing the sun, so therefore it would be bright daytime, just like on the surface of the Earth. Just as on Earth, half of the moon is always in darkness nighttime, in other words but the far side is not continually dark. Update According to the NASA team, the partial solar eclipse on Sept. Dscovrs position. The moon will be completely outside the cameras field of view, Stephen Cole, a NASA spokesman, said via email. But the March 2. 01. Thats iffy at this point because the spacecraft orbital dynamics are still getting settled, Mr. Cole said. But if orbital mechanics work out just right, EPIC as NASA calls the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the spacecraft could capture the moons round shadow moving across the equator. The moon itself may also be in the field of view. KENNETH CHANG.