Those of you with fond memories of Populous back in the day, you've probably been watching for news on the remake as closely as we have. Well, sadly we're not presenting anything new on the title today, aside from, as you've gathered from this post's title, new screens.
You can see all of the new screens right here. And, if you're still craving some more eye candy, hit up our gallery below.
The DS and PSP seem to be in a tooth-and-nail fight for second place. This week, the PSP took back the second spot, but just barely.
Hardware:
Wii: 63,504
PSP: 53,373
Nintendo DS: 50,151
PlayStation 3: 14,060
PlayStation 2: 9,634
Xbox 360: 2,001
The DS did better in software, though, with Etrian Odyssey II becoming popular in its first week. The DS dungeon crawler was only 9,000 units away from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in fact. Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends was another DS champ, ending up 5th on this week's chart.
There were twelve DS games in the top thirty, which is impressive, especially considering the ton of new releases that came out last week. The new software did manage to bump a bunch of DS games out of the top thirty, though, including big names like Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, Dragon Quest IV, and Final Fantasy IV. To see the software placements, make sure to check after the break.
Posted Feb 18th 2008 12:45PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
It's a good week to be a DS gamer in pretty much any region. Europe is a possible exception, but we happen to think Paint by DS is a neat-looking product. Outside of Europe and its possibly compelling coloring game, quality abounds this week, with Capcom's Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney as the flagship release in the U.S. Whenever an Ace Attorney game comes out, it's a Big Deal in DS-land, and this one is especially noteworthy!
Ah, at last we can check out some of those Bit-plane shots from Populous DS without all those pesky watermarks fudging up the corners. There are also some other, newer screens in the mix, all loaded into our gallery below.
Unfortunately, we still haven't seen anything on a release outside of Japan, but considering how popular the game has been over the years, and the fact that it is viewed as the god game by many, surely we'll hear something. Eventually. Probably. Right?
The civilizations you build in Populous DS can grow in different areas of the Populous world, developing wildly different cultures. Famitsu has revealed these cultures and the warriors produced by each. By far the most interesting area you can build is the Nintendo-themed land of Bitplane, in which buildings are gigantic Nintendo consoles and the inhabitants are made of pixel-like cubes. Basically, it's just like our minds, except that we assume useful work gets done within its confines.
Our other favorite new location is Mars -- not because we hate liquid water (apparently the denizens are grateful for tsunamis), but because it is protected by caped superheroes. And also because we're just going to assume that the cities are full of circa-1990 Spike Lees.
In Populous DS, you do your society-building stuff as one of five elemental gods. Each god has a counterpart demon who comes by and gets all up in your business (which is civilization). These demons look similar to the player's god characters, but all evil and such. For example, the plant goddess looks like she's dressed in greenery, while the plant demon has all kinds of twisted tendrils and stuff coming out of her arms. The rest of the demons, similarly, look fit for inclusion on a Dio album cover.
To combat these celestial jerks, and to help shape your land, your character has access to special elemental "miracles." These include earthquakes, gusts of wind, and even a mass growth of mushrooms that can be used to cure viruses.
GAME Watch has character art of all the demons, along with screens that show the effects of the miracles. It's still Populous, so think more "the grid looking just like it always does, but some squares turn a different color" and less "amazing graphical effects."
We don't know how many of you are interested in importing this world-builder god sim, but for those considering it, you might find this (non-embeddable) trailer to be worth watching. The game looks like it has plenty of deities and levels to keep sim lovers busy for a while. The short cutscenes are also looking cool, and we think they add a nice touch when it comes to reaping destruction on the land.
The game will be importable soon, as Populous DS is set to release in Japan on February 21st.
A handful of new screens for EA's Populous DS have hit, courtesy of the official Japanese website for the game. Each of the new screens provides a small glimpse into some aspect of the game. The problem is that machine translation isn't the best, so wrapping our head around what each screen actually shows has been a problem. Still, we can gather that the game board has been retooled to allow the player to see more of the game world at once, as well as some of the game's more powerful attacks, such as tsunamis and earthquakes. So, we're not entirely clueless. As tough as it has been to find information on the game, we'll keep taking these screens. The more we see, the more we want.
Be sure to hit up our gallery below for the new screens.
The DS take on the classic Populous is set for a release next February (in Japan, at least), and it looks like things are shaping up well. At least, it looks like Populous, and that's what's really important here. Of course, we're interested in more details on the game as well, such as control scheme (stylus only, or a variety of approaches?), but if all we get right now are screenshots, well, we'll take 'em. You can take 'em yourself in our gallery below.
The Japanese site for Populous DS has risen from the bottom of the tubes we call the internet and has thrust itself out there for all to see. In checking out what it has to offer, we found that there isn't really anything there right now. You can check out a couple of screens (which you have probably already seen before) and try to make sense of all the kanji there, should you choose. Or, you can just keep reading DS Fanboy and we'll update you as to when the site has some real content.
When it was revealed that Peter Molyneaux's Populous franchise would hit the DS, we became very excited. Then, we got our first blurry look at the game and we found the cosmetic change to be quite nice. Shortly after, Famitsu got the scoop on some actual sreens that weren't taken with a dirty-lensed camera phone.
