Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games, like Mario and Sonic and the Olympic Games before it, combines the plethora of sports associated with the events with the somewhat madcap world of Nintendo and SEGA mascots. This provides a welcome relief from the charmless sports games that are often released around these major sporting events; the vibrant and less-than-serious world of Mario and Sonic certainly adds something to the sports game formula, but does it work as a game in its own right?

I’d like to start by emphasising that Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games looks great. As a Wii game, it’s up there with Super Mario Galaxy, and as a DS game it competes with the likes of Mario Kart DS. I was impressed as well with the frame rate during the high-speed events like the Luge and the Bob-sleigh; it was never anything less than smooth, even with two players on screen at once. Of course, being a Mario and Sonic game, despite the abundance of white snow the game remains very colourful and enjoyable to look at.

The game has an abundance of events to play, which in video-game terms could probably be described more at ‘mini-games’. The game plays very similarly to Mario and Sonic and the Olympic Games- for those who have not played that, it feels similar to something like Wii Sports/ Resort, with many more games to choose from. Obviously they are all events themed around the Winter Olympics- Skiing, Snowboarding, Bob-sleigh, Curling, Ice-Skating, and Hockey all have their pace in the game, with Skiiing being the most common, with all the types you can imagine. Fans of the Winter Olympics will doubtless be satisfied with the amount of games available.

Alongside real-world events are crazy “Dream” events, which combine sports with, well, Mario Kart. Most of the Dream Events are races with power-ups (shells, stars, banana skins, and even Chaos Emeralds), and are actually a lot of fun. I found myself thinking that with a lot more track variety this could be the subject of its own game- then I realised that it was already out, and called Mario Kart Wii (or Mario Kart DS for those of us who prefer).

The games all have their own control scheme, and most suit the game well enough, but I couldn’t help but feel that most of the motion control elements just didn’t feel fun enough. For most games, you have to waggle to move and tilt to steer, which can get irritating for people who want to accelerate around corners and the like. The waggle controls started to become more and more irritating as I played more and more of the game, realising that very few of the games quite manage to feel intuitive. The ones that do tend to be closer to Wii Sports style games- for example, the Curling controls similarly to Wii Bowling, and as such is good fun to play.

On the DS, the controls mostly revolve around dragging the stylus to move, which meant that a lot of the time I couldn’t see for my hand. However, I was pleased to find that some events, such as the Snowboarding, use the buttons and not a tacked-on stylus control scheme. Thus, these games feel much more at home on the DS. Generally I think the DS game controls better than the Wii version, unless you have particularly big hands.

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games is without a doubt best enjoyed in multiplayer. The large number of events and Mario and Sonic elements give it a Mario Party-like feel. There is a ‘party games’ section, but I found these games to be drawn out too much. You have to play events competitively, but then you are required to play another mini-game to cash in on your victories, which takes away some of the gratification of winning a good game of Curling. The multiplayer is certainly the best part about the Wii version when played on a event-by-event basis.

The DS version is more of a single-player experience, due to the nature of the platform. This isn’t necessarily to the game’s detriment; it’s still a jolly good sports game, and on the DS it’s one of the best games I’ve played in quite a while. That sounds like high praise, but unfortunately the DS has been a little stagnant this quarter. Still, I think he game is a very solid title.

Although I must admit I only had a brief encounter with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, I feel that Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games has a lot more to offer. The Wii and DS versions are very good-looking, have a lot of mini-games to play, and the Wii version is a blast with friends. My recommendation is that if you are expecting to be playing with buddies, get the Wii version. If you’re looking for a good set of single-player challenges, get the DS version. Although the games have control issues in some areas and a lot of useless features (I don’t really see the point in a Snowboard customisation shop), they are certainly at least worth a look if you’re interested.

Destructoid reports that via a holiday release list, Nintendo have announced the release date for the upcoming DS title The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be December 7 in the US. There is no official word on the EU/Australian release dates yet, but rest assured that it will probably come out there at some point, maybe.

The is good news for Zelda fans globally of course, because of the lack of region protection on the DS. If you fancy playing Spirit Tracks and you live in the EU, simply import an American copy. It’s not like you won’t be able to understand the story, unless it relies heavily on the use of the words “faucet” and “diaper”.

The DS remakes of the best Pokémon games in the series, Gold and Silver, were released in Japan today. The games are, unsurprisingly, selling well. In fact, some stores are sold out already.

The games come with a pedometer that gives you in-game rewards for walking, named the “Pokéwalker”. Obviously gamers don’t like to walk anywhere, so they’ve started cheating the system by shaking the pedometer however they can. As you can see above, people are apparently getting quite creative with it. I guess that’s the most you could ask for. To be honest with you, I was planning on doing the same thing when I get my copy.

Via Destructoid

Before you get all excited over Cooking Mama’s new M-rated murderous approach, I’ll have to tell you that the “Chop” in its title has nothing to do with killing, as it would suggest. However, if you’re willing to substitute limbs for vegetables, you can enjoy Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop just as much.

