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Man loves DS so much, tries to turn a Game Boy Color into one
We can understand. The DS is the best invention since antiseptics, in our eyes, completely revolutionizing our life and bringing peace to the world. It's a device that could probably travel back in time, get into the ring with the great Muhammad Ali and knock him out in two rounds (the DS would spend the first round dancing circles around Ali, humiliating him before going in for the kill in the second round). The DS is our own personal super hero.So, we can appreciate this mod that puts a touch-screen into a Game Boy Color. But, you may wonder how the controls actually work. See, different areas of the touch-screen are mapped to corresponding buttons, with a majority of the screen being assigned to the d-pad. It's not as exact to the DS, but it's close enough for us.[Thanks, deadpixels!]
Game length in MMOs and elsewhere
Back when I was in college, when we asked a professor how long our papers should be, he answered thusly: "Like a skirt-- short enough to keep it interesting, but long enough to cover the subject." More and more, it seems that you could say the same thing about videogames. In days past, the length of a game was a selling point-- the more gameplay you could get out of it, the more the game was worth. And so MMOs especially ask for a lot of investment, and were asked to give a lot of gameplay in return. I used to beat old NES and Game Boy games in minutes, and now, like Fullbright, I've got days and weeks logged in the MMOs I play.But is that a good thing? I hate to keep harping on it, but Fullbright brings up Portal for me (a game that seems destined to redefine what we think of as games this year)-- there's a game that only takes a few hours but delivers an experience that lasts much longer than that. In terms of MMOs the current trend seems to be both towards shorter gameplay and less investment for that gameplay.MMOs may be the exception here-- you sit down to create one character, and heading into a persistent world should make you want to be there. But with many MMOs on the market than before (and an older, busier audience than ever), the trend seems to be headed towards shorter games, not longer. That's not to say that a great game shouldn't cover the subject (no game should end before its time), but designers are feeling more and more pressure to make things short enough to keep it interesting, rather than throwing in random FedEx quests to brag about a few more hours of gameplay.[Via GSW]
DS Daily: What's missing?
We were at the GameStop, browsing through the old stuff as we tend to do, when we happened upon a copy of Heiankyo Alien. We were giving serious consideration to buying it, but in the end, the inconvenience of not being able to play it in our DS weighed heavily on our decision. So Heiankyo Alien sits unpurchased and unloved in a glass case, surrounded by copies of Mary Kate and Ashley: Crush Course.Backwards compatibility may be one of the worst ideas in gaming, but it certainly does come in handy. Game Boy compatibility on the DS would make for a much friendlier device, and one with which we'd be even happier. What single feature do you desire? It could be anything that a previous handheld system has had, or a new feature.
Bling-tastic Game Boy makes us weak in the knees (and wrists)
Holy excess, Batman! Featuring a level of bling that would make Snoop Dogg wince, this one-off, solid 18 karat gold Game Boy comes with a diamond-encrusted screen border, diamond set on/off buttons, and weighs more than twice as much (27 ounces) as the original version (11.2 ounces). It was commissioned by Aspreys of London, and is now on sale over at Swiss Supply Direct Inc., which describes the portable as "an unbelievable conversation piece." Well, quite.Although you may balk at its $29,500 price tag, you do get gold-tinged copies of Super Mario Land, Golf and Monopoly for your outlay, mainly because there's nothing worse than having no games to play on your new solid gold console come Christmas morning.[Via Hawty McBloggy]
DS Daily: Revisiting the download rumor
The idea of a download service that could offer up older portable (and maybe not-so-originally-portable?) Nintendo games for play on the DS has us so very excited that we just needed to take some time to talk about it a little more. Also, to hyperventilate. But since the daily question is just that -- a question -- and not simply us performing the dance of potential endless joy, we figured we'd ask: what would you want to download, completely (or at least mostly) untouched in some form for play on your DS? Remember, we're talking about Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, so don't go crazy with the wishing here.
