Nintendo announced and showed off a lot more than just the DSi, though understandably, it's taking most of the spotlight. This is a new handheld, people: it's big stuff.
But we've talked about it, and we'll keep talking about it. Right now, we want to talk about something else. There's been a boatload of news in general the last couple of days. What else did you see that got your blood pumping? Release date for Rhythm Heaven? Mario & Luigi 3? New glimpses of Kingdom Hearts? New Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles?
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!
Fans of Square Enix and their Final Fantasy line of games are in for a treat. The company revealed in the latest issue of Shonen Jump magazine that it's developing a new installment in its Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series of games. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is a game that will release on the DS and Wii on January 29th. Also, it will allow DS gamers and Wii gamers to play together online. How neat is that?
Nothing in the way of exact functionality is explained, other than the prospect of transferring your Mii from the Wii version of the game to the DS title (and the previously mentioned co-op). We'll provide more information as it's made available.
There's nothing we love more than giving you free stuff, particularly when it's something we've enjoyed ourselves. This time, we invite one lucky reader to join twins Yuri and Chelinka (and friends) on their epic quest. All you have to do to win our copy of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates ($39.99) is answer a simple question: what's your favorite DS game from Square Enix (so far)? Legal residents of the United States and Canada (excluding Quebec) may enter once per day between now and Wednesday, April 9; the contest will end that night at 11:59 PM Eastern time. Please note that, as with most of our contests, you must be 18 or older to enter. Questions? Check the official rules. We'll select one winner in a random drawing on April 10. If you want it to be you, get commenting!
With three high-profile titles releasing in North America this week, we're having a hard time deciding what game (or games) to pick up for this weekend's promised downtime. Should we go with the tried-and-true formula of shooting everything in sight and get Nanostray 2? Or, should we see about putting on our gumshoes and solving a case or two in Insecticide? Perhaps the more epic quest is in order and we should go with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? Maybe we should just go with them all?
While we try to decide, tell us what you've got going on in your gaming world this weekend. What will you be playing?
This week, there are a lot of DS games headed out all around the globe, but it's particularly a great week for those of you who keep your eyes peeled for interesting Japanese releases. Not the import type? That's okay -- there's a lot of other games to consider, and some that aren't even quite games, per se.
Let me get this out of the way right off: I have always preferred the "older" Final Fantasy games. By that, I don't mean the older titles in the series (my favorites are scattered throughout), but rather, those that feature older main characters. Because of this, I approached Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates with a rumbling feeling of apprehension. It looked good. It sounded much improved, control- and gameplay-wise, over the GameCube's Crystal Chronicles. But would I be able to get into a storyline that revolved around youthful characters?
I need not have worried. Ring of Fates boasts a surprisingly rich coming of age story in a world that is beautifully realized and packed with dungeons just waiting to be looted. Even the most hardcore fans, who prefer a traditional Final Fantasy experience, will find little to disappoint here.
Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
This week's release list is pretty darn nice, with a variety of genres being represented in the ranks of new titles available for the DS. RPG junkies get their fix with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, shoot-em-uppers get something new in Nanostray 2 and the niche crime-solving insect genre gets an entry in Insecticide. How's that for a week of releases?
Are you picking up a new game? Going to hammer away at something older? What are you playing?
Gallery: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
What a week for DS releases! Of course, in the shadow of a certain release on the Wii side of the Nintendo fence, a big week was probably necessary, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Though there are only three DS titles scheduled for release, each one has something going for it. How often does that happen?
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Insecticide
Nanostray 2
In fact, there's a lot to look forward to all around the world. Europe's scoring Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Bomberman Land Touch! 2, among other titles, and Japan boasts our beloved Contra 4 (there, Dual Spirits), and the hilarious Duel Love. Surely you can find some time to tear yourself away from beatdowns for one of these.
Remember back in June when we had a new video every week for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates leading up to its launch in Japan? Well, with the cooperative ARPG's North American release imminent (March 11, 2008), Square Enix has set up a developer blog similar to the Japanese one we ripped wholesale for its movie updates, except in our barbaric language.
