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DS releases for the week of September 22nd

Posted Sep 22nd 2008 12:54PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

Not only are there dozens -- well, almost two dozen -- games slated for release in the U.S. this week, but included in the list are a few particularly interesting titles. Kirby Super Star Ultra, though announced some time ago, comes seemingly out of nowhere after some recent wacky promotions, and My Japanese Coach finally makes it to shelves (we hope).

• Barbie Fashion Show: An Eye for Style
• Brain Quest Grades 3 & 4
• Brain Quest Grades 5 & 6
• Di-Gata Defenders
• Dinosaur King
• Disgaea DS
• DropCast
• Hi! Hamtaro Ham-Ham Challenge
• Kirby Super Star Ultra
• Lego Batman
• Margot's Word Brain
• My Japanese Coach
• My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie's Party
• My SAT Coach
• Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase
• Pipe Mania
• Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
• Shaun the Sheep
• SimCity Creator
• Time Hollow

Continue reading DS releases for the week of September 22nd

It's just like playing the beginning of Sonic Chronicles!

Posted Sep 22nd 2008 11:16AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: Video

... probably because it's a video of the beginning of Sonic Chronicles! This video is, however, in French, and most of you are probably not playing in French. Luckily, the videographer skips through options and dialogue so quickly that you barely have a moment to make out the bonne idées.

BioWare's take on the long-running franchise is due out next week in North America.

Gallery: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

DS Daily: Ignoring a license

Posted Sep 22nd 2008 9:00AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: DS Daily

It doesn't happen often that the gameplay of a licensed game entices us to play when we aren't interested in the license. Usually, if anyone cares about a licensed game, it's because they love the source material. But we find ourselves drawn to Dragon Ball: Origins for reasons totally unrelated to Goku and the gang. It sounds like Phantom Hourglass with more action.

How about the rest of you? Anyone playing a licensed game totally because it's a good game?

Gallery: Dragon Ball Origins

Elebits: The Screens of Kai and Zero

Posted Sep 21st 2008 2:58PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Screens

Konami just sent over a press release, chock full of fresh screens from Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero. We're just as excited for the game as you all are, and these latest screens show off more of what got us excited in the first place: a fusion between the scavenger hunt gameplay of Elebits on Wii and the RPG mechanics of the Pokémon games. Check out the fresh screens in our gallery below.

Gallery: Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero

[Via press release]

DS Daily: Graphics revisited

Posted Sep 21st 2008 10:36AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Daily

Let's talk about the state of graphics on the DS. What's the best and worst you've seen this year? How do you feel about most games? So long as everything is clear and glitch-free, how much do graphics matter to you when it comes to DS games? Sure, it's nice when something looks good, but will mediocre work for you in an otherwise good game?

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff trailer tells us everything else is just a football game

Posted Sep 20th 2008 2:54PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Video

For those of us that enjoyed the original Tecmo Bowl and its SNES sequel, Super Tecmo Bowl, this trailer is going to be chock full of nostalgia. It looks like Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is going to include those awesome cutscenes, like when trying to dive over the line into the endzone. Other than an annoying trailer narrator, we're liking what we see here.

Gallery: Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff

DS Daily: Grand Theft Info

Posted Sep 20th 2008 10:30AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: DS Daily

Now that we know something about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, aside from the usual stuff like how it's going to force us to stop watching the news for a while, we can make somewhat informed decisions about our own interest. To us, the screens look pretty great, the PDA interface sounds fun, and the isometric perspective may just make us care about GTA.

What about you? What do you think of the first known details about Chinatown Wars?

Fanswag winners: Final Fantasy IV and Soul Bubbles

Posted Sep 19th 2008 8:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Contests / Giveaways

When we were going to pick the winner of our latest giveaway, we completely realized that we forgot to announce the winner for our previous giveaway. Also, we received quite a few emails from you all. So, without further delay, here's our winners:

• jabby wins our signed copy of Soul Bubbles
• cwk5014 wins our copy of Final Fantasy IV

Congratulations to our winners and best of luck next time to the rest of you!

Metareview: Lock's Quest

Posted Sep 19th 2008 6:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Metareview

We've been waiting since last week to pull together a collection of reviews for 5th Cell's Lock's Quest, but until roughly today, that collection would have consisted of IGN and nobody else. That is an insufficient amount of meta-ness for a Metareview! We're not just running "IGNreview" posts here!

Now that there are multiple reviews out there, we can scoop them up and present them to you as individual tiles in a mosaic titled "how good some different reviewers think Lock's Quest is." Preview: quite good.

It's really hard to pick out just one excerpt from this glowing 1UP (91%) writeup. It's pretty clear that Phillip Kollar likes the game, at least: "The game effectively straddles the line between traditional tower defense and full-on real-time strategy, requiring the more fast-paced, on-the-fly tactics of the latter without ditching the addictive, pick-up-and-play nature of the former."

WorthPlaying (90%) found it, well, worth playing: "Lock's Quest is the sort of game for which the DS was made. It's quick and easy to pick up and play, makes great use of the touch-screen, and is just an overall delightful game. It isn't perfect, and there are plenty of places for a sequel to improve on, but it's charming, fun and one of the best titles to hit the DS this year."