The third title in the Cooking Mama series has you cooking food with Mama, but also shopping for the food you’ll end up cooking. It doesn’t seem at all like the previous titles in the series to me, but that could be due to the fact that the game has a bunch of new recipes & methods of cooking, and a lot more mini-games than the previous games. Actually, if I can recall, the previous two had, uh, none.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop hits the DS this October for $30. Hit the jump for the full press release.

MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES THE FIRST TRAILER FOR ‘COOKING MAMA 3: SHOP & CHOP’

EDISON, N.J., September 10, 2009 – Get ready to shop and chop your way to the top! Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL) today released the first trailer from Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop for Nintendo DS™, the latest addition to the hit cooking video game franchise that has sold more than 4.5 million units to date.

Using the stylus as the ultimate cooking tool to chop, slice, stir, spread and sprinkle, players can cook 80 fresh new recipes – including pumpkin gnocchi, chili con carne and more. The all-new gameplay mode called “Let’s Shop” lets players swing by the store to buy ingredients necessary to prepare delicious digital dishes. Interactive culinary games have reached a whole new level of cuisine artistry!

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop brings Mama back into the kitchen with eight gameplay modes, 80 new recipes and 200 mini-games that let you play with your food in fun new ways. Cooking Mama 3 also supports gameplay connectivity with Gardening Mama so players can use items grown in Mama’s garden within her kitchen in Chop and Shop.

Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop for Nintendo DS™ is expected to release this October for the SRP of $29.99. For additional information about Majesco’s line of products, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.

Scribblenauts, the fantastic-looking DS game that went big after an appearance at this year’s E3, is coming to the UK on September 25, following a North American release of September 15. I’ve embedded the above video to give you a look into what the game is all about- you can write almost anything and have it appear on screen. It’s rapidly becoming one of the most hyped DS games this year, and is even causing bouts of “I need a DS just to play this game” syndrome.

In an interview with Kombo, PopCap Games’ PR director Garth Chouteau has noted that the highly acclaimed Plants vs. Zombies will follow its cousin Peggle onto other platforms: XBLA, PSN- even the DS and iPhone. Chouteau is quoted by Kombo on the matter:

…Peggle for XBLA is a good example of a game that we took that was popular on the PC and we spent probably twice as long as anyone else would have figuring how to make that game really good for Xbox and Xbox Live Arcade, and I think you will see that with Plants Vs. Zombies–I don’t know the exact order in which that game will make its way onto other platforms, but it’s certainly been successful enough, quickly enough, that we’re looking at other platforms and deciding where we’ll take that game next…

Since PvZ was such a success, both commercially and critically, it can only be good news that it can come to a bigger audience. I only hope that they make a DS version as good as Peggle DS.

No joke people! Nintendo has sold over a million DS handhelds in the United States in April alone. A remarkable month for the video game guru, with a combined 1.04 million DSi and DS Lite units sold.

The DSi sold more than 827,000 units in April, while the DS Lite pulled 215,000 units. These amazing numbers for April bring the count of Nintendo DS handhelds sold in the U.S. to over 30 million units. No doubt about it, Nintendo is still on top.

Here’s the full list of U.S. NPD April 2009 numbers:

Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1.04M
2. Wii – 340K
3. Xbox 360 – 175K
4. PlayStation 2 – 172K
5. PlayStation 3 – 127K
6. PSP – 116K

Software

1. Wii Fit- 471K
2. Pokemon Platinum DS – 433K
3. Mario Kart Wii- 210K
4. Wii Play – 170K
5. The Godfather II (360) – 155K
6. Resident Evil 5 (360) – 122K
7. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) – 119K
8. Mario Kart DS – 112K
9. Guitar Hero Aerosmith (360) – 110K
10. The Godfather II (PS3) – 91K

Yep, it’s been confirmed. Pokemon Gold and Silver will be remade for the DS, which means the Pokemon crazy is officially never gonna be over.

The ten year anniversary remakes will be called Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver. Expect the two titles to hit the Nintendo DS this fall with some added new features.

Source: Kotaku via Pokebeach

LEGO Rock Band has been officially announced today, after plenty of internet rumours and speculation. The game will ship in “Holiday 2009″ for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. Harmonix and TT Games will be working together for all versions of the game, and Rock Band Unplugged developer Backbone Entertainment will join in the fun for the DS version. Hit the jump for a little more info and a few confirmed tracks (The Final Countdown is in there).

• Blur: “Song 2″
• Carl Douglas: “Kung Fu Fighting”
• Europe: “The Final Countdown”
• Good Charlotte: “Boys and Girls”
• Pink: “So What”

Warner Bros. have issued the following statement, too:

“LEGO Rock Band combines the multiplayer music experience of Rock Band with the fun, customization and humor of the LEGO videogame franchise packed with brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favorites suitable for younger audiences.”

So LEGO Rock Band is to be aimed at youngsters. Makes sense, but since when do youngsters need a LEGO version of Rock Band to get your plastic guitar all sticky? They do it fine with the normal version.

Shacknews reports that Nintendo have published a list of the games that the DSi store will feature at the console’s launch on April 3rd and 5th in Europe and America respectively. You can buy them with DSi points, 1000 of which you will get for free if you buy a DSi within six months of launch. The list includes WarioWare: Snapped!, Brain Age Express, and Master of Illusion Express (which sounds like a badly translated Japanese sitcom about a magician living with a train driver). Hit the jump for the full list.

