A recent Famitsu scan seems to indicate that the obscenely colorful cast of Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 will be joined by a fluffy Final Fantasy favorite -- Moogle. Franchise crossovers are always amusing, though we thought that Square Enix would at least have the good sense to toss Quina Quen from Final Fantasy IX in there. We're convinced that Mario would rather have a freakish, grammatically challenged cook on his team as opposed to a little white creature that's probably a bit crap at playing basketball.
This video depicts a supposedly makeshift camera (which, to be honest, looks a little scary) hooked up to a DS Lite and, thanks to some homebrewin' magic, it starts taking pictures. Barring the horrendous framerate, it seems like an amusing device with equally amusing future applications. The thought of taking a snapshot of someone's face, only to doodle on it with a stylus is pleasing in ways best left unmentioned. Still, there's every chance that it's an elaborate fake, with homebrew software merely displaying some images taken previously with a real camera.
It's hard to make a decision on the legitimacy based solely on this video, though we expect the homebrew crew to quickly show up and put things into focus. Either way, at least we got the whole "doodling on people's faces" imagery out of the deal.
[Thanks Nushio & MikeLacks!]
[Update 1: Check out the originating site here. Thanks David R!]
Oh, the horror. Be sure to keep angry fanboys and dubiously trained pet bulls away from the monitor this week, as it displays an awful lot of red. Even the mighty DS Lite experiences the strange sensation of slipping, possibly caused by the tight grip of an overweight sibling. The ranking, according to number of units sold:
As a commenter jokingly suggested last week, it's awfully difficult to resist the temptation of traveling to Japan and purchasing 10,000 Xbox consoles, just to ... exacerbate things.
Deep within the recesses of the DS Fanboy labs, the SD version of the GBA Movie Player has been enduring poking, prodding and occasional squeezing for quite some time now, up until the point where failure to post a review would be deemed by many as inappropriate and downright offensive. Doubly so considering that said labs don't actually exist. Compelled by the logo prominently emblazoned all across this site, we mainly tested the device on the Nintendo DS and the DS Lite and were pleased to find that the device performs surprisingly well.
There is a caveat, however, one that should loom over your online purchase like an owl slowly circling a confused mouse, waiting for the opportune moment to swoop down and devour a furry feast. Once you look up and become aware of the bird of prey, you'll be better equipped to determine whether or not the Movie Player is worth your money. Ignoring it will only lead to disappointment which, going by this ill-conceived allegory, means you will get eaten by an owl. A big one.
Essentially, the problem with the GBA Movie player isn't a problem with the GBA Movie player at all. It's that thing it plugs into. As a media playing device, the DS is a bit crap.
As if those weekly hardware charts weren't enough to convince you, Next Generation has put up a report that once again underlines just how well the DS Lite is performing in Japan. The words "ridiculous", "ludicrous" and "criminal" certainly spring to mind when noting that the Lite sold 575,000 units last month, making for a grand total of 2.6 million thus far.
New Super Mario Bros. has been flying off the shelves with equal aplomb, right into the hands of 1.8 million nostalgia-craving gamers. It has become one of eight DS games to break through the meticulously guarded million sold barrier. As part of those who initially thought the DS to be a silly device that would be beaten to a pulp in the handheld gaming ghetto, we've been proven wrong again and again. And again.
Let's be honest now. Did you expect this to happen back in 2004?
From everyone here at DS Fanboy, we wish you fine lot a fantastic Fourth of July, one free of work stress, responsibility, and aliens intent on blowing up every recognizable landmark in sight. We recommend you play some DS games, but that you avoid using your DS Lite in the vicinity of fireworks displays -- it's hard enough spotting fireworks in broad daylight.
If, like me, you're not of the appropriate geographical position to celebrate this holiday, remind yourself that you don't always need a reason to avoid work and play DS games instead.
Not content with conquering Japan and America, the newly revamped, newly released, New Super Mario Bros. now set its non-insidious sights on Europe, land of collosseums, queens and curiously leaning constructions. Nintendo of Europe has announced that the game has shipped to stores, just in time to be snatched up over the weekend. Expect Mario to hit his presumed homeland of Italy in full force, devouring mushrooms and smashing bricks, though sadly not fixing leaky plumping. If you haven't purchased the game already, check out its updated official site and catch yourself whistling along to the music.
