Eric Caoili
Articles by Eric Caoili
Guys, Goosebumps is coming to the DS, too
"Viewers beware! You're in for a scare!"We're not sure how closely Goosebumps HorrorLand for the DS will follow the Wii version, but after watching the opening credits for the series' late 90s television series, which Cartoon Network insists on running marathons for every other weekend, we have a few ideas for minigames we want: Terrorize an unsuspecting neighborhood with a floating, menacing "G" -- G as in the letter, not G as in gangsta, though the latter would be fantastic as well Make a golden retriever's eyes glow yellow while barking into the microphone along with the theme song More of the above So far, publisher Scholastic Interactive hasn't promised anything from our wish list, but they have revealed that players will be "vanquishing vampires, hanging on for life on the Roller Ghoster, and battling Certain Death." There must not be many corrupted canines at HorrorLand, the haunted amusement park and Goosebumps spin-off series which the game is based on. But we can dream.
The DS Life: While My Guitar Grip Gently Weeps
The discs, colored green, red, yellow, and blue, tumble towards her, spilling like candy from a tipped box of Sprees, almost too many of them to catch. Her fingers lift then push, then lift then push over and over again above the corresponding frets, more mechanical than graceful. Imagine a pneumatic robot hand, and you will understand the choreographed taps of her digits; it is as if they learned to dance from footstep diagrams.She does not sing the lyrics or hum the melody or tap her feet with the rhythm, she has attempted to faultlessly play this track enough times that she is long past enjoying the song. Truthfully, she has always loathed "Rock and Roll All Nite" as a shallow anthem. This time, though, Gene Simmons is singing her victory, as she is only a few chords away from a perfect score.
Finally, DS Lite accessories for Gothic Lolitas
If sewing dark lace onto your system cases and painting your handheld supplements black and pink to accompany your GothLoli look sounds too laborsome and time-consuming, Keys Factory has just the solution for your unique needs -- Infem.In, a new and complete accessory line designed to match your dark Victorian livery.Available in Japan starting July 31st, the new DS Lite set features a stylus, a card case (which holds 4 carts), a hard cover, a system pouch, an LCD cleaner with a case, and a pair of screen protectors, almost all of them painted black and pink, decorated with hearts and ornate accents. Each item is sold separately, with prices at import shop Play Asia ranging from $6.90 to $14.90.Interestingly, Keys Factory has set up an official site just for this specific line, offering up a slick Flash presentation for the products, wallpaper downloads, and even a sliding tile puzzle mini-game. The company must have high hopes for this somber set!See also: Fit for a princess: DS plays dress-up%Gallery-28386%
Capcom to create mega shirts out of Mega Man 9 boxart
Remember that Mega Man 9 boxart/shirt we featured last week during E3? Of course you do, how could you ever forget its magnificent image? Apparently, I Am 8-bit artist Gerald de Jesus was commissioned for the homage to Mega Man's packaging designs of yore.The shirts were originally created exclusively for Capcom's staff, including director Hironobu Takeshita and producer Keiji Inafune, with a limited run of four. But after seeing fan reactions to the astounding apparel, the publisher has decided to make t-shirts with the Mega Man 9 cover art "available for purchase soon" in the States. Oh, wondrous day!Let's all hope Capcom decides to make a lot more than just four shirts this time!%Gallery-26790%
Diablo II project invites Blizzard's wrath
You would think that homebrew developers would have learned not to "borrow" Blizzard's franchises after the company's lawyers crushed the unofficial StarCraft DS port under their heels, but that's not the case!For his first DS project, French programmer Le Rodeur has decided to create Diablo II: Sorceress Adventure, an unauthorized side-story for the dungeon hack featuring the female witch class.The very early alpha (v. 000.1) released so far has very little worth noting -- a tiny sorceress sprite that you can move on an empty, tiled field. It's certainly not as far along as the StarLite alphas, which had buildable structures, touchscreen controls, and even basic multiplayer support. You can pretty much see everything the demo has to offer in the screenshot after the post break. Perhaps all of these fanmade games will finally convince Blizzard into developing for the system? Probably not! For now, we will have to settle for these doomed projects and photoshopped images of characters playing DSes.See also: Wish upon a StarLite: StarCraft homebrew
Zombees case will stay in your head, in your head