WarioWare: Snapped! – Using the built-in Nintendo DSi camera, this outrageous title puts players right at the center of fast-paced mini-games, challenging them to race the clock and get a peek at Wario’s photo album.

Bird & Beans – Using an elastic tongue, players must scramble to collect falling beans. The harder a bean is to catch, the more points it’s worth.

Brain Age Express: Math – In this math-focused edition of the popular Brain Age series, players can enjoy a mix of new and familiar training exercises. A new Themes mode also lets Nintendo DSi users experiment with images and voice recordings in fun, unusual ways.

Master of Illusion Express: Funny Face – This game uses your Nintendo DSi as a prop in a card trick. Draw a face on the touch screen and astound your audience as the face tells them which playing card they picked.

Art Style: AQUIA – The newest addition to the eye-popping Art Style series, this mesmerizing underwater puzzle game challenges players to help a scuba diver reach the ocean floor by matching a series of colored blocks.

Honestly, the only one I’d be interested in is WarioWare: Snapped. I’m a fan of the series, but I’m not shelling out for a DSi just for that. What about you, dear commenters? Are you prepared to shell out around $180 for a barely-changed DS for these games? Let us know!

What’s this? An adventure game!? Yes, it’s true. Unfortunately for all the next-gen graphic whores out there, modern adventure gaming doesn’t seem to make it far past the Nintendo DS. Lux-Pain, however, seems to have a much more adult audience in mind than your average DS gamer.

Essentially, evil forces (called “Silent”) manifest themselves as worms that infest human hosts and force them to commit heinous and violent acts. The main character, Atsuki, lost his parents to the Silent and, obviously, decides he must avenge them.

Atsuki undergoes an operation that implants Lux-Pain (which I’m still not quite sure what that is) into his arm, which he then uses to find Silent Worms in people and destroy them (the worms, not the people). This involves investigating characters through dialogue, as well as conducting autopsies on people you failed to save.

Gameplay-wise, it seems as though you use your psychic powers to look inside people by using the stylus to brush the skin and tissue out of the way. Gross! I’m not sure how exactly you go about battling the Silent once you find it, but I’d guess it is equally disgusting… and therefore awesome. Lux-Pain is the kind of game the world needs more of.

Check out the trailer:

Lux-Pain has an expected U.S. release date of March 24th. First shipments of the game come with a free pack-in art book, so if you’re at all interested, you might want to hop on that. If someone nabs a copy of the game, we’ll be sure to let you know how it fares.

The newest bit of info to be listed over at Famitsu says that with the Wi-fi connection you can go shopping for items online. This is an interesting idea and allows for a lot of modification on the server side.  The game may not be coming out for another five months almost but the info keeps on a flowin’.

Every piece of news that comes out for this game makes waiting for July that much harder.  When the news came out that you could interact with other people over Wi-fi I was happy that they were using the abilities of the DS but upset that there really wasn’t a reason to do it other than to say hi to people on your DS, and show off what you have done.

Now that you can go shopping this adds another level to even connecting with people.  The news states that you should probably access the online shop each day because items will be on rotations and new items will appear in the shop.  You should also connect with friends and shop at their store because they might not have the same set of items that you do, causing massive amounts of people to be bouncing between all their friends stores.

If that isn’t enough to get you excited there are still two more little tidbits.  The first being that there will more than likely be holiday related items in the stores to buy for your character.  Christmas and probably New Year’s being the big ones at first.  The second bit is that they are also adding downloadable quests like the Monster Hunter series has had for a while.  This should really boost replayability of this title.

Source:  Famitsu

Nintendo announced today that they broke the 100,000,000 barrier with DSes and DS Lites, selling 100 million of the little machines across the world. As a comparison, that’s the number of PS2s that have been sold throughout the PS2’s lifetime, and the PSP just hit the 50 million mark last month. Nintendo was also proud to report that there are 83 DS games that have sold over a million copies, and 7 that have sold over 10 million copies, including Hannah Montana: Music Jam, because I bought 9,999,999 copies. Don’t judge me.

The real list of 10m sellers includes New Super Mario Bros., Nintendogs, Pokemon Diamond & Pearl, Brain Age, Mario Kart DS, Brain Age 2, and Animal Crossing: Wild World according to Kotaku and GameSpot, which is to be expected, seeing as those are the DS’s biggest hits. Rumor has it that they used their profits from game sales to buy their own genetically engineered Nintendogs. They’re pretty much just dogs.

