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DS Fanboy Review: Crosswords DS
Puzzle games usually offer more bang for their buck than most other types of software. Since many in the genre are relatively easy to design, they're often budget titles, too. But whether or not they come cheaply, you can expect to invest a lot of time in any good puzzler. Games like Picross DS, Professor Layton, and Tetris DS -- which are all very different, and yet reside in the same genre -- continue to keep me occupied despite the months (or years) that have lapsed since their release.As a crossword lover, I naturally expected Crosswords DS to have the same appeal. Adding anagrams and word searches to the formula made the game seem even more delectable, and I gleefully anticipated being sucked into a puzzle-packed experience. As it turns out, though, this first-party title didn't meet my expectations -- in fact, it didn't even come close. Gallery: Crosswords DS
New York Times one half
With the release of Crosswords DS this week, will a $10 price cut compel you to buy New York Times Crosswords instead? Amazon's "Deal of the Day" happens to be everyone's favorite alf-loving crossword game (again). While $10 for any game is hard to resist, keep in mind that puzzles from the New York Times are tough -- make sure you have the mental fortitude before picking this one up. You might also want to note, though, that Mother's Day will be here soon, and this might make a nice, cheap gift for DS-owning moms.
See Crosswords DS in motion
You might be surprised to know that Crosswords DS is one of our most anticipated games. Supposing Nintendo offers this as a budget title (which is what online retailers are indicating), not much will stop us from picking it up. If you haven't been following news on this particular puzzle game, though, you can check out the gameplay video embedded above.As we suspected, the anagram mode is almost exactly like Text Twist, which (to us) is Crosswords' main draw. Such a basic but awesome addition will make this the deepest crossword puzzle title to date. We also like how clean the interface looks, even if it is relatively simple.Fortunately, the wait for the game won't be long. Those of us in North America can expect to see it in stores on May 5th. Gallery: Crosswords DS
NMS08: Crosswords DS impressions
One surprising gem of the Nintendo Media Summit was Crosswords DS, Nintendo's most recent puzzle game. Not letting itself get overshadowed by all the other stuff at the convention, Crosswords DS managed to rack up favorable impressions from many a gaming site. IGN found the title to be "awesome," and was very impressed by the diversity in the game. Even though it's called Crosswords DS, there's more to it than crossword puzzles. The game also includes word searches and anagrams. According to the site, the controls are very intuitive, and even easier to understand because of the great interface.Game|Life also enjoyed the software, finding the anagram mode to be even more addictive than the crosswords themselves. From what we can tell by Game|Life's comments, the anagram puzzles look almost identical to those in the online game Text Twist, which this blogger can confirm to be the computer equivalent of crack cocaine.GoNintendo describes this title as a "must-have" if you like crosswords. RMC reported that the puzzles are challenging (although the ones shown in the gallery must be from the "easy" setting), so don't worry about a dumbed-down experience. Also, don't be put off by the game's lame box art -- it seems like this title is definitely something to look forward to!%Gallery-4773% Read: IGN's impressionsRead: Game|Life's impressionsRead: GoNintendo's impressions
A million bajillion crossword games for the DS
We hope that many of you flocked to stores this week to get Barnyard Blast. If so, or if you're a fan of crosswords, you might be happy to know that the same developer (Sanuk Games) is coming out with Crossword Challenge. Or, you might be thinking, "Another crossword game?" Aside from the New York Times title, Nintendo is coming out with one in May. Then there are iterations using The Sun's crosswords and a USA Today's. So, in other words, five games. If you speak Japanese, there's also Compile Heart's release.We don't mind an oversaturated crossword market, though. New York Times puzzles can be too hard, Nintendo ones might be too easy, The Sun's will be too trashy, and USA Today's crosswords are always too similar. In our opinion, there's definitely a place for this Sanuk Games project.Of course, whether there's room in the market is another question. The New York Times rendition came out long ago, but surely sales for the other four will eat into each other, with (we think) Nintendo's being the most successful. Whether or not the publishers do well, though, there's no doubt that with competition, the consumer always wins.
