Results tagged “DS”

It's happy "What the fuck?" time once again, and this time it's all Nintendo's fault.  The president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, has made some rather cryptic comments that pretty much amount to the announcement of another new handheld system in the works.  Honestly, what the fuck?  Is it not enough that there have been four versions of the DS since 2004?  Yes, Nintendo has had a history of creating some very good products, but they don't need to constantly be creating them!  There was nothing wrong with the original DS when it came out*, but out came the DS Lite after a couple years, and I accepted that.  Then came two versions of the DSi, both of which I felt were unnecessary, and now there's going to be another handheld?  Are they not happy?  Were the sales of the DSi LL/XL/WTF/OMG/RACECAR/BLING/BLING not good enough?

I think it's about time that Nintendo takes a step back to rest upon their laurels a little.  There's little chance for Sony's PSP system to dethrone the DS, or else it would've happened already.  It's true that the PSP is not going anywhere, but it's also not going to suddenly spike in sales.  The PSP Go was given too optimistic a name (I'm ready to start calling it the PSP Gone).  Anyone else who tried to break into the handheld gaming market were defeated pretty quickly by Nintendo.  Even Apple can't seem to make much headway, even with such exclusives as Square-Enix's Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes (but then again, Square-Enix has demonstrated that they're willing to work with anyone, so Apple shouldn't feel special).

It's not likely that there are any target audiences left for Nintendo to go after, anyway.  The DSi was great for those who like to have a poor quality camera inside their gaming console, the DSi LL was great for those who like to be able to use their handheld console for a spare paperweight in between gaming sessions, and the DS Lite was great for those who have wrists made of paper.  Also, entire regions of the world have adopted the DS as if it was an adorable little puppy needing attention.  For example, up here in Canada, the Quebecois have supported the DS so much that Nintendo of America automatically puts French on the back of the DS cases now, even on copies being sold to the United States.  I highly doubt that anyone in Quebec would appreciate having to buy yet another Nintendo handheld just because another one emerges from the brains of their R&D department.

If a new handheld system must be released, then here's what it requires in order to have my support: a slot for GameBoy games.  I'm talking the entire line, including original, Color and Advance titles.  It also requires a slot for SD cards.  The DSi came with one, so the DS5 (or whatever they call it) should, too.  If it is to have two screens (which right now seems highly debatable), then it should also have a DS slot as well, either right next to the SD slot, or above/below it.  If Nintendo insists on putting a camera inside their device, then make it at least a 3 megapixel camera.  If not, then release a 5 megapixel camera as an add-on, attached probably through the GameBoy slot.  Everyone who wants it can have it, everyone else can ignore it.  It must also connect to the Internet as painlessly as both the Wii and the PSP does (and, I assume, the PS3 as well; I still don't have one yet or I'd know for sure).

And one last requirement for the DS5: that once it releases, Nintendo does not create any more new hardware for at least the next five years.

Video of the Week

What is your opinion of Taylor Swift?  How about Katy Perry?  Miley Cyrus?  Jason Mraz?  Yeah, didn't think you liked them either.  So how would you feel about a remix containing all of them?  Don't knock it before you try it:



And if you thought that was awesome, I'll give you 2008's mash-up as a bonus, just because it's the new year and I'm feeling generous:



All of a sudden, some of the worst singers imaginable have become listenable.  You wouldn't think that you could put Kanye West and Taylor Swift in the same song together without the one butting in and taking over so he can say that Beyonce is the better singer, but it seems to work.  I can't wait to see what DJ Earworm comes up with for 2010.

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy VII, the Remake

Mwahahahaha.  Okay, that's a little misleading.  I'll do it properly this time.

Currently Playing: Final Fantasy VII (NES)

Yes, I'm playing through the NES remake of Final Fantasy VII.  A Chinese company did it in secret, without Square-Enix's consent, and released it quietly.  Then a fan translated it into English.  But I'm giving him or her too much credit when I use the word "translated".  The script reads very similarly to the original English translation of the game, which tells me that all they did was type up the original PS1 script and insert it into the game, with a few extra translations added just so that it looks like they made a little bit of effort.  It's true that Barret didn't always talk using awful Ebonics in the original game (it wasn't even proper Ebonics, it was a rather miserable attempt at an already poor version of the English language), but I can tell when the fan actually translated stuff and when he just lifted it from the original: there are times in the NES version where Barret talks like a normal person, when he probably should've used Ebonics.

