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DS Daily: Instant import
Some games just have to be imported. For us, it was Ouendan and its sequel. We were even considering Taiko Drum Master, but ended up holding out for a localization. What about you all, though? Was there a Japanese game you just had to have? What was it?
Let's all chip in and buy Karthik Bala a copy of Ouendan
Earlier today, we pointed you in the direction of Joystiq's hands-on impressions of Guitar Hero: On Tour, itself on tour as various websites tried the game out for themselves.One of those sites was ShackNews, which also got to speak to Vicarious Visions CEO Karthik Bala. And we had only just started reading when one of Bala's opening statements got our blood boiling: apparently, Guitar Hero: On Tour was developed to "see if it was even possible to do a really good music rhythm game on a handheld."Altogether now: "WHAAAAAT?!"We can only assume that Bala is totally unaware of the vast treasure trove of rhythm-based awesomeness already available on the DS -- never mind what is still to come, or even on other handhelds.
Japanese homebrew games that will blow your mind
Whenever the topic of internationally developed homebrew DS games comes up, as it often does among hip and attractive people, most people in "the scene" immediately think of France, whose homebrew community rivals North America's in both size and production. You'll see an occasional release from other countries, such as Spain or Korea, but you'll rarely see much activity elsewhere. But what about Japan's scene? For a country with so many DSes and a strong independent game development community, outside of Infantile Paralysiser's MoonShell media player, we've hardly seen any DS homebrew projects cross the Pacific. Where are all the doujin developers? At least one programmer in Japan has been working on creating games for the DS, and we're bringing him out of the shadows to highlight three of his projects, likely games that you've never even heard of, let alone seen. If you're interested in homebrew development at all, you definitely need to pay attention to MeRAMAN!
We're not cheering for We Cheer
It turns out another cheerleading game that's not Ouendan is coming to the Wii. Can we get a facepalm, please?Not that we have anything against cheerleading. We're just curious why there's a sudden revival of the sport, which has inspired two companies to bring it to the Wii. Seriously, people, it's been years since the Spartans SNL sketches or Bring it On made the general public view cheerleading as anything other than an excuse to ogle cute girls.Nevertheless, joining THQ in the pep parade is Namco Bandai with a game called We Cheer. There's no word yet on whether Namco's game will involve the balance board, too, but we think it's a safe bet (think We Ski). We hope this is the last cheerleading game we'll ever have to write about; unless, of course, iNiS feels inspired to bring an Ouendan adaptation to the Wii. We'd be totally fine with that. Seriously, iNiS, make it happen.*Note: Looking up "cheerleader" in Google Image Search is absolutely scandalous.
DS Daily: taking a stand
You know, we've never really felt the need to actually purchase one of the many stands available for the DS. We don't own Cooking Navi and playing Elite Beat Agents (or Ouendan) can be accomplished fairly easily by holding the DS with one of our hands and playing with the other. Then, we get an eye full of Hori's Taiko no Tatsujin stand and immediately felt the need to get one.We can't imagine what we'd use it for, so we figured we'd ask you! Who better to let us know the many uses of a DS stand than the fine folks who've been using one for awhile now. So, tell us how your DS rocks its stand.
Rock your DS's sound through the car stereo
We actually enjoy playing our DS in the car quite a bit. In fact, one of us even went so far as to enjoy playing Puzzle Quest at red lights while behind the wheel. It's a dangerous obsession that not only threatens our own lives, but those of everyone else in the world. It's the nature of the beast, we suppose. So imagine our surprise when we read this little piece and totally realized we could output our DS's sound to our car speakers, almost providing a surround sound experience. Sure, we have headphones for when we're trying to get our dual-screen on out in the wild, but sometimes they're uncomfortable. This just seems like an incredibly obvious thing we never thought of ourselves. We can totally picture playing Ouendan or Elite Beat Agents in this manner.
DS Daily: EBA or Ouendan?
We know this is a loaded question, and has been debated many times by many gamers. We want to know where our readers stand on the issue, though. So, what do you think is better -- Elite Beat Agents or the Ouendan games? And why? Normally, it just comes down to the music (American pop/classics vs. J-pop). But, is there another reason? Perhaps you enjoy the stories more when you can read them? Or maybe you like a set of characters better?If you haven't played both titles, which do you think you'd like better? And if you haven't played either, why not? Do these rhythm games just not interest you, or have you not gotten around to it yet for some other reason?