The latest multimedia update on the site has a localized version of the game's opening cutscene many of you have only seen in Japanese, complete with English voice overs! The script isn't as sophisticated as we would like, and the voice acting is far from stellar, but, uh, at least we can understand it all now!
Well, not all of it. This is more about the highlights, the big news of the year. The kind of stuff that we should look back to and highlight as being memorable in 2007. It's been one hell of a year; a roller coaster ride of hits and misses. So, grab your admission ticket, buckle yourself in and join us for this look back at the news of 2007.
Ubisoft loves Australia, it seems, as they've worked out a deal with RPG powerhouse Square Enix to bring some of their games to the region. Ubisoft will be bringing two titles to the country in Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. Gamers down under can look forward to getting these titles in early 2008.
Any Aussies here glad they won't have to import these games?
Update: According to JeuxFrance, Ubisoft is going to be bringing the games to not only Australia, but also to Europe. So, good news is now made even better.
Importer YesAsia has a clearance sale going on right now, and, as may be expected of clearance sales, the stock is limited to things they couldn't sell before. In terms of DS stuff, that means Japanese versions of games that saw domestic releases, and items that nobody in the U.S. has heard of, for the most part.
While some of the imports are either too Japanese or still too expensive, sifting through the stock does reveal a few interesting items, like the Japanese version of Card Fighters DS for $11.49, Heroes of Mana for $17.99, and Slide Adventure Mag Kid, which gets a small, but meaningful, discount at $43.95. Or, if you have a bunch of money to spend on "clearance" items, you can pick up the Ring of FatesDS bundle for $300.
The sale is also a great opportunity to pick up a Japanese DS Lite case, as there are many variants in stock, including (continuing with the Ring of Fates theme) the Ring of Fates accessory pack. We've only linked to the DS items (for some reason ... ) but YesAsia is clearing out items for other systems as well.
Square Enix's much anticipated -- at least on our end -- cooperative ARPG hits Japanese stores next week, half a year before we see it here in North America. New commercials advertising Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates have already started to air, featuring music from Japanese pop star Aiko Yanai.
Aiko even appears in one of the TV spots, making some strange faces while playing the game in her dressing room with several friends. We usually doubt the authenticity of these scenes of celebrities enjoying the products they're paid to push, but ever since we saw Utada Hikaru demolishing opponents in Tetris DS, we've been a lot more open-minded about the phenomenon.
As usual, we've got the commercials embedded past the jump, but if you've got an acute fear of Japanese women with strained expressions and would rather avoid Aiko's grimace, you can check out the Ring of Fates screenshots that Famitsu posted at its website instead.
Square Enix's newest Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates trailer is packed with nearly six minutes of boisterous combat scenes, dungeon-roaming recklessness, and much more! The clips that show everyone working together to put out a spreading fire with water barrels are definitely our favorite parts; it makes our hearts ache knowing that we'll never find more than one other person to play with, if even that many, when the game finally comes to North American next spring.
The brief preview of the cooperative ARPG's online component is nothing to get excited about -- players can trade their painted and personalized moogles. Yep, Square Enix actually managed to come up with something worse than MogNet.
Being able to customize your character's appearance (ninjas!), though, as you can see from the screen grab above, is the dog's bollocks. The extended movie also demonstrates that you'll be able to flip the action from the top window onto the bottom screen, using your stylus to direct spells and ranged weapons. Jump past the post break for the embedded video.
Nintendo announced and showed off a lot more than just the DSi, though understandably, it's taking most of the spotlight. This is a new handheld, people: it's big stuff.
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.
This week, there are a lot of DS games headed out all around the globe, but it's particularly a great week for those of you who keep your eyes peeled for interesting Japanese releases. Not the import type? That's okay -- there's a lot of other games to consider, and some that aren't even quite 
Importer YesAsia has a clearance sale going on right now, and, as may be expected of clearance sales, the stock is limited to things they couldn't sell before. In terms of DS stuff, that means Japanese versions of games that saw domestic releases, and items that nobody in the U.S. has heard of, for the most part.
