Dementium: The Wardlaunches in Japan today, and Japanese publisher Interchannel-Holon could not have found a more perfect venue to promote Renegade Kid's horror title*. "Alcatraz E.R." is a novelty restaurant in Tokyo's Shibuya ward with a mental asylum theme where patrons must announce their blood type before entering. They are then handcuffed by girls dressed as nurses who serve up food in surgical trays and drinks in hospital drips.
In other words, it's a totally amazing and ideal place for a Dementium promotion. Hit the break for more gory pics of the press-only event (our invites must have got lost in the mail).
* Admittedly, they could have used an actual abandoned psychiatric asylum, but that probably comes with its own issues.
GameStop's annual "Gamedays" sale starts next week, and the list of sale items has been posted on CAG. We've excised the more choice options here, and there are some tempting games indeed. For 10 bucks, Worms is almost irresistible, especially if you happen to know any communities that frequently gather for online DS games.
Apparently, games marked down for Gamedays are also being shipped out to stores. At least, this is true in the case of the PS2 Katamari Damacy (which you should already own, but buy it now for $10 if you don't). That means you have a shot at buying some of these, maybe! And don't forget to bring the 10% off coupon that was helpfully scanned and posted by a CAG member.
Now, the game's Japanese site has launched and it's an incredibly effective platform for advertising the title. Just checking out the site makes you think J-horror, in the likes of Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. It's a great way to market the title, we believe, so be sure to hit up the site for the goods.
Fans of Dementium (see: uh, DS Fanboy), you should pay attention. The game is headed to Japan in a few months, as it will see a release to the region on June 26th. It will retail for a price of 5,040 Yen. Other than that, Japanese gamers should pretty much know what they're in for.
The game was, in our eyes, an under-appreciated gem and a very competent FPS on a system lacking them. We can't wait to see what Renegade Kid has in store for us with their next game.
You all know we dug Dementiunm. It was a fine title and a decent FPS on a handheld that is seriously lacking in that department. Now, Renegade Kid is preparing their second FPS for Nintendo's handheld in Moon. What should we expect?
Well, Renegade Kid's owner and creative director, Jools Watsham, spoke with Joystiq about the new project and reassured us it's going to be something we'll want to play. It's a pretty interesting read, if we may say so. Head on over and check it out already!
Wherever you are this week, there's not a lot to choose from. That isn't to say there aren't a few worthwhile titles hitting the shelves, but the key words here are "a few." As in "not many." As in, "not a big burden on your wallet." Considering everything we've got coming up for the DS, around the world, that's probably pretty good news.
Corvette Evolution GT
Miami Nights: Singles in the City
Nanostray 2
For the rest of the world's major markets, see the release lists after the jump.
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- and today, it's another piece of the Grand Prize pack. Specifically, Dementium: The Ward. Did you waffle on buying Renegade Kid's debut? No worries -- go throw your name in the hat and you might just score one for free, along with a matching skin. Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Gaming sites are inundated with holiday gift guides at the end of the year, listing the best and most popular games that everyone pretty much already has (or knows about). Well, we're not going in for that this year. Our gift guide will help you find the best gifts in categories the other sites won't cover -- because we just made them up.
Nintendo's indifference towards PAL regions is infamous, but there's arguably less room for complaining when it comes to the DS. See, the DS is (and we do not use this phrase lightly) an importer's dream. It doesn't faff around with region-specific software, there's a huge library of diverse and interesting NTSC-only titles, and the games themselves are cheap. As in, cheaper than they'll be when they arrive in the UK/Europe/Australia six months from now. Frankly, we can't think of a good reason for you not to import.
Which brings us to our latest anti-guide, featuring the five DS-related gifts that PAL regions won't be seeing until 2008 at the earliest -- if ever. All deserve to be imported without hesitation, so read on fellow PAL folk, and prep that credit card!
It's been a good year, but sadly, like all those other years, it must come to an end. Before we roll out the red carpet for 2008, however, we wanted to give 2007 the send-off it deserves -- and what better way to do that than by offering up huge prize packs for our loyal readers? All you have to do is leave a comment on this very post telling us which DS model(s) you own, between now and December 26. The giveaway closes that night at 11:59 p.m. EST, and we'll announce the winners, chosen in a random drawing, on December 27. You may only enter once per day, and as usual, entries are limited to legal U.S. residents age 18 and older. Please check the official rules for any other questions.
But enough of the details -- let's get to the prize packages!
