April 2009
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March 2009
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SmartStylus planned for DSi
You might have heard a little about the SmartStylus last week — PDP was showing it off at the Game Developers Conference on the Expo floor, inviting gamers and developers to try out the oversized accessory.
The SmartStylus communicates with an RF transceiver plugged into a DS’s GBA slot, and will rumble or flash LEDs on its base, reacting to your performance in a compatible game. A...
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WatchTrailer for Namco Bandai’s The Munchables. This is pretty old, having been released around when the game was announced last month, but I could never find a decent embeddable version.
How cute is this game? I love all the food enemies. Most of all, I love the inexplicable giant pink poo. What is the big poo doing there? Why would you put that in your trailer? Even if it’s supposed to...
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Famicom pirate cart field guide →
This Famicom World thread provides a lot of tips for identifying pirate Famicom cartridges. Famicom cartridges came in so many different colors and shapes that it can be more difficult to identify a fake just by sight.
Even with advice on spotting correctly-printed back labels, and appropriately hole-punched Konami games, I’m still more worried about accidentally getting a pirate cart than...
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Tego custom console skins (NSFW) →
I hate to reward a company for using photos of half-clothed women to sell its mediocre products, but this photo is hilarious. Why was Mario Kart DS’s boxart photoshopped onto the system’s touchscreen? Why is there an iPod stuffed into the model’s bra?
Tego also sells custom vinyl skins for DSis, home consoles, laptops, music game instruments, and, yes, calculators:
Who are...
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Why you need to visit Game Over/Continue
We’ve posted about Game Over/Continue? — a group art show paying homage to “the massive influence and continuous evolution of video games” — several times already, but now that the exhibit is open and that I’ve seen it with my own appreciative eyes, I’ll remind you again to stop by the gallery at Giant Robot if you’re in town.
In fact, I’ve...
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“So Bored” by Anamanaguchi, or at...
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A week of DS/DSi accessories!
With the Nintendo DSi’s release only a week away, we thought it’d be neat to feature accessories that you can pick up or import for the updated system. Most of these will be items you’ve never seen or that have gotten little coverage, so they will be more interesting (I hope) than just a collection of product posts.
To start off this themed week, here are some of the past DSi...
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Meowth Festival →
From March 20 through April 12, Japanese Pokemon Centers are celebrating a Meowth Festival (Nyasu Matsuri)! The stores will sell stuff decorated with this nice (I think) Meowth/Magikarp pattern, and fans who bring in DS copies of Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum with unevolved Meowths of level 30 or higher will get special Meowth phone straps.
I suspect we’ll have our own little Meowth...
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Incomprehensible Gyakuten Kenji demo →
Capcom has released a little web demo of its Ace Attorney spinoff Gyakuten Kenji. It seems to basically just be a toy, unlike the previous demo, which was more representative of the DS game.
If you understand Japanese, you can explore Miles Edgeworth’s office and learn about some of the items within. If you don’t know Japanese, you can make Edgeworth run around like an idiot. Either...
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Data East shirts! →
G-Mode, who holds the license to Data East’s IPs, just opened a Spreadshirt shop for Data East logo shirts and buttons! That’s so cool, even if it is just a Cafe Press-like shop. I’ve never purchased from Spreadshirts, so I don’t know how the quality is. Warning: I just noticed the prices for Data East-ware, and they are fucking insane.
Are you a bad enough dude to sport...
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A very important public service announcement
Nintendo sneaked all kinds of junk out during its keynote, like the SD Card Menu and the Virtual Console Arcade. One thing that eluded my attention until tonight was that a Rhythm Heaven demo is now available on the Nintendo Channel.
Seriously, you should check that out.
Preorder: Rhythm Heaven
See also: “The * Bon Odori”, “Chorus Men Summer”
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Dear GDC nerds putting 'the moves' on my wife at...
She isn’t impressed when you brag about being in your final year of game design school. Why would she hook up with you, when she can come home to a RALLY KING?
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“The GBA Wireless Adapter has download play functionality built into it, where...”
– Nintendo DSi project lead Masato Kuwahara, explaining the DS’s download play feature’s origins.
Someone (can’t remember if it was Mathew Kumar or Brandon Sheffield) suggested yesterday that it’d be cool to see someone tinker with this undocumented feature, now that we know...