Source: Kotaku

Wii

2K Sports
Major League Baseball® 2K9 – March 3
Don King Boxing – March 31

Activision
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – May
Ice Age 3 – June 30
Transformers™: Revenge of the Fallen – June

Aksys Games
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus – May 12

Atari
Ready 2 Rumble Revolution – March 17
Backyard Baseball 10 – March 31

Capcom Entertainment Inc.
MotoGP™ – Spring

Codemasters Inc
Overlord Dark Legend – Summer

Conspiracy Games
Real Heroes: Firefighter – April

Deep Silver, Inc.
Professor Heinz Wolff’s Gravity – April
Fritz Chess – May

Disney Interactive Studios
Hannah Montana The Movie – April

Electronic Arts
TRIVIAL PURSUIT™ – March
MySims™ Party – March
EA SPORTS Active™ – May 19
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 10 – June
BOOM BLOX™ Bash Party – Spring
MySims™ Racing – Summer
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ – Summer
G.I. JOE™ The Rise of Cobra – Summer
EA SPORTS Tennis (working title) – Summer

Hudson Entertainment
Help Wanted – Summer

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
DanceDanceRevolution® Disney Grooves – April 2
Yu-Gi-Oh! ™ 5D’s Wheelie Breakers – May 19

LucasArts
Indiana Jones® and the Staff of Kings™ – Late Spring

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc
Klonoa® – Q2

Nintendo
New Play Control! Pikmin™ – March 9
New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis™ – March 9
Excitebots: Trick Racing – April 20
New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat – May 4
Punch-Out!! – May 18

SEGA of America
Virtua Tennis™ 2009 – May
The Conduit™ – June
Let’s Tap™ – June

Southpeak Interactive
Roogoo Twisted Towers™ – April 7
Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball™ – April 21

Zoo Games, Inc.
M&M’s Beach Party – March 10
Puzzle Kingdoms – March 31
Garfield Gets Real – April 7
Pennzoil’s Build-N-Race: “Speed Demons” – April 14
Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans – April 21
Smiley World Island Challenge – April 28
Garfield’s Pet Force – June 9

Nintendo DS

2K Sports
MLB® 2K9 Fantasy All-Stars – March 3
Don King Boxing – March 31

Activision
X-Men Origins: Wolverine – May
Ice Age 3 – June 30
Transformers™: Revenge of the Fallen – June

Activision/RedOctane
Guitar Hero® On Tour: Modern Hits – June

Aksys Games
Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles: Memories of the Past – May 26
Rockin’ Pretty – June 23

Aspyr Media, Inc.
Treasure World™ – June

Atari
Backyard Baseball ‘10 – March 31
My Horse and Me Riding For Gold – March 31

Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
TrackMania® DS – March 17
Tokyo Beat Down™ – March 31
The Dark Spire™ – April 14
Dokapon Journey™ – April 14
Steal Princess™ – April 21
101 in 1 Explosive Megamix – April 21
Super Robot Taisen® OG Saga:Endless Frontier™ – April 28
Knights in the Nightmare™ – June 2
Shin Megami Tensei®: Devil Survivor™ – June 23

Capcom
Mega Man Starforce 3 Black Ace – June
Mega Man Starforce 3 Red Joker – June

Codemasters Inc
Overlord Minions – Summer

Deep Silver, Inc.
Pet Vet: Down Under – March
Professor Heinz Wolff’s Gravity – April
Elite Forces: Unit 77 – April
DJ Star – May
Fritz Chess – May
The Humans – May
Horoscope DS – May

Disney Interactive Studios
Hannah Montana The Movie – April

DreamCatcher
Dreamer: Shop Owner – April 21
Dreamer: Babysitter – April 21
Dreamer: Teacher – April 21
Prank’d – May 19

Electronic Arts
Zubo™ – March 10
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure™ – March 17
MySims™ Party – March
SCRABBLE™ – March
LITTLEST PET SHOP Spring™ – March
MySims™ Racing – Summer
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™ – Summer

Hudson Entertainment
Miami Law – Summer

KOEI
Monster Racers™ – June

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times™ – May 5
Yu-Gi-Oh!™ 5D’s Stardust Accelerators World Championship 2009 – May 19

LucasArts
Indiana Jones® and the Staff of Kings™ – Late Spring

Majesco Entertainment
Puffins: Island Adventure – April 14
Powerbike – April 28
Drama Queens – May
Marker Man Adventures – May
Hot ‘n’ Cold – May
Dawn of Heroes – June

MumboJumbo
Crazy Chicken Star Karts – March 31
Crazy Chicken Atlantis Quest – April 28
Crazy Chicken The Pharaoh’s Treasure – June 2
7 Wonders II – June 30

Nintendo
Rhythm Heaven – April 5
Personal Trainer: Walking – May 25
The Legendary Starfy – June 8

PopCap Games, Inc.
Peggle™ Dual Shot – March 3

Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – March 17

Southpeak Interactive
Roogoo Attack™ – April 7

THQ
Desktop Tower Defense – April 29

Ubisoft
Imagine® Makeup Artist – May 5
Imagine® Music Fest – May 5
Imagine® Boutique Owner – May 26
My Healthy Cooking Coach – June 2
Petz® Fashion: Dogz and Catz – June 9
Jake Power Soccer Club – June 16

Valcon Games
History Channel: Great Empires: Rome – March 17

Zoo Games, Inc.
Yamaha Supercross – March 10
Hands On!: Tangrams – March 24
Puzzle Kingdoms – March 31
Garfield Gets Real – April 7
Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans – April 21
Smiley World Island Challenge – April 28
Garfield’s Pet Force – June 9

Source: Joystiq via Nintendo

Square Enix’s latest in the Dragon Quest series (coming to the DS on March 28th in Japan), is all the talk.  Pre-orders are rampant at local 7-11’s and you see more and more people with slime toys every day.  A new feature that is being added uses the Nintendo WiFi technology to let you discuss the game with other people and gloat through your DS.

