• News
• Reviews
• Hacks
• Homebrew

DS Fanboy's Media Summit screen round-up

Posted Oct 2nd 2008 4:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: Screens

The worst bit about big industry events for impatient bloggers and readers? The game assets. Oh Lordy, the assets. An absolute landslide of screens, usually scattered about across, ooh, dozens of pages.

But not at DS Fanboy! Not on our watch! Because we wub you, readers, we've collected a big old stack of new screens for your viewing pleasure and placed them all after the break of just one post. This post, in fact. From the well-known to the obscure, we'd be amazed if there's not at least one game that appeals to everyone past that line of blue text. Mario & Luigi 3, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (right), Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel, Shining Force Feather, and Picross 3D is only scratching the surface, so make the jump!

Continue reading DS Fanboy's Media Summit screen round-up

New DS games make their Stage Debut

Posted Oct 2nd 2008 3:25AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: News, Imports

The DSi wasn't the only DS news out of Japan. A video showing Nintendo's upcoming lineup just happens to reveal several upcoming games for the handheld, all published by Nintendo themselves. It makes E3 look like a cruel joke. We've culled the totally new games from the video and listed them here, along with the games that we knew about but haven't seen video of yet. We'll have more info about each of these games when ... it exists! In the meantime, oh man new Mario & Luigi!

• Wagamama Fashion Girls' Mode: a fashion game from Nintendo! Neat.
  
• Aruite Wakaru Seikatsu Rhythm DS: The fitness game with the pedometer.
  
• Sekai no Gohan Shaberu! DS O-Ryouri Navi: a sequel to Cooking Guide that is based on recipes from around the world -- we're guessing the exact ones featured in other regions' versions of Cooking Guide.
  
• Some kind of fortune telling thing involving tarot and palm reading. Taboo: The Sixth Sense 2K9!
• Tomodachi Collection, some kind of thing that lets you interact with Miis. This looks like none other than a resurrected Stage Debut!
  
• Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!!
• Made in Wario/Wario Ware, although Wario's name doesn't actually appear in the tentative title. It's, like "Made in Series" or something. But it's clearly Wario.
  
• A brutally insane 3D Picross.

Wal-Mart does 2 for $25 deal

Posted Jul 22nd 2008 1:15PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Sales

The last time the retail giant did one of these deals, there wasn't much in the way of worthwhile titles in order to get some of you off the fence and spending. Perhaps the same can be said of the stock participating in this most recent deal, but we'd beg to differ. If you still haven't picked up Sonic Rush, then we suggest you nab that and one of these other included titles:

• Bubble Bobble: Double Shot
• Barnyard Blast (it may not be that good, but it's a piece of DS Fanboy history)
• Spanish For Everyone (because it's hilarious)
• Picross DS

There are other games, such as some board game compilations, so we suggest you head over and check out the sale for yourself.

[Thanks, Feba!]

DS Fanboy poll: Demos: do you dabble?

Posted Jun 11th 2008 2:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News, DS Fanboy poll

The Wii's Nintendo Channel, then. It's enjoyed a somewhat shaky start if you ask us, particularly where DS demos are concerned. Although we love occasionally receiving bite-size portions of games such as Arkanoid, most demos are ... well, to be frank, they're old. Not just regular old, either, but Jesus and his pet triceratops trekking across the ravaged plains of Pangaea old.

The situation is especially grim in Europe, where Tetris DS (original release date: April 2006) has just joined a list that includes (amongst others) the ancient likes of Big Brain Academy, Brain Training, Mario Kart DS, 42 All-Time Classics, and Sight Training. Needless to say, we've only downloaded a small handful of games since the service debuted. To us, a demo of Brain Training is about as useful as a plasticine climbing frame.

Then again, maybe we're being overly critical, grumbly bastards. Maybe some of you good people actually get quite a lot of use out of the service. So we thought we'd throw this issue open to you, our beloved readers, and ask: how often do you use the Nintendo Channel demos?

How often do you download DS demos from the Nintendo Channel?

A lot. Like, multiple times a week.I've downloaded a few items since the service debuted.I've only ever used it once or twice.I've never used it, despite it being available to me.I don't have a Wii. Me am poor.Vote

PAL Nintendo Channel DS demos are training-tastic

Posted May 30th 2008 2:00PM by Chris Greenhough
Filed under: News

Training, training, training. That's all us Europeans and Aussies want, right? Day in, day out, there we are, blurting "blue" into our handhelds like obedient farmyard animals, and being told that we're doing it wrong and that we're thuddingly simple. We know this happens, because the sales charts tell us so, and now the first DS demos on the local Nintendo Channel (released on all PAL consoles today) reflect the self-improvement obsession that has swept many PAL countries.

