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DS Daily: OMGWTF with us
Yesterday we took a look at some of the weirdest DS-related games and stories of 2007. We got to mention things like Doki Doki Majo Shinpan and Spanish for Everyone again, which meant that we had a great time. But we couldn't touch on every bizarro story that crossed our "desks" in 2007. We didn't discuss the BioWare Sonic RPG, for example (in that case, it was because we didn't want to be murdered).What was your favorite DS-related WTF moment this year? Did some random training game come along that got you L'ing OL? Or was something advertised in a way that, maybe, it shouldn't have been? We want you to join in on the fun!
2007: A year in OMGWTF
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.Our favorite system has two screens, is controlled with a stick, and features extremely popular games about petting dogs and doing math. What we're saying is that it's not that surprising when something weird related to the DS comes along, because everything about the DS is weird. But the things on this list are above and beyond the baseline DS weirdness. Nothing has made us go "hmm" this much since the Phil LaMarr-ious C&C Music Factory: Make My Video. Turns out, it was a banner year for crazy junk happening. Join us after the break as we look at some of the most bizarre DS stories of 2007.
Amazon gives us a reason to be jolly
Amazon has put over two dozen Nintendo DS games on sale, some of them marked down as low as 50% of their original price! Some of the titles are trash, but there are more than a few that you should consider picking up. We've listed below the ones that stood out to us, but make sure to check out Amazon's page for the full selection of DS deals. Front Mission - $24.99 Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck - $19.99 Master of Illusion - $19.99 Nintendo DS Headset - $9.99 Prism - $19.99 Spanish for Everyone - $14.99 Don't forget that orders totalling over $25 are eligible for the online shop's Free Super Saver Shipping. Joys be thine, frugal readers![Via CAG]
Price drops for everyone
Maybe you think this will help you understand Spanish? Maybe you just want a cheap game to laugh at because, frankly, it's just an incredibly absurd journey the main character embarks upon? Maybe, just maybe, you have a hidden lust for talking bulls?Whatever your reason may be for wanting to purchase and own a copy of Spanish for Everyone, know that it can be purchased for the low, low price of only $20. Gaming retail mega-corporation EB Games/GameStop is selling the title for the discounted price via their websites. We would imagine it's the same in-store, as well.
DS Daily: Coaching
When we first heard about the My (Language) Coach series, we approached the idea with cautious optimism, and immediately turned to ask your opinion. They're non-games, sure, but they're non-games in an area that may be interesting. The response was overall positive toward the games, though there was plenty of talk (plenty) about wishing for a Japanese edition.Now that the Coach games have hit, and have been explored in exhaustive detail thanks to Alisha's daily gameplay journal, we thought we would ask again. Anyone out there thinking of picking up a new language with their own personal Coach? Or has Spanish for Everyone undone any goodwill you may possibly have toward DS language training?
Spanish For Everyone: The Saga Concludes with very little Spanish
While, at this point, it seems like a mistake to invest too much of ourselves in the Spanish For Everyone storyline, we still couldn't help but be a little amazed at the game's ending. Finally arriving at Miguel's house in a cool Jeep, our hero Shawn knocks on the door and asks Miguel for his DS back. Miguel complies and gives Shawn a package that contains his DS, "several puffy dolls," and a plane ticket to France to deliver the dolls to a French friend.Now, here are the parts that should bother us but don't: The Jeep leaves after dropping Shawn off, leaving him to walk back home from Mexico (or to the airport.) The whole "please carry this package for me" thing only adds to the general sketchiness found throughout the game's story, and contributes to the impression that illegal activity is afoot A bunch of cars pull up to the house afterwards for seemingly no reason Here's what does bother us: During the whole trip, guided by his aunt, a talking bull, and then his creepy uncle, and ending at his friend's house, Shawn has no need to speak or understand a word of Spanish, at all. The whole premise of the game is that he needs to learn Spanish! And the bull said that Spanish would thwart evil! Check this OCRemix thread for discussion of the game's story from one of the designers at developer Humagade (calling himself EEX.) In his words: "Indeed, all the story was intentional :P"[Via NeoGAF]
Spanish for Everyone likely to teach Spanish to no one
After seeing the epic storyline in Activision's Spanish For Everyone, we have been waiting to see how the gameplay would stack up. Well, the same kind person who posted the cutscene videos has uploaded examples of gameplay, and they don't disappoint! Er, in that they do disappoint. Basically, we wanted hilarity and not education, and we got it.So here's how a few of the games work. La Pinata is Hangman with a pinata, meaning that you guess letters to build Spanish words. Of course, since the target audience for this game doesn't actually know Spanish, you basically have to put together words you don't know based on vague ideas about what Spanish words are supposed to look like. Then when you've randomly assembled the correct word, you get a one-word translation! Congratulations Felicidades! You're learning Spanish! Match Las Tarjetas is Memory, but each card displays a Spanish word in addition to its picture. In this game, knowledge of Spanish is completely ancillary to gameplay, and potentially even a confounding factor. Finding Palabras is a word search. That's actually ... not terrible.So Spanish For Everyone is not only offensive, it's also pretty much useless as a language teacher, as it just dumps words on you with minimal instruction and no attempt to help you commit them to memory.
'They don't call me Gina Vasquez for nothing!'
Activision's Spanish For Everyone may not be as inclusive as the title may make it sound. There are a lot of people, in fact, who may fall outside the category of "everyone" that this game purports to be for. Allow us to describe the introduction of the game: Miguel asks to play with his friend Shawn's (brother's) DS for a minute, just as Miguel's father pulls up in a limousine and informs him that it's time to go. The car pulls out before Miguel can return the DS, headed straight to Mexico and trailed by two police cars. Shawn's aunt, a taxi driver, pulls up and offers to drop him off in Tijuana, and to help him learn Spanish along the way. She tells him "They don't call me Gina Vasquez for nothing! I can teach you many things, and Spanish is definitely one of them!"If that offends you, the game's not for you. If the fact that this sequence was depicted in CD-I Zelda-level art bothers you, the game's not for you. If you don't trust a language training game whose English text is rife with errors, you are just not a member of the "Everyone" that Activision is after. You should be proud. Activision should be proud too. They've created a series of ridiculous videos that's bound for Internet memedom. The story continues after the break (Spanish For Everyone spoilers ahead)!
