Posts tagged Crave at DS Fanboy

Posts with tag crave

Hello Misleading Boxart!

Posted May 21st 2008 8:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

Man, the boxart for this Japanese baby-care game (or whatever you call that kind of thing) is totally cute. We didn't think there was a way to get jaded non-little-girl gamers like us interested in seeing screens of a baby game, but publisher Brain Toys has done just that for Konnichiwa Akachan (Hello Baby). If the whole game were to look like this, it would be a confirmed Cute Overload.

We have got to see screenshots right -- oh, no, it's Baby Pals. Oh, man, they got us to look at Baby Pals again. That's like the baby-game equivalent of the Rickroll. There hasn't been this much of a mismatch between boxart and a game's real appearance since Dragon Power.

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DS Fanboy Review: Napoleon Dynamite

Posted Jan 2nd 2008 9:45AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Reviews

Director Jared Hess has a 100% rate of movies turned into DS games. His latest film, Nacho Libre, was released in June of 2006; a DS game followed in October. Despite the fact that the movie featured the very video-game-friendly subject of wrestling, the game was not a major success, critically or financially.

Nacho Libre the movie was preceded by Napoleon Dynamite, which was about the very non-video-game-friendly subject of awkward people standing around. Now, three years after the release of the movie, Napoleon Dynamite is joining Nacho Libre on the Nintendo DS. It is something of a victory for developer 7 Studios that the Napoleon Dynamite DS game works as a game at all, despite the handicap of being based on a movie with no action of any kind. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a great game. In fact, Napoleon Dynamite is the very definition of a middle-of-the-road game. It isn't completely awful, and it isn't good. It doesn't inspire disgust and it doesn't impress. It's just kind of there.

Gallery: Napoleon Dynamite

Continue reading DS Fanboy Review: Napoleon Dynamite

Baby Pals creeps the hell out of us

Posted Oct 20th 2007 3:30PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, Screens

We presume we are supposed to find Crave's new baby-caring sim Baby Pals somehow entrancing, perhaps even -- shudder -- adorable. So why can't we stop thinking about that scene from Trainspotting whenever we see these screens? Angular, polygonal babies, eyes as dead as the night, somehow not ... quite ... right.

If you haven't already guessed, Baby Pals gives players the opportunity to raise a sprog by taking care of the little one's every need. So you get to feed and dress your weird-looking virtual child, teach it how to talk, crawl and walk, and even play games with it, such as peek-a-boo and patty cake.

Even more frightening than all of that is the thought that this, along with Ubisoft's Imagine Babyz, could sell a significant number of copies to pre-pubescent female DS owners. This saddens us. At best, Baby Pals and its kind are vaguely patronising. At worst, they're derivative, lazy examples of gender stereotyping. With damn creepy babies.

Gallery: Baby Pals

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Napoleon Dynamite screens are (insert catchphrase here)

Posted Oct 1st 2007 5:50PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Screens

When we received a press release containing Napoleon Dynamite screenshots, we immediately loaded up our Snark Guns with fresh supplies of venom and bile, ready to fire a wide spread of lulz out into the Internet. It's a licensed minigame collection! Based on a movie that came out in 2004! That should never have been made into a video game! It was going to be a rare opportunity to hate like we've never hated before. MORE LIKE NAPOLEON DUD AMIRITE, we were going to say.

But our Snark Festa ended a little too soon when we saw the screenshots and realized that we sort of respected what Crave was doing with the game. Some of the minigames look a little iffy (like what appears to be dodge ball controlled entirely with the touch screen), and the whole thing seems to be too dancing-based, but damned if they didn't use an intriguing art style.

The results aren't always the prettiest, but any game that uses a mixture of pencil-on-paper and photo collage is at least a little bit cool. Man, we wanted to be too cool for this game, but we just couldn't help it. And, uh, we kind of want to play a minigame about throwing food into a llama's mouth.

Gallery: Napoleon Dynamite

[Via press release]

Everyone on the Internet should buy Spelling Challenges

Posted Jul 11th 2007 10:40AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Screens

Well, this is a start to solving the Internet's problems. Next up: Learning the Difference Between "Your" and "You're" Challenges!

We've received some screenshots of Crave's Spelling Challenges and More!, the spelling-based game show game with over 25,000 words to spell. We can see a sort of Jumble-style anagram game called "Mish Mash" and a "Bomb Blast" game that gives players a limited time to pick out a correctly spelled word from a group of horrible mistakes.

The game uses a very simplistic, clean presentation that we find appealing. Not every educational game needs a charismatic floating head.

Gallery: Spelling Challenges

[Via press release]

Napoleon Dynamite, we wanna play you

Posted May 9th 2007 5:00PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

We're not really sure we get the timing, but we'll take the announcement whenever: Crave announced a Napoleon Dynamite game for DS and PSP. While there are no real details yet -- like when it will be out, or what it will involve -- Crave's Mark Burke did promise that fans of the film will probably like it. Gosh!

We fully expect lots of random quotes, as well as drawing and dancing minigames.

[Thanks, Andrew!]

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Because spelling bees are apparently hot

Posted Apr 3rd 2007 6:12PM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: News

Sure, you've trained your brain, but can you spell? Crave Entertainment wants to know ... or rather, Mr. Niceguy [sic] wants to know. That's the guy who will rake you over the coals if you pick up Spelling Challenges and More! this summer. The title promises 25,000 words and 100 difficulty levels for a fine-tuned word game experience. If you do well, Mr. Niceguy gives you cash and prizes. We wonder what he'll do when we fail. It's inevitable, after all.

Director of brand marketing for Crave Entertainment Doug Panter said, "Movies like Akeelah and the Bee, Bee Season, and Spellbound have made spelling bees and word games hot." Oh really? Well, for only $19.99, we may give it a shot.

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Crave opening big box of virtual Crayolas

Posted Mar 15th 2007 10:20AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News

The washable-crayon-stylus hybrid thing seen here may still be a dream in our somewhat odd fanboy minds, but it is true that Crayola is bringing its unique brand of waxy, brittle pigment to the DS in electronic form. The company has made an agreement with publisher Crave to release a Crayola-themed DS game.

Apparently, the game will be a minigame collection, with all of the minigames involving drawing and coloring with a wide selection of Crayola crayons. We're excited about this if only for the possibility that we may get to color a dinosaur. And because this way we won't lose 33 of our 64 colors within a week.

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Hello Misleading Boxart!

DS Fanboy Review: Napoleon Dynamite

Baby Pals creeps the hell out of us

Napoleon Dynamite screens are (insert catchphrase here)

Everyone on the Internet should buy Spelling Challenges

Napoleon Dynamite, we wanna play you

Because spelling bees are apparently hot

Crave opening big box of virtual Crayolas

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