Boy risks life for GBA, we wonder what he would do for a DS
Fight a lion bare-handed?Maybe, as the kid has more guts than we could ever hope to imagine, risking life and limb for his beloved handheld gaming system. Heck, the thing is your run-of-the-mill GBA SP! In him resides a devotion to and love of gaming that we could only hope for. But, Danyelle Miller is probably thankful for the lives of his family, as well.For more information on the fires that are currently affecting California, head on over here.[Via Go Nintendo]
Rumor: Official flash cards for downloading Game Boy games
Normally, if we saw an unsourced rumor stating that Nintendo was planning to release its own DS flash media, for the purpose of offering downloadable Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles via a Virtual Console-type service, we wouldn't even take the time to write one very long sentence about it. But, as the previous very long sentence suggests, we have reason to at least consider the plausibility of this rumor. It was reported by the usually trustworthy EDGE magazine, so it gets at least a "we don't know" shrug from us. Maybe?If true, EDGE speculates/reports, this development would then lead to a download service like Wii Ware, for original DS content. Confusingly, this is cited as a move to allow officially-supported homebrew content, and thus removing some of the usefulness of non-Nintendo homebrew devices, which can also, of course, be used for piracy. Would it be worth giving up homebrew for the ability to buy the same games? Standardization would at least be nice. And we'd all love some downloadable Game Boy games.
Nintendo of Japan drops Famicom hardware support
Well, it had an amazing run.Unless you're a citizen of Japan and own a Famicom system, this bit of news is likely to not affect you. However, should you fulfill those requirements, you might like to know that Nintendo of Japan has ceased to support the old piece of hardware. You're probably one who still plays the thing, we imagine, so you might want to take it easy on the old gal, as this goes into effect on the 31st of this month.Also of note, Nintendo of Japan will be dropping support for the Super Famicom, N64, Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket, as well.[Via Arcade Renaissance]
Kaplan says gamers were bored before Wii
Now, we've been saying for awhile now that the Wii would revolutionize the industry and it has. But, we wouldn't go so far as to say we were bored by it all pre-Wii. We loved the GameCube, we loved the GBA and we still love our DS. We loved the N64. We hardly found ourselves without games to play, that's for sure."A major insight that Nintendo had early on was that they saw that gamers were getting bored, even though they didn't know it yet," Kaplan remarked. Robert Matthews, senior director of consumer marketing for Nintendo of America backed her up, stating "Just look at the way people consume entertainment today. The idea that you would spend hours playing videogames is just not real anymore." While we'd argue that, blogging doesn't leave us with as much time for gaming as we'd like, but we think overall that there will always be a place for lengthy games, jam-packed with feature-rich content and that Nintendo's new proven focus shouldn't try to do away with those.Do you guys care to toss in your two cents?
The DS Life: Our Digital Yard
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.The electronic blips and chirps, mingling with the crickets and other evening harmonies, are what draw you in at first. Against a building wall, a projected game of Super Mario World plays, but it's not any level you've ever seen. Nearby, a group of people sit around a Powerbook, one of them shaking a Wii remote while the others watch. Above them all, eleven Game Boys and a tangle of wires hang from a tree. What could be going on?
Singapore Airlines passengers get emulated GBC games
While riding the friendly skies with Singapore Airlines, one of the crew over at Siliconera found themselves in for a treat. Well, kind of. See, the airline offers emulated Game Boy Color games for use during your flight, to help you stab that foul beast called boredom directly in its disgusting, black heart. While a nice gesture, it turns out the emulation software has some issues.First of all, there are only two categories of play: Pokemon and Adventure. Also, the titles under the Adventure category suffer from choppy frame rates and overall sluggish play. As far as the Pokemon games go, there is no save feature, hardly making an effort to actually progress in the game a meaningless one. Other flights, however, featured different titles. Some flights featured The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Wario Land 3. Others even had Picross 2. All in all, seems like a good idea executed somewhat poorly.
Game Boys, ice cream, and Crip-walking chefs
The reviews that have been coming in for MySims make sure to point out the EA-developed title's lack of depth and polish, but we're sure it'll sell just fine with casual gamers based on its cheerful cuteness alone. This latest video preview shows off all the fun you can have when you're not busy gentrifying your MySims town -- play pranks on unsuspecting goth kids, DJ at the local discotheque, and straight-up mack on some pink-haired honeys.Apparently, you can even have a dance-off with restaurant-owner Gino Delicioso! How did an Italian chef learn to Crip walk like that?
