Posts from the Ds Daily Category at DS Fanboy

DS Daily: Underrepresented

Posted Mar 24th 2008 9:00AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Daily

DS owners have tons to choose from; after all, there are usually more games we want than we can possibly play in any given year. That doesn't mean everything is perfect, however. It's likely that, no matter how satisfied you are with your handheld, some facet of gaming seems underrepresented to you when it comes to the DS library. What is it? We're dying to know. On the flip side, maybe you think there's too much of a good thing here and there. Maybe you're up to your elbows in training games, or you've noticed that nearly everything is incorporating a little strategy of late. Wait! Maybe we need a Strategy Training game ....

Or not.

DS Daily: Homebrew hoping

Posted Mar 23rd 2008 10:30AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Homebrew, DS Daily

We love homebrew, and we know a lot of you are fans of the homebrew scene as well. Unfortunately, we all can't be blessed with programming skills, but if you were, what kind of homebrew would you make? What programs, applications, or games would you like to see on your DS? Who knows, maybe some homebrew geniuses out there will see your desires and get some ideas -- we can hope, can't we? After all, our DS can do many things, but it can't do everything.

DS Daily: Needing instructions

Posted Mar 22nd 2008 10:30AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: DS Daily

We have to admit -- sometimes we'll play and complete games without even looking at the instruction manual once. When we do check out the handy booklets, though, they're usually very helpful, and even have impressive artwork at times.

How often do you look at instruction manuals? Always? Never? Or, perhaps only sometimes, depending on the game? And, have you ever come across one for a DS game that included noteworthy art?

DS Daily: Game squared

Posted Mar 21st 2008 9:00AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: DS Daily

First, watch this awesome video. It's an awesome video, right? A YouTube user 007craft remade The Legend of Zelda, from the first screen through the first dungeon, in the Xbox Live Arcade version of N+. It's wonderfully bizarre to see the screens so faithfully rendered in a completely different gameplay style. Simple things like reaching doors at the top of the screen become acrobatic struggles.

Have you ever used one game to recreate another game or its elements? Maybe you've edited all of the textures in your Animal Crossing town, Drawn Mario to Life, or composed some game music in Mario Paint. When you get access to an in-game editor, is making references to other games the first thing you do?

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DS Daily: A less-than-perfect solution?

Posted Mar 20th 2008 9:00AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: DS Daily

For so long, the prospect of a Guitar Hero game on the DS was a source of intrigue to this blogger. During long, sleepless nights, I would ponder how such a game could reproduce the magic of the home console versions with just two screens, the DS's tinny speakers, and no guitar peripheral.

Yesterday, Activision revealed its solution to these conundrums: the "Guitar Grip." The idea seems straightforward enough: plug the above accessory into the GBA slot of your DS, grab your guitar pick stylus, and strum away on your touchscreen while pressing buttons to coincide with cascading on-screen notes. Fair enough. Considering the limitations of the DS, this isn't a terrible idea.

But here's what irks me: a considerable -- no, a huge -- part of Guitar Hero's appeal is the guitar controller itself. When I'm (cough) "rocking out" on one of the home console versions of Guitar Hero, I'm Brian May on stage at Live Aid, at least in my head. In reality, of course, I'm a deluded cretin, but the point still stands: Guitar Hero is at its best when it's letting us live out our rock star fantasies, and that's fun. Yours truly is going to struggle to get the same sensation of being a total rock god just by plugging in the Guitar Grip.

I hate to say this but ... perhaps Guitar Hero should have stayed on home consoles, if the Guitar Grip truly is the best solution. Is that too harsh?

DS Daily: Hopes regarding a certain ninja

Posted Mar 19th 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

Personally, we can't wait for next week, as it sees the release of Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, the stylus-driven entry in Itagaki's ninjatastic franchise. We're really hoping that the game will help validate other entries in more established franchises on the handheld.

Are you all as excited for this game as we are? Did you read some of the reviews and decide for or against the game? Are you as hopeful as we are that the handheld might start seeing some solid 3D action titles now?

Gallery: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

DS Daily: Desensitized to greatness

Posted Mar 18th 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

As DS gamers, we're often exposed to the best and brightest gaming content around. Sometimes it's just so much, though, that we find it hard to get excited for a game that we know we should be ecstatic over. It's pretty tiring when you're enthusiastic about a game system that just receives amazing title after amazing title.

What about you all? Is there a game or games, upcoming or already released, that you felt this way about? A game that you knew tickled your fancy and met all of the criteria for being "good" in your eyes, yet you couldn't really muster up the appropriate levels of excitement about?

DS Daily: Your app of choice

Posted Mar 17th 2008 9:00AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Homebrew, DS Daily

Assuming you use a DS homebrew device (much like the ELSPA was erroneously reported to have assumed), you probably have a few non-game applications on there. Everyone has DS Organize, of course, and probably Moonshell as well. But there's a ton of stuff out there to extend the functionality of your DS, even beyond those two catchalls!

