DS Fanboy

Don't expect Spectral Force Genesis from NIS America

Posted Jun 10th 2008 11:00AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Interviews, News

During his interview with NIS America president Haru Akenaga, Spencer Yip made a point to inquire about the company's plans for many specific games, including those from companies with whom NIS has worked in the past. Spectral Force Genesis, the new SRPG from Idea Factory, came up. With unexpected candor, Akenaga confirmed that a localization of that or any Idea Factory title was unlikely:

"We have a relationship with them, but unfortunately our mission is to release quality titles. Their titles are good, but not good as we expected. That's our reason. They always ask us to localize their titles, but at this moment we answer with 'we're sorry'."

Atlus, Mastiff, O3 (who did the amazing localization of Idea Factory's Chaos Wars) and other small publishers are still a possibility, but NIS definitely doesn't have interest in working with the company. Which is good, because that particular bridge is pretty well toasted.

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Etrian Odyssey, FFTA2 developers want to speak with you

Posted Jun 10th 2008 10:15AM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Interviews, News

Even if it is really all about plugging their products, we love it when game developers choose to communicate directly with us, the dirty, huddled masses, and today has brought news of two studios who are inviting questions from gamers.

First up is Atlus, or more specifically Nich Maragos, Atlus USA Editor and Project Lead for both of the Etrian Odyssey games. Between now and June 17th, he'll be answering as many of your Etrian-related queries as he can here. Maragos is accepting questions about either of the two DS games, perhaps to accommodate for PAL region players, who only just received the first game last Friday. Ask him why Europe had to wait so long, if you like. Go on, do it.

Next in line is the entire development team for Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, who are clearly pretty confident that they'll be receiving an absolute avalanche of questions, as they're doing this as a group. You'll have to be a signed-up Square Enix member, though, which will mean having to fill in this form.

Ask Atlus!
Ask Square Enix!

Gallery: Etrian Odyssey II

Gallery: Final Fantasy Tactics A2

[Via Go Nintendo and NeoGAF]

DS Fanboy Review: USA Today Crossword Challenge

Posted Jun 10th 2008 9:30AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Reviews

Despite the fact that Nintendo's own Crosswords DS will no doubt outsell USA Today Crossword Challenge, due to the "Nintendo" on the front (and the Gamestop-exclusive release of USA Today), Destineer, developer Mercury Games and original engine developer Sanuk Games should feel very lucky that Nintendo released their own crossword game when they did.

It means that, in the DS crossword genre at least, Destineer can claim superiority over Nintendo. It may not have the extra modes that Crosswords DS does, but it is a much more pleasant crossword experience.

Continue reading DS Fanboy Review: USA Today Crossword Challenge

Space Invaders Encased

Posted Jun 10th 2008 8:45AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Fan stuff

If there's one thing we love, it's DS games. Obviously.

If there are several things we love, Space Invaders swag is somewhere on a list of those things, especially with Space Invaders Extreme so close, feeding our Invader mania. These keychains feature pink, blue, and yellow Invaders embedded in acrylic cubes like prehistoric flies in amber. Each order comes with three of them for $8.50.

It's up to you whether the awesomeness of the Invaders is worth cramming a big plastic cube into your pocket. That's a personal decision. Alternately, you could get a bunch of them and stack them in the classic Space Invaders configuration. Inside the clear cubes, they'd look vaguely like they were suspended in midair!

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DS Daily: Does the lack of paddle support make you rethink your purchase?

Posted Jun 10th 2008 8:00AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: DS Daily

For us, the lack of paddle support in the demo for Arkanoid DS has us rethinking whether or not we're going to pick up the game, as a lot of the appeal for us was being able to play with the awesome paddle. Now, we're kind of forced to wait and see.

What about you all? Feel the same way? Are you already settled, either way, on what you're going to do?

Shiren GB2, Shiren DS 2 compared

Posted Jun 9th 2008 11:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Screens

No more than a week after Shiren 3 for the Wii shipped in Japan, Chunsoft already has a teaser site and screenshots out for its next Shiren the Wanderer game for the Nintendo DS -- Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren DS 2: Sabaku no Majou (Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS 2: Demon Castle in the Desert). It's a long title!

