DS Lite
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Conjecture Countdown: 9 days to go
Even with a diminished E3, there's no controlling the wave of rumors that hit the Internet every year before the show. Why fight it? From now until E3 hits, we'll be posting one piece of wild speculation every day. Some may be patently ridiculous, and others just might turn out to be true. Even some of the ridiculous ones might turn out to be true! Rest assured, everything will be totally made-up and unfounded. Except, of course, when we speak about all the ass Reggie is going to kick. That part? Totally true.Rumor: A new DS will be unveiled at E3! But it'll be $600, weigh five pounds, and have Dino Master permanently sealed into the card slot. Its entire purpose will be to make the DS Lite look that much more awesome.
DS Daily: Caught 'em all?
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl have been out for just over two months, and we suspect that there are still plenty of you out there playing. Either you've picked your copy up after the release date (which we always do) or you're just still working on catching and training those little buggers. Pokemon is a fairly deep game despite its apparent childishness, so it can take a long time to finish (or to decide to stop playing.)So who's still playing regularly? We ask because we're slowly building up our team in anticipation of a glorious future Game Night in which we can compete in a non-awful fashion. We emphasize slowly-- it turns out that work often takes time away from leisure activities. Outrageous, we know.
CyberConnect2 planning something or other for the DS
CyberConnect2, like every Japanese developer with any damn sense, is working on a new game for the DS. The question is: what is it? Based on this preview image, the likely candidates are: a new Tail Concerto game, and a new entry in the excessively serial .hack series.The big mechs and anthropomorphic animals suggest Tail Concerto. However, the reference to "The World" (which was the name of the fake MMORPG in .hack) as well as a character that looks just like .hack's protagonist Kite, hint at a .hack game.Who knows? Maybe it'll be a combination of the two. Maybe it'll be a board game with characters from both series.[Via NeoGAF]
What's a diorama?
Inspired by Sega's amazing Sonic the Hedgehog papercrafts, nerd-craft's reverendtimothy made some very nice Mario level dioramas. He went with a more literal 2D approach for the first two, based on World 1-1of Super Mario Bros., but decided on a more 3D look for this interpretation of World 7-3.This is definitely an attractive item for our cats to knock down and ruin. To the printer! [Via Crafty Crafty]
Show and Tell: Getting crafty
We thought it might be nice to take a break from giant, heaping game collections (because we have more!) for something a little more low key, like this case made by reader Audrey. The low key color scheme looks pretty nice with the black DS Lite, and we like anything that snuggles our handhelds. Now we kind of want to hire her to make cases for us. She has a whole set on Flickr called "Things I made," and if you're into crafts, it's worth perusing. Are you crafty? Are you proud of your game-related stuff? You too can be in this spot, with everyone cooing over your awesome gear and swag. Just take some pictures and send them to showmeit [at] dsfanboy [dot] com, and we'll take care of the rest. We've gotten lots of great submissions so far, but we always want more! Big collections, small collections, random items, your beloved DS -- take some photos and send them to us, and your stuff just might turn up here.
Love Cat Life shows love for dogs, too
Specifically, Nintendogs. And more specifically, the cash generated by Nintendogs. Forgive us for being cynical, but Love Cat Life does look exceedingly familiar. But for our (hypothetical) pet simulator money, Love Cat Life wins over Nintendo's masterpiece, for mostly hilarious reasons: Simulated litterboxes Riding a little cat-sized truck over a ramp Meowing music game! We started off being sarcastic, but we just convinced ourselves. It was the music game that did it.
Test your might online this November
We haven't been this excited about Mortal Kombat since the first time Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 came out, and we've never had any reason to be excited about a portable Kombat. But this is just too cool. Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon told IGN that a version of the classic fighting game will be coming to the DS-- with online play. Attention, developers: this is how you do a port on the DS.It'll also include Puzzle Kombat, the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo clone found in Mortal Kombat Deception, which will also be playable online. The game will be out in November, and we look forward to eviscerating all of you at Game Night.In the game, we mean. We aren't planning to come to your houses and eviscerate any of you. We wouldn't even know how.
Doki Doki Majo Shinpan has sound?
Here's an interesting item for people whose primary interest in Doki Doki Majo Shinpan is the music: an official soundtrack CD will be released on July 25th. We've only heard a few seconds of drowned-out music from the game, so we have no idea as to its quality.There's also the Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Special Fanbook, which contains artwork from the game and developer interviews, as most fanbooks do. In addition, it comes with a mousepad, two posters, and ... a paper doll. For some reason, we think this is going to be the bigger seller.
DS Lite cover is TOTALLY METAL
If you're looking for a matte black look for your DS, look no further. Replacement cases are way better than DIY solutions, at least in this instance. This sleek aluminum shell is, frankly, pretty hot, especially with all that white peeking through. And hey -- just in case you harbored a secret desire to replace your soccer ball with a DS Lite one afternoon, this may be just the thing you need. Because it's metal.The black aluminum shell sells for ¥2,520, or a little more than $20.[Via Famitsu]
Gotta mispronounce 'em all
Games Radar has crafted another one of their hilarious Top 7 lists, this time about the "Top 7 Most Mispronounced Game Names." Nihon Falcom has two of the seven entries on the list, proving that they're kind of mean about titles. We remember that every magazine article about Ys back on the Turbografx-16 CD included a note about pronunciation ("ease"), because it's really not obvious.Topping the list is a certain Nintendo franchise whose name is delightfully, and intentionally, mangled by meme addicts across the web, including pretty much everyone here. Our mispronunciation: let us hint at it.