The article over at Famitsu really doesn’t go too deep into the information, but basically you meet other players that are playing Dragon Quest at a certain Inn, kind of like you would bump into new and interesting people at a hostel while traveling around.  These people have all setup a profile (hopefully) that shares a bit of info about themselves and maybe what they like about the game.  You can also see all the neat things they have done in-game and compare your advancement.

There seems to be a small chat function and the ability to possibly add friends.  So basically this is just like MySpace for your Dragon Quest character.  I guess that’s pretty neat.  Hopefully some more info about what else this game can do with Nintendo WiFi will surface, but maybe I am being optimistic.

Source:  Famitsu

Nintendo have announced a new game development studio, “Sora,” headed by Masahiro Sakurai, the man behind the Smash Bros and Kirby series. A statement on the company’s website states “‬the thoughts of game designer Masahiro Sakurai and Nintendo have become one,‭ ‬and a new project has started.‭ ‬In order to expand what can be offered to the world through games,‭ ‬we will have Nintendo’s full cooperation and make something that Nintendo could not do on its own.‭”

The project that the team will be working on has been described by Sakurai as “special” and “something different.” With Sakurai behind the wheel of the new studio, I don’t doubt that the game they produce will be outstanding; Smash Bros. and Kirby have been consistently great series. Although the platform the studio will be developing for is yet to be announced, I have a suspicion that it might be the Wii or the DS.

Any Dragon Quest fan knows exactly what I am talking about when I say the word slime.  The blob from the famous game series has been released as a plush toy many times over, now it’s getting a tech upgrade.
Famitsu reports that these new stereo speakers will go on sale on March 28th and retail for around 48 USD.  The speaker is rather large and also includes a stand to hold your DS while you play.  It seems a bit big though and might just get in the way more than anything.

I assume this is for the really die hard Dragon Quest fans, which I know plenty of.  I’ll stick with headphones myself, but if you are so inclined to have a speaker that doubles as a stand for your DS, try and find yourself one of these.

Source:  Famitsu

I wrote up information on Dragon Quest XI just this morning, only to come home from work and find out it’s been delayed.

That March 28th release date has been moved back about four months to July 11th.  I, along with most of the Square Enix fan base aren’t surprised.  The company is usually known for missing their release dates or just in general taking much longer than most other companies to release their games.

Rumors on the reason for the delay abound on the net, ranging from flaws in the game to accounting issues.  No matter what the reason, we still have to wait till July.

You have to admit though that after the title is released it’ll still look pretty.  I still expect this to be another great game.  I just don’t like waiting so long.
Source:  Famitsu

This Instructables page has all the instructions and information you need to make your very own solar-powered DS. Creator “dark sponge” says that since he added the solar panels he has “never had to plug it in to charge it.” The panels, as you can see, are attached directly to the DS; and they don’t appear to change the portability of the device- and hey, the panels only cost $3.75 each. Not bad considering the amount you could save on charging the DS.

Obviously, if you decide to attempt the modification, read the instructions very carefully; you could ruin your precious DS! If in doubt, I suggest getting someone who knows what they are doing, or contact dark sponge for help. A fantastic mod, but a little risky for me- I’m rather fond of my DS.

Some companies release special edition DS’s when their software hits the market.  Square-Enix decided that with Dragon Quest IX, a case will do just fine — and I agree.

The case, which is coming out on March 28th (same day as the slime speaker), will retail for about $12 and really is quite nice to look at.

I have seen other cases on DSs that seem gaudy or are just eye sores, but this one displays a picture of a couple of slime without overbearing colors.  This should be relatively easy to get outside of Japan and I may even try to get this case even though I have never played a Dragon Quest game (don’t kill me!).

Source:  Famitsu

Famitsu is reporting that on January 29th there will be a special edition DSi to go along with the release of the new game titled Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time.

This nicely designed DSi will come with the game in which it’s themed. There isn’t a price listed yet, but I’m sure it won’t be cheap. The new DS game will link with the Wii title of the same name. The selling point for me on this game is the online playability. You can link up to four players either locally or online over the world. The game itself is coming with a system similar to the translator found in Final Fantasy XI that can help with simple phrases, but just like in FFXI I’m sure people will create new phrases that everyone understands.

I like the look of this special edition DSi, but I really don’t go in for things like this nor do I have the money, but if someone would like to buy me one I would be more than willing to use it.

Source: Famitsu

I love MMORPG’s.  Everything about them is great.  They are massive, which gives me a lot of world to explore and learn about.  They are multiplayer which let’s me meet people from all over the world.  They are online which allows to me easier connect with those people all over the world.  They are lastly role playing games, which let me be someone I am not and allow me to escape the real world for a little while, or a long while depending on how much free time I have that day.  Ragnarok Online or RO, as fans of the game refer to it is a very time consuming but sometimes enjoyable game.  It’s DS counterpart however is just time consuming.

