ontamarama
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Atlus lovers, head to Amazon
We've already established that having the Atlus name on the front of a box is usually A Very Good Thing, and look! Somebody at Amazon must clearly have been listening to us, as the uber-retailer has the following Atlus-published titles up for sale: Rondo of Swords -- $19.99 Draglade -- $13.39 Ontamarama -- $10.04 Contact -- $23.44 Touch Detective 2 1/2 -- $9.99 That's not all -- while we were scrounging though Amazon's bargain basement section, we found a couple of other potentially worthy additions to your DS library: Children of Mana -- $20.09 Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble -- $10.04 You can also get Ping Pals for $4.29. But like that deserves a functioning link. %Gallery-14108%
Ontamarama price drop is music to our wallets
Now here's something so rare it's a little bit unsettling: an Atlus game going down in price. Usually they disappear from the shelves within a couple of weeks and start commanding ridiculous eBay prices. But Ontamarama represents that most unusual of occurrences, the price-dropped Atlus game. Both Amazon and GameStop have lowered the price of Atlus's adorable, ambidexterity-testing music game from $30 to $20. Not a bad price for a truly unique, original music game, even if reviewers weren't completely taken. And best of all, the game appears to be in stock at that price, and not just a cruel tease.We discovered a second example of unexpected Atlus pricedroppery as well: both retailers have reduced the price of Touch Detective 2 1/2 by 1/3. It is also available at an inviting $19.99.Read - GameStopRead - Amazon
DS releases for the week of November 5th
Holy snaps, look at all the games this week! We're not even sure where to begin! Why, is that our surprise title of the year, Hannah Montana: Music Jam, finally hitting shelves? Maybe, maybe ... but let's see what else we've got. Rhythm games, check. All the war you could want, check. Language and word trainers, check. Action, check. We even have one for all the people who just have to have virtual pets. Basically, if you like games at all, there may be something you're interested in this week. Bratz 4 Real Build-A-Bear Workshop Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker Enchanted Hannah Montana: Music Jam Horse Life Hot Wheels: Beat That LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga My French Coach My Spanish Coach My Word Coach Ontamarama Panzer Tactics Puzzle de Harvest Moon Shrek: Ogres and Dronkeys Spectrobes (Collector's Edition) World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets Check out the lists after the break for releases in other major regions.
Ontamarama joins the holiday madness
We don't remember seeing a release date for Atlus's Ontamarama, but this 1UP page has one: November 15th. (Update: and GameStop shows November 6th! We'll go with theirs, because they want to sell it to people. Thanks, Matdredalia.) Ah, the holiday rush is soon approaching, when every game we've thought about buying all year comes out at the same time and vies for our limited funding.Since this is Atlus, and their distribution is typically quite limited, we'd suggest buying this one when you see it instead of waiting. Atlus games have a habit of disappearing from shelves and never being seen again outside of eBay.We're glad these screenshots have come along to remind us all that the game is on the way. And that, as per the screen shown here, it's not necessarily for kids only. That looks pretty frenetic.
Color the bouncing balls at Ontamarama site
We know some of you have some mixed feelings about Ontamarama, but we'll say this: the newly-revealed English-language site is pretty awesome. But then, we're suckers for any chance to color, so maybe we're biased. The new web site actually has a decent amount of content, and the overall design is quite pleasing -- we especially appreciated the stylus pointer when navigating around. The usual fare is all here: story, screens, and downloads featuring wallpapers, videos, and as a nice addition, an avatar package, but it's the extras that got our attention. In addition to the coloring book mentioned above, there are a couple of little minigames to get you hyped for the Ontamarama experience. If only every game site was as rich in fun, random content![Via press release]
Trailerama for Atlus's new rhythm game
We still kind of can't believe that Atlus has decided to localize Ontamarama. We're not used to this post-Guitar Hero US in which companies think it's a good idea to release rhythm games. We are, of course, happy with the development, as we have an insatiable hunger for rhythm games. In fact, we actually stopped playing Elite Beat Agents just now to write this post. We're crazy enough to be vaguely curious about Boogie, even.We can't expect Elite Beat Agents quality out of every game, so we'll focus instead on the bizarre multitasking and aggressive cuteness found in Ontamarama. If anything, the circle-then-tap gameplay reminds us of the drag-and-activate mechanic found in Technic Beat, at least conceptually.
Joystiq on Ontamarama
The more we hear about Ontamarama, the less like an inconsequential game for kids it sounds. We've already established that it has a challenging control scheme, but this rundown of the game's controls by Fanboy BFF Ludwig Kietzmann is the most detailed yet. Will we have the intelligence and dexterity required to manipulate the touch screen and the d-pad at the same time? Probably not? Will we enjoy trying and failing? Indubitably!After posting all of these favorable impressions from friends and colleagues, we want to be able to post our own impressions! Even some of our commenters got in on the act last time, telling us about their experiences with the Japanese version of the game. You guys are killing us. But thanks for your comments! But killing us.
Joystiq hands-on: Ontamarama (DS)
Ontamarama! It really is fun to say, a polysyllabic power trip, if you will. Naturally, we were more than a little disappointed when the folks at the Atlus E3 booth proceeded to tell us about the game in a restrained and entirely professional manner. We think of "Ontamarama" as something you scream with cheerleaders doing cartwheels in the background, fireworks exploding and confetti raining down from the sky. Perhaps they're saving that for the launch party.Much like its name, there's an oddly fun and somewhat unhinged element to be found in the game itself. Though the version shown was still very much cloaked in the Japanese language, it was the music-and-rhythm gameplay itself that initially perplexed us. After several bouts of tapping the DS screen and pressing directional buttons in tandem with the music (what little we could hear over the blare of Barker Hangar), we repeatedly wound up staring at the same screen. The colorful characters displayed were just being polite about it -- we failed miserably at this game. It took a few more tries and some helpful coaching from Atlus before we heard a more familiar sound... "click."%Gallery-5090%
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.
DS Daily: So about those new Atlus games ...
With yesterday's announcement of three all-new (well, one is only half-new) games for the US from Atlus, we thought it might be a good time to ask which one sounds the most interesting to you. Do you want to do a little detecting with Mackenzie and her suspiciously-shaped sidekick? Are you more the type to get down with the rhythm, particularly when it looks inspired by Jet Grind Radio? Or do you want to be a Grapping superstar?So what'll it be? Ontamarama, Draglade, or Touch Detective 2½?
Atlus USA announces new games for E3
Quirky game champion, Atlus USA, today announced several new games to be shown during the E3 media summit. Featuring medical professionals, touchy-feely detectives and gyrating combatants (sadly not in the same game), the lineup focuses primarily on the Nintendo DS. Draglade (Nintendo DS)It's a beat 'em up, you see, where "it's not just about how hard you hit or fast you move, it's also how well you can groove." Released in Japan earlier this year, Draglade features clashing combatants equipped with "glades," weapons that emit distinct sounds when struck against something -- preferably your opponent's head. With the sounds of battle forming a symphony of destruction, we're half expecting a playable Pied Piper character.
