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DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five



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.

Continue reading DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five

DS Daily: Technical difficulties

Reader Katotetu wrote in about his shoulder button woes -- repeated use seems to have killed them on his Phat -- and we thought that might be an excellent topic to bring to the table. Have you have any problems with your DS? Have your shoulder buttons suffered like Katotetu's? Were you a victim of a hinge crack? Or has it been all clear waters and smoothing sailing on the SV DS?

Nintendo: no love for Phat crack



Reader Kirk Winters has a problem. His DS Phat has succumbed to crack. As we previously reported, those of us who were still clinging to our Phats lost the high ground when they began to suffer the slings and arrows of cracked hinges, but we never thought it would come to this. Nintendo, it seems, is not repairing the Phats for free, as they are with the DS Lite.

Ninty, where's the love? We thought we had something special.

Kirk was heartbroken when his DS developed the same crack that raised such a stink with the Lites, but when he called Nintendo, he expected to get the same deal. No dice -- they'll haggle, but it's still not going to be a free ride if you end up in the same boat. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel. At first, Nintendo planned to charge for Lite repair, so maybe if we raise enough stink, we'll get the same treatment for the Phat.

[Thanks for tipping us off, Kirk!]

DS Phat hooked on crack [Update 1]


When the big scare of hinge damage on a massive scale to shipments of DS Lites in America hit, we were all going over our units with a magnifying glass. We were all thankful that Nintendo was so kind as to offer free repairs for damaged handhelds. Turns out the issue might not only be Lite-exclusive.

During the latest podcast from VGM Daily, it's revealed that a DS Phat developed a rather large crack at the hinge. If you're one of the few who didn't trade up for their DS Lite and kept your old unit, you might want to go check at the bottom of that dusty old box out in the garage that currently houses your DS Phat and make sure it's without crack.

We've contacted our Nintendo rep and will update you as to how Nintendo will handle your broken DS Phat. Keep an eye on DS Fanboy for further updates.

[Update 1: Cleaned up the wording a bit.]

Nintendo gives in, offers free repair

While we reported that Nintendo did indeed recognize the problem, we weren't sure if they would repair the issue for free or continue charging the $50 US fee to repair the unit. Word is, they'll do it for free, with both American and UK spokespersons verifying the statement as truth. And why not, their release even states its such a freak problem that it wouldn't even cost them that much to repair them.

So, got a crack in the hinge? Call 'em up!

[Thanks Patrick!]

Nintendo answers hinge claims


Being a part of the Joystiq network, we here at DS Fanboy feel humbled every day, to have both incredible readers like yourself, and to be in charge of finding and reporting on all things Nintendo DS. However, when we reported on problems of the hinge sort, we knew we would not be able to command the presence that Papa J does and contact Nintendo for answers, so we left the task of sending an appropriately-titled WTF Nintendo?! email up to them. Nintendo's response reads:

"In the U.S., the reported number of small cosmetic cracks in the plastic hinge of DS Lite systems represents less than 0.02 percent of the total units sold. This cosmetic issue in no way impacts the gameplay or integrity of the DS Lite. Nintendo stands behind the quality of our products and encourages DS Lite owners to contact our Customer Service Department if they are not happy with the functionality of their systems."

Honestly, Nintendo may have fudged up the numbers a bit. That percentile deals with only the reported cases of "hinge crackage" and not the actual ratio of unharmed-to-cracked DS Lites. While I cannot speak for the other bloggers here, my DS is without harm. Whether this is due to how I open it (see: like a book) is unknown, but I do treat it very well. Regardless, we feel that the warranty should cover this issue and collectively wag our finger at Nintendo.

Gaming to Go!We debate the hot topics!

This Month's New Games

Name Date
Bleach: Dark Souls
Oct 6
Legend of Kage 2
Oct 6
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Oct 6
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Oct 6
My Japanese Coach
Oct 14
Korg DS-10
Oct 14
Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 Oct 14
FIFA Soccer 09 Oct 14
Populous Oct 14
Rock Revolution
Oct 14
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Oct 21
Theresia
Oct 21
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Oct 21
Away: Shuffle Dungeon
Oct 21
Tornado
Oct 21
Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Oct 21
What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver Oct 21
MySims Kingdom
Oct 28
Ninjatown Oct 28

Get homebrew on your DS!

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