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Best games for safely socializing this holiday season
There are plenty of video games you can enjoy with friends and family without getting too close.
NintendoWare Weekly: You, Last Ninja 2, Family Tennis and the Cubes
Studies show that American consumers are most receptive to downloadable content at the beginning of the week. It's true! Why do you think Nintendo dumps its releases out on Mondays? It's not rocket science, people. But, we digress. Hop past the break to check out what's new this week for download on Wii and DSi.
NintendoWare Weekly: Paper Airplane Chase, Cocoto Platform Jumper
If you've been keeping up with what's headed to WiiWare and DSiWare, then this week's downloads will likely be of no surprise to you. These are games that we've either talked about already, or that have hit their respective platforms in regions elsewhere. So, without further ado, let's get to this week's content.%Gallery-39578%
DS Fanboy's DSiWare screen round-up
Thirteen DSiWare titles will be released to Japan's DSi Shop on December 24, so we thought we'd construct a one-stop post where you can gawk at games most of us can't have. Past the jump, you'll find screens for all launch titles, as well as the price and size of each. How would you spend the free 1,000 DSi Points you get with the system? Because we love the series, we'll kick proceedings off with a look at A Little Dr. Mario (500 DSi Ware Points, 29 blocks required): %Gallery-39567%
Bury the Shovelware: Clubhouse Games
For this edition of Bury the Shovelware, we're going to do something a little different. We're going to take a brief stroll through shovelware history and then see how its historical definition relates to one of the DS's most successful titles. A Brief History of Shovelware We've learned quite a bit on our journey to discover what exactly constitutes shovelware. From publisher responsibility to the affects of critical perception, we've covered much ground. One reoccurring issue that we see is the misconception about the word "shovelware" being synonymous with "bad game." In the seemingly unending supply of phrases representing software distinctions, the term shovelware originally had a very specific meaning. It was used to refer to a large amount of games being ported to a single physical media source, usually with the advent of a new format which could hold many times the amount of its predecessors. Let's imagine a game that fits onto a single floppy disk. Since a single CD can hold several hundred times the amount of data that a single floppy disk can, some companies would attempt to make money by consolidating many of these games onto a CD. One might wonder how these collections came to be universally associated with crap games.
Delightful deal on bundles at Amazon
If you're in the market for a new DS Lite for yourself or a lucky giftee, you may want to have a look at this Amazon deal. From now until November 15, if you purchase a DS Lite and one of a selection of games, the game's price will be knocked down to $4.99. The eligible games include, among others, Millionheir, Flash Focus, Cooking Mama, Clubhouse Games, and both Brain Ages. It's clear that these selections were chosen with the "expanded audience" in mind, and consequently, this deal is a great way to get someone started with the DS. Oh, and if you want a second $5 game, today's Deal of the Day is The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
Gaming to Go: Clubhouse Games
Remember checkers? How about chess? And blackjack? What about dominoes? And Shogi and Ludo and Hasami Shogi and Koi-Koi and -- ahem. Don't recognize those last few names? No worries! I didn't know them either. There's still time to learn, however, and this is where Nintendo's Clubhouse Games comes to party. It contains 42 -- yes, 42 -- classic games for your enjoyment, running the gamut from bowling and billiards to Mahjong solitaire and Pig. An incredible amount of variety exists in this tiny DS cart, making Clubhouse Games one of the most involving titles the DS has seen in recent years. The mind-boggling amount of games also makes it ideal for this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Sure, I might not recommend starting up a game of chess on your next lunch break, but why not go for a quick game of Connect Five? Whatever your mood fancies, Clubhouse Games has you covered. Want to hear more? Click that big grey button there to see what you've been missing. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } %Gallery-32851% Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every week for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with.
Clubhouse Games and Hotel Dusk: new Player's Choice?
We've been hearing word recently of restocks of Clubhouse Games and Hotel Dusk: Room 215, but as CAG forumite worrybomb reveals, the new cartridges are more than a simple reprint. Hotel Dusk has been labeled as a Touch Generations game, for one thing, and both games now sport orange banners with content descriptions (the real one, by the way, is posted after the break, as is the new Clubhouse Games box). Could this be the new iteration of Player's Choice? Both games are now selling for $19.99, and the orange bar evokes the yellow bar of the GameCube/GBA Player's Choice line. It's pretty smart to maintain consistent budget-rerelease marking while also providing info about the games. [Via NeoGAF; the CAG link requires registration]
Another Week in Europe
Didja hear? Doctor Who is back from the future to save the DS in Europe! Hurray!Haha. Not really. In fact, even though Top Trumps: Doctor Who is the only new Nintendo DS game to appear in a European chart this week, it still only managed a risible 33rd spot in the UK. Still, that should keep you David Tennant fans happy, and we even included a shot of Dave to aid your celebrations. Aren't we nice?Aside from that, it's the usual tiresome faces, which means lots of Professor Kawashima and ... actually not so much of Mario and Sonic. Yep, there's no doubt about it: the pair's Olympics game is slowly dropping off the pace, appearing in only two top tens this week.As usual, hit the break to peruse the charts, though please accept our profuse apologies for the lack of an Irish top ten.