DIY DS Lite stylus pen
Frustrated with the DS Lite's stubby stylus, but not enough to empty out your pockets for one of those new-fangled, overpriced utensils we're always featuring? Faced with that very dilemma, Sal Cangeloso decided to save himself a few bucks with a homemade solution, trimming the stock stylus and packing it with a bit of rubber into his pen's emptied casing (Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto). Though it isn't a new idea at all, we were impressed with Sal's handiwork and wanted to share the small project with our readers. It looks better than most of the high-end styli we've seen for sale![Thanks, Kris!]
The newest DS accessory: squares of paper
Here's a training game we'd totally spring for: Minagara Oreru DS Origami (Fold While Watching DS Origami). Just like you'd expect, this nongame shows tutorials of origami patterns and invites players to fold along. You can watch the steps as a slideshow with variable speed, or you can manually step through the diagram.The game contains 100 patterns, and has voice controls so you can page through the tutorials while your hands are full! Unfortunately, it costs 3900 yen ($31) which is a little over our origami aid budget. Guess we'll have to stick to folding and unfolding the DS over and over again.
DS Dragon's Lair makes a Daring choice
The laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair is back again, after appearances on basically every system ever built, either in its original form (PC, Sega CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, Game Boy Color) or in some kind of terrible adaptation (NES, SNES, PS2). This time, Digital Leisure is releasing it in more or less original form on the DS, with some ... interesting options. Of particular interest is the ability to control the game via touch screen. We imagine this will involve tapping the appropriate side of the screen. There are also optional move indicators, voice control (?), rumble support, and multiple difficulty settings.And then there's the big feature. You can choose to play the game on one screen, or stretched across both. This allows Dragon's Lair to benefit from the advanced view obstruction technology not available in the arcade version. [Via NeoGAF]
Wario: Master of Temporary Price Drops
Amazon's Deal of the Day has allowed Wario to put on a mask and transform into Much Cheaper Wario. For today only, you can pick up Wario: Master of Disguise for $12.99. That's ridiculously cheap for a first-party Nintendo game. That's approaching Geist levels of markdown.We support even the temporary cheapening of games. If you've been waiting for a reasonable price on Wario, now you're somewhere closer to it.[Via CAG]
A road map of Itadaki Street
Having never come out in the US, the Itadaki Street franchise is somewhat of a mystery. But the series has been thrust into our attention with its entry on the DS and the included Mario and Dragon Quest characters. We know we like the characters, and we are vaguely aware of a board game of some kind, but how exactly does the game play?Siliconera, who previously helped us identify all the Dragon Quest folks, has a piece up now about the game that's half review, half tutorial. It's an excellent resource for the Itadaki curious, and should help you in your soul-searching about whether or not you're interested in a Japanese board game about property.
Mario tote for toting whatever people tote
First, a confession: we have no idea what people use tote bags for. Toting things, obviously. But what? They're too big to be purses and too small to be overnight bags. However, we like totes because they're called "totes" and give us a reason to say the word "totes." This one's got a Mario pocket on it, and some appliqued Super Mario Bros. 2 items. It's great work, available from Etsy seller TheFennec for a scant $10. The Sub-Space version looks just like this one, but black, and full of coins. Also, like all of Sub-Con, it's just a dream.[Via Wonderland]
A chibi trailer for Chibi Robo
This commercial for Chibi Robo: Park Patrol is really, really short. Fifteen seconds. It also shows no real game footage at all. But it's about Chibi Robo, which we really don't see or hear enough about. Also it's got some creepy flower things in it!It's mostly just great to see Nintendo putting some advertising yen into Chibi Robo. What are the odds that even fifteen scant seconds will be devoted to it on American television?
N+ probably coming out in Europe
European DS players who want some physics-platforming may not have to import after all. Metanet stated on their blog that Eurogamer was mistaken about the US-only status of N+, stating "We're happy to announce that N+ will indeed be released in Europe." In their tongue-in-cheek correction of Eurogamer, they also confirmed that N+ would indeed be released in Canada as well, not that there was any question. However, Eurogamer responded by saying that they didn't inaccurately report on the release plans. Apparently, publisher Atari told them that they currently had no plans to release N+ in Europe. Perhaps Atari and Metanet need to have a small discussion.[Via Eurogamer]
Non-Game Boy: Serious games before they were cool
Since the release of Brain Age in Japan, Nintendo has turned their attention toward casual, nontraditional fare for adult audiences. Much of it, like Brain Age, is casual game material with a slight educational slant, but other successful DS releases, like Cooking Navi and Eigo Zuke, are not games at all, but rather educational aids and tools designed to use the DS's unique interface. They're all doing massive business, which makes it difficult to laugh at them no matter how silly they are. But Nintendo was not the first company to attempt to sell application software on a gaming system, however. That distinction probably falls on BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600. Nintendo wasn't even the first company to sell application software on a Nintendo handheld. In fact, Game Boy non-games appeared in 1991. They didn't change the face of gaming. But they make for an interesting historical footnote now, and isn't that better than selling millions of copies? It is for us!
Make a pixel t-shirt
The title is imperative for a reason. Seriously, you should either be working on a t-shirt right now or headed out to Michaels to pick up supplies. Oh, or reading this post. That's totally fine.To make this Princess Peach shirt, HackerZen user Lenore adapted the technique used by a very faithful reader to make his Phoenix Wright shirt, adding the extra step of drawing a grid on the shirt with a washable marker, then filling in pixels to make a big sprite. Excellent.But don't just default to Mario. There are a lot of sprites out there. Get creative![Via GoNintendo]