Compile Heart goes puzzle crazy
Japanese developer Compile Heart, which contains members of Compile (who developed Puyo Puyo and just about everything else we have loved) plans to release a three-part (so far) series of puzzle games for the DS, called the Puzzle Mate series. Crossword Mate features Japanese crosswords, Nanpure Mate is a "number place" (also known as sudoku) game, and Oekaki Mate is a picross collection. These, however, differ from other such products in one important way: the puzzles are large. All three collections feature larger playing fields than usual, which leads to things like the nightmarish multi-screen picross puzzle seen in the screenshot here.And speaking of nightmarish, coulrophobes will be terrified to see the mascot for this series, a clown drawn by Famitsu artist Susumu Matsushita.Read - Crossword MateRead - Nanpure MateRead - Oekaki Mate
All newspaper crossword game endorsements are not created equal
Majesco was smart to license the New York Times name for their DS crossword game. The NYT is renowned for having both high standards of quality in its reporting, and also having good crossword puzzles. Thus, associating your game with that organization makes the game seem more intellectual and classy.The Sun, on the other hand, is a tabloid best known for its topless women and anti-immigration stance. It's a less desirable association, we think, in terms of prestige. However, The Sun has the highest circulation of any daily English-language newspaper, so maybe it's not such a bad idea. No, it's a pretty bad idea to tie your puzzle game to an insulting rag.[Via DS-x2]
Welcome to the next generation of crosswords
Those of you who have been getting your crossword on for a while may have come across this clue already, but it's new to us. Reader Genoboost snapped this picture of a clue in New York Times Crosswords that immediately sent us back into our memories of the tooth-and-nail mid-'90s console war. Back then, (spoiler) Sega and Nintendo were opposing forces, seemingly destined never to meet. Sega's "edgy," screaming ad campaigns sold millions of impressionable kids on Ecco the Dolphin and blast processing.And now look where that advertising has ended up, thanks to Majesco, who actually manufactured and sold Genesis and Game Gear systems before they got into game publishing. Put some fresh batteries in your Nomad and take the trip past the break for the original commercial from which the clue takes this slogan. SEGA!
Ten down: NYT Crosswords
For about what seems like the fiftieth time this year, Amazon has New York Times Crosswords up for sale as its deal of the day, this time for $9.99. It's a decent portable puzzler, and, though we've featured bargains for the game several times already, after seeing its casual ALF plug, we promised ourselves that we would do whatever we could to support NYT Crosswords. So , here we are, supporting it ... with an internet link.Don't forget that this half-price markdown ends today! Also, if you add another $15 worth of stuff to your order (e.g. ALF Season 1 DVD), Amazon will ship everything for free. Now, peek past the break for ALF's recent interview on The O'Reilly Factor. No, we don't have any idea why he appeared on the show, either.
'Remember ALF? He's back! In crosswords form.'
This late-night post marks the fourth time we've referenced Milhouse's ALF quote from "Bart Sells His Soul," the Simpsons episode in which Bart trades in his soul for five bucks. Out of all the ALF pog allusions, however, we can confidently hold up this one as the best. How is that, you ask? Two reasons: Check out this screenshot that Gray Whitten took from a New York Times Crosswords puzzle on his DS! Any game that makes an effort to mention furry, large-nosed Melmacians sounds like an obviously fantastic game to us! We've finally obtained a video clip of that classic scene from when Bart confronted Milhouse about getting his soul back. We've embedded it right after the five-letter word for interruption.
An eight-letter word for 'reduced pricing'
We never understood why The New York Times Crosswords wasn't a runaway success, sales-wise. You would think that with Touch Generations' momentum and Nintendo's buzz for attracting older gamers, this puzzle title would be a sure thing. But even with the Gray Lady's backing, the rest of the mainstream media just didn't seem to pick up on it. Maybe Nintendo was more interested in putting its efforts and marketing money behind its own crossword game? Poor Majesco.We suspect that the $30 tag was also partially to blame. For those of you that agree, Amazon has temporarily listed The New York Times Crosswords at $19.99, bringing the stylus-driven title down to bargain pricing where it probably should've been from the get-go. This deal expires at midnight -- or when the item goes out of stock -- so don't wait too long to jump on it![Via CAG]
E307: Nintendo Crossword kind of announced
Nintendo never got around to announcing this new game at E3: a crossword game tentatively called Nintendo Crossword. For sudoku fans, a "crossword puzzle" is a grid puzzle much like sudoku, but with letters instead of numbers, and completely different rules in place of the sudoku rules.Nintendo's presentation is much more staid than that of its competition, New York Times Crosswords, passing over odd color schemes and Comic Sans-alikes for a traditional newspaper-like display. It's boxy, but good.%Gallery-4773%
DS releases for the week of April 16th
For gamers in the U.S., tax time has passed, and that means that some of you are just about ready to relax with a shiny new game. If that's the case, we sure hope you like word and number puzzles, because that's the dominant theme this week.US releases Classic Action: Devilish The New York Times Crosswords Sudokuro Toon-Doku For the rest of the world, hit the jump.
Black Ink 1.0
Now, I'm not a big puzzler myself, but I do know lots of people out there enjoy the thrill of completing a tough crossword puzzle. Red Sweater Software has just announced the release of Black Ink 1.0 (formerly MacXword, Red Sweater Software has been on an acquisition tear as of late). Black Ink downloads puzzles from a number of free sources (including the NY Times). It allows you to print out puzzles for solving on the go, and it also includes a timer so you can brush up on your competitive crossword skills.Black Ink costs $24.95 and there is a 30 day demo available. Users of MacXword can upgrade for $9.95 (with a valid serial number).