Well, Dengeki has got some more assets, expanding the wealth of screens that Famitsu brought to our attention. So, if you're into that kind of thing, we suggest you check them out.
Hey, awesome! A Marble Madness level generator for the DS! ... Oh, wait, no, it's just Populous DS. That's okay too, we suppose. It's just ... it looks a lot like Marble Madness, and we like Marble Madness in general better than strategy-type sim games where you build OH HEY look at that guy! He's pretty impressive!
Does anyone else find it interesting that Japanese publications get the scoops on this game? It's a remake of a very Western game from a very Western developer, published by EA! But so far, the only release date the game has is the Japanese date of December 31st. It could be that a Japanese EA team is porting it -- or maybe EA wants to give us plenty of time with EA Playground before announcing another big game.
Almost two months since its game was announced, Electronic Arts has finally published tangible details and the first screenshots for Populous DS in this week's issue of Famitsu.
Due next February 21st, this remake of the god game will feature both touchscreen and classic controls, though these isometric sims seem to lend themselves to the former. In addition to four different modes -- Challenge, Free Play, VS (up to four players, and Gallery -- Populous DS will come packed with popular maps from its many, many previous editions on PCs and consoles. Peek past the post break for a camera-phone shot of the Famitsu page.
This story came and went in a puff of smoke on many sites -- maybe for clarification? -- but GoNintendo still has the information up, and since it is so very exciting, we felt we had to share. Move over, Sim City ... Populous is headed to the DS! For those not familiar with the title in one of its many previous incarnations, Populous places players in the role of a god with a single human follower, and from there, you're charged to build an entire civilization. But you're not alone -- and the DS version is set to capitalize on that aspect with a four-person multiplayer mode. Between the handheld's portability and touchscreen functionality, we're very much excited about this latest news!
1UP still has the title listed, but their short preview seems to be down. Little information is available at this time, but we'll keep an ear to the ground for anything that develops.
Those of you with fond memories of Populous back in the day, you've probably been watching for news on the remake as closely as we have. Well, sadly we're not presenting anything new on the title today, aside from, as you've gathered from this post's title, new screens.
The DS and PSP seem to be in a tooth-and-nail fight for second place. This week, the PSP took back the second spot, but just barely.
Ah, at last we can check out some of those Bit-plane shots from Populous DS without all those pesky watermarks fudging up the corners. There are also some other, newer screens in the mix, all loaded into our gallery below. 
The civilizations you build in Populous DS can grow in different areas of the Populous world, developing wildly different cultures. Famitsu has revealed these cultures and the warriors produced by each. By far the most interesting area you can build is the Nintendo-themed land of Bitplane, in which buildings are gigantic Nintendo consoles and the inhabitants are made of pixel-like cubes. Basically, it's just like our minds, except that we assume useful work gets done within its confines.
We don't know how many of you are interested in importing this world-builder god sim, but for those considering it, you might find this (non-embeddable) trailer to be worth watching. The game looks like it has plenty of deities and levels to keep sim lovers busy for a while. The short cutscenes are also looking cool, and we think they add a nice touch when it comes to reaping destruction on the land.
A handful of new screens for EA's Populous DS have hit, courtesy of the official Japanese website for the game. Each of the new screens provides a small glimpse into some aspect of the game. The problem is that machine translation isn't the best, so wrapping our head around what each screen actually shows has been a problem. Still, we can gather that the game board has been retooled to allow the player to see more of the game world at once, as well as some of the game's more powerful attacks, such as tsunamis and earthquakes. So, we're not entirely clueless. As tough as it has been to find information on the game, we'll keep taking these screens. The more we see, the more we want.
The DS take on the classic Populous is set for a release next February (in Japan, at least), and it looks like things are shaping up well. At least, it looks like Populous, and that's what's really important here. Of course, we're interested in more details on the game as well, such as control scheme (stylus only, or a variety of approaches?), but if all we get right now are screenshots, well, we'll take 'em. You can take 'em yourself in our gallery below.
When it was revealed that Peter Molyneaux's Populous franchise would hit the DS, we became very excited. Then, we got our first blurry look at the game and we found the cosmetic change to be quite nice. Shortly after, Famitsu got the scoop on some actual sreens that weren't taken with a dirty-lensed camera phone.
Hey, awesome! A Marble Madness level generator for the DS! ... Oh, wait, no, it's just Populous DS. That's okay too, we suppose. It's just ... it looks a lot like Marble Madness, and we like Marble Madness in general better than strategy-type sim games where you build OH HEY look at that guy! He's pretty impressive!
Almost two months since its game was announced, Electronic Arts has finally published tangible details and the first screenshots for Populous DS in this week's issue of Famitsu.
This story came and went in a puff of smoke on many sites -- maybe for clarification? -- but GoNintendo still has the information up, and since it is so very exciting, we felt we had to share. Move over, Sim City ... Populous is headed to the DS! For those not familiar with the title in one of its many previous incarnations, Populous places players in the role of a god with a single human follower, and from there, you're charged to build an entire civilization. But you're not alone -- and the DS version is set to capitalize on that aspect with a four-person multiplayer mode. Between the handheld's portability and touchscreen functionality, we're very much excited about this latest news!
_thumbnail.jpg "Prince of Persia: The Fallen King")
