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Your Week in Nintendo - 11/6/06 - 11/12/06
Welcome to a new feature at DS Fanboy -- where we recap the stories you don't want to miss. Top stories are chosen based on relevance and reader support. For the week beginning Monday, November 6th and ending Sunday, November 12th, Your Week in Nintendo brings you: 5) Elite Beat Agents arrivesAt last, the Elite Beat Agents are here to set things right. It's been one of the year's most anticipated titles, and now we can barely take time away from playing it ... unless, of course, we're talking about it. 4) Two great tastes Just in time for the Wii launch, Nintendo drops a gift from Twilight Princess into Animal Crossing: Wild World, though it won't be revealed until the 17th. 3) The debate rages onThis time, it's not the fanboys arguing about the merits of the DS and the PSP -- it's Sony's Dave Karraker comparing the media hub that is the PSP to Nintendo's handheld gaming system. Who knew being about the games could be so wrong?2) Things are looking good on the DSNew footage from Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker had fans stumped -- it looks so good, some mistook it for a Wii title! It's good to be reminded that it's not all about stylus-based fun with the DS. Nintendo's innovate handheld is powerful, too. 1) Apple v. Nintendo -- fight! Our favorite handheld dukes it out with the MacBook Pro for the title of Time magazine's Gadget of the Year.
Zelda goodies in Animal Crossing
Much to the surprise of, well, just about every person we come in contact with on a regular basis, we still play Animal Crossing: Wild World. Perhaps we aren't alone though, because word on the street is that Nintendo is issuing out another free goody to celebrate the launch of some game called Zelda on the Wii. We're going to be keeping a close watch on this situation due to our continued support for the game and love of all things free.For those who would like to join us, the time to log into Wi-Fi Connect is during the week of November 17th through the 24th. Upon connecting, players will receive the rare gift enclosed in a letter, which will be patiently awaiting them in their mailbox outside of the house. It's totally legit information, originating from the 210th volume of Nintendo Power magazine.[Thanks to all that sent this in!]
Japanese software sales chart, Oct. 2-8: The Gundam Strikes Back
The last time a PSP title was this high in the Japanese software sales chart, it was SD Gundam G Generation Portable, and it was the fastest-selling PSP game to date. And now it's Gundam Battle Royale's turn at trying to upset Nintendo's DS games, which Andrew predicted more than a month ago. Is the guy psychic or something? 1. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2) - 263,897 / *NEW* 2. Pokemon Diamond (DS) - 254,080 / 1,074,127 3. Pokemon Pearl (DS) - 212,193 / 980,881 4. Gundam Battle Royale (PSP) - 64,986 / *NEW* 5. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - 40,114 / 3,233,793 6. Zaidan Houjin Nippon Kanji Nouryoku Kentei Kyoukai Kounin: KanKen DS (DS) - 38,799 / 84,091 7. Minna no Tennis (PS2) - Sony - 32,962 / 416,507 8. Final Fantasy III (DS) - Square Enix - 30,418 / 781,713 9. Brain Training 2 (DS) - Nintendo - 26,600 / 3,288,248 10. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS) - Nintendo - 22,787 / 3,305,244 While Gundam Battle Royale's sold less than half of what SD Gundam G Generation Portable (155,634) sold in its first week, it was still enough to capture the fourth spot. It seems the Japanese eat up these Gundam games faster than my fat uncle Johnny at Thanksgiving. Has Sony finally found its PSP cashcow? Hmmm.
Nintendo losing their Touch (Generations)?