The game itself plays more like a romhack than a completely new build, right down to the recycled graphics (Midgar on the world map looks exactly like the city you started out from in the original Final Fantasy, for example, and Cloud looks like a modified Fighter sprite) and the music stolen not from VII, but from earlier titles.  The music from both Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III didn't make much of an impression on me, and I can't tell which of them were used in the game to replace VII's music.  Maybe both.

Looking Forward To: Avernum VI (PC)

More power to Spiderweb Software for being one of the few developers who are still not only creating games for the Mac, but releasing the Mac version first before they work on the PC version.  Sadly, I have only a PC so I will have to wait until March before I would be able to try this game.  Also sadly: I have not yet played a single Avernum game, but given that I've played some of the old Exile series, I've had some experience in the world of Avernum so far.

The Avernum series is a remake of the Exile trilogy, which then continued the story in a trilogy of original games, and the prospect of playing through another critically acclaimed long series of video games just makes me tingle with joy.



*Okay, there are two major things wrong with the original DS, but I don't care about the one (from what I understood, I would have to change my router settings completely if I want to connect my DS to the Internet).  The other major problem is that the power button is located just above the direction pad.  It's entirely possible to fight a tough boss, then after a moment's break, reach for the direction pad and hit the power instead.  It's only happened to me a few times, but enough to make it an issue.  The DS Lite fixed that problem.

Before video games came along, card and board games were king.  Simple games like Monopoly and Poker were invented and families had hours of fun playing them.  Fast forward to today, and it's like you can't be bothered to bring out your chess set or your go board or even a simple deck of cards.  Maybe you live alone, or no one else likes to play against you anymore because you always win (or you always lose and you complain bitterly because of it).  So it seems the logical step to digitize these popular board and card games so that you can play against the computer or against someone over the Internet.  Of course, this means you have to buy a game you probably already own, but it's worth it.  Or is it?

There have been versions of Scrabble released before, including multiple versions and variations for the PC, the most recent of which, Scrabble Journey, features varied boards with differing requirements on each of them.  There's even been a game show that ran on NBC, hosted by Chuck Woolery (who later went on to host another word game, Lingo on GSN). Scrabble as a game has proven so popular that other companies and websites have come up with their own versions, the most notable of which is called Literati, and is featured on Yahoo Games.

Both SCRABBLE and LITERATI are in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, 4th Edition, and are worth 14 points and 8 points respectively.*

So why buy the DS version?  Well, portability for one.  For another, the touch screen is as close as you can get to using a mouse, unless you play the PC or Mac versions, and helps immensely during games when there's a time limit involved.  And for a third thing, Training Mode will help you grow as a player without having to write out all the good words on flash cards to memorize them.  Soon, you'll be using two and three letter words like a pro.

And yet, famous professional Scrabble players like Joel Wapnick have their own methods to memorize words and they've won official tournaments at the world level.  So the question becomes, what use is the software, when there are plenty of other methods to become good at the game?  Why should you buy the DS version if you'll benefit more by developing your own method of becoming a good tournament player?

The answer is: if you're training to be a tournament player, you have better options than this software.  Other than Training Mode, all this software really offers is the game itself.  Software like Scrabble Journey is good because it offers something different from the ordinary Scrabble game, and Scrabble Rack Attack takes the tiles from the original game, and uses them in a completely different way.  Scrabble on the DS, however, only offers the touch screen as an advantage over other console versions.

DS, by the way, is not in the OSPD4.


As for how the software itself runs, it's alright, but it probably could've been better.  At least there's no bugs.  Young gamers like me will have no trouble seeing the board on the tiny touch screen, but older gamers and gamers with sight impairments would have to use the magnification feature.  Unfortunately, only a portion of the magnified board can be shown on the screen; this hinders the development of a player's strategy.

Difficulty levels are very borked.  While there are supposedly six difficulty levels in the game, affecting the vocabulary of the AI, difficulty can be skewed depending on tile distribution, as it would in a normal Scrabble game.  The problem is that the AI will choose to either play all the tiles at once, or if it can't, it'll play the best scoring small word.  Intelligent strategies seem to be lost on it.  I played a level 4 AI one time and was smoked as the AI played bingo after bingo and accumulated over 400 points to my paltry 200.  Then I played the exact same AI in the next game without adjusting the difficulty level and smoked it, scoring over 450 to its paltry 150.  Instead of managing bonuses, holding certain tiles back to save for later and trading problem tiles like most human players would, the AI was just playing for points.  I should at least be thankful that the AI will only play real words, and won't try to sneak something by me like OMG RACECAR BLING BLING!

OMG, RACECAR and BLING aren't in the OSPD4.