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-H- Get equipped with HORRIBLE IDEA →
Mega Man 2 is now out for iPhone. The system with no buttons. Also, it apparently doesn’t have music. Or sound of any kind.
Also, the gameplay has undergone certain “improvements.” Says NeoGAF’s civilstrife: “Airman himself went down without a scratch. I literally stood in one place and shot jammed on my mega buster until he died. Took about 7 seconds.”
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My Rhythm Heaven review →
Forgive the second link to Joystiq content, but it’s an exceptionally busy day, and I’ve posted things there that I think are of interest to people here — in this case, a Rhythm Heaven review.
I don’t think the review turned out as well as it could have, but it sure is early! That’s… something.
Preorder: Rhythm Heaven
See also: “The * Bon Odori”, “Chorus Men...
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DSi-exclusive carts are coming
Games designed exclusively for the Nintendo DSi are in the works, according to DSi project lead Masato Kuwahara. These carts will not load on previous DS models, and will use “the most potential” of the handheld’s unique new hardware features.
DSi-enhanced carts, which will load on older DS models but will use ” some of the DSi’s unique functionalities” are...
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New DS Zelda, Final Fantasy WiiWare/VC, VIRTUAL... →
I’ve been grabbing news out of Joystiq’s liveblog of Iwata’s GDC keynote, and now that the HOLY CRAP SPLOSION is over, I can round some of it up here.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: a new Zelda game for DS! There’s a train.
Final Fantasy stuff: The After and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord for WiiWare, NES/SNES Final Fantasies for Virtual...
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Sievert's Data Pop 09 set →
Sievert was completely awesome at Data Pop 09. AWESOME. Yesterday, Kevin Kelly posted a recording of ten minutes or so of the performance, so you can hear for yourself. Immediately after this clip, Sievert launched into the Game Boy Tetris music.
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Headed to GDC and...
I’m not sure yet what to ask Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata to write on my DSi when he autographs it. Here are the three phrases I’m considering:
Eric, Let’s Rise To The Heavens Together! - Iwata
Eric, You Dropped The Bomb On Me! - Iwata
Eric, I Was In Dreamland When I Met You! - Iwata
Worst case scenario — when I meet him, he’ll draw a bomb on the system...
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Minna de Spelunker attracts a crowd →
AkibaBlog has a gallery of pictures from a preview event for Minna de Spelunker at the Akihabara Messe Sanoh store. Look how many people showed up to play Spelunker! Because I can’t post something from AkibaBlog without quoting some of the wonderful text, “In the session held at Messe, of course, he died again, and again, and again.”
I was going to ask why a store would even...
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“‘Epic’ isn’t doable on the DS.”
– — Variety’s Ben Fritz in his review for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, comparing its “more limited, but no less clever, narrative and gameplay ambitions” to GTA IV.
Disagree? Name a DS title (or several, if you can think of more) that you feel deserves the description of...
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My World, My Way, My PSP →
Global A Entertainment is working on a PSP version of Sekai wa Atashi de Mawatteru, known here as My World, My Way. I hear the DS game was a bit janky (and made of reused Master of the Monster Lair assets) but I still think the character art is adorable.
The PSP port adds voice acting and a new “dark” version of Princess Angela, who is also very, very cute.
[Via Famitsu]
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Puzzle games, Band Bros. Radio lead April's batch... →
Nintendo of Japan is breaking its routine of posting new DSiWare games and applications only once a month, now releasing programs every week!
Last week, Hudson put out two versions of a generic Sudoku game, one with 50 puzzles and another with 150. In two days, the DSi’s download store will receive Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy, Phantasy Star Zero Mini, and the curious “manners...
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WatchNew Punch-Out!! trailer.
I love Disco Kid’s goofy “getting punched in the stomach” animation. You’re alright by me, Disco Kid!
Preorder: Punch-Out!! (Releasing May 18th)
See also: Punch-Out!!’s glorious boxart
[Via GoNintendo]
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Buy 2 DS games, get 1 free at Amazon →
These deals usually limit your purchases to a crap selection of titles, but this week-long sale actually includes at least ten worthwhile games:
Guitar Hero: On Tour: Decades (Software Only)
Guitar Hero: On Tour (Software Only)
KORG DS-10 Synthesizer
MLB Power Pros 2008
Peggle Dual Shot
Retro Game Challenge (!!!)
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows...
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