Huge discounts and prizes at Play Asia's Year of the Rat Lucky Sale
Bringing in the Chinese New Year, import shop Play Asia has slashed the prices on over five thousand of its in-stock games and accessories. What's more, each order you put in between today and February 29th will count towards an entry for you to win a variety of Japanese consoles, games, and store credits. There's just too many items on sale to list, so we've picked out a few from the DS and GBA sections that might pique your interest. DS game sales: Ryuusei no RockMan: Dragon, Leo, and Pegasus - $48.90 $9.90 Nodame Cantabile - $48.90 $14.90 Operation: Vietnam (US) - $24.90 $16.90 Slide Adventure: Mag Kid - $58.90 $19.90 Oshare Majo Love and Berry (DS Collection) - $58.90 $19.90 K-1 World GP - $48.90 $24.90 Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - $48.90 $29.90 Jump past the break for the accessory and GBA bargains!
Ouendan 2 sale redux
Did you miss out on Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (that's a mouthful) when it was on sale around the holidays at Play-Asia? Never fear, dear readers, because the game is selling for cheap once again. This time, importer YesAsia is the site responsible for giving joy to rhythm game loving DS owners who don't live in Japan.The price was slashed from its original import cost of $50.99, and now will only set you back $31.99. Making the deal even better, YesAsia offers free shipping with the item. The total may still sound costly, but trust our Ouendan-loving hearts when we say that it's well worth it.The only thing to be wary of is YesAsia's claim that the game "usually ships within 21 days." We hope that doesn't mean you have to wait too long for it, and that Ouendan 2 will ship sooner rather than later. Buying the title at a reduced price might make the possible wait a little easier to swallow, though.[Thanks, Brian!]
Everybody was touchscreen fighting
The DS's touchscreen technology has allowed us to indulge in some truly unique activities, from painting tanks to DJing to slapping women. Seriously, who would have guessed this kind of thing was the future in 2003?Not wishing to be left out, Capcom's Rosario + Vampire (which, Capcom has confirmed, won't be appearing in the west) also uses the touchscreen in a novel way. Rather than the traditional method of pressing buttons, the game's combat sequences are carried out with directional stylus swipes, with different Ouendan-esque strokes producing certain moves.It's definitely an interesting approach, and it makes us wonder whether we'll be seeing more fighting games embracing this method in the future. If Rosario + Vampire pulls it off well, we wouldn't bet against another developer picking up this idea and running with it.
DS Daily: Year's best imports
We talk a little about imports around here, but there are just so many that we can't possibly cover 'em all. Mostly, we hit the biggies -- the games that will generally head this way -- or things that are completely awesome, like the Ouendan titles. Beyond that, of course, we look at quirky, silly games, because we are quirky, silly people and we like to laugh. But how about you? If you're importing, or even surfing sites and thinking about it, what piques your interest? What did you buy, or even consider buying, this year? Games that you just couldn't wait for, or things that had little to no chance of a release outside Japan?
Need help spending thirty bucks? OUENDAAAAAAN!
Import retailer Play-Asia's weekly specials are generally nice ways to get import games at good prices. This week's sale is extra-special, because the game is one close to our collective DS Fanboy heart. For the next six days or so, Play-Asia is selling Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 for a mere $29.90. We ordered a copy (as research for this post, of course) and shipping came out to just two dollars.Normally, there's a period of intense waffling when we come across one of these sales. Do we go for the impulse purchase? Is an awesome deal worth disrupting our careful game budgeting? That is not how it went this time. This time we instinctively threw our wallets at the screen as soon as we saw the price.
Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens
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.
Ouendan cosplay skit is unashamedly insane, and all the better for it
With its outlandish (yet easily portrayable) cast and one of the most compelling soundtracks in gaming, we're not surprised that cosplayers are so drawn to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. In the video above, a highly enthusiastic crowd is treated to a performance by the Singapore-based "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan Cosplay Group" at the annual EOY '07 Event at Singapore Expo. If only the same amount of effort was ploughed into all cosplay performances.A warning before you hit play, however: as this is the last song from the second Ouendan game, consider this to be spoileriffic.[Thanks, varumin!]
DS Daily: LOL!
Being the jovial types that we are, there's nothing we enjoy more than a good, hearty belly laugh, and sometimes we struggle to contain our mirth while getting our DS on.WarioWare: Touched! was perhaps the first title to really make us laugh out loud, and more recently Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and the Ace Attorney games have coaxed a titter or two from us. It's also worth noting that Kaboom Kaboom and Insecticide both look like they could contain a good few chuckles.We can't be alone in this respect, so which DS games crack you up?
