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Joystiq presents

Alisha Karabinus
Little Rock, AR - http://dsfanboy.com

Alisha Karabinus has been both playing video games and writing since she was very young. Sometimes she even does them both at the same time! She is a Castlevania nut, a college student, a hair dye fanatic, a killer cook, and she enjoys the occasional board game, too

DS Fanswag: Penguin United 24x Gaming Pouch


Have a lot of games and nowhere to keep them? Six lucky readers are about to have all their problems solved, as we've got six of the awesome Penguin United cases (currently valued at $14.99) that can hold up to twenty-four DS carts. Also, they've got a penguin on 'em. That's unbeatable.

What do you need to do to win? Just leave a comment on this post and let us know how many DS games you have. If you can't fill up the pouch, it won't hurt you (you'll just be shamed), so don't worry! You may enter once per day and the contest will run through Sunday, August 3rd; that night, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, entries will close, and we'll choose six winners in a random drawing. To enter, you must be 18 or older, and a current legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Have questions? Check the official rules.

Amazon's Izuna posters delayed

Were you looking forward to getting a piece of Izuna with your copy of Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns from Amazon? You'll have to way a little bit longer, dearest fanboys; there's been a bit of a mix-up and the posters have gone missing. The folks at Atlus offered up profuse and unending apologies in today's newsletter, and promise that the posters will be in the mail soon.

So far as we know, this only affects the posters with the Amazon copies. If you were getting a poster from GameStop, we're guessing that'll still be included, and of course, you still get the reversible boxart.

Super effective Pokemon bento


Some people are just gifted, like the Japanese mother who is responsible for these brilliant Pokémon-themed lunches. We've seen some neat Nintendo-themed bento before, but comparing those to today's specimens is a bit like holding up a Monet next to the scuffed chalk drawings on the sidewalk out front. They're just in different leagues.

Hit the break to see the tastiest Pikachu ever. There's another of these, and tons that aren't made of Pokemans, at the source.

Continue reading Super effective Pokemon bento

Paramount is completely Clueless

The list of things the DS needs is getting shorter all the time. Sure, we could all do with attack lasers, or our own printers (for money), but these are just needless luxuries. DS fans are pretty well set up. But even if there was a long list, the longest of lists, of possible games and ideas for the DS, a game based on the movie Clueless wouldn't be anywhere near the list. They wouldn't even be on the same continent.

But this isn't a question of good ideas and bad ideas. As if. It's a question of easy money shovelware "expanding the core casual gaming audience," and what better way to do that than to release a game based on a movie that's more than a decade old? It's brilliant, as is the game, which charges players with matching up potential love interests based on totally important factors, like their clothing.

Clueless, from Paramount Digital Entertainment, is slated for the DS -- and the PC -- late this year, along with PC titles based on Pretty in Pink and Mean Girls.

Show and Tell: It's never final


This week, to celebrate the release of Final Fantasy IV, we're dedicating Show and Tell to the series as a whole. While FF swag is not nearly as ubiquitous as Zelda gear (at least around here), we did get a few interesting submissions from Final Fantasy fans.

Missed our call, but have some fantastic items you want to show off? No worries -- we'll still take photos of your Cecil cosplay, because that's just how we do it. Don't be shy about sending in your submissions!

Show and Tell is all about your stuff, so long as it's Nintendo-ish. We love to see your collections, your crafts, your frosted creations, your t-shirts and swag of all sorts. Snap a few pictures, write up the haps, and send it all to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com. We'll take care of the rest.

Cooking Guide Cook-Off: Alisha

I love cooking. Any time I'm in a situation in which I have to list my hobbies, cooking's right up there (with gaming, of course!). I cook five or six nights a week, make fresh baby food for the little one, and I love hunting down new recipes. I rarely stick to them, though, so agreeing to undertake the Cooking Guide's instructions with no alterations was the real challenge for me.

What sort of cook am I? The kind with a lot of stuff. My spices take up more space than my glassware (minus stemware); they fill an entire cabinet and spill out across the counters. I have six different kinds of salt. I don't go in much for making the food look pretty, though. I'd never have the patience for something like this. But then again, I feel like making the bed is pretty futile (just gonna get back in!), and that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about me.

Chris and I did some things differently; for instance, I skipped making the green beans that were part of the Chicken Teriyaki recipe; I figured that since our other recipe was for green beans, these were unnecessary. He also didn't have to convert all the measurements, and he has no idea how easy he had it. Thank goodness there's a unit converter on the Mac dashboard. I ran back to the computer a lot (as there was no room for the laptop in the kitchen with ingredients spread about). I also made an extra side dish -- rice -- because, well, rice is tasty and goes well with Chicken Teriyaki.

Otherwise, we faced some of the same challenges (cookies were impossible to find), as well as some of the same choices (as we both used all white meat chicken). The results, however, were somewhat different ... though probably not as different as you'd think.

Start here to read the full story of the meal, step by step, or jump into the gallery anywhere below by clicking one of the pictures. Oh, and the meal itself? It was quite delicious. Definitely a thumbs-up on the Guide, if we were measuring on these recipes alone.



Not-So-Iron Fanboy: Cooking Guide Cook-Off

As soon as the Cooking Guide was released in English, we here at DS Fanboy understood one thing: it was necessary that we put the software to the test in a bloody, violent, no-holds-barred, steel cage cook-off the likes of which would put Iron Chef (both versions) to shame. Sadly, budget constraints (and, uh, laws) prevented the sort of Thunderdome-esque event we hand in mind, though, so instead, we're just having a normal cook-off.

