There's no hiding your secret. After seeing the latest on Ketsui DS, we know you're absolutely in love with the game now. It's okay, we fell in love immediately way back in September, so we know full well your pain right now, as your body must be violently, and randomly, throwing itself into convulsions of desire for the title. That's how it's been for us, at least.
Well, courtesy of Famitsu, we all get a brief fix. Their site has a variety of screens up for your perusing pleasure. Also reiterated is the inclusion of a DVD showing Japanese gamers how to get those high scores. Of course, we already knew about that.
This gameplay trailer for Matrix Software's Avalon Code provides a nice representation of the ARPG's gameplay, as far as we can tell: fast-paced battles against big hobgoblins in silly hats, with menu controls in the lovely book-like interface on the bottom screen. Here, we can see a player switching out characters in the middle of this hobgoblin battle.
Interestingly, data about the hobgoblin doesn't appear in the book until the hero has pulled off a combo attack against the creature. It appears that the basic attacks still caused damage, but that there's some kind of prerequisite for obtaining monster information.
We're pretty sure the actual game will have sound, by the way.
Games for Health is a conference organized by the Serious Games Initiative on the subject of games' application in the health care field. Serious Games Japan's Toru Fujimoto gave a presentation at this conference offering an overview of Japan's serious games market. Naturally, the DS came up, as it would in any discussion of either serious games or games in Japan.
Echoing Yoshiki Okamoto's statements, Fujimoto believes that the Japanese DS library has been flooded with too many nongames. "It looks attractive because of Brain Age sales, but if you're not Nintendo, it doesn't sell," Fujimoto said. "Nintendo has the top 7, 8 sellers in the top 10. You need a good game, a good customer base and a marketing budget."
He also suggested that these training games are being put together with lacking (or no) research, offering a quote from Dr. Ryuta Kawashima about potential liability from serious games. Could bad training games hurt people as well as the DS?
Though the game was just announced, Tecmo has already revealed a preorder bonus for early purchasers of Monster Farm DS 2, the latest in their Monster Farm/Rancher series of monster-collecting RPGs. The Monster Farm Official Memorial Book covers the 10-year history of the series, starting with its origins on the PlayStation. For fans of that era of Monster Ranching: Tecmo has said that Monster Farm DS 2's system will be similar to Monster Farm 1 and 2.
The Dengeki article that reveals the Memorial Book also features a series of old and new screens, one of which shows something interesting: the "character input" monster creation mode using our familiar Roman alphabet. Which means that you don't need to know kanji to create monsters.
We were already a bit weirded out by the announcement of Hello Kitty being named Japan's "Tourism Ambassador" to China and Hong Kong, despite not existing. But now, seemingly in celebration of the mouthless cartoon cat's new increased visibility in China (or just as a result of weirdly fortuitous timing), she'll "honor" one of China's most beloved national symbols in a series of athletic competitions.
Either that or Sanrio and publisher Dorasu just thought that putting Hello Kitty in a panda suit for a whole game would be cute. Which it is. Hello Kitty Panda Sports Stadium features 12 sporting minigames starring cats clad in panda suits, but only judo and baseball have been revealed in screens. But, really, any sport would be made better with the addition of Hello Kitty's blank stare peeking out of the cushy maw of a plush panda head.
Fast food chain McDonalds is to launch a new download service in Japan tomorrow, through DS download stations located in 21 Tokyo branches of McDonalds and train stations along the Tsukuba Express line.
The scheme, dubbed "Nintendo Spot," is currently in a trial period, and will give DS owners access to free downloads featuring the latest "McDonalds news" (this just in: you need to learn to cook for yourself), nutritional information, and menus, as well as actual news, weather reports, horoscopes, a Brain Training demo, and hotel/restaurant guides for Tokyo (though we assume that guides to rival restaurants won't appear in McDonalds). The trial ends on June 30th in McDonalds, and on December 28th at the railway stations.
Incidentally, our machine translation is picking up something about a "downloadable gift" related to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Here's hoping the service heads west so we can find out more. While you wait with us, make the jump for a look at Ronald McDonald's offspring as perceived through the eyes of Japanese advertising executives (warning: slightly NSFW).
Our recommendation of Kunitori Zunou Battle Nobunaga no Yabou (Domination Battle of the Brains: Nobunaga's Ambition) as an alternative to Advance Wars is looking safer by the day, with Koei revealing to Impress Watch that the game would support certain modes that not even Intelligent Systems' title featured.
In particular, the multiplayer seems to have had considerable attention lavished upon it. Not only is there wireless DS-to-DS play and the ability to play others with a single card, but there's also Wi-Fi Connection battles for -- get this -- up to four players. Which is precisely what Advance Wars: Days of Ruin needed, if you ask us.
Aside from this super-happy news, Impress Watch profiled the eight daimyo (warlords from Japan's feudal period) that will appear in the title, all of whom are historically accurate figures (with probably-not-historically accurate special abilities). Apparently, players will have the option of fighting actual battles that took place. Oh yes, and there are screens. Lots of lovely new screens. Many of which contain this strange device. What is it? No idea. First one to tell us gets our everlasting admiration.
Success's Genmu no Tou to Tsurugi no Okite has gotten us interested in dungeon RPGs like no other, due almost entirely to its visuals. While most dungeon games are bland, Genmu's default look can be likened to a black light poster. The alternate visual scheme, which is retro black-and-white line art, is also amazing.
You can play a little trial of the game, if you'd like the full Genmu no Tou experience. The arrow keys move you around, A is your main action button, B cancels, X confirms attacks, and Y turns the map on. You may not be able to read the text, but you can listen to the fantastic music and brute-force your way through some bats. If you like the way it looks, check out a bunch of screens in our gallery.