IGN (86%) completely fell for the game's charms: "Lock's Quest is by far one of the most original, inspired, and entertaining experiences we've had on DS this year. Everything from the unique build mode to the impressive audio/visual offering, the immersion found in cinematic intros and story-developing cut scenes throughout, and even the random tongue-in-cheek dialogue lines thrown in to remind players that this is a game, made by gamers, are very welcome."

Gallery: Lock's Quest

DS Fanboy hands-on: Dragon Ball Origins

Posted Sep 19th 2008 4:00PM by David Craddock

The Namco Bandai Games-developed Dragon Ball: Origins for the Nintendo DS attempts to shed light on the origin of Goku, Dragon Ball's prolific spikey-haired protagonist. Controlling Goku is simple: tap the screen with the stylus, and Goku will set out in that direction at a walk or a run depending on the distance between him and your chosen spot. Tapping and holding the stylus will cause Goku to keep moving as you drag your pointer across the screen.

Gallery: Dragon Ball Origins

Continue reading DS Fanboy hands-on: Dragon Ball Origins

Point/Counterpoint: Does Castlevania need new blood?

Posted Sep 19th 2008 2:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Point/Counterpoint

We're about a month away from getting our hands on the third Castlevania game on the DS, and yes, we are enthused. We loved the last DS game, as we did the one before it ... and the three Game Boy Advance games before that.

Producer Koji Igarashi has definitely found his recipe for Vanias, and he's changed very little since hitting upon the combination of side-scrolling action, free-roaming exploration, and light RPG elements that made Symphony of the Night such a startlingly new experience ... back in 1997.

Let's be clear: both of the bloggers participating in this debate love them some Castlevania. But the issue of the series' increasing potential for staleness is a real one, and worth discussing even just as a thought exercise. Has Metroidvania run its course? Read on and find out ... what two people think.

Gallery: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

NEXT >>

GTA: Chinatown Wars details finally revealed? [update]

Posted Sep 19th 2008 12:00PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Rumors

Update: First screens! Check past the break to see them.

Some details on the upcoming portable GTA game, GTA: Chinatown Wars, have dropped in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. For one, it's apparently following the sandbox formula of previous games, and will have that M label slapped on the front of the boxart.

Due to hardware limitations, these details say the game will have an isometric camera angle and be a cel-shaded affair, complete with no load times. There will be dynamic weather effects and it's reported that draw distance and frame rate are sound. Liberty City will be scaled down quite a bit, though (and changed some), but there will be pedestrians and cars about, doing their thing. Oh, and there will be radio stations, although songs are going to be focused more on instrumental numbers.

As for controls, there will be an auto-targeting system that the player can utilize with the R trigger. They can also use the d-pad to aim and bust caps that way. There's also going to be "subtle" auto-steering for when you're in a car and players can use the touch-screen to navigate the in-game PDA, which will allow you to "email, contacts, the map, a music player, GPS, and stat-tracking (which allows you to upload stats direct from the game to Rockstar's Social Club website)."

And that's basically all that's being reported right now. Sounds like a lot for such a small cartridge, and until we see some screens, we're going to remain skeptical. What about the rest of you?

Continue reading GTA: Chinatown Wars details finally revealed? [update]

DS Daily: What would your DS do?

Posted Sep 19th 2008 9:00AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Daily

We've seen some very neat and useful DS homebrew applications over time -- to say nothing of useful retail titles -- and we can't help but admire those people who turn their handhelds into tools for every occasion. We admire it so much, in fact, that we've decided that this is a day for pretendy-fun-time. Imagine you're a super awesome programmer* who can craft any sort of (realistic) homebrew application for the DS. What would you do?

*If you already happen to be a super awesome programmer, uh, pretend you're a panda or something. It'll be fun.

Items of Import: Look Ahead! Dragon Quest V

Posted Sep 18th 2008 8:00PM by Sachi Coxon
Filed under: Imports, Items of Import

How is Dragon Quest IV holding up for you, dear readers? Did you run out and buy yourselves a copy, and power through the game? Does the whole feel of the title scream "Classic!" or does it reek of archaic sensibilities? Perhaps you were part of the faithful minority in the great debate of RPG fandom, at the beginning of the week. Personally, as a little kid growing up in the halcyon days of the Famicom (and later, Super Famicom) era, the opening track of the Dragon Quest series is more memorable and more emotionally stirring than the Japanese national anthem.

So... You may be knee deep in Dragon Quest IV goodness right now, and enjoying its tale of many heroes and heroines. Once you come to that inevitable conclusion, what have you got to look ahead to? Why, Dragon Quest V, of course. Today in Items of Import, we'll take the opportunity of the recent release of the fourth in the series in the Western markets to see what's to look forward to in the second entry of the Zenithia trilogy.

Continue reading Items of Import: Look Ahead! Dragon Quest V

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night [update 2]

Posted Sep 18th 2008 7:01PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Update: Thanks to everyone that showed up! The staff has left the Game Night chat. We hope to see you here next week, same time, same place.

Come one, come all, we've got something in store for you! This evening, we'll be conducting Game Night once again, where the staff and readers get together and enjoy some online gaming. Got a DS with some online-compatible games? Got a Wii with some online-compatible games? Then you're good to go!

If this is your first Game Night, head past the break for details on how to join us. For everyone else, we hope to see you there tonight!

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

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