What we're thankful for: DS edition
We asked you to tell us what you were thankful for yesterday for our three-pack giveaway, so it's only right that we commemorate this turkey holiday with our own shout-outs! Eric: I am thankful for those blue shells that helped me win so many races against people who're much better at Mario Kart than me. Alisha: I am thankful for whips ... I mean, awesome, portable dual-screen Castlevania games. With whips. Because whips are awesome. David: I'm thankful for having a portable device I can turn on to ignore people in front of me I don't want to talk to. Tetris music drowns out all. JC: I'm thankful for Brain Age, because photoshopped Brain Age screenshots are a well that will never run dry. Candace: I'm thankful for the crew of Ouendan, without whom we would have long ago succumbed to a giant rat, meteor collision, and alien attack. I'm NOT thankful, however, for the habit it's given me of yelling out "Ouendan!!!" during job interviews when they don't go well. Chris: I'm thankful for every last one of those life-saving straight tetraminoes that got me out of a pickle. And for Animal Crossing, and its ability to drag me away from the gray, depressing mundanities of my real life on a daily basis. *Sniff* Also, it teaches me about dinosaurs and stuff. Last, but never least, we have to thank you, kind reader. Coming here everyday to see what we're rambling on about, you've been a pal and a confidante. What we're trying to say is, thank you for being a friend.
Free PC Ouendan/EBA emulator hits public beta
One thing you can count on for any decently successful rhythm game: someone will figure out a way to make a free PC clone. First there was Stepmania for DDR players, then there was Frets on Fire for Guitar Hero shredders and now there's Osu! for Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents fans. The public beta, available since yesterday, does a remarkable job of capturing the tap-out-the-rhythm gameplay of the DS games, though the dancing cheerleaders have been replaced with static videos for each song. You can build your own levels or download over 100 "beatmaps" of primarily J-Pop songs that were made by testers. Casual fans beware -- a lot of these fan-designed levels are killer, though there is an easy mode that makes things a little more manageable. Even if you're a master at the DS games, using the mouse takes a little getting used to. Then again, if you have a tablet PC, it's probably just like the DS games. Except, er, bigger.
Elite Beat Agents dev working on Xbox 360 project
No doubt communicating to Gamasutra via boisterous cartoon speech bubbles, Keiichi Yano of the annoyingly capitalized iNiS confirmed that his team is currently working on an unnamed Xbox 360 project. "Yeah. We are currently working on a title," he said when prodded about Microsoft's console during Seattle's GameFest event. "I can't really get into it more than, 'Yes, we're working on something!'" With iNiS' past creations consisting of feel-good rhythm games such as Gitarooman, the Ouendan series and Elite Beat Agents, said something could easily involve catchy tunes, rhythmic button presses and unintentional gyration. We're certain the iNiS co-founder isn't pressed for ideas, but even if he was, he'd only need to holler for help. The strange men leaping out of his closet in response would probably share some sort of song about putting Gitarooman on Xbox Live Arcade ("it was the best decision ever made!").
Siliconera checks out Ontamarama
We were piqued by the puzzlish multitasking rhythm gameplay in Noise Factory's Ontamarama before its Japanese release as Ontama. But now that it's being localized and we may actually have a shot at playing the thing, we've graduated from piqued to some degree of interest that is a little greater than 'piqued.'Siliconera's Spencer Yip played Ontamarama at E3 and wrote up a description of the game, which sounds as complicated as ever: it involves first touching a little creature of the correct color, then tapping the D-pad in the direction of a scrolling arrow. We knew that those two components were involved, but didn't know the chronology. We're glad somebody got to play it and tell us!80Pan fans take note: this game, for once, will be keeping the original Japanese music. Is that a good thing? No idea! If it helps, we're pretty sure there was no Avril Lavigne in the Japanese version.
Play-Asia's summer smoothie sale
For the next week, online shop Play-Asia will be selling all of its in-stock items at a 20% discount, excluding weekly specials or anything released in the past 30 days -- cross Jump Ultimate Stars and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan off of your to-buy list. All of the import retailer's eligible products have been marked with the smoothie icon shown on the right, so it's easy to spot which games are on sale. We've picked out several noteworthy bargains that you might want to consider: Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 - $39.12 Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All - $23.92 Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 4 - $15.92 Gyakuten Saiban 4 Limited Edition - $103.92 bit Generations: Orbital, Soundvoyager, Dialhex, Boundish, Digidrive - all $11.92 Urban Life Style Cases, White and Light Blue - $10.32 Headsets, Nintendo - $10.32, Dragon - $5.52 Play Stand DS Lite - $11.92 Though the sale doesn't end until next Friday, a lot of these items won't stay in-stock for long. Don't be that guy who has to leave a comment about missing out on a particular deal![Via CAG]
