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Square surprises us with Song Summoner for the iPod
Square Enix has released their new game for the iPod, called -- wait, hold the iPhone. Say what again? Square Enix has apparently been hiding a huge secret, and the word is out already in iTunes. They've developed an iPod classic game called Song Summoner, and if the video above is any indication, we don't actually have to wait for the iPhone's App Store to come out, we might have a new winner right here.For a mere $4.99, you apparently get a full-scale Square strategy RPG, and that's not all -- the characters in the game are created from your iPod's songs. And every time you listen to a song, the game levels up. This sounds incredible, and so it's no surprise that our sister site, DS Fanboy, has already written up five reasons why this might be the new Square game to check out, even compared to the more established Final Fantasy series.This bodes very, very well for the future of original iPhone gaming -- if Apple has Square-Enix and Harmonix building games this innovative for the iPod, imagine what they'll be able to do with the iPhone. We'll get our hands on Song Summoner as soon as we can, and let you know what it's like when we do.
DS Fanboy Lite: Sept. 28, 2007 - Oct. 5, 2007
Do you own a DS? You are not alone -- and we mean really, really not alone -- and like many DS owners, you might be interested in latest news about the world's best-selling handheld. We're here to help, with a round-up of the very best of what DS Fanboy has to offer every week. Spelling out multiple offenses with Ubisoft's ScrabbleBecause we love it when people overreact. Singapore Airlines passengers get emulated gamesNow they just need to improve them. DS Fanboy Review: Jam SessionsWe get our strum on. Promotional Consideration: COBRAAA!!!Real American Heroes have real (fake) enemies. DS Daily: Which Zelda games do you physically own?Your Zelda games -- show us them. Zelda Week: Check out some heroic adsIt's not always about the adventure. DS Fanboy interviews Treehouse's Rich AmtowerLocalizing DK and more. Show and Tell: Zelda week, day oneMy, those are some fancy boxers. DS Daily: Why do you (or don't you) play Zelda?Not everyone is a part of this hive mind. Advance Wars 2 shown off in ParisGet ready to sacrifice another few months of your life. Show and Tell: Zelda week, day twoReal gamers put it in their flesh. DS Fanswag: Win a copy of Jam Sessions!Because everyone likes free stuff. Halo DS validity arguedIt's the idea that will never die. Zelda Week: The Zelda games you'll never playBut you'll so want to. Zelda Week: The art of Janai JeffriesIn a word: stunning. Show and Tell: Zelda week, day fourFrom art class to diecast cars, Link is everywhere. Rare Pokémon cartridge holds a litter of MewsThat's a lot of Mews. Poll results: Playing favoritesThe best of Zelda on consoles and handhelds. DS Daily: What's your least favorite Zelda title?Opinions vary wildly -- throw yours in! Show and Tell: Zelda week, day fiveCollections from the depths of fandom.
The dirtier side of DS homebrew
With a title such as Hotel Dusk, you can see that the Ninendo DS market is interested in more mature titles -- but just how mature? Eric Caoili of Joystiq sister site DS Fanboy has amassed a list of five homebrew titles that show the DS for the sexual deviant mainstream media has occasionally labeled it.The prevailing parallels between each title is that sex is a predominant theme, but it is tackled in a shallow and surprisingly softcore fashion. As per the usual sex-themed titles found online, the gameplay itself is a simple minigame with little thought required to succeed (the one exception is Virus DS) and, as Caoili quips, R-rated movies feature more taboo content.What we'd love to see is more mature content, but we'd also like handled in a mature way. For the games industry to tackle more serious topics like other entertainment industries do would be a step in its maturity. And, for the games intended for more private sessions, even those in the homebrew community, how about a little more effort put into their development?As Caoili notes, adult titles are not going to come from major publishers anytime soon. If you want to see these games proliferate and grow, you have to support the homebrew scene. The linked article is for adults only and is most certainly NSFW.