Ragnarok Online DS has many of the things you expect from Ragnarok.  Clicking on mobs, fighting mobs, cute character graphics, spells, items, fantasy… stuff.  The one part it really seems lacking is the ONLINE!  Basically they took and MMO and cut it down to a single player game, maybe I’m missing the point but when I think of MMO I think about playing with other people and you know playing the game with them.  This DS port of the popular game allows some multiplayer aspect but really only three people.  Maybe that is massive enough for some people but not me.  Right off the bat this lowers this game’s ability to be good in my eyes.

My second gripe with this game is the introduction.  I know games like to give story and get the player ready to be a part of the world, but the intro to this game took way too long, and that was with me skipping every speech bubble it would let me skip.  I think I clicked the screen with the stylus for a good twenty minutes before I actually got to play.  Again I didn’t read anything but from just watching the little animations I got that there was an army after a guy with a really cool sword, and two people got seperated and the main character’s parents were dead.  How long did it take you to read that?  Double it by ten and you get the length of boring dialog they put in this game.

But what about gameplay you ask?  Well, it’s standard MMO style click and attack which is great, a bonus to this being on the DS is the use of the stylus which moves your character.  They also added interesting ways to do special moves which all require drawing a specific symbol on the screen to do them.  This seemed fun at first but I got tired of doing it about an hour into the game and just let normal attacks do all the work.  You also get NPC’s which as I understand can be controlled by your friends through the DS Wifi, which begs to ask, why couldn’t they just have used the DS Wifi to actually make this an MMO?  Too much for the DS to handle perhaps?  Anyway, the npc’s do a pretty good job on their own so unless you have some friends who like RO and don’t feel like playing the bigger, better, more online version you can just stick with having fewer people involved.

I understand what they were trying to do with this game, but I think it could have been so much more.  Many people don’t like Ragnarok Online because it is known as a very long “grind” game where you are killing mobs forever.  This DS port I assume would be cutting a lot of that out, but if you play an MMORPG as opposed to a regular RPG you play somewhat to show off the character you have made.  To let people see you as a player in the world.  In this DS adaptation unless you walk around with your DS showing it off to everyone, it doesn’t matter what you do in the game other than beat it.  I do hope that soon they decide to actually release a real MMO for a portable device, though that could cause the end of the world.

I’ve been a fan of boxing ever since I saw the “Rocky” movies.  There is something about watching two guys try to beat each other to a pulp for the chance to get a belt around their waist.  I think maybe I’m just drawn to organized violence.  I’m also a fan of anime and had heard of boxing anime and manga before but never thought they would really be interesting until my friend showed me Hajime No Ippo:  The Fighting.  There is a great story here and some wonderful characters that are easy to connect with on some level.  The anime was cancelled early in it’s run but the manga is still going strong, and the anime will be making a comeback in January.  I assume to help promote the upcoming release of the new show this been game has been released on the DS to help tell the story of our main character Ippo. 

I think the DS is a good choice for a boxing game on portable systems because you get that wonderful stylus to tap the screen and somewhat simulate boxing.  There is a PSP version of Ippo which is also very good, but this new DS game makes you feel somewhat more in control I think.  There are two main game modes in the Ippo game, fighting matches of course, and minigames to help boost your abilities somewhat similar to the Fight Night games.

The boxing matches follow many of the main story arcs from the manga and allow you to control all your favorites like Ippo, and Takamura, and so on to try to win the big fights from the manga.  I don’t want to ruin any of the story in case you are interested in seeing the anime or read the manga, but you can change the outcome of how events unfold which is somewhat nice.

The matches are done from a behind the fighter perspective and the touch screen is split into two sections.  The top section allows for you to control the punches the fighter can do such as jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts, etc. and the bottom half is for guarding and dodging punches that come from the opponent.  Something I really like about this system is depending on which side of the fighters head you tap that side’s punch gets thrown.  I really wasn’t expecting to have this much control over the boxer but it is a really nice touch.  Special punches are done by doing special motions with the stylus when you’ve got enough “special” power saved up.  These don’t really make or break a fight but do come in handy.

The A.I. in the boxing matches on normal starts out rather sluggish and stupid in the first few matches, but then jumps up in a steep learning curve.  This could be a turn off to some gamers because there really isn’t any way you know its going to happen other than going into a fight and getting creamed in the first round as opposed to the last fight you were in where you hardly had to throw punches to knock the guy out.  The last fight in the game is also the hardest, which is understandable, but everything is stacked against you from the get go and you almost have to go the whole match without getting touched which I think is a bit much, but if you do win you feel like you earned it.

The one thing I didn’t like so much about the fighting portion is that I was constantly afraid I was going to break the touch screen because I got so into the matches that I was slamming that stylus rather hard from time to time to try and knock out the computer.  You can change to just using the buttons if you don’t feel comfortable using the stylus which is also a really nice touch for those of us with heavy tapping.