One hobbyist cook. One bachelor. One shot at three recipes, supported by the Cooking Guide. Will they be able to produce the same meal, with the same results? Will the Guide serve as a workable cookbook for the knowledgeable, and an aid for those who aren't? We put it to the test.

Continue reading Not-So-Iron Fanboy: Cooking Guide Cook-Off

DS releases for the week of July 21st

It's a tough week. Not only are we coming off the excitement of E3, but we're faced with several great releases this week, too. Will you be shelling out for more than one game? At least in Australia, the choice this week is much, much simpler.
  • Final Fantasy IV
  • Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
  • The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
  • Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Clue Bender Society
  • New International Track & Field
Check out the rest of the major markets after the break.

Continue reading DS releases for the week of July 21st

Comically ill-divided Dragon Ball screens

Sometimes, DS screenshots just don't look quite right. They're often a little rough around the edges -- even with games that look fantastic in motion -- but worse, the split between the screens sometimes ends up in odd places if a developer is trying to use both screens to tell a story. That happens a lot in these Dragon Ball DS screens, sometimes to comic effect ... so often, in fact, that it seems like it was done on purpose, particularly when it results in images like the one to the right.

Check out the full set in the gallery below. They're just begging to be adapted into a game of a different sort.

DS Daily: This fall


Now that we've got E3 behind us, it's time to start looking ahead to the next big things. We've got a few big shows coming up, including the Square Enix event and TGS, and after that? The holiday season. So get your prediction hats on and let us know about your picks for the stars of the upcoming shows, no regions barred. What's going to be the next big deal in Japan? The U.S.? Europe?

E308: DS Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation


In its second year as a diminished behemoth, E3 still manages to be packed full with news, media, and more. While there wasn't much from Nintendo themselves for the DS this year, third parties are still incredibly strong and we're faced with more games than we can possibly handle. We're also pretty sure we saw almost all of them at E3 this year. Relive the entire experience right from the convenience of this post!

Check out our choices for show highlights right here, or hit the break for the full rundown of our E3 coverage. Of course, we're still adding things, and will be over the next few days; keep up by clicking the E3 graphic in the sidebar.

GTA: Chinatown Wars shooting up the DS in winter!


Transfer data from Animal Crossing: Wild World to new Wii game

Highlights from Nintendo's keynote


Rhythm Heaven bumped by Cammie Dunaway's wrist

Konami booth tour


DS Fanboy reacts to the Nintendo keynote
Three DS news items you may have missed


Chrono Trigger's controls explained (and hands-on)
DS Fanboy enters the Retro Game Challenge

Rhythm Heaven is the best musical microgame collection at the show

Continue reading E308: DS Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation

Izuna 2: Hands-on with an Unemployed Ninja

If you enjoyed Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja (or at least thought you might), then there's good news: the sequel is just as charming, just as engaging, and perhaps even a little more fun than the original. The sequel has a lot of new things, including a second baby step toward making Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns a hair easier on your sanity and frustration levels.

That's right -- while Izuna's games definitely fall under the roguelike label, they're a fingernail easier than the traditional dungeon crawler. That doesn't make them any easier to me, but the hardest of the hardcore may scoff at Izuna's differences, while the rest of us can actually attempt the game without "accidentally" dropping the DS or anything. What's different? In both Izuna 2 and its predecessor, when you die (and will you ever die), you keep your levels. In keeping with the roguelike tradition, you lose everything else, but it's not absolutely everything in a square-one sort of way. Izuna 2 adds something else on top of that: the tag team system. And that's where things get a little sticky.

Gallery: Izuna 2

Continue reading Izuna 2: Hands-on with an Unemployed Ninja

E308: DS Fanboy on day four

A deeper look at Prince of Persia

While it's uncertain that anyone would really want to take a deeper look at Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, there are usually some masochists out there willing to take one for everyone else.

Oh, wait. That's us. Damn. Well, we looked. And maybe this look has merit in motion, as many DS games just don't look great in stills, but the problem here really seems to be the muddiness of the shots. Sometimes, it just seems like everything is running together, and that's just not attractive. Others look better, just with dwarfed characters. They're tiny. It'll be interesting, to say the least, when we at last see video on this one.

Zenses: Soothing in an angry sort of way

Okay, listen. Just who is responsible for the idea that females -- note, no specification of age or tastes there, just the entire gender -- only like a certain type of game? And why do publishers feel the need to tell us, repeatedly, "ladies, this game's for you?" Perhaps we can't be trusted to make our own decisions about what is and isn't fun. Never mind all those chicks playing Guitar Hero and RPGs and even -- gasp -- first person shooters. If you're female, it's either Imagine Babyz if you're under fifteen, or puzzle games if you're over. That's scientific fact.

So why do I feel so unimpressed by the purportedly-relaxing Zenses: Rainforest? Maybe, unlike Zenses: Ocean, it's not "designed specifically to appeal to females." Either way, this female feels a little more inclined to turn to Puchi Puchi Virus for her dot-connecting needs. Maybe it's the trippy art style. Maybe it's the fact that they're not trying to tell me to like anything (except Disgaea, apparently). Or maybe that's just my personal taste, resulting from an ability to make decisions without being guided in one way or another. Now it's your turn to do the same: check out the screenshots and see if Zenses: Rainforest is up your alley. It does look relaxing, and perhaps worthwhile, now that all the rage and bile is cleared out. See? The relaxation bit is working already.

P.S. You boys can look, too. It's okay. We won't tell.

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