So, instead of getting demos of totally rad, new games such as Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (which is what the U.S. got), we get four training games (only one of which came out this year) from the seven titles available, and adverts for Nintendogs and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The only bright spot? A couple of tracks from Mario Kart DS, and a Picross demo, but those are hardly fresh titles.

We're not usually the types to look a gift horse in the mouth, but there's a stunning lack of variety on display here, Nintendo. Hit the break for the infuriatingly vanilla list.

Continue reading PAL Nintendo Channel DS demos are training-tastic

Compile Heart goes puzzle crazy

Posted Feb 1st 2008 11:15AM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Screens, Imports

Japanese developer Compile Heart, which contains members of Compile (who developed Puyo Puyo and just about everything else we have loved) plans to release a three-part (so far) series of puzzle games for the DS, called the Puzzle Mate series. Crossword Mate features Japanese crosswords, Nanpure Mate is a "number place" (also known as sudoku) game, and Oekaki Mate is a picross collection. These, however, differ from other such products in one important way: the puzzles are large. All three collections feature larger playing fields than usual, which leads to things like the nightmarish multi-screen picross puzzle seen in the screenshot here.

And speaking of nightmarish, coulrophobes will be terrified to see the mascot for this series, a clown drawn by Famitsu artist Susumu Matsushita.

Read - Crossword Mate
Read - Nanpure Mate
Read - Oekaki Mate

Bad for your health, bad for your DS

Posted Dec 24th 2007 11:15AM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: Fan stuff

You can easily predict the next couple of panels in this strip, but that doesn't make it any less funny! This cautionary comic reminds all the smokers out there why they shouldn't play with their Nintendo DS while sucking on a cigarette -- like smoking, it's just not a good idea in general! Put out that cancer stick, spray some Febreze around you, and join us past the break for the rest of this tragic, NSFW tale.

See also: Cheap stylus gifts that aren't really styli

Continue reading Bad for your health, bad for your DS

Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens

Posted Dec 23rd 2007 12:00PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Features

2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.

When determining the best games of the year, it's a good idea to go at it from different angles: by referencing our own history of reviews, obviously, but we must also look to the wider journalism community. Our reviews, while insightful and entertaining, were not comprehensive. We just didn't play everything. In addition, one reviewer's opinion is simply not sufficient data to make definitive conclusions, even if that one reviewer is me.

So we turned to everyone else in aggregate to see what they thought of this year's releases. We've gathered the top 10 DS games of 2007 according to their Metacritic ranking. Keep in mind that many of these games tied in Metascore, meaning that if we were to rank the games, there would be fewer than ten positions. It's still sequential, but with a lot of tie scores.

We then carefully applied science to these games in order to convert the Metacritic numbers into a rubric we feel more accurately conveys the quality of these games. Head past the post break for Metacritic's top ten DS games of 2007, graded on a scale from adorable kitten video to unbelievably adorable kitten video.

Continue reading Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens

Readers' Choice: The best of 2007

Posted Dec 18th 2007 10:30AM by Alisha Karabinus
Filed under: DS Fanboy poll

It was a good year for games with titles beginning with the letter "P" -- at least, according to you guys. When asked, you didn't hesitate to rattle off some of your favorite titles of the year, from Phantom Hourglass to Puzzle Quest, and now the time has come to crown the winner. Just to make things interesting, we're allowing you to choose more than one game -- and to vote more than once (though only once per day). So get in there and duke it out, DS fans. There's a title at stake.

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at some of the year's other great games, those selections that didn't receive quite as much attention when we asked you to name your favorites, but all the same, games that are deserving of a little extra time in the spotlight.

What's your pick for the best game of 2007?
	Bleach: Blade of Fate
	Contra 4
	Etrian Odyssey
	Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
	The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
	Picross
	Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
	Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07

Posted Nov 29th 2007 1:10PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Oh, how good it feels to be back. After the holiday, we're glad to be back into the swing of things. So, tonight we gather and get our game on. Join us, won't you? We sure would appreciate it.

Continue reading DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07 aftermath reminder

Posted Nov 23rd 2007 10:40AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Sure enough, we informed you last week that we would be taking this week's Game Night off because of the holiday. And, we put up the poll for determining this upcoming session's game. We just wanted to remind all of you who might have missed it by including that same poll below. So, vote for next week's game and we'll see you Thursday night!

What should be our theme game for 11/29/07?

Clubhouse GamesPicross DSPlanet Puzzle LeagueVote

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07 aftermath

Posted Nov 16th 2007 3:40PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Even with some of us being very late (see: the author of this post), we still managed to get our game on. Races were had in Mario Kart DS and we tasted the utterly horrible, yet very familiar, taste of defeat. Oh well, there is always next week to reclaim our honor as kinda OK at games.