... the harder they fall. The Japanese population's brief rekindling of their romance with the DS Phat, showing a massive 1559% increase in sales last week, seems to have died out for now. Our obese friend takes the sharpest fall this week, with slimmer, trimmer machines like the Game Boy Micro and DS Lite faring better. The ranking, according to number of units sold:
The rest of the chart seems intentionally unremarkable, with the Lite reigning on top and the spinless Xbox sweeping the ground floor. Very soon, it will be expected to clean up the explosion of confetti and glitter accompanying the launch of the Noble Pink DS Lite.
Quite possibly the only sane thing we've received from Japan this week, the Japanese hardware sales charts show it like it is -- no silly comparisons, half-truths or fuzzy mathematics in sight. The ranking, according to number of units sold:
Aside from the soothing abundance of green, the most noticeable aspect of this week's chart is undoubtedly the DS Phat's performance, indicating either a surge in its popularity or a surge in desperation amongst those who couldn't track down a DS Lite. Perhaps it's time to import a black one from Europe?
These web browser things are fantastic innovations. We fully understand why Nintendo would want to have one on their DS. They no doubt envisioned situations such as these, where you could use the newfangled technology to actually look at images online, images depicting anything from adorable kittens to Japanese box art. The guys at Game Watch were quick to take advantage and have "uploaded" the two versions (one for each DS model) of the Opera Browser packaging. We know. Being at the helm of cutting-edge technology can be quite frightening.
Larger images "after the break". Whatever that means.
We often consider ourselves to be the experts of touching, a label which has far more connotations than practical uses. Still, it has allowed us to become very intimate with Nintendo's latest portable, one that many would argue to be an open celebration of poking and prodding. In the above video, the esteemed and obviously mature Mark Slutsky explains why the DS has gained this reputation and why whipping it out in public is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
Whether it's a rare planetary alignment or mass hypnosis, something irregular is surely to blame for this weird state of events. Microsoft's consoles are the only ones not to take a sales plunge this week -- even the DS Phat's fall from grace sends it hurtling past the Xbox 360. How bizarre.
[Update: Quite bizarrely, some of the numbers were from last week. Corrected.]
[Source: Media Create]
A recent Famitsu scan seems to indicate that the obscenely colorful cast of Mario Hoops: 3 on 3 will be joined by a fluffy Final Fantasy favorite -- Moogle. Franchise crossovers are always amusing, though we thought that Square Enix would at least have the good sense to toss Quina Quen from Final Fantasy IX in there. We're convinced that Mario would rather have a freakish, grammatically challenged cook on his team as opposed to a little white creature that's probably a bit crap at playing basketball.
3,456 (2.20%)
1,198 (4.84%)
As if those 
From everyone here at DS Fanboy, we wish you fine lot a fantastic Fourth of July, one free of work stress, responsibility, and aliens intent on blowing up every recognizable landmark in sight. We recommend you play some DS games, but that you avoid using your DS Lite in the vicinity of fireworks displays -- it's hard enough spotting fireworks in broad daylight.
Not content with conquering Japan and America, the newly revamped, newly released, New Super Mario Bros. now set its non-insidious sights on Europe, land of collosseums, queens and curiously leaning constructions. Nintendo of Europe has announced that the game has shipped to stores, just in time to be snatched up over the weekend. Expect Mario to hit his presumed homeland of Italy in full force, devouring mushrooms and smashing bricks, though sadly not fixing leaky plumping. If you haven't purchased the game already, check out its updated official site and catch yourself whistling along to the music.
... the harder they fall. The Japanese population's brief 
Quite possibly the only sane thing we've received from Japan this week, the Japanese hardware sales charts show it like it is -- no silly comparisons, half-truths or fuzzy mathematics in sight. The ranking, according to number of units sold:
These web browser things are fantastic innovations. We fully understand why Nintendo would want to have one on their DS. They no doubt envisioned situations such as these, where you could use the newfangled technology to actually look at images online, images depicting anything from adorable kittens to Japanese box art. The guys at Game Watch were quick to take advantage and have "uploaded" the two versions (one for each DS model) of the 
Oh, look. It's the weekly Japanese hardware sales chart. Every time I look around, it's in my face. The ranking, according to number of units sold:
