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Posts with tag war

DS Daily: Addicted



My name is Chris Greenhough, and I'm an ... an ... Advance Wars addict. I can't put it down. I think about it constantly. While eating. While walking the dog. While out with friends. While waiting for buses. Every second of the day, I crave it. Occasionally, I'll even sneak in turns while blogging, surreptitiously hiding my DS in my coat pocket. An odd pot-shot at an anti-air unit here, a strike on my opponent's Dusters there. All while my colleagues aren't looking. I'm a mess.

I need help.

But sometimes, simply sharing can help. So let's do that. What do you play far too much of?

Tom Clancy's EndWar confirmed for DS


GameStop was right again.

In October, the game retailer listed Tom Clancy's EndWar for the DS, which garnered the attention of DS fans like ourselves. Michael de Plater, the game's creative director, recently confirmed this information to be true at GDC. As of now, it's intended to be released along with the PS3, Xbox 360, and PSP versions.

EndWar takes the player to World War III, during a time when most of the world's resources are depleted. Of course, what better way is there to use up the remaining resources than with a war?

In this strategy game, you can choose to play as Russia, Europe, or the United States. There's no word yet, though, on what features the DS version will include. No official date has been announced either, but the game is intended for release before March 31, 2009.

While we appreciate that Ubisoft is showing the DS some love, is this a game that you would choose to play on your DS over another system?

Nintendo's O'Leary enjoys talking about Advance Wars

Chris Kohler barely needed to ask any questions in this interview with Tim O'Leary, part of Nintendo's Treehouse localization team. It just took the faintest hint of a question about Advance Wars: Days of Ruin to set O'Leary off on a longform discussion of the game's new style and the new gameplay changes (such as new units) that are currently being overshadowed by that style.

According to O'Leary, the change in tone (from the bouncier, happier style of the games to a more Linkin Park kind of thing) had less to do with reflecting the harsh reality of war and more to do with players just wanting something different. So, indirectly, you guys sent a meteor to the game's world because you were bored. The change in display, now featuring the map on the bottom screen and info on the top, was a streamlining effort to allow "all of the action (to take) place on a single screen." It's, again, part of refreshing the whole series.

Read the full interview for tons more info gleaned from O'Leary's conversations with the game's Japanese developers. We got the feeling that O'Leary may just like Advance Wars.

Menu-tacular! Advance Wars screens expose nuts and bolts

Nintendo has fired a volley of fifty Advance Wars: Days of Ruin screens in our direction, a fortnight before the game launches on January 21st. This fresh batch focuses on the title's wealth of options, and it's fair to say that the game is looking as menu-heavy as ever.

As well as the title screen, we also get to see quite a bit of the Map Center, some shots of the various Wi-Fi functions (including a reminder that the game will support full voice chat online), and even, uh, what the game's icon will look like as you boot up your DS to play; comprehensive, much?

Fortunately, there's also lots of nice fighty-fighty screens, such as the one to the right, so get clicking, future COs!

Gallery: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin



[Via press release]

Confirmed: Advance Wars: Dark Conflict laying siege to Europe on January 25

Following yesterday's speculation, we've just received confirmation from Nintendo of Europe that Advance Wars: Dark Conflict will be hitting European stores on January 25, just four days ahead of the game's U.S. release.

Also confirmed to us was the name change, though judging by the leaked boxart that materialized on NeoGAF recently (and which seems to fit in with the game's new, oh-so-serious approach), this will only apply to Europe. Looks like the title will still carry the Days of Ruin suffix when it launches stateside.

Gallery: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Nintendo remembers that war isn't always so jovial

Along with its grittier, browner, and more next-gen art style, Advance Wars: Portrait Days of Ruin brings a much darker story to the turn-based strategy series, deviating from Wars World's usually colorful and light-hearted tone.


The apocalyptic plot begins with a storm of meteors devastating the planet, setting off a chain of natural disasters that kill 90% of mankind. Cutscenes show Commanding Officers contending with non-combat issues like starvation and disease, a drastic departure from Jake's inane quotes that peppered Dual Strike.

While we're on the topic of maturing the brand, we wonder if the game will take a chance and tackle themes from current wars and conflicts -- occupying a country in the midst of a civil war, outsourcing private military firms, or suffering losses to unconventional threats (e.g. IEDs, suicide bombers). It's unlikely, but it would be interesting to see executed.

Nintendo also put out over a dozen English screenshots for the game which you can view in the gallery below. The new images betray a great deal of unannounced details, like an improved map editor, new terrain and terrain stats, and a unit leveling system.

Gallery: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin


Promotional Consideration: The Ads of War

Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.

War is a terrible thing -- a malignant disease, as novelist Martha Gellhorn once put it -- but in our boyhood years, we reveled in anything that approximated the battles and bloodshed. When we weren't drafting our G.I. Joes into military service, we were conducting mock battles with our friends (pew pew) or drawing preposterous weapons with a wide array of arbitrary lasers, scopes, and barrels.

This week's edition of Promotional Consideration takes a look at several playful commercials for three war-themed Nintendo DS games. Though war can be hell, you wouldn't know it from how these titles are advertised! Grab your rifle and report for duty past the post break.

Continue reading Promotional Consideration: The Ads of War

Metareview: Brothers in Arms DS

Considering the look of it, Brothers in Arms DS has been a game to watch since the moment it was announced. DS games are forging new 3D ground lately, and with all the rich textures and increased action, we diehards have been busily chewing our nails and wondering just how all these games would play out. Early verdicts are in on Brothers in Arms, and so far, things are looking alright. Print media seems to be scoring the title higher than online reviewers, but that may change as more reviews trickle in.

CVG -- 77%: "The first thing that gets you about Brothers on DS is just how incredible it looks and sounds. Okay, it's not the PC or 360 versions but as far as DS games go, this is up there with the best of them ... Brothers In Arms DS is a good little action-shooter that makes great use of the DS's unique interface. With the tactical aspect of its gameplay removed in favour of a linear action approach, it loses some of its style and identity, but it's nevertheless the first war shooter for DS, and sets a high standard to beat."

Eurogamer -- 60%: "Despite brevity, simplicity, and the slow turning, it's really very exciting to be playing an FPS of this complexity on the DS. The above problems are significant, but never stop the fun of blamming your way through a level, sniping out distant soldiers, or, best of all, explodifying everything in a tank. The story is hugely underwritten, but ultimately unimportant; the motivation, always the need to reach B from A without the Ns shooting you in the face with their Gs ... With some tighter programming, and far fewer invisible barriers and dumb deaths, BiA could have been rather good. As it is - flawed and fun - it's a fantastic signpost."

So what's the word? At this point, it looks like Metroid Prime: Hunters fans need to look no further than Brothers in Arms for a chance to get their shooter on. While the game loses some of what makes the franchise unique, it's a great mark of what's to come -- and anytime a word like "explodifying" comes into play, there may just be something worth checking out.

Japanese hardware sales, Apr. 16 - Apr. 22: Civil War edition

I wrote it. Back in 1862.Camp Lincoln Keokuk Iowa
October the 23rd, 1862
To Miss Dorothy W. Sullivan

My darling Dorothy,

I will inform you that I am well at this time, in this God Forsaken regiment. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I am to be no more. Death is coming, Dorothy, I can feel its stench in the blood-soaked battlefields on which we stand, in the eyes of my comrades as they see the fallen friends who once laughed and drank alongside.

Would I were back with you, dear Dorothy, that all happiness should come to us as it once did. My country hath borne me on these winds away from you, and unseeing with my one eye 'gainst your two, I tread as they so commanded. Your bright smile still warms me as I lay in drought, and those who would care care not about me, and those who do not pay as much mind as they did.

My forefathers have fallen, and yours live strong; our children might not remember the lineage which I bestow. O Dorothy! Do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

- Percy Sullivan

- DS Lite: 172,359 39,034 (29.28%)
- Wii: 77,913 2,154 (2.84%)
- PSP: 29,459 4,609 (18.55%)
- PS2: 11,398 1,474 (11.45%)
- PS3: 11,000 948 (7.93%)
- Xbox 360: 2,307 593 (20.45%)
- GBA SP: 860 206 (31.50%)
- Game Boy Micro: 449 168 (27.23%)
- Gamecube: 266 99 (59.28%)
- DS Phat: 81 65 (44.52%)
- GBA: 55 29 (111.54%)

[Source: Media Create]

New Brothers in Arms shots



DS games are looking pretty hot lately, but Brothers in Arms is just so gorgeous that we can't help but wonder what the catch is ... like maybe it will give us cancer or completely suck or something. Probably not, but we'll be keeping an eye out for anything that could cause lasting harm, either physical or emotional.

While you ponder our weird paranoias, check out the screens. They're after the jump.

Continue reading New Brothers in Arms shots

Photoshop + bad scans = Brothers in Arms screenshots



The scans we had for you yesterday of images from Brothers in Arms look like they got a clean-up job, because they now almost resemble actual screenshots. Well, screenshots rendered by a pointilist, perhaps, but at least we can get a good idea of how the game will look. It's much more impressive this way!

Check out the two other screens after the jump.

Continue reading Photoshop + bad scans = Brothers in Arms screenshots

All the news on Panzer Tactics DS

With Panzer Tactics set to roll onto the DS this winter Nintendo site Cubed3 decided they needed the early details on the down and dirty. They sat down with CDV's Mario Kroll to get all the details on the historical strategy title, and Kroll had nothing but praise for Nintendo's handheld.

Most of the interview is given over to the push for historical accuracy. They originally wanted to include more than 350 units, but considering that some of the finer details are impossible to discern on the DS screen, and with system limitations, they cut the initial number down to about 150 unique units for the final game. They also discussed in depth how the development team worked to offer multiple solutions for dealing with those who cut and run rather than just taking a loss, and how the online component will function. For strategy fans, this is shaping up to be a must-have title.

Japanese hardware charts: August 7th - August 13th

Holy frack war!The longer we throw unchanging Japanese hardware sales numbers at you, the harder we have to try to make them seem as entertaining as they once were. Our dear Ludwig kind of went off the deep end over in sister-blog Joystiq...God rest his sanity. So what can we do to make these numbers seem...well...exciting? Let's take a look:

- DS Lite: 196,719 33,147 (20.26%)
- PSP: 41,289 8,063 (16.34%)
- PS2: 26,547 560 (2.15%)
- GBA SP: 3,051 267 (9.59%)
- Game Boy Micro: 2,031 103 (5.34%)
- Xbox 360: 1,204 185 (13.32%)
- Gamecube: 940 36 (3.98%)
- DS Phat: 934 225 (19.41%)
- GBA: 23 11 (32.35%)
- Xbox: 6 8 (57.14%)

Here, we can see the two armies of the arrow-people, evenly matched and fighting bravely. The PSP, allied with the red, has snuck bravely into enemy territory...yet the fearsome DS Lite rests between it and freedom. The battle rages on...who will prevail? What dastardly traitor will switch sides in seven days time? Are we way too hopped up on coffee and cough medicine for our own good? Hmmm...

[Source: Media Create]

Gaming to Go!We debate the hot topics!

This Month's New Games

Name Date
Bleach: Dark Souls
Oct 6
Legend of Kage 2
Oct 6
Crash: Mind Over Mutant
Oct 6
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Oct 6
My Japanese Coach
Oct 14
Korg DS-10
Oct 14
Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2 Oct 14
FIFA Soccer 09 Oct 14
Populous Oct 14
Rock Revolution
Oct 14
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Oct 21
Theresia
Oct 21
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Oct 21
Away: Shuffle Dungeon
Oct 21
Tornado
Oct 21
Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Oct 21
What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver Oct 21
MySims Kingdom
Oct 28
Ninjatown Oct 28

Get homebrew on your DS!

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