The Nintendo DS has been nothing but a success since its release six years ago. With three different iterations improving and enhancing the portable gaming device, there’s almost no excuse not to own one — especially with the recent announcement of Nintendo’s next groundbreaking handheld: the 3DS.

Make no mistake, the upcoming Nintendo 3DS is by no means another iteration of the well known DS handheld, as the DS Lite and DSi were. The 3DS is meant to be the next brand new child of Nintendo’s famous handheld line, building upon the successful DS design but adding one revolutionary feature, synonymous with its name: 3-D technology. And before you complain, there are no lame 3-D glasses involved; the 3DS produces good quality 3-D visuals with no strings attached, and you can even switch the 3-D effects on and off, just like you can control the volume level. Since the handheld’s announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this past summer, the enthusiasm in the video game industry has been wild, and the patience thin. And don’t think for a second that 3-D is all Nintendo has up its sleeve. With full backwards compatibility, Virtual Console downloads to buy original Game Boy games and an added analog stick, Nintendo is making sure you get the bang for your buck. If you somehow have yet to own any DS system, or you simply enjoy handheld gaming, then save that cash now because the 3DS will be here in March.

And for those of you who have the current generation of the DS and are looking for something to satiate your handheld gaming desires, look no further than Super Scribblenauts, releasing this Tuesday. Super Scribblenauts is the sequel to the innovative sans adjective game from last year; Scribblenauts enabled users to solve puzzles with creativity, the player’s best weapon. The main attraction of the game was the ability to type a noun into an input box, and voila! The item appears on screen. For example, if the puzzle requires finding buried treasure, typing in “shovel” would create an in-game version. In Scribblenauts, the sky is the limit, as virtually the entire dictionary of nouns can be used to solve the hundreds of puzzles stored in the game. In Super Scribblenauts, developer 5th Cell fine-tuned clunky game mechanics from the earlier incarnation and expanded the vocabulary at the player’s disposal tenfold, along with the ability to add adjectives to any noun that could be used in the first game. Is that handyman not useful enough? Make him “zombified” or “telekinetic.” That apple pie too bland? Make it “pickled” or “explosive.” Not until pigs fly, right? Well, there are “winged pigs” to solve that problem.

5th Cell has said that with the sequel, it wanted to emphasize the puzzle-solving, rather than the more action-oriented sections of the first game. There’s still plenty of room for humor, and with that kind of package, there’s no doubt that this game will keep you entertained until your eyes feast on some 3-D visuals next year. Super Scribblenauts hopes not only to inject some more liveliness back into the series but also to give the mechanics the refinement they desperately need.

On the bus, in between classes, no matter where you are, handheld gaming is popular because it’s convenient. Entertainment is highly valuable when you’re swamped with work and meetings, so give your brain a fun workout with Super Scribblenauts this fall. And by the time you’re done, your brain will get another workout absorbing the breathtaking 3-D that Nintendo can’t wait to release.