Seeing that this roguelike is a remake of a Game Boy Color title, we thought that this batch of new images would make for a great opportunity to compare the updated game's visuals to the original's. While we expected Shiren DS 2 to look pretty much exactly like the first Shiren DS game released in March, we're surprised by how similar Shiren DS 2 and Shiren GB2 (GBC) look based on the shots released so far.

Jump into our comparison gallery to see what we mean!

Gallery: Shiren GB2 vs Shiren DS 2

[Via Famitsu]

These Steal Princess screens fell off the back of a truck

Posted Jun 9th 2008 10:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Screens

If there's one thing we've said about Steal Princess, it's that the art is fantastic. Seriously, are your jaws on the floor every time you look at something from the game? Our jaws have crashed to the floor a record number of times.

The latest on the game, courtesy of Famitsu's site, presents us with a glimpse into some of the items players would be using. Also, by way of these screens, we get to check out some of the game's environments. Which, by the way, look pretty good. Overall, we're liking everything we're seeing on the game.

If you're looking for more, check out the official website for the game.

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Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ screens, site arise from the grave

Posted Jun 9th 2008 9:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Video, Screens

Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ, formerly just Zombie BBQ, keeps looking better and better. We have a habit of championing strange titles, and we'll make no exception with this fairy tale shoot-em-up!

How did developer Enjoy Up (Chronos Twins) come up with the idea to recreate Little Red Riding Hood as a busty blonde with a machine gun and a penchant for blasting down undead wolves? And what spark of imagination convinced the studio to team her up with Momo "PeachBoy" Taro, a ninja born from a peach and armed with a grenade launcher? Genius, all of it.

Publisher Gammick Entertainment has launched an official site for the game, and, in addition to its wicked trailer, the hub has some great profiles for its zombified fairy tale characters, like ablood-thirsty cyborg Pinocchio and a flesh-eating Sleeping Beauty. Check out some of the other undead creatures and twenty new screenshots in our gallery below!

Gallery: Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ

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Metal Slug 7 boxart will soon wrap copies of Metal Slug 7

Posted Jun 9th 2008 8:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

The appearance of a boxart image for Metal Slug 7 means that SNK is one step closer to putting the game in boxes and shipping it out to stores in Japan (which happens on July 17!). Then, some time in the future, it'll get shipped out to the U.S. Then, shooting stuff time!

Even without the portent of Metal Slug on the way, we'd be happy with this boxart, which can only be described as classic SNK -- detailed, colorful hand-painted art that would be right at home adorning the box for a $300 game. Hopefully SNK realizes it would be cheaper to keep the same awesome art for the American box, rather than replacing it with something boring.

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Europeans: start painting those Moogles

Posted Jun 9th 2008 7:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

It's not exactly clear when the European armof the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Moogle Paint contest opened up, but it looks like it was originally set to end before June 12th, since the official rules still say that's when winners will be notified. We think it has actually just started, and that the June 12th date is supposed to be for the U.S. contest. In any case, you have from (some time) until the end of July.

If you're in Europe (there's a list of eligible locations in the official rules), you've got Ring of Fates, and you like painting Moogles, you're (eligible to be) in luck! You could win framed art, a soundtrack, or other prizes signed by character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, or even have your design used in a future game! Unfortunately, you can only enter once, so you'll have to pick one KISS makeup design to use instead of submitting them all separately.

Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

[Via press release]

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Train Girl DS release date and limited edition bundle

Posted Jun 9th 2008 6:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: News, Fan stuff, Imports

Click for bigger image

Japanese gamers eager to get their hands on Train Girl DS will be getting a nice bundle come this October. But, wait, before we talk about the bundle, we should probably talk a bit about the game itself, right? Okay, let's go.

In Terminal Memory DS from Tomy, you have got to keep the trains running on time. According to some machine translation, it looks like you're charged with maintaining a fleet of trains and ensuring the women in charge of keeping them running on time are doing their jobs. Fun times, indeed!