The mini game mode brings a lot of neat exercises you see Ippo do as he is training for fights in the manga.  There is leaf catching, chopping wood, dodging tennis balls, and lots of other mini games to choose from to keep you interested in them for a while.  The difficulty of the mini games at first ranges from hard to impossible, but once you ge the hang of them they become no problem.

Lastly they were nice enough to include a vs. mode so you can fight your friends that have the game and maybe have some match up’s you thought should have happened or could never happen.  I haven’t gotten to try this mode yet so I can’t say if it is laggy or well done or anything to that amount, but it does seem like it would be rather fun to go head to head with friends tapping a screen.

All in all, this is a great game that I really didn’t expect so much detail to be put into.  Ippo right now isn’t really a popular manga with titles like Naruto and Bleach taking in the majority of fans these days, but hopefully the comeback of the show will really bring some fans back to a very good long running series.  If you get a chance check out the old anime and force yourself to watch at least the first 10 or 15 episodes before you make a judgement about it.  If the DS game comes stateside it will probably be one of, if not the only boxing game to buy for DS.

Videogamer have reported the news that any fan of odd-looking avatars will have been looking forward to for two years. Yes, Miis are coming to the Nintendo DS. The mind-numbing “game” they will feature in is entitled Walk with me! Their exclamation mark, not mine, I assure you. The game comes with two “activity meters” (pedometers) which can record up to a week of “rhythm data” and then transfer it to the DS and then around the world to other DSs. Certain to be a hit with those who don’t play videogames.

Of course, the game features Miis, which can either be created on the DS or transferred from the Wii. The game releases on February 20, so fans of Miis have time to start existing. Perhaps I’m being a little harsh on Miis (they are very clever), but it’s more of a rag on Nindendo, who seem to be trying their best to kill off their old fans one by one. Anyway, Miis on the DS. Good? Bad? Do you care? Please, let us know.

Rockstar has announced today that Grand Theft Auto’s DS debut, Chinatown Wars, will be released on March 17 and 20, 2009, in America and Europe respectively. Take-Two had previously hoped that the game would make it out by the end of this year (currently the official website still seems to be holding out for this), but the game has been delayed. The reason? To “provide a better launch and marketing window”, according to the publisher. Anyone looking forward to this? Can’t say I am, but with the prestige the series holds I’m sure fans (and DS gamers who want to kill stuff) won’t be dissapointed.

Just saw over at Famitsu a bunch of news about the new RPG coming out for DS titled Blood of Bahamut.  With what they seem to have planned, I am very excited about this game being released.  Read on to find out what I’m stoked about.

Wi-Fi multiplayer.  Yes, I said Wi-Fi multiplayer. On the DS. In an RPG. From Square. This is what I thought the DS was going to be for in the first place.  There aren’t too many games that utilize Wi-Fi, and those that do either have it in the genre I don’t want (Advance Wars), or do it a bit differently than I had hoped (Castlevania).  According to the article, BoB (not a great acronym, I know) will have four-player action to go along with a single-player story.

From what I can tell on the screenshots, you do most of the story if not all of it from atop a monster that I can only assume is a reanimation of the monster Bahamut.  It is yet to be seen what the true story is, but it should be rather good.

I hope I’m not getting too excited over this game only to get shafted on the multiplayer aspect, but time will tell.  I’m still looking forward to this game either way, but if I can play it with friends and actually play out story mode with them co-op style, I’ll be that much happier.

Source: Famitsu

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an organization most renowned for tossing blood-red paint on those that don fur clothing of any kind, first started their video game parody tirade againt meat-eaters with the Super Chick Sisters, where you play as one of two chicks out to find and kill the Colonel. Well, today they released the second of their series, entitled Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, an obvious parody of Taito’s Cooking Mama series. Oh boy.

I love meat (and vegetables!) as much as the next guy, (please don’t hurt me, PETA) but the difference is that the next guy might be swayed by PETA’s radical tactics. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here, covered in tripe and cow blood, playing Killing Mama 2: Electric Stove Boogaloo.

Who would have thought that such snuggly little ninja could be so dangerous?

Southpeak Games’ Ninjatown is a welcome addition to the Nintendo DS’s line-up with its tower defense-style play mechanic and extremely adorable art style.

For those of you out of the loop, Ninjatown stars the cute little ninja characters from the Shawnimals toy and plush lines. Things were going fine in Ninjatown until the nefarious Mr. Demon and his wee devil minions started to invade and terrorize the town’s residents. Now, it’s up to the wit and wisdom of the Ol’ Master Ninja to overcome the odds and keep Ninjatown safe.

Players are charged with building Ninja hut after Ninja hut in order to stop the oncoming waves of wee devils. At the outset, the player has the ability to build two types of Ninja, both of which specialize in hand-to-hand combat. As the game progresses, new types of troops are incorporated into the mix.

When I began playing Ninjatown, I could barely see any kind of strategy being used, and I was arbitrarily building Ninja huts to kill off the enemies. As different types of Ninja became available for use, I found the strategic elements of the game fall into place. Each map was approachable in various ways and breathed fresh air into what felt repetitious.

