From the "forms of piracy we didn't know existed" department: Nintendo (and the police!) have cracked down on pirated Pokémon cards. Last month, seven stores in New York were raided by police, with counterfeit Pokemans confiscated and multiple arrests made. In addition, law enforcement officials seized about 1.2 million fake cards from a fake card factory (the factory was real) in China. According to a press release sent out yesterday, Nintendo and Pokémon USA are attempting to curtail the production and proliferation of copyrighted Pokémon Trading Card Game materials. The real surprise here is that people are still buying Pokémon Trading Card Game cards.
"Pokémon wants to send a message to importers and producers that we will not stand for the distribution of fraudulent Pokémon product," said Pokémon spokesperson, J.C. Smith. "Pokémon is committed to ensuring our fans receive the quality product they've come to expect." But which Pokémon do they have doing QA work?
While it's true that the original Blue Bomber makes an appearance inMega Man Star Force 2, it's probably not in the way that you're hoping. In a promotion for the game, Capcom has allowed Japanese players to download a classic Rockman card at DS download stations.
It would definitely be cool if Capcom let other regions enjoy this content, too, but we're not getting our hopes up. This wouldn't be the first time Japan has gotten cool downloadables that haven't found their way elsewhere.
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.
We've been taking our time getting through Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, savoring what is undoubtedly the best game in the series to date. But, try as we may have to delay it, the game is done. And now our frothing Ace Attorneyfandom has no outlet until February -- except stuff.
Capcom has just released a set of playing cards containing character art spanning the whole series (including the upcoming Apollo Justice), called the Gyakuten Saiban Character Trump set. The best news (for us) is that it's available on Play-Asia! If you've ever wanted to spend $20 on a deck of cards, here's your chance. And we can keep those cards in the official Gyakuten Saibancard case.
(Hmm, there seems to be one major flaw in this post. Maybe we should go through the testimony again to find the contradiction.)
All of you Megamaniacs (we so totally just made that up) out there will likely enjoy the update Dengeki has presented for the sequel to Mega Man Star Force. Not only is Capcom including a fan-made character into the title, but they've also acted the part of the little league football coach, playing a bench-riding child in the last seconds of the big game in the form of including punch cards into the mix. You know, those same things that Spectrobes used.
So, if you want to catch a glimpse at some of the punch cards, then head on over. There's also some concept art, if that's your kind of thing.
Intelligent Systems is busy. We assume they're working on the Fire Emblemremake that we just now heard about, as well as any finishing touches that may need to go on the Wii Fire Emblem game. They're also in the midst of Advance Wars DS 2 development. But apparently that's not enough for the former R&D1, as they've revealed yet another strategy game project, this time a card game called Kousoku Card Battle Card Hero (Quick Card Battle Card Hero).
This isn't their first Card Hero game; the original, on Game Boy Color, came out in 2000 and was almost released in the U.S. In addition to the GBC game, Japan also got a real card game based on the property. Card Hero is a sort of meta-game, in that you play a video game about kids playing a card game, and, of course, play that card game within the game. We've got the first magazine scans of the game after the break!
The DS "punch card" is such an elegant idea for a card input. Rather than requiring a card reader or a camera to take pictures of the cards, you just stick the card on the screen and touch the screen through holes in the card. Spectrobes and Monster Rancher both take advantage of this extremely inexpensive feature, and Capcom has picked up on the idea for their sequel to Mega Man Star Force. Two such cards will be given as a preorder bonus in Japan, each of which unlocks a suit (and corresponding weird animal-head arm).
Capcom was smart enough not to include the positions of the holes on the preview images, so unscrupulous people like us can't print out the cards and do it ourselves. Not that it really matters with a free bonus item.
Posted Jun 1st 2007 10:00AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Here's something cool for Spectrobesowners: every week from now until the 17th, you can go down to your local GameStop and pick up a free collectible card that will unlock a new Spectrobe. No preorders, no Game Informer subscriptions, just free.
Here's something cool for everyone else: you can get three free things from GameStop. You may be able to sell them on eBay or something in a couple of years. Whatever the reason, we know you want this free stuff even if you've never heard of Spectrobes.
Posted May 12th 2007 2:00PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
Luckily for people hoping to get their New Game+ on in SNK vs. CapcomCard Fighters DS, SNK is aware of the game-breaking bug. Unfortunately, they'll have to wait more than six weeks to get their hands on a repaired game.
SNK president Ben Herman released a statement on SNK Playmore's official message board stating that they have ordered new cartridges from Nintendo, which will take six weeks to receive. At that point, SNK will issue instructions for getting your game switched out for a corrected one. Be patient! Don't return the game to the store yet, because the replacement copy will have the same issue.
Anyone out there playing Card Fighters DS? We wonder how many people this issue affects. That's a nice way of saying we wonder how many people bought this game.