Oh, wait, next week is Thanksgiving! Sorry, but we'll have to wait until the following week before getting back to Game Night. It's a holiday and we'll be busy taking various naps fueled by our bellies full of turkey.

So, enjoy the holiday and we'll see you guys at Game Night on November 29th!

What should be our theme game for 11/29/07?

Clubhouse GamesPicross DSPlanet Puzzle LeagueVote

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07

Posted Nov 15th 2007 11:30AM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

If you're anything like us, when you punched out of work last night or perhaps as you were finishing dinner with the family, you felt a slight tingle run down your spine. It was the calling. It lets you know that something big is coming. An epic struggle, between the forces of Lite and Phat, where men and women meet in the arena of combat, DS clutched tightly in their hands. Well, tonight is the night it all goes down. So, kiss you loved ones goodbye and prepare for the fight of your life.

Continue reading DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07

Fail at puzzles, show the world

Posted Nov 13th 2007 1:10PM by JC Fletcher
Filed under: Screens, Imports

TDK Core's DS Puzzler Nanpure Fan & Oekaki Logic Wi-Fi Taiou (DS Puzzler Sudoku and Picture Logic Wi-Fi Interaction) is a pretty simple game design: a bunch of sudoku and picross-type puzzles. And that's fine! People like picross and sudoku.

But DS Puzzler goes beyond the normal self-motivated challenge of these puzzle games by including online rankings for both. We're familiar with this kind of thing in a picross setting, but we certainly wouldn't want anyone to see how, uh, great we are at sudoku. And we're pretty sure we'd embarrass ourselves with these more complicated, colorful picross puzzles too.

DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/8/07 aftermath

Posted Nov 9th 2007 1:10PM by David Hinkle
Filed under: Game Night

Like a walk of shame after a one-night stand, we found ourselves wishing that last night's Game Night session could've lasted longer for us and not have come to a close. But, those pesky responsibilities of ours always seem to get in the way. Oh well, them's the breaks.

Hit up the poll below and vote for next week's theme game.

What should be our theme game for 11/15/07?

Tetris DSClubhouse GamesPlanet Puzzle LeaguePicross DSVote

Features

Another Week in ... (50)

Bury the Shovelware (14)

Contests / Giveaways (18)

DS Daily (559)

DS Fanboy Lite (42)

DS Fanboy poll (41)

Friday video (70)

Game Night (156)

Gaming to Go (13)

Items of Import (7)

Metareview (58)

Point/Counterpoint (5)

Promotional Consideration (57)

Show and Tell (71)

The DS Life (66)

What are you playing? (90)

Bits

Accessories (145)

Downloads (67)

Fan stuff (1416)

Features (289)

GBA (128)

Hacks (82)

Homebrew (229)

How-tos (75)

Imports (935)

Interviews (155)

Meta (134)

Mods (17)

News (3310)

Nintendo Wi-Fi (189)

Reviews (191)

Sales (196)

Screens (988)

Video (732)

Rumors (192)

RESOURCES

• Send us news tips
• About Us
• Contact Us
• Advertise
• Corrections?
• Problems?

RSS NEWSFEEDS

• 
• Feeds by category

Featured Galleries

 

Most Commented On (14 days)

• Nintendo announces Nintendo DSi (112)
• DS Daily: Sad to see the GBA slot go? (92)
• DS Daily: Will you get it? (63)
• Bury the Shovelware: N+ (62)
• DS Daily: What would you have done? (60)
• DS Daily: Graphics revisited (45)
• DS Daily: Is your wallet ready? (44)
• DS Daily: I think I'm learning Japanese, I really think so (39)
• Team 17 boss wary of DSi features (38)
• Reggie: DSi not in North America until 'after April' (35)

Recent Comments

• tacoman on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• Arjun Gandhi on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• NetOperator Wibby on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• Nebinator on Tiny moving Marios and Luigis
• Zach on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• chispito on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• Nitroactive on DS Daily: Will you get it?
• Jarlino on DS Daily: Rhythmblem
• Ihar `Philips` Filipau on Tiny moving Marios and Luigis
• RasenganFury on DS Daily: Will you get it?

More game info on GameDaily: GameDaily Biz, Fast & Free Game Downloads, Video Game Trailers, Video Game Cheats, Video Game Reviews, Video Game Screensho

All contents copyright © 2003-2008, Weblogs, Inc. All rights reserved

DS Fanboy is a member of the Weblogs, Inc. Network. Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Notify AOL

• DS Fanboy
• Web
• Images
• Video
• News
• Local