The DS cartridge also includes Scrabble Slam, the card game based on Scrabble where the object is to place cards upon a four letter word, one at a time, to change it into other words (for instance, RACE becomes RACK, then LACK, LUCK, BUCK, etc.).  As before, there are six difficulty levels you can program into the software's AI, but in the case of Slam, if you're quick enough, you can run circles around the AI, and win each and every game, no matter what, because even at the most difficult level, level 6, the AI plays slowly, like a blindfolded, handcuffed, arthritic old man.  With rickets.  And Parkinson's Disease.  And who has lost all his fingers due to frostbite and/or gangrene.

RICKETS is in the OSPD4, worth 13 points; GANGRENE is in the OSPD4, worth 10 points; FROSTBITE is too long for the OSPD4, would be a legal play anyway, and is worth 14 points.

Chances are, though, that if you have friends who also enjoy Scrabble, one or more of you will already have a physical copy of the game, and would be more than willing to set it up and have a game or two with you.  It's also a lot more fun to play in real life, because if you're playing the AI, or playing someone on the Internet, you wouldn't get to participate in any fun arguments over vocabulary.  At a recent Scrabble Night I attended, I argued that NE is a word because it's the masculine form of NEÉ, while the other person argued back that you wouldn't use NE because it's the woman who changes her name when she's married and so you wouldn't have a use for the masculine form, therefore it's not a word.  Later on, another player proposed MILF as a word (it's an acronym, and therefore not a legal play).  Unfortunately, this sort of fun is missing from an electronic version.

FUN, of course, being worth 6 points.


This software, unfortunately, is largely useless to anyone but the most casual of players who don't already own either the physical game, or another version of the software for a different system.  There are probably enough versions of Scrabble out there that we don't need any more copies of the game floating around in bargain bins across the continent.  EA probably makes enough money from their sports titles that they don't have to scrabble for more money by porting board games to every single device with the capability of executing game software.  And it's not like they have a monopoly on board games either.  Other companies are at fault too, and I wish they would get a clue: we don't need a million versions of a game we already own.


*It will be assumed for the purposes of scoring that blanks aren't used to make the words; all scores listed do not include bonuses, for it is unlikely but possible within the rules of the game to play eight and nine letter words without landing on a single bonus square.

The Problem:

Back we go to the first generation of Pokémon. I knew that somewhere out there there was a 151st pokémon. I didn't just want to beat the Elite Four and conquer the Unknown Dungeon. My goal for beating the game is the goal the game actually sent me out on: completion of the pokédex. How Professor Oak could have forgotten his own directive at the end of Victory Road I cannot say. Thus, to beat the game, I must find that elusive Mew. One problem: I lived in Maine.

Being in the top-right corner of the U.S. has carried a distinct disadvantage to all of Maine's citizens: Nothing comes here. Frequently, the only place in all New England which *might* see touring concerts, traveling shows and the anointed official Nintendo Pokémon events was Boston. Being without any vehicle or license of my own then, that was that. No Mew, no finishing the game. I might have somehow convinced one of may parents to take the only day the event was going on off work, drive me four hours down to Boston, wait for me to do the one thing fior a video game, then turn around had drive four hours home (or a 20-hour round trip to the Pokémon Center in New York on any old day). But I choose words like "might" very poorly.

This would be a phantom that questioned my enjoyment of an otherwise fun game. For a while I lamented my often-maligned geography, but later I merely blamed Nintendo for producing a game which could only be beat if it felt like letting me. Remember this for later, kids!

Eventually, my cousin W's Glorious Game Genie of the People allowed me to catch a (hundred) Mew(s) in the grass west of Cerulean City with the magic code 151-91A-___. For those of you who are fans of pattern recognition, the number 151 in that code is coincidental and does not refer to Mew's pokédex number.

Pokémon Red was the only game I ever completed a Pokédex. The Game Genie was out of the picture before I could land a Celebi for Silver.

The thrid generation faired far worse. No Deoxys, no Celebi (again). I did eventually get a Jirachi when I discovered a used Pokémon Colosseum [sic] bonus disc in my favorite mom-and-pop game store for $17 — a steal compared to eBay. Nintendo finally wizened up about getting more of these "Only when/where we feel like it" pokémon away by using nationwide retailers; I received a lovely Mew from Toys 'R Us. However, I was greatly disappointed the event did not distribute Mystical or Aurora Tickets, so I would have to relay on the Game Cube games to get Ho-oh and Lugia and was out of luck for Deoxys). To this day I've had no opportunity to collect either ticket. Again, Without the other super-legendary Pokémon, what reason did I have to bother going through XDjust to transfer Lugia?

