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Amazon will prevent command confusion on all Alexa devices
Amazon's Echo lineup, like some smart speakers, uses proximity detection to decide which device is best-suited to responding to your voice commands. It's a clever way to prevent multiple devices from waking up at the same time. There's just one problem: support in non-Amazon devices has been inconsistent at best, creating a mess if you have third-party gear that doesn't use the feature. Thankfully, that shouldn't be an issue from here on out. Amazon has moved its Echo Spatial Perception technology to the cloud, ensuring that all devices can use it.
Amazon Echo's UK owners can now shop just by talking
Now that the Amazon Echo has reached the UK, thousands of Brits are getting to grips with the cylindrical speaker's smart assistant, Alexa. Companies like Just Eat and Sky have created app-like "Skills" for the Echo, allowing owners to re-order their last takeaway and receive news updates, but Amazon's own integrations have been lacking compared to those available in the US. To celebrate availability of the Echo Dot, the retailer today confirmed that a number of new features are available on UK Echos, including Alexa voice shopping and ESP (Echo Spatial Perception).
Star Citizen's latest patch adds ESP, improves control
Cloud Imperium has officially released version 0.9.2 of Star Citizen's Arena Commander. It's kind of a big deal thanks to something that the company is dubbing ESP, or Enhanced Stick Precision. CIG's Chris Roberts explains how this latest version of the alpha software, which combines ESP with significant changes to the ITTS and HUD systems, comes the closest so far to achieving "the level of control and sense of dogfighting that I had in my head when I first pictured how space combat should feel back when I started the journey that is Star Citizen." The latest patch also doubles the size of Arena's Commander's maps. You can read the full patch notes here. CIG also unveiled the Drake Herald this afternoon. Be sure to click the web page's decrypt button to see all the details. [Thanks Cardboard!]
Sonic the Hedgehog honored with Belgian stamps, Japanese guitar
Sonic the Hedgehog is more than just a blue creature who runs quickly. He's a mascot, a hero, an inspiration to many ... and now, in honor of the 20th anniversary of his first game, he's a guitar. The Japanese branch of guitar company ESP has partnered with Sega to make a limited edition Sonic electric guitar designed to look like Sega musician Jun Senoue's. It features the hedgehog's smirking face on the body, and his shoe on the headstock. It'll be available through the end of the year for ¥136,500 ($1782). After the break, Senoue demonstrates with a little Sonic music. You can find more of his playing at the ESP site. If you're looking for a much, much cheaper collectible, the Belgian Post is launching a series of Sonic stamps on August 29. [Thanks, Jake.]
Garmin ecoRoute ESP module gets priced, detailed further
Well, it looks like we won't have to wait until CES for more details on Garmin's new ecoRoute ESP module after all, as a listing for the device has now already turned up on GPSCity.com, and the site has even provided us with a few additional, as yet unofficial availability details. Apparently, the cable (which ties directly into your car's on board diagnostic system) will run $149.99 and might "possibly" be available by the end of the year, but is more likely to roll out sometime in the first quarter of 2010 --- and it'll supposedly only work with nuvi 1xxx series units that have Bluetooth. If that's not enough for you, the site also has what appears to be the first set of screenshots of the interface, which detail everything from speed and breaking to fuel economy and your carbon footprint. Hit up the link below for the complete rundown.
Garmin EcoRoutes ESP module turns your GPS into car sentinel
Get ready to tech up your driving experience, as Garmin has unveiled a new accessory for its nuvi line of GPS devices that lets you add a number of customizable gauges and monitoring utilities. The new ESP module tucks into the OBD-II diagnostics port on your car and communicates (via Bluetooth) all-important data like intake air temperatures and the fuel efficiency of your driving to the nuvi up top. Yea, it's been done before, but Garmin is (for the time being) a major force in navigation devices and could truly popularize this should there be enough interest. For our money, it's both a neat and geeky way to expand the functionality of the now threatened satnav species. The full dish on price and availability can be expected at CES 2010 this coming January.