DS Daily: Worst Wi-Fi problems
We all pretty much agree that friend codes aren't exactly Nintendo's best decision ever, but every week after Game Night (which is probably when this blogger does the lion's share of weekly online DS gaming), there are always a few thoughts rumbling around about things that could be better. Being unable to add new friends to Clubhouse Games while in a room, for instance, or the 2-or-4 player restrictions on Tetris. Any other issues you can think of? Sometimes it seems that online multiplayer functions just weren't quite subjected to the same quality control issues. They work well enough, to be sure, but they could easily be better in a lot of cases.
DS Daily: Recommendations
Let's kick off this fine Tuesday with a hypothetical scenario or two. If someone asked you for DS game recommendations, which two would you pick? Wait, let's make it more difficult. Which two would you recommend for: a gamer under the age of twelve? someone new to the DS who was a longtime gamer? someone new to the DS who was not a longtime gamer? Of course, answers would likely depend on the person, but let's be general. We spent a lot of time recommending games to people in the last year, particularly around the holidays (when it seemed that everyone who didn't already own a DS bought one) and often ended up pushing a lot of the same titles. Dragon Quest games came up a lot, Clubhouse Games was bandied about, and we tried to push Contra 4 onto as many people as possible. How about you?
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 12/6/07
Quick, check your calendar. What day is this? Thursday? Awesome. That means it's time for Game Night, our weekly tradition of throwing down with you, the reader, in the best and brightest of the Wi-Fi Connect-compatible library of games. Sure, we vote for a "theme game" each week, but that doesn't mean that's all there is to play. Heck no, we've got tons of different games at our fingertips that we're dying to play. So, be sure to stop by tonight and play them with us!
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07 aftermath
It felt good to be back after our break over the holiday, as we threw down in some Metroid Prime Hunters and enjoyed the company of our good friends. You could be one of those good friends, you know. All you have to do is show up at next week's Game Night and you're in our very exclusive club. It's so exclusive that anyone can join.%Poll-6485%
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/29/07
Oh, how good it feels to be back. After the holiday, we're glad to be back into the swing of things. So, tonight we gather and get our game on. Join us, won't you? We sure would appreciate it.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07 aftermath reminder
Sure enough, we informed you last week that we would be taking this week's Game Night off because of the holiday. And, we put up the poll for determining this upcoming session's game. We just wanted to remind all of you who might have missed it by including that same poll below. So, vote for next week's game and we'll see you Thursday night!%Poll-5868%
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07 aftermath
Even with some of us being very late (see: the author of this post), we still managed to get our game on. Races were had in Mario Kart DS and we tasted the utterly horrible, yet very familiar, taste of defeat. Oh well, there is always next week to reclaim our honor as kinda OK at games.Oh, wait, next week is Thanksgiving! Sorry, but we'll have to wait until the following week before getting back to Game Night. It's a holiday and we'll be busy taking various naps fueled by our bellies full of turkey.So, enjoy the holiday and we'll see you guys at Game Night on November 29th!%Poll-5868%
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 11/15/07
If you're anything like us, when you punched out of work last night or perhaps as you were finishing dinner with the family, you felt a slight tingle run down your spine. It was the calling. It lets you know that something big is coming. An epic struggle, between the forces of Lite and Phat, where men and women meet in the arena of combat, DS clutched tightly in their hands. Well, tonight is the night it all goes down. So, kiss you loved ones goodbye and prepare for the fight of your life.
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night 9/13/07 aftermath
Sadly, I was unable to partake in the festivities last night. No worries, we've been doing this Game Night thing for quite awhile now. So, you can bet next week I'll be there, with several bells on. In the meantime, why don't we figure out what our theme game for next week will be by voting below. What should be our theme game for 9/20/07? Picross DS Planet Puzzle League Clubhouse Games Tetris DS Metroid Prime Hunters
DS Fanboy Favorites: Alisha's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.If there's anything that can be said about my life -- and that includes my gaming life -- it's that it's messy. I'm messy. I have all this organizational garbage that's supposed to make it easier to store and find all my stuff, but see, I keep accumulating more stuff, and so I need more organizational items ... it's a vicious cycle, and it's part of why I love cartridges. I know where the box is for Clubhouse Games. It's about three feet away as I type this. I could get it, but why? Clubhouse Games goes in and out of my beloved handheld so often, I usually just leave it here on my desk along with the other games I'm interested in at the moment, and I don't have to worry about it getting all scratched up because it isn't delicate like some pansy disc. This makes me happy. I have to be more careful with CDs and DVDs ... but that doesn't mean there aren't a few stacks of discs around my workspace. Believe me, if it's at all stackable, I'm gonna stack it, and to hell with the consequences.Of course, the problem with the size of DS carts means that sometimes I lose my Clubhouse for a while, and that makes me unhappy to the extreme. Luckily, there are other games that can distract me ....
DS Daily: What's your favorite WiFi game?
According to our Game Night polls, Mario Kart DS is probably the most universally popular DS game -- or maybe it's just the one more people have. But what's your favorite? Which DS game really makes you want to get in there and fight it out online? Do you like fragging in Metroid Prime Hunters, or the versatility of Clubhouse Games? We'd love to hear about it.