The Nintendo DS's software library is diverse enough to satisfy almost every genre craving or niche interest. If what you're looking for, however, is a game with more mature themes -- nudity and sexual content -- it's doubtful that your needs will be met. Japanese dating sims and witch fondling titles notwithstanding, the DS doesn't have any Leisure Suit Larrys, Hot Coffee mods, or even porno-Tetris clones.
But just like any other scene, the Nintendo DS has a network of people working outside of the fringe to create those illicit goods you'd never ask for at a respectable shop. They hustle their homemade software from the back-alleys of the internet, each downloaded bit transferred in a nondescript paper bag.
We're going to take you through that DS underworld, previewing a selection of homebrew games that are sure to arouse your interest. So put the kids to bed, light those candles you've been saving for a night like this, and slip into your robe and wizard hat. This feature is for adult eyes only!
Posted May 1st 2007 10:50AM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
SNK vs. CapcomCard Fighters DS has already had its share of negative press; now that it's joined the exclusive club of DS games that don't work, things are just going to get worse. The game-breaking glitch happens when, after completing the game, you start a "New Game +" and attempt to talk to a fellow in the Card Tower named Card Battler John. The game freezes and further progress is hindered.
Depending on your idea of finishing a game, this could make it impossible to play completely through Card Fighters DS. It definitely renders you unable to get all the cards, which, in a game called Card Fighters that contains both the place name "Card Tower" and the name "Card Battler John," is probably pretty important.
What's an SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter fanboy to do? Previews and reviews for the NGPC classic's DS revival haven't been kind, calling out its flawed AI and monotonous story mode. The title's lack of online support is upsetting enough, but it doesn't even allow for download play with local matches, dropping your chances of finding another person to play against to a multiple of zero.
ASCIIMATTER's Card Fighter's Project brings the series back to its original mechanics and adds a whole new realm of accessibility that you just can't get from a video game. Dueling with a friend will be as easy as printing out the project's mocked up set of cards and reading the posted rules. Each card is fashioned after its NGPC counterpart, mirroring SvC: Card Fighters' Clash's super deformed artwork.
There are still a great deal of cards left to be converted, and ASCIIMATTER predicts that he won't be able to finish all of them until late Summer. Unlike SNK Playmore's DS release, however, we expect the Card Fighter Project's completion to actually be worth the wait.
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.
When my afternoons aren't busied by hours of photoshopping cat heads onto pictures of my friends, I pass the time with puzzlers and plumbers on my DS Lite. But those kitten-free days are few and far between, so I end up being able to only fit either the most polished or the most eccentric games into my packed schedule. Wario: Master of Disguise? Sorry, I've got things to do and feline faces to retouch. Lost in Blue 2? I'll have to pass -- I'm already lost in trying to get these whiskers to look perfect.
My collection is a mishmash of AAA titles and niche releases, their cases piled atop one another like a Jenga stack of mismatched blocks, threatening to topple over at any moment. Just pulling a game from the middle of the shaky structure is an act preceded by hours of anxiety and self-doubt. Having my wife provide commentary during the ordeal, remarking "Oh god, it's going to crash this time for sure, I just know it. Why'd you even try, Eric?! Game over, man! Game over!" as I tug out my copy of Advance Wars DS doesn't make the challenge any easier.
So when I do manage to put aside the pussycat photos and secure a game to play, it better damn well be worth it. Journey forth and read which of those titles have captured a place not only on my top five list, but in my heart.
With all this brain training going on, one wonders just how long before DS aficionados start racking up the patents and the Nobel Prizes. Maybe we're just not quite there yet. We need to train further. Well, don't despair, future genius inventors, there's yet another edutainment title on the horizon, and it's coming to stretch your gray matter.
Genius DS - Equal Cards is slated for this summer, and seems to be primarily a math-influenced title, and the math puzzles use cards that must be sorted. Sounds riveting.
Card-battling games seem like a natural for the DS-- the second screen is especially well-suited for managing cards while the game is in play. But we haven't gotten that many card games-- in fact, SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS is the only one we can think of, and that one's not even out yet.
Hudson's Elemental Monster is a turn-based card-battling game that uses some pretty great 2D sprites. Between battles, the game has an RPG-style story mode, which also uses a lot of hand-drawn 2D. We're actually surprised to see a DS game coming out that has this much non-polygonal art (some backgrounds are 3D, but that's fine!) How about a US release, Hudson?
From the "forms of piracy we didn't know existed" department: Nintendo (and the police!) have cracked down on pirated Pokémon cards. Last month, seven stores in New York were raided by police, with counterfeit Pokemans confiscated and multiple arrests made. In addition, law enforcement officials seized about 1.2 million fake cards from a fake card factory (the factory was real) in China. According to a press release sent out yesterday, Nintendo and Pokémon USA are attempting to curtail the production and proliferation of copyrighted Pokémon Trading Card Game materials. The real surprise here is that people are still buying Pokémon Trading Card Game cards.
While playing 