What applications do you have sitting on your card? Do you read comics? Watch movies? Play music? Or maybe just sketch and doodle? Uh, Shooting Watch DS is sort of application-like, if you, uh, need to measure how quickly you can push a button.

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DS Daily: A lesson learned

Posted Mar 16th 2008 10:30AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: DS Daily

While playing Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, we learned a neat little fact about cards. Apparently, a deck of cards represents a calendar year -- there are four suits because there are four seasons in a year, and there are fifty-two cards because there are fifty-two weeks.

Also, if you assign each card a numeric value from one to thirteen (with an ace equaling one, a king equaling thirteen), they will add up to 364. That's why there are two jokers: One makes the year complete, since a year has 365 days, and the other is there because there's an extra day during leap years.

Are there any cool little facts you've learned from games that you've played? Maybe even something less trivial than the card fact above? Share them with us. This way, you'll have some ammo when people scold you about not learning anything from video games.

DS Daily: No sale

Posted Mar 15th 2008 10:30AM by Candace Savino
Filed under: DS Daily

Here at DS Fanboy, we're pretty enamored by sales charts. We're constantly cheering on some of our favorite games, hoping that they'll get the recognition they deserve. Unfortunately, it's not a perfect world, and that's not always the case.

Are there any DS games that you can think of that you wish had sold better? Share some tragic sales stories with us -- we're listening.

DS Daily: A new take on the expanded audience

Posted Mar 14th 2008 9:00AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: DS Daily

I've never considered buying a Korg synthesizer before. I don't know how to play a keyboard! I don't know what all those knobs and wires do! I would be totally useless with one. But when the Korg DS-10 card was revealed yesterday, I was suddenly filled with desire to own a synthesizer. Of course I need one of those, I thought -- I've always wanted one.

It's sort of a reversal of the expanded audience idea. While Nintendo intends to have this kind of stuff on the DS to bring people in who traditionally don't like games, I find myself as a gamer drawn to stuff that I wouldn't really want unless it were released on a game console. I know I'm not the only person who decided it was very important to keep my brain active right around the time Brain Age came out.

The very nature of something being on the DS makes it more interesting to me. Anyone else feel the same way?

DS Daily: Making music

Posted Mar 13th 2008 9:00AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: DS Daily

With Korg managing to squeeze its MS-10 synthesizer onto the DS, and Taiko Drum Master: 7 Islands' Adventure set to offer us access to all manner of percussive instruments, Nintendo's handheld now supports an impressive assortment of instruments. There are still gaps waiting to be filled, however, so which other instruments would you like to see emulated on your DS? Anyone else up for playing a spot of stylus-based violin?

DS Daily: Testing it out

Posted Mar 12th 2008 9:00AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Daily

One of the less-discussed features of the DS is the downloadable demo -- probably because a lot of people just don't use it! Whether it's a matter of not being near a download station, or having a download station in an inconvenient location, most gamers we know who own a DS have never, or rarely, downloaded a demo to their handheld. Have you? If so, how often?

In a perfect world, we could download our demos from anywhere (say, the wide world of the internets) and test nearly any game. Can you tell we're waiting (im)patiently? Over the past few months, which games do you think would have benefited most from a downloadable demo? With so many games to choose from, a few titles often get passed over, after all, because you just don't get to try them.

DS Daily: Franchise reboot

Posted Mar 11th 2008 9:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

We were looking over the reviews that have come in so far for Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and we were thinking about how that franchise rebooted itself on the DS. Now, it didn't really need a reboot, nor is it 100% a reboot in the normal way we think of reboots, but it did take an established franchise and retool it for another platform. Now, whether it was a good retooling or a bad retooling remains to be seen.

But, we were wondering what other established franchises could use a reboot in this manner? What about a Crazy Taxi game on the DS that has you controlling an interactive steering wheel on the touch-screen or only turning with the shoulder buttons? What about a Sims game that allows you to control them only by barking commands through the microphone? How about a Space Channel 5 game redone with Ouendan controls?

What can you come up with?

DS Daily: One-handed

Posted Mar 10th 2008 9:00AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Daily

Trying to get my game on while experiencing the real-life version of Imagine: Babyz (only cuter and without the z) has opened my eyes to something: too many games require the use of both hands! I can read while cuddling the child, so why can't I sit around with my DS? Oh, sure, I can play a few games, but too many require both hands, which means they're going to sit on my shelf for a while.

Why's this important? Well, it's really not, at least for me -- I'll survive -- but when reader Zack wrote in to tell us about his uncle, it made me pay particular attention. See, Zack's uncle only has full use of one hand, but he loves his DS. Zack wrote to us asking that we ask you for your recommendations on games that require mainly stylus input. Of course, he knows the obvious titles, like the Ace Attorney series ... what he's looking for are more obscure titles. Even homebrew games will work! So start your day off by doing something nice: recommend your favorites, and help out a fellow gamer.

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