We had no idea that we needed a new system case adorned with undead bees before today, but this latest creation from craftster Mimi helped us identify that missing vital component of our gaming life. She has also created a similar pouch with a Kokeshi doll theme, which you can fawn over in our gallery below.Mimi's pricing for the two items have a bit of sting of them -- £13.99 each (approx. $27.70), plus shipping from the UK -- but it's to be expected with a lovable honeycomb print like this. In addition to inside pockets and popper closures, the cases feature soft felt lining to keep your DS Lite cozy. Really, it's the zombee's knees.%Gallery-28263%
Game Trivia Catechism: Casual, homebrew gaming for the hardcore gamer
Programmer Multiple: Option continues to release some of the most interesting homebrew titles out there, this time with Game Trivia Catechism. Billed as a casual game for hardcore gamers, this original title takes the bland and basic multiple-choice trivia format, spicing it up with an intriguing storyline, a gaming theme, and a chiptune soundtrack provided by artists like 8-Bit Terror and PDF format. Instead of solving math equations or recalling historical facts, players will have to put their useless gaming knowledge to work and answer questions like "Which of these games was NOT designed by Yu Suzuki?" or "Which Mario game did Super Mario Advance remake?"It's a short game -- you can probably finish it within 15 minutes -- but Multiple: Option deserves praise for creating an entertaining title that doesn't rely on the assets or designs of other developers. If you have the equipment to play homebrew games, we definitely suggest you try this one out. Let us know if you're able to score any higher than a "C" without cheating and using the internet!
Promotional Consideration: Circuit City savings with Cecil
This week's installment of Promotional Consideration comes with an excellent bonus -- a Circuit City deal for the Final Fantasy IV remake, which ships to stores next week. The electronics retailer is offering a $10 gift card with any purchase of the 3D RPG, on- and offline. Factor in free-shipping for orders totaling over $24, and this makes up for "the Square Enix tax," that extra $10 the publisher often adds to its DS games.Now that we've done our part to sell the game to you, let's look at how Square Enix has been pushing Final Fantasy IV. %Gallery-3278%
Datel releasing Famicom-inspired Classic Controllers
With Super Famicom- and even PSP-inspired Classic Controllers hitting the market, we're not surprised to see someone exploit the sentiments of nostalgic gamers with a pad fashioned after the original Famicom controller.Available in Japan starting this September, Datel's line of retro Classic Controllers -- all four of which you can view in the gallery below -- will retail for ¥1,659 (approx $15.54). It's nowhere near an exact replica, as you'll notice several missing and inconsistent design elements, but the controller features Home and Turbo buttons. Also, you can relive those childhood memories of throwing an NES pad at the wall after crashing into the aircraft carrier for the 20th time in Top Gun.%Gallery-28150%[Via VC Reviews]
Sonic project: Best looking 3D homebrew?
We missed an awful lot of homebrew news this past week, what with the E3 Media & Business Summit demanding our complete attention, but we intend to amend all that over the next couple of days. First on our list: The Sonic 3D game project (no relation to the Sega hedgehog).It's difficult enough for commercial developers to create a decent looking 3D game for the DS, imagine the challenges that come with homemade project! Admitting that he's neither an animator or artist, programmer Ritz used textures and model data from BioWare PC RPG Neverwinter Nights to put together this demo. Despite the distance fog, we're impressed with the smooth animation and the maneuverable camera!According to Ritz, Sonic's features include skeletal animation, static and dynamic point lights, shadow volumes, skyboxes, picking, gravity, and object and environment collision detection. He also hopes to eventually include an "interactive 3d map builder for easy world creation and object and creature placement." Slick!%Gallery-28157%
E308: Glorious Mega Man 9 boxart
Ultrasound graphics synthesis! 8-bit fidelity engine!We have always been of the opinion that even downloadable games should have boxart. Capcom agreed, putting together this mix of the original Mega Man game's North American packaging and Mega Man 2's PAL cover. The resulting Mega Man 9 art showed up at the publisher's E3 booth on what looked like an iron-on transfer shirt.Unfortunately, only a few of the shirts were made for internal staff, and Capcom doesn't intend to give any away. At least we have this photo (taken by 1UP's Jeremy Parish)! Check out that huge M on his belt!