DS Fanboy Review: Bangai-O Spirits
If you've ever played a Treasure shooter, or almost any Treasure game outside of, say, Stretch Panic or Wario World, you know a bit about what to expect from Bangai-O Spirits. For years, Treasure has been creating incredibly strange games with overt humor and colorful graphics overlaid on top of complex mechanics and piles and piles of enemies. Each game has a "gimmick" that drives the gameplay and defines the player's abilities: swapping colors in Ikaruga, throwing in Gunstar Heroes, and so on. Bangai-O Spirits has all the hallmarks of a Treasure shooter. It doesn't take itself seriously, but provides more than enough of a challenge for any gamer. It features the same gimmick as the other Bangai-O games, and will be instantly familiar to fans of those. In fact, it seems to be the ideal Treasure game. At the same time, it completely subverts the usual Treasure dynamic, with brilliant results. %Gallery-16997%
Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock! A look at Treasure's shooters
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/The_legacy_of_Treasure_Shooters'; We knew immediately when we heard that a new Bangai-O game was coming out that it would be something special. How could we be so sure of an unknown game? The answer lies in the history of its developer, Treasure, an offshoot of Konami who has been making idiosyncratic action games for years (as well as the occasional McDonald's game to fund said action games, but that's a story for another time).They've made very memorable brawlers and platformers, but Bangai-O Spirits is part of a long tradition of innovative shooters with insane storylines and unique rulesets, which is why we've chosen to look at Treasure's body of work in that particular genre. If you don't consider run & guns like Gunstar Heroes shooters ... well, we debated that, a lot, and decided that since they're games primarily about firing projectiles at enemies, they belong in the same discussion as scrolling shooters. Of course, if you think enough about shooters to make that kind of distinction, you probably know all about Treasure already. Boss is approaching! %Gallery-16997%
E308: More Bangai-O shots fired off
For the past few months, we've bombarded you with regular updates on Bangai-O Spirits like so many missiles. You might even say that we have an obsession, and you'd be right: we adore -- nay, love -- Bangai-O. If we were in charge of this scummy joint, it wouldn't even be DS Fanboy, but Bangai-O Fanboy. All employees would have to work while dressed as Riki or Mami. All readers would have to provide photographic proof that they owned the original, Japan-only N64 game. But we're not in charge -- we're snivelly, subservient slaves to our paymasters. So the most we can do is upload these ten new screenshots and hope that you view them. %Gallery-16997% [Via press release]
Treasure talks more Bangai-O Spirits
"Hardcore action awesomeness." That's how Treasure rep Arthur sums up Bangai-O Spirits (2:28), and we're struggling to concoct a more befitting description. The lucky blighters at Gamespot's "On the Spot" show got a chance to chat to Arthur (and his colleague Kaori) about the game, which launches later this year in the States. The first few minutes are dedicated to chatting about and showing off some of the now-familiar shooting action and the level editor, while the second half deals with the game's amazing Sound Load system. Arthur admits that this idea "took a lot of explaining to Nintendo," but then demonstrates how easy it is to share files (5:20) -- simply holding two DSes closely to one another does the trick. This idea still seems like witchcraft to us, but we absolutely love it. Arthur also confirmed that there was no official U.S. database planned to host Bangai-O sound files (9:05). Not that this should bother you -- after all, there's at least one other (really accessible) way to share your masterpiece of a level. %Gallery-16997% [Via press release]
Play Bangai-O and Naruto at this week's Anime Expo
Want to get your hands on Bangai-O Spirits before its August release? Then head on over to California and go to this year's Anime Expo. Not only will you get to play this gem of a game, but the entire DS Fanboy staff will envy you for your hands-on Bangai-O experience. Another DS game that will be playable is, of course, Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2. Would you really expect the orange-clad Ninja not to make an appearance? So, if you plan to stop by the Expo, make sure to check out D3 Publisher's booth (901) for some fun times on the DS. Gallery: Bangai-O Spirits Gallery: Naruto: Path of the Ninja 2
Absolutely Lovely Children exist on the DS
More manga/anime adaptations head DS-ward, this time in the form of Zettai Karen Children (Absolutely Lovely Children). Konami grabbed the license for the series and is making it into an RPG for the DS, which comes out on September 4th in Japan. We never heard of Absolutely Lovely Children before, well, yesterday, but the story focuses around three young girls with ESP. It's not uncommon for people to have ESP (in this manga/anime-verse), but these ten-year-olds have the highest level of the power. The government thus forms them into a seemingly elite unit known as "The Children."Since more details on this recently-announced-yet-soon-to-release game have yet to surface, it might be worth checking out some of the screens below to see if the style appeals to you. Keep in mind, though, that Zettai Karen Children DS: Dai-4 no Children probably won't be localized outside of Japan.%Gallery-26203%[Via Siliconera]
Daily Bangai-O Spirits videos are a welcome trend