Analyst: PSP and DS will outdo home consoles
Don't throw out your handhelds: there's a lot of life left in them. According to an analyst at DFC Intelligence, the ever-expanding market for both DS and PSP will help allow it to beat the current generation systems: "Under the right scenario, by 2011 the combined installed base of the DS and PSP could exceed that for the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360," noted David Cole.While Nintendo will be responsible for much of the growth of the handheld industry, Sony is certainly not out of the game--they will "establish a solid position in the marketplace" (if they haven't already). Cole reminds investors that "existing console game publishers have found it is possible to make over $100 million in revenue from a single PSP title based on the right franchise," a figure that's not to be scoffed at.Ultimately, PSP's success will be determined by a number of factors, with Sony's support for the platform being key. Sony said they're working on exciting new things for the platform at GDC--hopefully, it's true.[Via GameDaily BIZ]
G4 "debates" the PSP and DS debacle
We showed you the offending EB Games ad. Then, DS Fanboy rather maturely copied the story from us, refusing to partake in a fanboy mudslinging battle. (And thankfully, no one tried to impersonate me in the comments! Thanks, guys.) It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of sensationalistic spin DS Fanboy will put on this rather silly "debate" from G4's Attack of the Show. While we wait, check out what the editors of our rivals, Kotaku and Destructoid, had to say about the future of the handheld battle. While they complain about the lack of good games for our system, let me point out that I am exhausted from having reviewed seven games in the last week, many of them being quite good. I guess silly things like "facts" don't bother the most opinionated of fanboys.
DS Fanboy contest: Sumo Omni honorable mentions
The race for the massive Sumo Omni is over, and the lucky winner will soon be snuggled up in his very own beanbag chair. It was a hard won victory, and being that it was such a tough call to pick the winner, we thought we might share a few of the also-rans, those entries we felt deserved at least an honorable mention. Check after the jump for the folks who almost snagged a place in the Sumo Omni spotlight.
What Japan thinks of the PSP and DS battle
Not even a Sony fanboy can avoid admitting that the Nintendo DS is selling at a much brisker pace than the PSP. Regardless of our second place position, I still find it interesting to see what Japan thinks of our favorite handheld machine. "What Japan Thinks" has a report from over 7000 Japanese individuals on their gaming habits. Here are some of the highlights: Only 10.7% of people surveyed have a PSP, compared to Nintendo DS's 32.3%. 14.7% of PSP owners use it every day. (Do you?) Although both the PSP and DS are portable, the number one place the system is played is at home: 94.2%. Personally, the subway is where I get most of my PSP playing done. Brain training games are easily the most popular kinds of handheld games, coming in at 54.6% A shocking number of people have not used any of PSP's non-gaming features: 43.1% 25.2% of surveyed individuals want a PSP in the future, versus the DS's 59.4%. Only 20.3% of people want a PS3. Only 15% want a Wii. (But 17% want both.) Make with these numbers what you will. While it may be easy to say that "PSP is t3h d00m3d!!1" I think that a 25% desirability rate is still very high. It's certainly higher than the number of people that wanted Gamecubes or Xboxes, both of which have lived fairly great console lives. Can Sony increase the PSP's desirability by focusing solely on games? Are you like the Japanese: do you not find value in PSP's non-gaming functionality?[Via Japundit]
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.
PSP on Snakes on a Plane
There are motherf--in' PSPs on this motherf--in' plane filled with motherf--in' snakes.Okay, admit it: you're secretly part of the phenomenon. You've probably spent days Photoshopping funny snakes and plane-related posters, and you've spent hours blogging about it. Well, the day of reckoning is here: the Snakes on a Plane movie is finally out. Our sister site, DS Fanboy, has some interesting video game-related snippets from the film:Kenan Thompson's character Troy is shown throughout the movie as a video game junkie...how? He sports a black PSP model, yelling and screaming at the machine. Later, in a brief shot, an eight year-old is shown occupying himself idly with a (phat) Nintendo DS.Good Burger-star and SNL regular Kenan's love of the PSP shows how at least in the public image battle, the PSP is a long way ahead of the PSP: Nintendo and the DS, for better or worse, is still "t3h k1ddy."Okay, that's the end of this incredible non-news story. Like my DS Fanboy colleague, this really was nothing more than a thinly veiled way for us to bring up the movie. The movie's out now, and is rated R for Retarded Restricted Audiences.