DS Fanboy's End of Year Fanswag Blowout Grand Prize
Limited Edition Gold DS Lite + The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (bundle) ($149.99)
Nintendo DS headset ($9.99)
Custom Robo ($29.99)
Dementium ($29.99)
Drawn to Life ($29.99)
Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game ($19.99)
John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland ($29.99)
Mega Man ZX ($29.99)
Pokémon Diamond ($34.99)
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) ($19.99)
Geometry Wars: Galaxies swag
Dementium skin
Pokémon Diamond stylus
Cruise on past the break to see the rest of the prizes!
This week's 1UP Show video ... podcast ... show ... thing-with-people-talking-and-also-footage-of-games takes a break from the constant Rock Band coverage to talk about new games on some weirdo handheld system with two screens. If, instead of reading about Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings and Dementium, you'd like to watch and hear about them, this is a prime opportunity for that!
The discussion about categorizing Revenant Wings for a country with few strategy games is particularly interesting. As is the pronunciation of "Ivalice" -- who knew? The real star of this video, of course, is Game Center CX, the current obsession of every retrogamer who can get it and read the text. There's video! Oh, Game Center CX. We will continue to read and watch things about you for as long as we can. Fun fact: Ray Barnholt, who leads the discussion of the game, is also largely responsible for bringing the show to the attention of the American enthusiast audience with his exhaustive guide.
If there's one thing Dementium: The Ward delivers on, it's atmosphere. From the audio -- which is truly something special in the DS library -- to the overall mystery of the story of Redmoor Hospital, Dementium provides exactly what it promises: a survival horror/FPS fusion that you can take with you.
What it's not is perfect. Of course, no game is, but Dementium is peppered with a few looming frustrations that bring down the game experience. It is developer Renegade Kid's first effort, and at times it shows, and it's a somewhat clichéd game from a genre built on the power of cliché. The good news is that none of those frustrations are terribly huge. The bad news, however, is that some of those flaws may be just the sort that keep certain types of gamers away.
Looks like Target isn't the only one turning down titles lately -- Toys 'R' Us is getting into the game as well by not carrying either Manhunt 2 ... or Dementium! We're terribly disappointed in the retailer, but we could understand the motivation -- after all, if any store was ever aimed at children, it's TRU, and Dementium is a mature title.
However, it's not that simple. Word around the campfire is that the TRU folks made the decision not because of the game's rating, but because they didn't think it would be very popular and they didn't want to waste the space. Now, we're not sure what the gaming section is like at your local Toys 'R' Us, but we've seen some pretty questionable shovelware gracing the shelves down here. Is it an excuse to avoid any controversy, or is the retail giant planning to focus future shelf space only on release they feel are more likely to sell?
Regardless of the reason, while we can again understand a retailer aimed at children skipping mature titles (if they were consistent about it, that is), but randomly deciding what will and will not be popular is pretty lame. We remember another little game that got such treatment at first ....
Another DS Fanboy contest has come to an end, and our copy of Dementium is wrapped up and ready for ... HellsHammer! The winning comment was left on the very first day of the contest, and read:
28. Wow, I can't believe it's not been listed already...
Clock Tower for PS1 was the scariest game ever. I was like 12 or 13 and I spent the night at my friend's house. His dad had just gotten a playstation and Clock Tower and we stayed up until about 3 am. The first time I saw that scissor man start opening closet doors to find (and stab) me, I called my mom to come bring me home. Needless to say, she wasn't exactly happy to pick me up, in a terrified state no less, at 3 am.
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Also, I'd like to see a dsfanboy review on The Ward.
Posted at 1:38PM on Oct 30th 2007 by HellsHammer
Don't worry -- we'll have a review for you soon enough. For now, enjoy your free game, on us ... and watch this space for the next contest!
Sunday is the last day to throw your name in the hat for the free copy of Dementium: The Ward, so get over there and leave a comment! Since you can only enter once per day, you've got two more chances to get in there for consideration. You want free stuff, don't you?
There is really only one game that came up on our radar of releases this week and it's none other than Dementium: The Ward. We like the survival-horror genre as it is, not to mention that this looks like the first engaging FPS game on the DS (not to say that Metroid Prime Hunters wasn't engaging, but the single-player was a bit lacking). We haven't a had a chance to pick the game up yet, but you can bet that we will be doing so immediately.
What about you all? Are you planning on picking up the game or are you playing something else?
Renegade Kid's 
Fans of Dementium (see: uh, 
Wherever you are this week, there's not a lot to choose from. That isn't to say there aren't a few worthwhile titles hitting the shelves, but the key words here are "a few." As in "not many." As in, "not a big burden on your wallet." Considering everything we've got coming up for the DS, around the world, that's probably pretty good news.
Looks like Target isn't the only one turning down titles lately -- Toys 'R' Us is getting into the game as well by not carrying either Manhunt 2 ... or 
