I was under assumption that this was a known defect for DS lite and Nintendo was fixing this free of charge if you have a unit with defective hinge.

I have 3 DS Lite, the first one was Japanese version and that's the only one still going strong with no issue.  My 2nd one is US white, launch unit the hinge broke in less than a month, send it in repair for free.  Got a pink one when it came out for my daughter and have the same problem with the hinge cracking.

Call Nintendo today and I was told that the hinge craking is not a defect but consider to be customer abuse?!

Repair cost is $89 + shipping both way.  It's no wonder DS is selling like crazy ... it's cheaper just to replace it than getting the darn thing fix.  I have to say I am really disappointed with Nintendo.  I always speak highly of their customers service ... I guess that's what happen when you have success.

well I guess nintendo is getting fed up with all these problems. Plus it creates income for them. $89 is a steep price for something costed free before.

does the DS still work with this hinge crack thing. Or what is the exact meaning of this.

Cause my DS on the hinge on one side is cracked but never cared to worry about getting it fixed cause everything is still perfectly fine, it just has a small crack. Why would you even worry about a $90 fix or a new DS if the ds still works.

My wife's DS has a cracked hinge and can't really be played anymore cause it just closes rather than staying open. Only way to play would be to hold it open which means you can't play games that require the D-pad but can play games that use the touch screen as you can hold DS open with left hand while controlling with stylus using right hand

It still work but you have to hold the screen up, it's not un-playable but definitely defeat the purpose of having a play anywhere portable game systyem.

I am worry because why should I get stuck with something that is clearly a defective issue.  But according to Nintendo they no longer deem this is defective.  I guess in the beginning when DS Lite launch they want to keep positive image so they quickly announce free repair for defective hinge.  Now that the Lite is beating the pants out of the PSP, they really don't care if you getting it fix or buying another one (form their repair price, I assume they want you to buy a new DS Lite)

If you call back and get a different rep, they may fix it. I know this from personal experience.

My DS Light has a small crack on the hinge and it doesn't hurt gameplay in anyway but still, it shouldn't of happened and I blame Nintendo.

It basically mean they have fixed the problem for new DSs... but usually they would still repair old ones for free.

To be honest from various peoples experiences, customer service (for all three manufacturers) seems to vary massively from country to country/state to state.

my screen stays in any angle i want it.  i don't have to hold it to stay open or whatever angle i want it to be.    So maybe here are extremes to how bad they crack.  But seriously you have to be super hard on your system to crack it harder.  I think i cracked mine probably by opening it to far or something, but i can open it max all i want now and no extra cracking