Yesterday I bought a R4DS. It arrived today. This is pretty good going, if you ask me, and a credit to the Royal Mail.

“But what the hell is it?” you ask! “Is it another one of those Swedish… devices you used to use?” you add, cautiously. And since we’re narrating this conversation let’s say I try to feign shock at that last bit, and throw in some indignation for good measure. I then patiently explain how this device is a game cartridge for a Nintendo DS which accepts a micro SD card.

What you put on this SD card is up to you, of course. You might put music on it (MP3, OGG, other things, I don’t know), or specially formatted video, maybe eBooks? Its primary purpose, however, is to be filled with .NDS files – “rips”, or “dumps” if you will, of legitimate DS cartridges. Such files are, of course, widely available, so long as you know which tube to look in.

Thus far it has been found to work without flaw or seam. I have now entrusted the device to Helen until after my final exam on Friday, at which point she may or may not relinquish control. Nintendogs, it seems, is able to consign an individual into some kind of trance-like state, one in which they maintain only a peripheral connection with our crude fleshspace.