Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson) In December 2004, my boyfriend showed up at my apartment door carrying a box. "I brought you a present!" he said, clearly excited. "Open it!" 'Tis the season, I thought, unwrapping it. I turned the box around. "A... Nintendo... DS? Is this, like... a Game Boy kind of thing?" As I fought my way through layers of cardboard and plastic to open my new toy, he pulled a matching unit out of his own messenger bag, opened it up, and began to explain.