At this point, I decided that was that. When the DS generation of Pokémon hit, I took a pass. Even when the Platinum edition came (those who know me know the very mention of the word "platinum" would be a great temptation... it's a thing) I held strong and refused. I would never again partake in a game that I could only finish at Nintendo's arbitrary whim. Even those I know who did keep on playing grudgingly agreed the concept both detracted from the experience and was outdated in execution.

The inevitable return:

Although it should be been obvious after the success of Fire Red and Leaf Green, I was pleasantly surprised when Heart Gold and Soul Silver were announced. My favorite editions would be coming back with a facelift and superior organization.

Crap.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Smeg.

Belgium.

They got me.

And if I'm going to pick up Soul Silver, I might as well play Platinum, right? Just like Fire Red and Emerald?

This is going to be exasperating.

So, in much the same way I left the game and came back the first time, I will again return to Pokémon. Despite driving me away by teasing me with things I can't have, it drags me back in by reminding me of the good times we used to have.

...

Do I need therapy?

Postscript:

I wrote both parts of this retrospective on Friday. That Sunday, I bought a copy of Pokémon Platimum. When I did, the Gamestop employee was kind enough to tell me I had missed the 4th-gen Dexoys giveaway by over a year. Not quite the omen I wanted to start with.

After going home and opening the case, I found a nice little pamphlet which told me how to get a Secret Key over the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection in order to unlock new abilities for Rotom. Okay, let's jump in and do this. I played through, got Mystery Gift unlocked, and went after my Secret Key.

Apparently, I needed more badges because Nintendo Wi-Fi connection instead used Member Card. Not so super-effective.

Wondering what just happened, I went back to the old standby of pokémon research, Serebii only to discover Nintendo kindly stopped handing out Secret keys in May. Further, had I bought the game a day later, I would have been out of luck on the Member Card (and Darkrai) too. The day I come back to the series, the reasons why I left are practically showboated before me. You're doing it wrong, Nintendo.

This is going to be exasperating.

Square Enix is slowly revealing more information on Final Fantasy Gaiden: 4 Warriors of Light via the main website, and one of the updates consists of new videos now on the official website. One rather lengthy one depicts what the game looks like while you're navigating towns and the field, while the other gives a short preview of the battle system. The game looks great in motion, and it makes anyone who initially shunned the game look silly. Also, battles definitely look to be an improvement over the "oh, come on" slowness of Final Fantasy III DS and the "well, this is better, but still" battles of Final Fantasy IV DS.

Sure, I could just link you to the individual videos to show you what I'm talking about, but those exist on Youtube, whose format consists of a stretched aspect ratio to fill its screen. The result is a blurry mess and videos with an unstable framerate. Not ideal at all.

Also, some of the first outfits for job classes were revealed in last week's Japanese Shonen Jump. Some of them are pretty neat, and go beyond the usual look for RPG classes. I love the Zorro-esque one, and I could tell you what class that went with if I could read Japanese. So you'll have to wait until someone translates it. Someone probably already has, but this scan isn't widespread yet for some reason. Maybe we'll know when this week's Famitsu comes out.

Anyway, this game really seems like a 3D version of Sega's 7th Dragon. And thinking about that made me wonder where that game is. I'm not sure if Sega will localize it, but I think it would be right up Atlus' alley given how it's similar to their own Etrian Odyssey -- and by the same creator, Kazuya Ninou, no less. Atlus is no stranger to localizing Sega games (they localized three Shining Force games), so it's possible.

E3 2007 marked the appearance of a different form of Nintendo, much to the chagrin of internet-dwelling gamers. It was there when their focus began to shift from a gamer-centric audience to a much wider one, which entailed that the products displayed would have more "casual" appeal (using that word for simplicity's sake). A sound business decision, sure, but gamers felt a little left out in the cold after witnessing a Nintendo that had, as they believe, sold out to their mothers and grandmothers.

These days, though, it's getting a little better. Nintendo is at least starting to understand that they have the potential to bring all sorts of gamers together with a variety of games on both the DS and Wii. They only decided to focus on a few titles at the show itself, but Nintendo fans knew that after E3 2007, all of the surprises for them are buried within the press packet (both online and off). Usually there were only one or two games, like Professor Layton and the Curious Village in 2007 or Rhythm Heaven in 2008. This year, however, there were quite a few; enough that I had to split this into two entries! This one will focus on the DS games, but you probably already knew that:

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Also known as "IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME." The second Layton game is finally leaving Japan, and it only took a year-and-a-half for Nintendo of America to localize it. This is also happening after rejuvenated sales of the first game after NoA decided they should start advertising it efficiently. But yeah, it'll be here come August 24, and in Europe around a month later. Don't try and think about the fact that the fourth game is on the horizon in Japan. Judging by the time it's taken to release this over here, I'm sure we'll have the fourth game sometime in 2012. But that might be acceptable, because you're guaranteed to be solving this game's brain teasers until then.

(No actually, that wouldn't be acceptable. But if that's the excuse Nintendo gives, remember that you heard it here first!)

Oh, and don't even ask when Sloane and McHale's Mysterious Story is coming. I hope someone else can localize that, unless Nintendo really decides to pick up the pace.

Glory of Heracles

Of all the previously unannounced DS games in the pack, this one confounded me the most. Glory of Heracles is actually a revival of a classic RPG franchise that never found much notoriety outside of Japan -- and even in its home country, it wasn't cited as a stunning example of the genre. Yet this one is being localized for a US release, and it's coming from Nintendo? Color me shocked. They're also just announcing this game now, though it released in Japan in April....of 2008. I happen to like RPGs, especially portable ones, so I'll definitely give this one a try when it releases between the end of this year or early next year.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

This one is probably the least surprising given how anything even remotely Pokemon related is guaranteed to sell. Explorers of Sky is a new version of last years Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, much like Pokemon Yellow and similar products. You could describe the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon as roguelikes, but that wouldn't be very precise. The games contain all of the conventions from the genre, but they're also incredibly easy, which kind of misses the point of the genre. They're still enjoyable games though, so if you're in for some roguelike-lite (roguelite?) dungeon crawling, it will be out this fall.

Picross 3D

If you were a recent victim of addiction to Picross DS when it released last year, well I have bad news for you: Nintendo is localizing Picross 3D (or "Rittai Picross" in Japan). Hope you weren't planning on having pesky things like a live and obligations anytime in the near future, because this newest iteration in the logic puzzler franchise is sure to suck it up completely. The game doesn't have a release date at all, but it'll definitely be localized since the screen shots are in English, and since the game's online packet includes specific information about it.

So there were a few nice surprises in the packet for DS games, a far cry from both E3 2007 and 2008's packets. I'd also like to point out that Nintendo is really carrying the DS lineup this fall, something they haven't done since 2006. They didn't really need to in 2007 due to plenty of third-party titles in their stead, but they were in total cruise control in the latter half of 2008, which wound up being OK for the DS but horrible for Wii. It's nice to see that Nintendo seems intent on balancing the lineup now.

By the way, I wasn't surprised at this point to see ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat or Soma Bringer in the packet, because I think they're a lost cause at this point. There also seems to be a new Tingle game in the works, and like the last game it'll probably miss America entirely; though it may make its way out in Europe. Thankfully the DS is region free, and with that I'm hoping DSi releases don't become too prevalent (since they're not region free).

Examples of Damage Control in Gaming is a weekly (well, ideally) feature where we look at the past and present of damage control done relating to video games from within the industry and outside it. While it will present an informative look at a particular topic, each entry will also be opinionated as well.

You're most likely aware that the DSi released last week to brisk sales, even if you don't follow gaming very closely. That's because people paying attention to the DSi's launch are more than your average gamer; people like your parents, grandparents, and people within their social circle are also taking notice because of features and titles playable on the system they'll find to their liking. These aren't the hardcore experiences that the more dedicated gamers sing praises for across the net, but more low-key and easily accessible fare.

And it's undeniable facts like those that make Sony's recent PR decrying the DSi's launch all the more inane and silly. Actually, their response is more fortuitous than I originally thought. Last week, I decided to do this feature on Sega's Game Gear and their borderline egregious -- though nonetheless entertaining -- advertisements in a failed attempt to take the Game Boy's thunder. Sony here is displaying a lack of acknowledgment for past mistakes from other companies, in that trying to decry the opposing portable system with blatant falsities that everyone knows isn't true isn't going to work.