NY Times crossword puzzler lines up some screens
Remember when we posted about that NY Times crossword puzzler coming to the DS? Well, IGN got ahold of some screens for the game and it looks to be coming along swimmingly. As you can see in the screenshots, which have been embedded past the post break, players write the letter in on the bottom touch-screen, where it displays the completed word on the top screen. Other than that, the experience looks to recreate that feeling one gets from opening up the paper and solving the included crossword puzzle (sans ink all over the hands).
NY Times crossword game headed to the DS
Will Shortz, the crossword puzzle editor for the NY Times, is following in the footsteps of Dr. Kawashima, teaming up with Majesco to release The New York Times Crosswords. The game is to be a collection of over 1,000 different word puzzles. The game should appeal to those same gamers who enjoyed Brain Age, allowing users to manually write in answers using the stylus on the touch-screen or substitute that functionality for that of an on-screen keyboard. The game is to ship this Spring and will feature wireless head-to-head crossword battling action. [Via Joystiq]
NY Times crossword puzzler headed to DS
If Dr. Kawashima can do it, so can Will Shortz. The New York Times crossword puzzle editor is poised to become the next DS icon when Majesco releases The New York Times Crosswords, a collection of 1,000 wordplay puzzles for Nintendo's handheld. Well, that's if developer Budcat decides to pixelize Shortz.Even without another goading head, Crosswords has the makings of a DS crossover hit -- you know, popular with the old folks -- with its proper usage of the touch-screen (allowing wordsmiths to scribble in answers or use an on-screen keyboard), progressive difficulty modes, and head-to-head wireless battles ... yeah, we said battles!The New York Times Crosswords ships this spring. Wurd.[Via 4 color rebellion]
Japanese hardware sales, 13 November - 19 November: Brainy edition [update 1]
[Update 1: Fixed a minor error in the regular sales chart.]Think you can handle this beast of a puzzle? If you're that kind of lazy, uncerebral gamer who already looked at GameFAQs because they got stuck at the first temple in Twilight Princess, well, go ahead and check after the break for the regular sales numbers format and crossword answer key. But where's the fun in that? Print out a copy and grab your pencil; it's the Thanksgiving spirit!Across2. Thirteen across times three, plus two down, plus nine down, plus five across (DS Lite units sold)5. A robot bounty hunter: IG-__6. A code for one's location7. The atomic number of Meitnerium9. The zip code of Wampum, PA (PS2 units sold)11. Nine across plus fourteen down (PSP units sold)12. Eight down times five (Game Boy Advance units sold)13. Freebie - 42099 (PS3 units sold)14. Consecutive digits in ascending orderDown1. Sixty-two squared, plus six across (Xbox 360 units sold)2. Seven across times eleven (Game Boy Advance SP units sold)3. I don't feel like giving you this clue. Oh well. (DS Phat units sold)4. Three down reversed8. Bond, sans one (Xbox units sold)9. The year in which Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon becomes king of Spain (Game Boy Micro units sold)10. Two to the power of nine, plus two (Gamecube units sold)14. Fourteen across minus thirty-four [Source: Media Create]
Computer program can beat people at crosswords
A computer program called WebCrow, shown at the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Italy, has completed two crosswords from the New York Times and Washington Post in less time than the 25 attendees and 50 people competing over the internet. Linguistics have, to date, been the great leveler between AI and human intelligence: creating software that can complete crosswords (one of the most complex types of linguistic puzzles) faster than humans is a notable milestone on the journey towards true artificial intelligence. The program works by cross-referencing each word from the clue with previously solved crosswords, a dictionary, and the internet. It then records words of the correct length, and combines the suggestions generated from each referenced source: the program then uses trial and error until the answers interlock and the grid is complete. Although the process amounts to not much more than an extremely complicated guess, feeble humans are still left in the dust by the speed of the program. Fortunately, when the inevitable linguistically-aware robot uprising arrives, there will still exist a glimmer of hope for humanity: at the moment, WebCrow takes a long time to complete crosswords with clues that contain puns and politics. In light of this, we'd strongly advise that you keep a political crossword handy at all times: when the robots and computers do decide to take over, at least we'll be able to keep them occupied for a while.
Crossword lets Bungie fanboys strut their stuff
Are you a giant nerd obsessed with all things Bungie? Has your only outlet thus far been internet chat rooms and mature-themed Master Chief fan-fiction? Well, fellow fanboy GameJunkieJim has created what can only be called "The World's Hardest Bungie-themed Crossword Puzzle EvAr!"Seriously, I think I got six right ... if I'm lucky. Try 38 Across: "Conceived in Transit leads to ______"; or 15 down: "Mr. Green, if you please." I'll get you started: 54 across is DOA. I know, I'm pathetic.[Via Gamerscore]
