Ladyblogger DSi Party

Last week I did a bit of whining that all the other ladybloggers in the Twin Cities seemed to be getting free Nintendo DSis in exchange for being "Brand Enthusiasts," or, basically, inviting their friends to a DSi "Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming*" party.

I'm a ladyblogger. I like free stuff. Where was my DSi?

But, despite my whining, I decided to go to the party Doniree was hosting (Amber was also nice enough to invite me to hers, but I was under the impression at the time that my camping trip was going to last more than one night and I wouldn't be able to make it.)

So last night, with no idea what to expect, I headed to the Soo Visual Arts Center** for the event, and when I first entered, I saw a number of hot ladies who were dressed in all black, had some sort of fanny-pack-yet-more-stylish deal around their waists, and looked a little bit like Nintendo secret agents.

This was a little intimidating, but I was soon greeted with a giant hug from Doniree, got to meet Kaeti for the first time, and was promptly handed a DSi to play with. So far, so good.

One of the hot girls started to explain one of the games to me, but then I noticed that there was a huge spread of sandwiches and other tasty snacks from Whole Foods and a hot waiter with long hair and some sort of generic European accent (Nintendo, you know your audience) serving unlimited wine and champagne. Which obviously meant I needed some food and drinks.

Anyway, back to the games. There were five stations set up: general info on the DSi (a.k.a. playing with the camera), some sort of crossword/jumble game (right up my alley), Mario Kart (hooray for dorm life nostalgia), some sort of music game (requiring more rhythm than I possess), and Brain Age (not great for the self esteem, and I don't think the wine was helping my mental math skills).

At each station, we were given a gold coin that we would be able to redeem for prizes at the end of the night. Which I definitely didn't think was going to be a free DSi (!!!) for everyone there.

I mean, I thought there might be some sort of drawing where they'd give away a few of them, but I didn't think all of the ladies there would be going home with one (though Art had told me he was concerned this might happen and that it would interfere with my job search).

I mean, look at the shock and excitement Doniree captured when they started passing them out, particularly from the girl to my left:


So anyway, I have a new toy that hopefully won't distract me from my job search even more than the Wii. Strangely enough, I think my favorite feature so far is its Wi-Fi capabilities (I don't have a smart phone, okay?), but that might change when I actually get some game cartridges.

In any case, it was a great evening, and I have no qualms about writing this enthusiastic blog post so that Nintendo's PR firm can put this in their "tracker" and count some "impressions."

Because that's what it's all about, right?

*They kept shortening it to "GGG," but this made me keep thinking of the way Dan Savage uses this acronym and making me feel uncomfortable.

**Note: If you're heading to a location near Lyndale and 27th and the only thing you can remember is that the word "art" is in the name, you might be in trouble. I had never noticed how many galleries and such there were around there, and I did a little bit of wandering.