Now, the game's Japanese site has launched and it's an incredibly effective platform for advertising the title. Just checking out the site makes you think J-horror, in the likes of Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. It's a great way to market the title, we believe, so be sure to hit up the site for the goods.
Much like the CD system in the original Monster Rancher created a monster from any CD, and the DS game did the same with sounds, drawings, and GBA cartridges, we have created a post from a scan of a magazine with our remarkable algorithm (the secret: looking at the pages, and then writing about them). Coincidentally, the post is about Monster Farm DS 2: Yomigaeru! Master Breeder Densetsu (Revival! Master Breeder Legend).
The character-based monster creation system found in this new game appears not to rely simply on random characters, but on phrases of up to six characters. This system will aid in the creation of one of over 270 monsters. There also appear to be new breeder/trainer types of characters, but they're human and thus boring.
We never heard much about Monster Farm DS (or Monster Rancher DS, as it would have been known in the west, had it ever come out over here). We knew about the wacky new yelling-based, touchscreen-based, and GBA-cartridge-based monster creation systems that were added ... and that's about it. For whatever reason, the import never got much attention, and it was never released outside of Japan. For a popular series like that on the most popular console, that's kind of a bad sign.
Still, Tecmo must have done okay in Japan, because they've announced another one for this August. Monster Farm DS 2 keeps the same input systems as before, but adds a character input system of some kind, that will allow players to write Japanese or Chinese characters in order to generate monsters.
That's neat and all, but having gameplay be so dependent on kanji just makes it even harder to localize.
Detroit Metal City is a manga series about a mild-mannered Japanese teacher who joins a metal band and instantly becomes totally metal (in the KISS style, not in the Scandinavian killing-people style). D3 Publisher has wisely decided to take the manga, which we've never seen, and make it into an insane kabuki-rock music minigame RPG thing called Detroit Metal City DS: Death Shout.
The performance modes seem (from the comic/3D style and the single screen we have of the interface) to rip off Ouendan pretty openly, but we can't bring ourselves to get outraged. The minigames range from lyric-writing to whatever the hell this is, and that can't be described as anything but original.
Besides, we want to play an Ouendan game about decadent hair-metal performance. We desperately want this RPG about defeating rival bands to be awesome.
Tomy, who you're more likely to know for their involvement withNaruto than a sports title, is releasing a pretty sweet baseball game in Japan this July. It's called Major DS and, aside from just being a baseball title (enough for this sports fan), it has great appeal in its unique control scheme. As you can witness in the video above, pitching and batting is handled by utilizing the stylus on the touch-screen. It looks like MLB Power Pros is getting a run for its money soon ...
Any sports fans think Tomy is on to something here with Major DS? We're wondering how import-friendly it is, ourselves.
We noticed two things while watching the new trailer for Spike's horror adventure game Twilight Syndrome: Kinjiraneta Toshi Densetsu (Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend) (which you can access by going to the site and clicking the button indicated above):
It looks exactly like a creepy version of Gyakuten Kenji, with a schoolgirls in place of Miles Edgeworth and Dick Gumshoe
Zoinks! Like, we gotta get outta here, Scoob!
Seriously, we were expecting hilarity out of this trailer and, while some of the artwork looked goofy, and the actual gameplay bits looked not-scary-at-all, we got pretty freaked out. Not "get up and hide" level, or "stop blogging" level, but there was at least one heebie-jeebie involved. We know that the urgent music is designed specifically to try to get a panic response out of us.
The horrorgenre is takingoff on the DS in Japan, but the U.S. has Dementium and pretty much nothing else. Who's going to be the first to localize? Twilight Syndrome would be a good choice, as part of an existing horror series, for which a movie has just been announced.
The Combini is really a smart series for Nippon Ichi to put on the DS: what was once called a "video game" can now be presented as "management training" and sold to very serious people who don't want to waste their valuable train time with anything that's not going to give them a business edge. It's not a game, no! It's training. For business. Also it looks like it would be cheap to make.
New elements in The Combini on the DS include a "president's office," from which you can get in-game help from your secretary and look at graphs on your PC. As you acquire wealth, you can upgrade your office. Other than that, The Combini is all about opening up stores in strategic locations near popular buildings, in one city at a time, hiring staff and placing products. You'll create direct-mail ads and commercials and track other developing buildings around the city. Oh, and of course you'll build "business power."
There's no hiding your secret. After seeing the latest on Ketsui DS, we know you're absolutely in love with the game now. It's okay, we fell in love immediately way back in September, so we know full well your pain right now, as your body must be violently, and randomly, throwing itself into convulsions of desire for the title. That's how it's been for us, at least.
Games for Health is a conference organized by the Serious Games Initiative on the subject of games' application in the health care field. Serious Games Japan's Toru Fujimoto gave a presentation at this conference offering an overview of Japan's serious games market. Naturally, the DS came up, as it would in any discussion of either serious games or games in Japan.
We were already a bit weirded out by the announcement of 
Fast food chain McDonalds is to launch a new download service in Japan tomorrow, through DS download stations located in 21 Tokyo branches of McDonalds and train stations along the Tsukuba Express line.
Our 
Success's 
Renegade Kid's 
Detroit Metal City is a manga series about a mild-mannered Japanese teacher who joins a metal band and instantly becomes totally metal (in the KISS style, not in the Scandinavian killing-people style). D3 Publisher has wisely decided to take the manga, which we've never seen, and make it into an insane kabuki-rock music minigame RPG thing called Detroit Metal City DS: Death Shout.