Here's what the PR said, verbatim (courtesy of Game | Life):

If Nintendo is really committed to reaching a broader, more diverse audience of gamers beyond the "kids" market that they've always engaged, there isn't much new with the DSi to support that. Significant gamer demographic groups are being ignored, and there continues to be limited opportunities for games from external publishers to do well on the DSi. Compare that with the PSP platform, where we have many blockbuster franchises from our publishing partners launching this year, representing a wide variety of genres and targeting diverse demographics. Games such as Rock Band Unplugged from MTV Games, Assassin's Creed from Ubisoft, Dissidia Final Fantasy from Square Enix, and Hannah Montana from Disney demonstrate the commitment that publishers have to the PSP. From our own first-party studios, we're launching unique versions of LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm, and we're also planning a steady stream of downloadable games -- both new titles and PSone classics -- to add to the content that PSP owners can already purchase wirelessly through PlayStation Store. and

- John Koller, Director of Hardware Marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment America

Of all the ways to respond to the DSi's launch, this is the best they could come up with. And when people who aren't even in the PR business can think of better responses within the time span of minutes, you know it's bad.

Perhaps the most humorous aspect of the PR is the irony inherent in it. Sony says that Nintendo doesn't have much of an audience beyond kids, and that they have a lineup that appeals to all demographics. But the reality is the total opposite, and has been for at least a tad over three years now. The PSP really doesn't have much to appeal to its original target demographic of 18 to 34-year-old guys -- the guys that have dominated gaming for so long. You can prove this by merely taking a look around when you go into a public place. PSP users tend to fit into the aforementioned demographic, but every kind of person is playing a DS. This is knowledge the general audience has known for a good while, so why is Sony trying to convince them otherwise when they know it's futile?


Honestly, I'm not sure why Sony doesn't harp on the fact that Nintendo is ostensibly leaving gamers behind by leaving a number of their Japanese titles unpublished overseas, and saying that the PSP is the home for gamers. Sure, that's not entirely true either (though, thanks to Nintendo, it's becoming more and more true), but PR's aren't always known for their inherent truthfulness. In order to sell something, you have to bend the truth a little, but do it enough to convince specific customers that you have the definitive gamers system. Listing a number of titles that gamers would be interested in would help solidify the point -- especially for everyone who saw the abysmal lineup the PSP had for the majority of last year. That kind of PR may not work the best, but it would at least be something resembling sanity.

The subject matter is also rather unbecoming for a press release. Sega may have launched some hilarious-though-rather inappropriate ads insulting the Game Boy tech and people who actually thought it was viable entertainment, but at least they did that within the confines of advertising on TV and in magazines. Press releases are usually reserved for more professional banter from executives, which makes the above look even more bonkers.

I don't know who this is aimed at. Maybe it's for the kind of people who read Sony Defense Force and think it's actually a serious website. At this point, the PSP is going to need some divine assistance to propel its sales to the DSs level.

While everyone sane on the internet was attempting to keep their expectations low for the Game Developers Conference (because, you know, it's not E3 here), Nintendo decided to pull back the curtain to reveal a new Zelda game during their press conference Wednesday. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks for DS looks like a sequel to Phantom Hourglass in terms of the fact that it uses that games superb graphics system and touch controls. Upon taking that into account, this has to be a good thing, right? Well, hopefully.

As good as the controls and world of PH were, the game did have a big problem: the Temple of the Ocean King. The most cumbersome part wasn't having to go through the same dungeon over and over and over again in the game, but it was mainly the way it was constructed. It required you to descend though it by beating a series of stealth challenges, making an effort not to be spotted by guards you don't stand a chance of fighting against. It doesn't help that you're being timed via an hourglass, meaning you also have to move swiftly.

This would all be fine if the game was actually efficient at doing stealth. It's an unspoken rule that the only games that do stealth particularly well are games that are built around the mechanic (like a Metal Gear title). In PH, it feels awfully haphazard and tedious. So here's hoping that Nintendo realizes that it isn't the way to go in a Zelda game, though we were hoping they would realize that after The Wind Waker's arbitrary (and less tedious) stealth sections.

But despite all of that, I remain rather optimistic for Spirit Tracks. These days, the franchise can't go on without having some kind of innovation, and it looks like the train will pick up where sailing left off in the last two "Celda" games. I'll admit that I also like Link's train conductor outfit; it looks nice enough to fit in with the franchise's light fantasy vibe. The music in the trailer is also quite fantastic, complete with a nice western tinge. So now, the only question is whether its unveiling will be similar to PH's: announced as coming later in the year upon its reveal, only to go unheard of for months on end and release later in the next year. Hopefully that was only a one time thing.

Image courtesy of MTV Multiplayer blog.

