Posts by David Hinkle at DS Fanboy

David Hinkle
York, PA - http://www.david-hinkle.com

David Hinkle first got his start in the gaming industry as a reviewer for a small time website in early 2004. After getting tired of little pay and the lack of recognition for his hard work, David sought employment elsewhere, eventually landing a job with Weblogs Inc. in March of 2005.

In October of 2006, David left his day job working for an Air Conditioning company in Florida to blog full-time. He is still trying to convince friends and family that he actually has a job and doesn't just sit around the house all day in his underwear.

David can be reached through his email at david [at] dsfanboy [dot] com.

Fanswag: Kirby Super Star Ultra

Posted Oct 22nd 2008 10:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Contests / Giveaways

That's right, boys and girls, we're hooking up one lucky reader with Nintendo's Kirby Super Star Ultra ($35)! What do you have to do to enter for your chance at this great game?

To enter, simply leave a comment between now and Tuesday, October 28th at 11:59PM ET, telling us what your favorite Kirby form is (you know, what happens when he swallows an enemy up!). You can leave one comment per day. We'll select a winner the following day via random drawing.

There are a few things you should know before entering. Entrants must be current and legal residents of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec) and at least 18 years of age or older. Read up on the rest of the official rules right here. Good luck!

Gallery: Kirby Super Star Ultra

DS Daily: Best bang for your buck

Posted Oct 22nd 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

We were thinking about how many awesome games there on the DS. We then passed out from the exertion because, let's face it, there's so many great games available for the handheld. So, we decided to tackle something a bit less strenuous. We started thinking about how many of those awesome games are worth playing more than just once.

Do you have any favorites with an incredibly high replay value? Which DS games have you found to be the most filled with great gaming content?

Which games reign in replayability?

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin cheap on Amazon

Posted Oct 21st 2008 3:45PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Sales

Have you been holding out on Nintendo's most awesome and fun strategy game, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin? Well, get with the program, muchaho! Today, the game is selling for the low price of $17.98 on Amazon. What kind of reason could you come up with as to why you won't be picking this up? It doesn't matter, none of them are valid.

If you pick it up and find it to your liking, then be sure to check out our feature suggesting similar games that should tickle your fancy!

Gallery: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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DS Daily: Has it changed your view?

Posted Oct 21st 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

With Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood finally releasing and all of us having ample time to play it, we'd like to know: has it changed your opinion of the blue, spiky hedgehog? It's quite the good game, which is weird for us considering Sonic hasn't been in one of those for quite some time. Maybe it's changing our view of Sega's mascot a little. How about you? If you haven't given the game a try yet, may we ask why?

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

DS Daily: Best place to bust out the DS?

Posted Oct 18th 2008 10:30AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

One of the best things about the DS is that it's just so darn easy to transport. That means you can get your game on wherever and whenever. Stuck on the train? Time to game! Visiting the relatives during the holidays? Find a lonely corner and boot that sucker up (or even get your elders in on the action!). Our question is: where do you find is the best place for you to game? Where do you find is the best place for you to spend some quality time with your favorite handheld?

Vicarious Visions talks Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

Posted Oct 17th 2008 11:19AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Interviews, Features

We were able to conduct a Q & A with David Nathanielsz, executive producer, Jesse Booth, producer, Greg Oberg, lead engineer, Jeremy Russo, lead designer, and Matt Helsom, lead artist, from the Vicarious Visions team responsible for Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades for the DS. They answered a lot of questions about the upcoming DS game, including fielding a question or two about the Nintendo DSi.

So, head past the break for our write-up and see what the fine folks had to say about the upcoming title!

Gallery: Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

Continue reading Vicarious Visions talks Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

Go ga-ga over Roogoo screens

Posted Oct 16th 2008 5:02PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Screens

We've known for a few months now that XBLA title Roogoo was being ported to the DS and now we finally have some screens to ogle. The screens are bright and colorful, showing us that Roogoo hasn't lost its visual appeal in the jump to DS.According to the fact sheet, the game will not only be a visual treat, but it will also support multi-card play, featuring "6+ different multiplayer attacks such as Meemoo Attack, Anvil Attack and Meteor Shape Color Attack." Roogoo DS is currently slated for a Q1 2009 release.