Let us make our position on this subject absolutely clear: any website that wants to post new videos of Bangai-O Spirits between now and the game's August 12 release has our blessing. For that matter, we'll be happy watching playthroughs of new stages long after the game is out. The video above, from IGN, is especially awesome, featuring numerous enormous scatter bomb shots in a level devoid of anything but missile-firing enemies (which feed the scatter bombs).The two videos after the break feature the game's gentle first level and a bizarre gimmick level in which the player hits soccer balls with the bat weapon as they fall from a chute, pinball-style. There certainly appears to be enough variety in the level designs. %Gallery-16997%
Bangai-O videos lift our spirits
These English-language gameplay videos of Bangai-O Spirits give us a look at a few of the game's weapons -- the yellow Shield "weapon" there seems like a good choice for obvious reasons (including the number of bullets on screen and their tendency to blow you up upon impact). The "Mix" icon in the weapon selection screen (which can now be read) indicates that the two chosen EX weapons can combine into a new scatter bomb attack. Amusingly, within the first few seconds, we see the demo player fail a level. That's the mark of a hardcore game! The video after the break shows off two of Spirits' more labyrinthine levels, as well as the awesome bullet-destroying "Sword" attack. We cannot express how thrilled we are that the release date is approaching. There hasn't been a DS game yet to match the few minutes of demo time we've had!%Gallery-16997%
Kindred Bangai-O Spirits
Bangai-O Spirits is packed with amazing features -- the level editor, the Sound Load system, the shooting of stuff. But as if that weren't enough, it also has co-op. It's local, and limited to two players, both of whom require their own cartridge, but everyone should probably have their own Bangai-O Spirits anyway. You can be joined by another shooty robot in any stage in Free Play -- which means any stage. This includes stages you've created yourself or transferred via Sound Load. IGN's Daemon Hatfield reports a lot of slowdown, especially in multiplayer, but slowdown in Bangai-O games is inevitable given the nature of the super attacks, and may even be part of the design. %Gallery-16997%
Bangai-O contest winners available for download
At the end of May, Treasure announced the winners of their Bangai-O Spirits stage contest. The 1st place winner, MKLL, received a 50,000 yen prepaid debit card, a soundtrack CD, and a Bangai-O Spirits t-shirt (which we'd like to see) for the "Tokimeki Doukasen" stage. The 2nd place winner, NeoGAF's Sp0rsk, won a Wii in addition to the soundtrack and shirt. All the contest-winning stages are now available for download and play via Sound Load.That means that we won a bunch of downloadable stages that we're going to grab now and hang onto just in case they work in the U.S. version of the game. We wouldn't be surprised if these contest-winning stages made it onto the cartridge anyway!
The sweet sounds of Bangai-O Spirits in Europe this August
European shooter fans (and people who listen to us) will be playing MP3s into their DS Lites along with us this August. D3 Publisher of Europe announced today that they will publish Treasure and ESP's Bangai-O Spirits in Europe. While no actual day was named, the release is planned for August, which is, at least, more specific than "Summer," "Q3," or "Soon." Just save some of your game budget for an August expenditure.We couldn't be happier to see Bangai-O Spirits being released so soon in Europe, because it means that (as long as you guys buy it) we'll have even more players hard at work making us awesome stages.%Gallery-16997%
Bangai-O Spirits: first English screens!
We're pleased to report that being able to read all of the text on the screen in Bangai-O Spirits does not ruin the hype for us. Obviously. We got by just fine on limited Japanese skill during our GDC playthrough, but we are dying for a chance to explore all the options and menus in full. Our gallery is now rife with delightful English screens. Now you can see which weapons are being displayed onscreen!More importantly, now that screens of the English menus are available, we can see that stages in the Edit Mode are divided into categories. "Treasure's Best" must be the new stages we were told would be added between the Japanese and U.S. releases. We find it interesting that the puzzle stages are separated, as well.We're so happy to see progress being made! Get here soon, Bangai-O. %Gallery-16997%[Via press release]
Bangai-O Spirits boxart hits the highlights
The new boxart for the U.S. version of Bangai-O Spirits keeps it fairly simple. You've got your robot, who appears big on the box but is quite small on the screen; there are some projectiles flying off in every direction, and lots of delicious giant fruit. That's the core of Bangai-O, all right. The box could do with some kind of visual representation of the level editor, or perhaps an effusive quote from DS Fanboy. We understand that the omissions were probably done in the interest of keeping it simple. As expected, Amazon has updated the listing for Bangai-O Spirits with the new August 12 release date. So the delay is (not really) official (but really likely). %Gallery-16997%
Bangai-O Respite: Possible two-month delay
Normally, the idea of waiting longer for Bangai-O Spirits would totally ruin our day, but to be honest, we were relieved when we saw that Gamestop has changed their release date to August 12th (Amazon still says June 24th). There is just way too much DS stuff coming out in June -- especially for people of a 2D action/shooting persuasion. It's a bad situation not only because it's really expensive to get all the new stuff at once, but because it forces non-crazy people to choose, hurting sales of everything that comes out then. We don't expect Bangai-O Spirits to be a massive hit (though it should be), but we at least want all the DS shooter fans to be able to space it out a bit from Space Invaders Extreme, in order to maximize its sales in that group. %Gallery-16997%