If Nintendo's desires are realized, it won't be too long before the image of Grandpa hunching furiously over his DS Lite and murderously screaming "Blue" joins that of the bespectacled nerd in the ranks of uninformed gamer stereotypes. In an effort to reach out to those who would normally shy away from electronic devices and their confusing beeps and boops, several forthcoming and readily available DS games have recently been shoved under the Touch Generations banner. The range highlights Nintendo's popular "non-games", titles that are meant to be approachable by any person, regardless of their previous gaming experience.In North America, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age and Sudoku Gridmaster seem to gravitate towards the label quite naturally, but it seems that the selection differs significantly from that of other regions. Anthropomorphic neighbour sim, Animal Crossing: Wild World, slots right in with Electroplankton in Europe, but the choices of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Trauma Center: Under the Knife seem to fit in less comfortably. The latter two titles are far more traditional, with linear stories, clear conditions for success and failure and, in the case of Trauma Center especially, a more pronounced difficulty level that requires intricate stylus strokes--lest your patient's internal organs become reduced to a bloody mush (technical term). In other words, all the stuff that the mythical casual gamer doesn't want.The Japanese selection is almost the exact opposite, filled with English trainers, dictionaries and travel guidebooks. If you looked up "game" in one of those dictionaries, you'd likely find a description far removed from most of these titles. It raises an interesting question, then: What constitutes a game that, according to Nintendo's mantra, anyone can pick up and play? Is it a game that almost exclusively relies on intuitive touch screen controls? Or is it something with simplistic gameplay mechanics? Perhaps it's not even a game at all. Nintendo's pretty clear about the kind of people they're chasing with the DS and the Wii, but things seem less vivid when it comes to matching specific games with specific audiences. With games being such unique and often personal experiences, it's doubtful that the line between hardcore and casual will ever become especially obvious.
Japanese sales charts, April 17-23: Hello, Mother
Several new releases are sitting pretty in the Japanese charts this week, with newcomers holding the top three spots. Mother 3, described by Famitsu as the "Most Wanted" game in Japan back in March, unsurprisingly rocketed to the top with over 200,000 sales; a spinoff from the popular Dragon Quest VIII is in at number two, after selling 127,500 copies.The ten bestselling games in Japan for the week ending April 23:1. Mother 3 [GBA]2. Dragon Quest: Shounen Yangus no Fushigi na Daibouken [PS2] 3. Final Fantasy XI: Aht Urhgan no Hihou [PS2]4. Brain Age 2 (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS) [DS]5. Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai [PSP]6. Okami [PS2]7. Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training) [DS]8. Animal Crossing: Wild World [DS]9. DS English Training [DS]10. Pokémon Ranger [DS] The corresponding hardware sales (cumulative sales for 2006 in brackets):
Beneath the surface of Animal Crossing
Kudos to 1up and Nadia Oxford for posting a truly excellent article that examines how the personality traits of Animal Crossing players are reflected (and distorted) in their endearingly constructed and personalized towns. The findings point to something quite sinister, with many suspicious objects and design choices littering each of the four towns that the author pays a virtual visit to. As with anything overly cute and seemingly free of worry, there's just something not right about these towns. Take for instance, the many mysterious and seemingly innocent holes that litter the landscape in one town. "I asked about the holes, and No. 1 assured me that they were his roommate's doing -- maybe he was digging for a mole cricket and didn't bother to fill them in. I answered in the affirmative...but, unbidden, an image came to mind of the town ablaze, its screaming animals attempting to flee the inferno, only to be barred by a man-made moat."Or how about the subject that, in real life, often works in the presence of children, and yet has a town overrun with foul-mouthed citizens donning considerably rude articles of clothing? It's interesting to note the differences and similarities between the player and their in-game representation, especially in this case where said representation is an entire, socially (dys)functional town. Games such as these often allow us to express ourselves in ways which suit our personality, but also in ways that don't. With no real repercussions to worry about, we can often get away by acting out of character or trying an approach that we'd normally attempt to avoid. How do you and your Animal Crossing denizens match up?
What does your Animal Crossing town say about you?
Like other virtual sandboxes which foolishly let us have some degree of control, living in an Animal Crossing town means that that town begins to take on aspects of our personality. With the wireless capabilities of Animal Crossing: Wild World, it's easier than ever to see what crazy dreamscapes your friends have built and to get an extra insight into the workings of their minds.This 1up article does just that, looking at a few different towns along with the horrors and delights that lie in store. Whether you prefer mixing red wallpaper with orange carpet, you've collected an entire museum's worth of fossils, or you prefer to go au naturel and let weeds flourish, you might find yourself reflected in one of these secret lives. Either that, or there's an internet quiz meme waiting to be born.
Animal Crossing Contest: Giant Miyamoto for the win
When I showed this entry to fellow DS Fanboy blogger David Hinkle, he responded with, "That is the winner. That wins SO HARD." My thoughts exactly. Read all about Miyamoto's monstrous rampage through Tokyo in a full page from the Fanboy Times here."Next time," Miyamoto said, "I'll have to try and control myself when I transform into a 300 foot tall monster."Congratulations, Josh Cox! Your prize will embark on its journey to you shortly. As for the rest of you guys, thank you once again for participating. I'll try and get another giveaway going soon.