The DS Life: Console envy
"Haven't had a dream in a long time. See, the life I've had can make a good [woman] bad. So, for once in my life, let me get what I want. Lord knows, it would be the first time." - The Smiths, "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want"
E308: EA Tiburon's quirky 2D platformer/puzzler reappears
Remember this khaki-clad British explorer, Hatsby? EA Tiburon's Kyle Gray introduced the character's charming sprite and his untitled puzzle/platforming DS game at GDC earlier this year, but we haven't seen or heard any news from him since! All we have had to go on all these months were the videos he left behind, which we've embedded past the break!Artwork for the game has mysteriously popped up on the official site for Into the Pixel, an art exhibit collecting exemplary works of video game art and scheduled to open to the public at October's E for All Expo. The piece, titled "Puzzle World Twilight" and submitted by EA Tiburon concept artist Jay Epperson, shows Hatsby taking to the nighttime skies against a backdrop of Chinese paper cut outs. Though we were already excited with the hybrid game's promises of an opera-singing boss, a robotic construct of Big Ben, and some unexplained touchscreen puzzle running alongside the platforming action, after seeing this gorgeous art, we can't contain ourselves! Tell us your secrets, Hatsby, you magnificent bastard!
Three DS news items you might have missed
With several major press conferences yesterday and a deluge of media assets, it's easy to miss all the smaller news items that popped up. We've rounded up three of them for you so that they won't be completely forgotten!1. Retro Game Challenge logo! Yep, there it is, right above our post. It doesn't look too different from the Retro Game Master DVD logo, but we'll find any excuse to talk about this wonderful, nostalgic title. In fact, keep an eye out for our hands-on impressions from the E3! For now, you can check out five new screenshots in our gallery below or have a look at the Retro Game Challenge sell sheet past the post break.2. Zoo Games is working on a Puzzle Quest clone? Any time we see the words "puzzle" juxtaposed with images of fantasy-type warriors, as was the case with Puzzle Kingdoms, our minds immediately go to last year's surprise hit, Puzzle Quest. Though developer Infinite Interactive already has two official Puzzle Quest clones in the works, the hybridization of RPGs and puzzle games are addictive enough that we don't mind seeing knock-offs. We hope to see more than just three pieces of character art for Puzzle Kingdoms soon! 3. Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades coming out less than six months after Guitar Hero: On Tour? Alright, so you might have heard that Vicarious Visions is preparing a Guitar Hero DS sequel for the holiday season, but if you stop for a minute and think about it, you'll realize that the original game came out only three weeks ago! That's a shorter gap than the time in between Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith's releases (8 months) for consoles!%Gallery-27519%%Gallery-27789%
E308: Goosebumps: HorrorLand steals E3
Never mind Wii Music or Wii Sports Resort -- as we hinted earlier, Goosebumps: HorrorLand is the real star of this year's E3 Media and Business Summit.Nintendo might not have mentioned this innovative title during the company's press conference today, but we have a feeling that this was the twinkle in president Satoru Iwata's eye when he mentioned a big paradigm shift in the global game market. Yes, a paradigm shift towards more Goosebumps games. Just when you thought you had put R.L. Stine's corny ghastly novellas behind you, the series pulls you back in like a possessed wooden dummy carved from the coffin wood of an ancient sorcerer. Publisher Scholastic is basing this Wii game on Goosebumps spin-off HorrorLand, a new book series centered around a haunted theme park. The graphics aren't impressing anyone -- it almost looks like the duct-tape holding the system's two GameCubes together came loose -- but there are shooter segments, carnival-themed minigames, and, uh, portions where you run on a log with a swamp monster. Mark our words, when you slide this game's disc into your Wii, you will say, "Wow!"%Gallery-27715%
E308: WiiSpeak to be sold separately for $29.99
We hope you didn't get your hopes up by thinking that the Wii's newly revealed "room-to-room" microphone peripheral, WiiSpeak, would be bundled with copies of Animal Crossing: City Folk! No, Nintendo loves making money much too much, and they have to pay for that 800-foot wire somehow.According to a press release put out by Nintendo earlier today, the WiiSpeak microphone will be sold separately for $29.99. You could buy a DS game for that kind of cash! Maybe even two DS games, if you follow our sales posts!If that price point is too rich for your blood, you need not worry about missing out on City Folk's voice communication features, as we're sure several dozen Chinese accessory manufacturers will step up and release a slew of cheaper, ridiculously shaped microphone solutions soon enough. For comparison, Microsoft's MSRP for its official Xbox 360 Wireless Headset is $59.99, and Sony's official Bluetooth PS3 Headset (bundled with SOCOM: Confrontation) is rumored to be $49.99 as a standalone product. Of course, both of those accessories boast more advanced technology than WiiSpeak, and both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have much cheaper third-party solutions.[Thanks, Kongo!]
