BitGenerations
Latest
Buy it while you can: Blast Arena Advance
Though newcomers to the homebrew scene likely missed Blast Arena Advance when the title was released mid-2005, and even longtime followers of the community probably acted too slow to pick up one of the original 41 cartridges that were manufactured and distributed later on, there may still be a chance for you to make things right.Developer Matthew Carr (Lemmings DS port) has made available 150 more Blast Arena Advance carts for approximately $14, warning timid buyers that this limited run will be the last for this project. Already, over sixty of the semi-transparent, teal-colored carts have been sold. The penny-wise among you could always download the ROM posted on Matthew's site instead, but you'd have one more hole in your collection of rare GBA games.From its minimalist-but-stylish graphics to its immediate accessibility, there's plenty to compare between Blast Arena Advance and the bit Generations' series presentations. You can play the entire game using just the D-pad, collecting flanges and dodging debris from exploding stars while the soundtrack -- music so good you'll try your damndest to survive longer just to hear more of it -- paints in the scenery missing from the black background. Fling yourself past the post break for some video we took of us playing Blast Arena Advance.
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]
Spore developer rants on Wii
Chris Hecker didn't pull any punches at GDC's "Game Publisher's Rant" session. The Maxis developer began his "Fear of a Wii Planet" diatribe by declaring, "The Wii is a piece of sh*t."He went on to describe the console as being vastly underpowered, citing low graphical standards and an inability to process complicated AI. According to Hecker's exaggerations, "The way you manufacture a Wii is you take two GameCubes and duct tape." As if that wasn't already enough to break a fanboy's heart, he called on Nintendo to "make a console that doesn't suck ass." His complaints weren't limited to hardware gripes -- he also criticized Nintendo for not pushing games as an art form. Maybe he hasn't seen Electroplankton or the bit Generations games?Hecker's rants from previous years were just as brutally harsh on Sony and Microsoft, but we're sure that will do little to tame the wrath of offended gamers. Bringing Spore to the DS might have earned him enough good will to make it out of the session unharmed, but he might want to avoid walking around GDC alone at night until this cools down.
Tour Nintendo.co.jp's bit Generations site
The good news: the website for Nintendo's retro, budget bit Generations (née Digistylish) series has gone live, featuring mini-pages for each of the three games contained in the series 1 package, Dotstream, Boundish, and Dialhex. The bad news: it's in Japanese. What we can extract from the site: the series 1 package, which includes the aforementioned three titles, will launch on July 13th in Japan for 2000 ¥ (about $17); the series 2 package, which includes Coloris, Digidrive, Orbital, and Soundvoyager, launches two weeks later for the same price. More good news: we've embeddded a trailer after the break, so if you're unable (or unwilling) to navigate the Japanese page, keep reading to get a glimpse of some GBA-goodness. [Via 4cr]