Animal Crossing Contest: A guest appearance
That's right. One of the entries for our Animal Crossing contest came from Aaron Griffin--the guy in the photo! This is the hardcore fan that pulled a Bjork, shook Miyamoto's hand and was constantly displayed on the monitors of everyone that entered the contest. Aaron writes:I've been around your site in the past, but somebody alerted me to this contest on my blog. I was flustered for a moment, then I thought "DUH! I should enter!"Check out Aaron's amusing meta-entry by clicking here. [Animated GIF, 2.84MB] Thanks for entering and for being a good sport, Aaron. Next up: The winner.
Animal Crossing contest: Honorable mentions
After trawling through my inbox, examining every image and rolling my eyes at the umpteenth entry that had some sort of Jamaican angle, I've finally picked a winner for DS Fanboy's Animal Crossing contest. In case you're late to the anthropomorphic party, the task was to modify the above image with three simple guidelines: It had to make sense. It had to be funny. It had to not kill me instantly. Apart from those requirements, readers were free to get as creative as their deranged minds allowed. For the most part, you guys did an outstanding job, put a load of effort into your submissions and clearly spent a lot of time thinking up ways in which to take Miyamoto's meeting with a hardcore fan in strange and slightly creepy directions. Isn't it strange how Miyamoto's facial expression is always hilarious no matter what the context?Click through to see some of my favorite, non-winning entries.
Animal Crossing contest: Entries closed
Well, that was fun. The deadline for DS Fanboy's epic Animal Crossing competition has come and gone, meaning any submissions that find their way to me now will swiftly be fed to a ravenous, cyborg goat. Thank you to everyone that participated! Some of you did a truly outstanding job and choosing a winner is very likely to cause to me to mentally unravel and enter a perpetual state of guilt. I wish I had more prizes to give away right now. I'll be posting my favorite entries tomorrow shortly before I post the grand ultimate winner. There will no doubt be disappointment and fury to follow, but thankfully I'm offered some degree of protection from the aforementioned robot goat. He can't tell the difference between cabbage and spleen.
Reminder: Animal Crossing contest!
If you haven't entered our Animal Crossing giveaway yet, we can only assume that you either have the game already or simply can't bring yourself to alter the magnificent visage that is Shigeru Miyamoto. Clearly, Fidel Smith had no such qualms, as his awesome entry above so deftly illustrates. It's a simple, yet effective change that made me laugh. A lot. I've also received some extremely creative entries that take the above situation in truly unexpected directions. Choosing a winner certainly won't be easy.Make it even harder for me. You have until 11:59PM on Wednesday, 5 April.
Animal Crossing over to Revolution
And you know what that means: Fishing games. Well, that and a wonderfully addictive celebration of neighborly etiquette and non-threatening anthropomorphism. Spot that description on the box of the forthcoming Animal Crossing Revolution, a title which series creator Katsuya Eguchi mentioned briefly at his own GDC speech last week. Mr. Eguchi explained that it was a fun challenge trying to design a game around a brand new interface and that the Revolution game would largely build on the DS version's accomplishments. The series is essentially leaping from home console, to portable, and back to home console again. It hasn't changed fundamentally in that journey, but perhaps the leap to Revolution will take things in a new direction.We certainly can't imagine a better fit for Nintendo's online network than Animal Crossing, especially where massively multiplayer online fishing battles are concerned. The controller should also provide plenty of interesting ways to interact with the items and inhabitants of your town, most notably in allowing you to beat the evil Tom Nook over the head with a freshly baked baguette.[Via Gamasutra]
Rare to unleash Pinatas on 360s this holiday season
Rare's next project is apparently an original IP concerning living piñata animals that will be featured in a Saturday morning TV/3-D/CG show and then in an Xbox 360 game debuting this holiday season worldwide.
Animal Crossing DS bundle hits next week
According to a listing on retailer EBGames.com, Nintendo is about to unleash a new Nintendo DS bundle--this time starring everyone's favorite anthropomorphic town simulator, Animal Crossing: Wild World. Of course, by new Nintendo DS bundle, we really mean old Nintendo DS bundle. We're afraid there's no Lite at the end of this $149.99 tunnel.[Via GAF]
Another Animal Crossing gift arrives
Being the die-hard romantics that we are, it's unclear how we managed to miss Nintendo's little Valentine's gift to the residents of Animal Crossing: Wild World. Upon connecting to the Wi-Fi network, you should receive a letter from "Your friendo, Nintendo" along with a "Lovely Loveseat" item for your home. How lovely--be sure to lovingly put it in a lovely spot so as to lovingly convey the loveliness of your lovely home (which is brimming with lovingly lovely love.) That was a bit too much. [Thanks JonathanEx!]