...Chrono Trigger DS! As Geoff mentioned, there were copies of Chrono Trigger for sale at VGXPO's Retro Con room, though $100 dollars may be a hard sell. Other than a hardcore collector why bother paying $100 for an SNES game that has just been ported to the Nintendo DS and only costs $40? As an enhanced port it keeps some of the best features of the last port (Final Fantasy Chronicles on the PS1), while adding new bonus features. But we've already mentioned those features in previous posts.

Yesterday I went out and picked up my pre-ordered copy from Game Crazy. Since I didn't buy from GameStop I didn't get the bonus CD but that's okay, I already have a version of the soundtrack. Included with the first run of the game was a surprise bonus, a poster featuring Akira Toriyama's ever so popular and iconic illustration.

I've been playing the game in DS mode, and find that it's easy enough to play without the stylus. I am really liking the uncluttered view of the top screen. The additional information displayed on the bottom screen is pretty helpful, although the map seems pointless at times. Then again, I haven't had the chance to try out the map in a major dungeon yet. The extras are nice, the bestiary is always mentioned, but the ability to watch cut scenes, listen to music, view artwork, and read through an item encyclopedia have also been added to the extras, among other things. All in all, this game is shaping up to be a great port. And maybe I'll actually unlock all 13 endings this time around along with the  new added ending.

For a good while now, ever since the Wii has taken off to be a breakout success in sales, gamers have questioned whether Nintendo is still catering to the actual gaming sector. A sector where they were once dominant, but that now seems niche in comparison to their new audience, suspecting that they've taken a path paved with greener pastures. Gamers in-the-know believe they can gauge the company's reaction to this by the number of games they seem to be localizing. It's still a pretty good amount, but that number seems to be lowering at an admittedly sluggish rate.

But the internet's tendency to over-exaggerate things is once again coming into play. Message boards and blogs are littered with gamers crying and cackling about how Nintendo has abandoned them for their mothers and grandmothers. In a sense, that's true, but it's just that: it's not completely true. People just tend to forget about the good the company is doing at the moment.

First is a good one for the Europeans. At their press event earlier this month, Nintendo of America announced Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for DS, and said that it would release in the US in the first half of 2009. That's great, right? Well, it wasn't so great for gamers in North America when the game was announced for a European release shortly afterwards, and given a release date of December 5th. That definitely means we're getting it last. But Europe is always used to getting the shaft, so see this as a way of the company giving back.

There's also the matter of Disaster: Day of Crisis, a game that just released in Japan and hits Europe next Friday, October 24. This one is much more puzzling, as the game is already in English, and was definitely tailored towards a Western audience, yet a US version hasn't been announced yet.The fact that it wasn't even mentioned at the aforementioned press conference is even more mind-boggling. But there's still hope that it will come to the US, even though it's looking more bleak as time goes by.

But hey! Nintendo of America still has your back. The game pictured above is Kirby Super Star Ultra, the remake of the superlative 1996 SNES game Kirby Super Star. Note that the game released in the US on September 22, while it doesn't release in Japan until November 6. Additionally, it doesn't even have a European date yet.

Also, the Virtual Console has gotten out of the lapse it was in during the summer in the US. No longer are we only getting one game a week, as we've been receiving some games we were looking forward to for a while. For example, Secret of Mana was released on the VC in the US this Monday, a game cynics didn't expect for a long time, if ever. At this rate, we might actually get the original Castlevania: Rondo of Blood that Japan received back in mid-April! OK, probably not.

So North American Nintendo fans have no reason to panic. In fact, the turn around of the VC recently could be similarly taken as a sign of things to come. Sure, there's the number of unlocalized games like Soma Bringer, Glory of Heracles and Fatal Frame IV to worry about. This isn't exactly the ideal future for localizations, but things are still bright for us. Nintendo hasn't actually abandoned you, it's just the internet being the internet.

You've probably heard the announcement, and probably below (or not), that there's a DSi coming out soon from Nintendo for Japanese residents on November 1. It hasn't been too long since the last revision, though long enough for people not to be surprised. It's been about two-and-a-half years since the system graced Japan, and by the time the thing releases in the America and Europe, it will have been three (if it comes out around June '09). But is it really necessary?

Well, not from a purely observational standpoint. The thing boasts two .03 megapixel cameras within it's interior and exterior, which would've been standard about 8-10 years ago. As rumored, it has music playback capabilities, though it only plays ACC files. And while the thing does have an SD Card slot, we don't know specifically what downloadable software will be available for the thing beyond GB and GBA downloads. The only DS Ware announced thus far are renditions of the two Brain Age titles. Also, cosmetically, it isn't very different from the DS Lite.