Hit up our gallery below and check out the fresh screens.

Gallery: Roogoo

[Via press release]

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night [update 2]

Posted Oct 16th 2008 12:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Update: The staff has left the Game Night chat. Plenty of folks are still in there, getting their game on. If you'd like to check it out, then head right on in.

Thursdays are the best. Not only are we one day away from Friday (weekend, woohoo!), but we also get to take a break and enjoy some gaming with you guys. Frankly, it's what we live for, because when you're blogging so much, you often don't get a chance to stop and enjoy a game or two. Do you have Tetris DS, Mario Kart DS or Clubhouse Games? Any other online-compatible title? Then get in on the action tonight at 7pm ET!

For those of you unfamiliar with how this works, head past the break for all of the details. Hope to see you there!

Continue reading DS Fanboy presents: Game Night [update 2]

Mr. ESC plans his exit to Europe

Posted Oct 15th 2008 2:50PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News

An official website for Exit DS in Europe just launched, and its first order of business was to announce that the game is on its way to the region. When can fine European individuals such as yourself expect to get your hands on the game? This month!

A release day hasn't been finalized yet, so we're not sure as to when this month the game will release. Seeing as how this month is half over, at least you won't have to wait that long.

Gallery: Exit DS

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DS Daily: Fan of the controls

Posted Oct 14th 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

Which DS game (recent release or older title) do you think really has the right stuff in the controls department? Is it a matter of touch-screen controls or plain old use of the d-pad and buttons? Why do you feel it's a great control scheme? Is there an upcoming game you're excited for that looks like the controls are really spot-on? Lay it on us!

Gaming to Go: Electroplankton (page 3)

Posted Oct 13th 2008 3:10PM by David Hinkle

Since there really isn't any kind of goal in Electroplankton, all of your effort in the game doesn't get applied to one ultimate end. The only goal is to satisfy your need for catchy, awesome tunes and bright, colorful displays. If there was ever an "artist's game," then this is it.

Ready for the stats?

Sleep time: This is virtually the only way to save your tracks. Closing the DS's lid and placing the unit into sleep mode will pause wherever you are at in the game, allowing you to open the DS back up later and resume your work in progress.

Load time: It takes merely a handful of seconds to jump into any area of the game. Audience mode takes a bit longer to get going, but, overall, it is very easy and fast to get going in the game.

Play time: This can be anywhere from a minute to as long as you'd like. The game provides a lot of freedom in this area, allowing the player to make as complex or simple a musical track as they'd like. You get what you give.

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Gaming to Go: Electroplankton (page 2)

Posted Oct 13th 2008 3:10PM by David Hinkle

Electroplankton is divided into two separate and distinct modes of play: Performance and Audience. Performance mode is where you'll spend the majority of your time, where you can interact with the little plankton to create music through the touch-screen, buttons and even the microphone. Performance mode is divided into 12 different pallette sets, each of which has its own little quirk. For example, my personal favorite, Luminaria, has a large grid full of arrows. When you activate one of the plankton by tapping it, it will then follow the arrowed path before it, creating a sound at each arrow. Eventually, when you activate all four plankton, you get a melody of sounds that come together and create something really pleasing. And that's just one of the twelve!

But, what about this Audience mode? Well, it's more or less a glorified demo reel of the game's capabilities. Here, you can set down the DS and let the various plankton serenade you with their musical capabilities. You can still interact with them, through the touch-screen, if you like.

The beautiful thing about this game is that it's as deep an experience as you make it. You can invest time in every single portion of Performance mode, you can partake in Audience mode and then you can come back to it all again and it'll be new. The game changes each and every time you put it in your DS, turn it on and play it.

Again, if you're not one who's usually intrigued by something like this, then Electroplankton is going to feel like a very empty game. It's true that even the most avid fan of the arts can sit down with this for 20 minutes and perhaps find that they're getting a bit bored. That's one of the reasons why this is such a great title for the fan of pick-up-and-play games perfect for on the go.

<< BACK COMMENT NEXT >>

Gaming to Go: Electroplankton

Posted Oct 13th 2008 3:10PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Gaming to Go

"Wha? Who is this impostor in my beloved column," you ask? Well, I kindly asked Matt if I could step in and guest write the column this week. Luckily, Matt is a fan of not working and allowed me to do so. I imagine he's sitting on a beach right now, complaining about the salt in his drink.