As for the bundle itself, you can see the figure and art book, but also a "talk CD," whatever that is. If you're looking for more information on the game, check out the official web page here. You can also see some other screens at IGN here.

[Via Go Nintendo]

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Asterix gives up on violence to train your brain

Posted Jun 9th 2008 5:00PM by Phil Larsen
Filed under: News, Screens

Asterix is one of the biggest badasses in comic book history. For those of you in the dark, buy this and go from there. There's no excuse, just scrounge up whatever money you can and start reading.

After brushing up on the greatness of the Gauls, we can announce new screens and information on a brand new Asterix game, called Asterix Brain Trainer. This title brings instant disappointment. The quality pedigree of the comics lent itself to some phenomenal games, including Asterix and the Power of the Gods on the Genesis, which needs a Virtual Console release. Instead, we have a collection of mini-games in development, even when the DS is more than equipped to produce another stellar platformer or -- better yet -- an RPG.

Asterix Brain Trainer features a young village boy named Justforkix, who must partake in numerous brainy activities to work through an apprenticeship, led by the titular hero himself. It may not turn out to be terrible, but the entire backlog of Asterix history has great games just ready for the taking. No word on a US release so far, but European gamers can pick this one up on June 27.

Gallery: Asterix Brain Trainer

[Via press release]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Sale of Fates

Posted Jun 9th 2008 4:00PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: Sales

Some of you may be tired of hearing us moan and groan about Square Enix's inflated game prices, but that doesn't mean we're going to stop -- paying $40 for a DS game is a cruel practice. Now, though, you can pick up Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates at an almost normal DS game price, since it's currently on sale (or perhaps marked down) at Amazon. The game will still set you back a cool $33.99, but when it comes to Square Enix, we'll take whatever deals we can get.

A few watchful CAGers have also noticed a handful of other titles that were marked down a dollar, mostly from Atlus. One dollar isn't immense savings, we know, but in case that's enough to push you over the edge for a purchase, check out Amazon's listings for Rondo of Swords, Drone Tactics, Luminous Arc, Summon Night: Twin Age, and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. Strangely enough, we think Amazon might be having a bizarre $1 off sale throughout its gaming department, as we noticed this "mark down" with Super Smash Bros. Brawl, too. That leads us to believe you can probably find more goodies slashed down a dollar, if you feel so inclined to look -- after all, one-hundred pennies saved are one-hundred pennies earned.

[Via CAG]

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If it looks like a DS and plays like a DS

Posted Jun 9th 2008 3:30PM by Candace Savino
Filed under: News

... then it must be a DS, right?

Wrong.

We've been buzzing about the App Store lately, which will allow iPhone and iPod Touch users to download games onto their devices. A few titles and prices have been announced today at Apple's WWDC '08, including Super Monkey Ball, Enigmo, and Cro-Mag Rally, each of which will cost $9.99.

All this talk about gaming on the iPod caused us to run across the iControlPad, which is an add-on for the iPhone that provides button and D-pad support. It makes the mobile look a little familiar, doesn't it -- perhaps like another handheld we know? Or maybe it even resembles a DS/PSP hybrid.

The iControlPad is still in production (aiming for a July release), but development kits are being given to developers interested in adding support for the peripheral to their games. With the iControlPad, not only will the iPhone utilize touchscreen play like the DS, but users could also play games with buttons ... like, uh, the DS.

Don't get us wrong -- we still don't think Apple can compete with the dominance of Nintendo's handheld. Yet, it does look like Steve Jobs and co. are really, really trying to get of piece of the handheld gaming pie, doesn't it? With the recently announced $200 3G iPhone, Apple is headed in the right direction. Now, if it wasn't for that silly AT&T tie-in plan, they might have a major threat on their hands.

[Via Gaming Angels]

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DS releases for the week of June 9th

Posted Jun 9th 2008 3:00PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

Oh, Jake Hunter, that giant detective. It's so good to see you. Or to prepare to see you. Well, either way, you'll be around this week. Just watch out for that fashion game. You don't want to get too close -- it's catching.

Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles
Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor
My Fashion Studio

Check out what's out in the rest of the world after the break.

Continue reading DS releases for the week of June 9th

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