But there are three reasons that Nintendo wants to sell this thing, especially to Japanese audiences:

1.  The Never-Ending Battle of the Portables

Nintendo may have been a little surprised to see that the PSP Slim is beating the DS in its home territory, so the company has decided to up the ante and release a system that's not just a mere video gaming system. Games like Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G and Phantasy Star Portable have helped move the PSP hardware, so it's about time for a DS resurgence in Japan now that the majority of Japanese citizens who wanted a Lite own one now. The fact that it's selling to an audience that hasn't been enthralled with products such as the iPhone is anothe reason.

2. Plans for the Future

They may not be revealing themselves now, but it's possible that Nintendo has some grandiose things in store that only the DSi can take advantage of. Of course, it would be good if we were aware of what those precisely were, as it would go a long way towards moving units from store shelves. If there's downloadable software on par with what's being offered with Wii Ware currently, this could turn into a gold mine. It'll need more than just a backlog of Game Boy games to sell, the majority of which are really awful. Electronics can't sell on sheer potential alone. Just ask Sony!

3. Geeks and Otaku Will Buy It

It's almost a tragedy that geeks are so magnetically attracted to the newest hardware, especially when it's cheap and portable. Nintendo knows that, and they certainly intend to exploit it to it's fullest current potential. It's only in America that the company is making some strange managerial decisions with its software, though even here it's not ravaged enough to make the N-faithful not gravitate towards the newest iteration without a second thought. Even if it isn't a significant upgrade.


Hopefully this time, there's enough to prevent people from jumping in headfirst just for the bragging rights. Sure, the screens are bigger, but that and its new features are at the expense of marginally shorter battery life. There's also the fact that the system, unlike its predecessors, won't be region free. All the more reason to wait until its US launch, if a substantial reason to own it surfaces by then (i.e. it's not like the upcoming Japanese launch). The DSi doesn't look like a device you'll need right away, though that isn't going to stop many people.

The new Nintendo DSi compared to the current DS Lite due out in Japan soon. Importing never looked so good.


The financial roller coaster ride from last week spilled into this week, enough to make anyone pray that the ride would soon be over. After the US House of Representatives failed to pass the $700 billion dollar bailout (or rescue) plan on Monday, a revised version passed in the Senate before it was finally passed in the House on Friday. Naturally, the fact that US stocks (tech and game publisher stocks included), fell a record 777 points on Monday as a result had something to do with the quick turn around in Congress.

Life in the gaming and entertainment sectors went on, despite the turmoil on Wall Street. On Thursday Nintendo unveiled the iDS DSi, the newest upgrade to the Nintendo DS. While Nintendo stated that the DSi isn't a replacement for the DS Lite, we can pretty much guess that the handheld's days are numbered. Just ask the still popular Game Boy Advance SP, oh wait. Nintendo also made up for its lackluster performance at E3 by putting out a ton of announcements for its devout (ie, hardcore) fanbase. 

Are you a rabid fan of Professor Layton and the Curious Village? Then the annoucement of a Professor Layton animated movie, live-action movie and even a manga title should be welcome news. Although many North American gamers are still wondering when the Professor Layton sequels will be brought over from Japan.

The first BLEACH movie, BLEACH the Movie: Memories of Nobody is set for a Canadian theater debut on Monday, October 20th. Which is exciting news for select theaters, but a bit baffling because the DVD releases on October 14th.

In the world of journalism telling the truth is always a top priority. If anything, lying just doesn't pay when caught, especially when messing with a large company like Apple.



Image courtesy of Joystiq.  

I took advantage of a lofty view with my camera while at Otakon 2008

Adult Swim announced at Okaton 2008 that it will air Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 right after the original Code Geass series ends its run. Fans of the first series can grab the anime on DVD now, though not without disc errors as Bandai Entertainment acknowledged.

If people attending Otakon 2008 thought it seemed more crowded than usual this year that assumption would be correct. The anime convention brought in over 26,000 attendees who swarmed the Baltimore Convention Center, compared with the 22,852 people from last year.

On the entertainment front Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been pushed back to July of 2009, but there’s always Twilight in November. If you’ve never heard of Twilight or could care less about Harry Potter, hopefully video game news will fill that lonely void.

Thanks to the release of Tales of Vesperia the Xbox 360 actually outsold the PS3 in Japan for the week. Considering how little of an impact that the 360 has made in Japan this news comes as quite a surprise. In Other RPG news, Europe will eventually get Chrono Trigger on the DS, but will have to wait until next year a release date in that region. Or they could start importing as soon as the game is released everywhere else. At least Europe will get the game, unlike the original SNES version that was never released there.