DS Meet introduces online tournament system
A while back we asked you to tell us how good you really were at Mario Kart DS. Now we might ask you to prove it. You see, the guys over at DS Meet, one of a few sites that allows users to share their friend codes and meet new players online, have implemented a cool new online tournament system. It allows you to join up with existing tournaments or create your own, all via a reasonably easy to use interface.Once you've created a tournament, the site will automatically take care of rostering (though you can manually alter this as well) and keeping track of the friend codes of those competing. You also have the option of having a forum to discuss and coordinate matches with your fellow DS players. The onus is on the tournament operator to keep track of everybody's scores though, so a level of honesty may be required if you're going to take charge of a tournament. Being the best Mario Kart DS players in the known universe, we're all about the honesty.Mind you, it's not all about the snaking. With support for Animal Crossing's various competitive activities and the upcoming Metroid Prime: Hunters, it's about fishing and shooting too. It's also about competing with people from all over the world. How about a DS Fanboy reader Mario Kart tournament? Can we have a show of hands from those who would be interested? [Thanks echelon! Keep up the good work.]
Animal Crossing online catalog
The guys over at DS Meet have put up a nifty online catalog detailing all the items that are available and for sale in Animal Crossing: Wild World. It'll let you keep track of which items you've already purchased, which ones you still need and who's selling that elusive snowman fridge you've been dying to get your hands on. It's a great way of managing your collection of furniture and other decorative junk, as well a good starting point for getting some more friend codes and inviting new visitors to your town. Just be sure to check them at the gates for any suspicious materials... [Thanks echelon!]
Animal Crossing: Beware the evil tulips!
As if those vile tulips weren't content with terrorizing the innocent population of Amsterdam, they've now spread to the wild world of Animal Crossing on the DS. Some unfortunate virtual villagers mistakenly thought they were receiving a wonderful new gift from Nintendo today, only to be pricked by the thorn amongst the "Red Tulips". If you receive a gift marked as such, pawn it off on Tom Nook right away.That way, he'll be the one forced to deal with the weird glitch that comes attached with the gift. Placing it inside your humble abode will actually cause it to create an invisible and immobile piece of furniture and prevent you from using that space for anything else. Don't drop the item inside your house or even outside (it'll plant itself as a tree sprout) and be wary of visitors of your town that come bearing suspicious gifts. You don't want them dropping these evil, invisible tulips all over the place, now do you? According to 4 Color Rebellion, the glitch comes from an unfinished letter that was accidentally sent out by Nintendo. Apparently, they've already stopped the letter from going out anymore and are looking at a fix for those that were affected. Check out some video proof of the glitch over here. Get revenge by going outside and stomping on your mom's flowers.[Via Joystiq]
Exchanging friend codes made easier
How long before the act of exchanging friend codes becomes geeky sexual innuendo? Probably not long at all, now that the full power of the internet can be used to spread your unique set of DS numbers to the world. We now know of two websites that can ease the pain of reciting a bunch of numbers into your friend's ear, a process which has to be repeated for each different game you play. Oh, if only someone could have thought up a centralized network populated with universal "Gamertags"...oh well, maybe someday.First up, we have a site called DS-Play. They allow you to sign on and create a little virtual business card for yourself, proudly displaying your screen identity and your frighteningly complex friend code. It's a place where you can log on "any time of day or night and always find REAL people to play against or trade items and facts with." Good, because I just hate losing to those damn synthetic humans all the time. Them and their mad nanoskillz.Another site that does more or less the same thing but promises to keep account info more private (though this protects the identities of filthy synthetic humans), is DSconnect. It'll send you an e-mail whenever your friends are going online with a specific game and the site's creator was even nice enough to add a team page for Joystiq readers, accessible after you sign in. So, which site should you use? We'd tell you, but our feelings towards synthetic humans would cloud our judgment and so we'll just wait for you guys to try both out and deliver a shocking verdict. [Via Joystiq. Thanks Kyle!]