So, Electroplankton. Many of the longtime readers will know it's one of my favorite DS games. But, what's it all about? Well, it's a pick-up-and-play music game by Toshio Iwai, where you can create a variety of looped tracks for your listening pleasure. And utilizing the headphone jack, you can take your musical creations and export them to your computer or some other device for saving. For those who crave an overall goal or some end to work to, then Electroplankton might not be the game for you. The game may seem a bit shallow to those that aren't intrigued by the prospect of simply making music, but I assure you it's a charming and fun game, and one that is perfect for gaming on the go for any lover of the quirky and unique. If there's one thing you can say about Electroplankton, it's that there isn't any other game on the planet like it.

NEXT >>

Gallery: Electroplankton

Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with. And if you're looking for more original content from DS Fanboy (bless your heart), then check out our Point/Counterpoint feature and Bury the Shovelware.

Point: More like the DSawesome, amirite?

Posted Oct 10th 2008 1:45PM by David Hinkle

Look, I'll be the first to say that the Nintendo DSi has its faults. The region lock sucks, the price sucks and the decrease in battery life sucks. But, these are small prices to pay for all of the awesome stuff the new handheld brings to the table.

First of all, new games! We might not have seen any yet, but the DSi games might very well be the best thing ever. And, when you look at the support the DS got from its release up until now (and beyond), from both Nintendo and third parties, you have to feel good about the potential for a strong DSi library of games. And that's not even considering how all of the new features will affect those games!

Speaking of new features, the Nintendo DSi might not have the best camera on the market, and putting AACs onto a SD card might be kind of annoying, but Nintendo is getting closer and closer to making their handheld the only gadget you need on you at all times, aside from maybe a cell phone. And, when you think about it, the camera on the Nintendo DSi has to rival that of the cameras on most cell phones, probably even performing better.

Then there's the onboard SD slot. My head spins at the possibilities of having an onboard SD slot and what the homebrew community is going to come up with. It's like Nintendo is recognizing the R4 is huge and everyone is pirating things onto the handheld, so they just threw their arms up and gave up. We imagine that Nintendo is thinking that if they're doing all of this stuff with the DS and DS Lite, they might as well include the SD slot on the Nintendo DSi and hope the homebrewers and pirates will see that as enough reason to pay for a new handheld.

Finally, the app store. How awesome is that? Seeing as how WiiWare has been a pretty decent service so far, we can only imagine the amazing titles we'll soon be able to download to our Nintendo DSi. And, for as cheap as it is to develop on the Wii, it's even cheaper to develop on the DS, so we expect a great flood of wonderful indie titles available for download.

The future is bright with the Nintendo DSi and I can't wait for it.

<< BACK COMMENT NEXT >>

Point/Counterpoint: Nintendo DSi

Posted Oct 10th 2008 1:45PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Point/Counterpoint

Click to enter our DSi gallery.

It's on everyone's mind. The upcoming Nintendo DSi handheld is quite the attractive gadget ... or is it? We're back with another edition of Point/Counterpoint, this time dealing with Nintendo's upgraded portable system. Click the button below to read the pros and cons of Nintendo's DSi.

NEXT >>

Gallery: Nintendo DSi

Next Page >

Name	Date
Bleach: Dark Souls	Oct 6
Legend of Kage 2	Oct 6
Crash: Mind Over Mutant	Oct 6
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals	Oct 6
My Japanese Coach	Oct 14
Korg DS-10	Oct 14
Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2	Oct 14
FIFA Soccer 09	Oct 14
Populous	Oct 14
Rock Revolution	Oct 14
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia	Oct 21
Theresia	Oct 21
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows	Oct 21
Away: Shuffle Dungeon	Oct 21
Tornado	Oct 21
Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon	Oct 21
What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver	Oct 21
MySims Kingdom	Oct 28
Ninjatown	Oct 28

Game Reviews »

The story	More like it
Nintendo reveals the DSi	News
Lock's Quest review	Reviews
BTS: Cakemania	BTS
G2G: Clubhouse Games	Gaming to Go
Preview: Big Bang Mini	Features
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