Majesco parades a Major Minor trailer
We won't even front -- this rhythm game's cartoonish design isn't for everyone, and there are a lot of you who won't appreciate the "Dreamcast-era" graphics, either -- but we still think Major Minor's Majestic March looks like the cat's pajamas. If you need any proof, there are actually saxophone-playing cats in striped sleepwear in the clip above. We can't tell you how many nights we've spent marching in place to the tune of some distant melody in our living room, waving an imagined, magical baton and granting tubas to dancing pigs. It has been a fantasy we've indulged in for years. %Gallery-15020%
Fox McCloud: 'Wake me up for Nintendo's conference'
Kids, don't forget to set your alarms for Nintendo's E3 press conference in the morning -- 9:00 AM PDT! Though the Star Fox hero will likely miss the event, there is sure to be at least one or two Nintendo DS minitons, if not megatons. Of course, we'll cover the conference and let you know if Nintendo announces a hardware upgrade, Metroid Dread, or any other rumored items that have made the rounds! And if the conference turns out to be a bust, at least we have this cute photo of a sleeping Fox McCloud.
Wii Fanboy E308 Poll: What games series needs Wii MotionPlus?
You've had several years to complain about the missed potential for immersive applications with a Wii Remote supporting true 1:1 response; now that Nintendo has announced the Wii MotionPlus accessory, enabling games to track your movements faster and more accurately, we want to know which game series you feel would benefit the most from the new technologyAre you hoping for the most obvious pick -- compelling lightsaber duels in a Star Wars game? Or are you looking for Wii Sports 2 with support for more subtle movements? If you don't see your preferred series in our list of poll choices, make sure to leave a comment and let us know what game you think needs Wii MotionPlus!%Poll-16808%
Promotional Consideration: Arino's Advertising Challenge
With XSEED recently revealing its intentions to localize Game Center CX: Arino's Challenge (U.S. name: Retro Game Challenge) for the North American market, we thought now would be an opportune time to feature an English-translated commercial for the Japanese game. Really, we'll make any excuse to post about this interesting title.A quick rundown of the Game Center CX show and DS game, for those of you who didn't read about the release the first dozen times we posted about it: Game Center CX is a Japanese television series in which comedian Shinya Arino plays popular "retro" games In the Indies Zero-developed DS title, players are sent back in time to the 80s by Arino Players have to complete challenges in eight Famicom-styled games, like Star Prince (Star Soldier clone) and Guadia Quest (Dragon Quest clone) There are a lot of great "meta" touches to the game, too -- a child version of Arino befriends and cheers you on against his older self, you'll have access to instruction manuals and Game Fan Magazine issues with tips and cheat codes, and Arino will even ask you if you're going to the bathroom sometimes when you pause the game.Anyway, jump past the post break for the commercial; we've also included photos from train advertisements and a segment from the show as bonuses!%Gallery-27519%