The DS Life: Insane Youth
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.We really don't give chiptune artists or the micromusic scene the amount of attention they deserve here at DS Fanboy; to remedy that distressing fault, this week's installment of The DS Life turns your ears towards the clicks, pops, and wheezes of chiptune musician Maru's circuit-bent toys and Game Boy systems, low-tech instruments working in concert to sing a high-tech song.
The DS Life: The Game Boy lives on
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Game_Boy_Lives_On'; The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at gmail dot com.Though the Game Boy brand's days are numbered, making way for Nintendo's dual-screened future and profit plans, at least one young gamer is doing his part to keep the old, gray brick's memory alive. Step past the post break for the full story and this week's edition of The DS Life.
Nintendo hints at end of Game Boy name, possible WiiWare in 2007
While it would have been virtually unthinkable just a few years ago, Nintendo is apparently now contemplating the possibility of a world without Game Boys. That's according to Nintendo marketing exec George Harrison, who recently told GameDaily.biz that we may have seen the last of the name, specifically saying that "it's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." In other, less heartbreaking news, Nintendo's homebrew-happy WiiWare service appears to be progressing nicely, with Harrison also letting out word that "it may not take until 2008" for it to make its public debut. A firmer date will apparently depend on how quickly developers can get their act together.[Via Joystiq]
DS may have killed the 'Game Boy' name
We all suspected that the Game Boy Advance was basically moribund, because it lacks the high-tech money-printing capabilities of the DS. Confirming our suspicions, Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview with Kotaku that Nintendo basically didn't care about the platform anymore. Now, according to George Harrison, it's not just Nintendo's "third pillar" strategy that's out, but the whole Game Boy line. He told GameDaily that "This year in our marketing you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark."It makes sense for Nintendo not to bring back the Game Boy name when the DS has so much momentum. But, personally, we think it's quite sad to see a Nintendo standard go away. Oh, well, at least we've got the Wii now to take over as the most awkwardly-named Nintendo console on the market.
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!
Diamond and Pearl release raises classic Pokmon prices
The drive to catch all 493 beasts in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is causing a surge in demand for old Pokémon games. JJGames' used video games price tracker shows the average price for used, classic Pokémon games rising over 20 percent since early Feburary. Used game prices in general went down nearly 20 percent during the same period.As the above graph shows, the Pokémon prices largely track with the market through the end of February, when they surged ahead of the DS games' April 22 release. The prices take a downward turn for the month after Diamond and Pearl's release, then shoot up again after Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer.While this meteoric rise might encourage you to invest all your savings into used Pokémon games, we encourage caution. A well-diversified portfolio of used games is the only way to avoid fiascos like this one.
Virtually Overlooked Week: Eric's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases.It was 1994 when Ahmad poignantly rapped, "Back in the days, when I was young; I'm not a kid anymore, but some days, I sit and wish I was a kid again." If scientists could only harness the wasted enthusiasm of our nostalgia, our cities would never want for electricity.Remember the peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches? Or the summer swims with the sun on your back, tanning your skin golden brown? The days you could set your heart on a girl you hardly knew at any moment, whether it be a winsome classmate or the clear-skinned brunette from Noxzema's hokey commercials? The nights when TGIF meant new episodes of Full House and Family Matters, and not after-work casual dining?Each weekly batch of Virtual Console releases is a reminder of my idle youth. Some games I recognize only from magazine previews I read with eager eyes over a decade ago, and others are familiar friends -- titles I've been meaning to catch up with to recount years past. The whole gang hasn't quite made it to the reunion yet, but that doesn't mean we can't trade old stories about them in the meantime. "Sometimes, I still sit and reminisce ..."
A peek at what almost was: Diablo on the Game Boy
Although it seems like this is a joke from deep within the bowels of hell, yes ... there really was a version of Diablo being developed by Blizzard (apparently) for the Nintendo Game Boy. It's hard to imagine this hellfire-filled hack and slash RPG on the family-friendly Game Boy (just imagine playing this in church), but Past to Present Online has some screenshots including a picture of the development cartridge, and even a video (which can also be seen after the jump). It's not terribly impressive, and is no doubt years old, but just imagine what could have been.