Like other tower defense games before it, being able to build certain types of troops means the player will also be assaulted by enemies with particular weaknesses: the snowball throwing “Ice-cream” Ninja can slow the fast devils down, the Sniper Ninja takes down the flying devils, and the fast-moving Business Ninja is ideally equipped to fight the slower moving devils. However, once the player realizes the patterns and what-hurts-what play style, each encounter can be easily overcome.

As the player defeats enemies, they are rewarded with cookies that can be used to upgrade the Ninja huts, giving the Ninja of that hut more power. Sadly, there is little to no visual indication that a hut is already upgraded or needs upgraded without tapping the hut with the stylus. Having the tap each hut individually while being attacked became a stressful procedure that could have been easily overcome with some kind of visual clue.

The game itself is broken up with the main action and user input handled on the bottom touch screen and the zoomed out map of the playfield on the top. My main complaint with the map screen was the fact that the developer only used half of the screen for the map. The other half is used to show the Ol’ Master Ninja floating high above Ninjatown in his hot-air balloon. It’s a pretty neat graphic, but I feel that space could have been better suited as an expanded stats and map visual.

For the most part, user input is handled well with the stylus. Picking the appropriate Ninja hut to build, choosing which huts to upgrade, and selecting the Ol’ Master Ninja powers work seamlessly with the stylus, but I found moving the camera around the battle field felt clumsy and slow. Sometimes, as I placed the stylus on the screen for camera movement, the camera would not react as fast as I needed it to, resulting in a few more dead ninja on my conscience. Luckily, the d-pad is usable for camera movement as well.

If you are the type of gamer that has no time for this holiday’s blockbuster console games, then I recommend you pick up a copy of Ninjatown, sit down for about an hour a night, and enjoy the cuteness levels beaming from this solid, tower defense game.

That’s right, I said it – cuteness levels.

Flipping through Famitsu just a few minutes ago and this was at the top page.  I had been looking foward to Ragnarok Online for the DS just to see how much like or dislike the PC version it would be.  Apparently if you are really into the PC game and like to do quests, you can get some special items for the DS version.

Raganarok Online comes out in Japan for the DS on December 18th.  According to the article at Famitsu there are some quests that you can do to unlock three special items in the DS game.  The items a  broken sword, ancient text of the shaman, and wings of visofuniru (sometimes katakana names don’t come to me quick enough).  Are unlockable as you progress through both games.

I don’t want to give away to much but Famitsu says it all starts with a Midguard Guidebook of some sort.  To be honest I couldn’t stand playing the game because of how time consuming it is, but the characters are really cute.

If you are interested in Ragnarok Online and the DS incarnation stay tuned.  I’ll probably pick it up the day it goes on sale and give a brief rundown of what I think.  I doubt I’ll be working for those special items though.

Source: Famitsu

Good first person shooters are a rare find on the DS. C.O.R.E promises “old school” action tied to a “Gripping sci-fi storyline, with a fully interactive world”. I got my hands on an early build of the game last week, so hit the jump to get my impressions.

The build I have been playing spans two of the eventual 15 levels of the game, so I can’t say too much about the story. The general gist of the situation is that a secret base, built over a crash site of something alien, has dropped out of contact. It’s your job to go in and find out what’s going on. You slowly find out more about what happened via text logs scattered throughout the levels. Nothing too original or ground breaking so far, but there is certainly room for a few interesting twists.

The seemingly de facto DS FPS controls, with the touch pad for looking, d-pad for movement and shoulder buttons for firing feel comfortable for the most part. In the build I was playing I was unable to move diagonally using the d-pad, which sounds like a minor complaint, but did cause movement to feel a touch clumsy at times.

Once you get used to it, you can move quite rapidly around the hallways of the underground base. The maps themselves are typically linear, and feel quite sparse in parts. I didn’t encounter any more than two enemies at the same time and there are very few items to pick up. There are just enough health and ammo stations to keep you alive, but you will find less ammo causally spread around than in your typical FPS.

Combat feels good with the stylus providing you with just enough accuracy to be usable. My only problem was when I was taking damage. There is no indication of the direction your enemy is in. This can make it hard to determine just where your target is. The enemies I encountered did have some nice variation and their character models seemed on par with the level of the rest of the game. That is to say, somewhere between Doom and Quake

Graphically I was impressed by what the team at NoWay Studio have accomplished. The game runs smoothly and has a nice level of detail to it, considering the hardware it’s running on. The music and sound effects are as you would expect. Repeating heavy guitar riffs make up the majority of the audio-scape, interspersed with the grunts of your foes, very reminiscent of Quake 1.
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The preview also came with Free For All, Team Arena and Capture The Flag multiplayer modes. The game will support both multi-card and single-card play and allows up to 4 players at once. Although I wasn’t able to play too much with the multiplayer, it really does feel like it could be a legitimate challenger to Mario Kart DS for the “we’re sat around and bored with our DS’” game of choice.

So things are looking good. It may not be ground breaking in its narrative accomplishments, or re-defining the hand-held FPS genera, but it is definitely bringing around all the right feelings. If you are a fan of the classic PC FPS’ and want that same feeling on the go, then I highly recommend keeping an eye on C.O.R.E.