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DS Fanboy Favorites: Jason's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.It's odd; in the past two years, I've played my DS more than any other system, console or otherwise. However, I very rarely play outside of the comfort of my own room. Sure, I have the ten minute bus ride to campus everyday, and an hour break between classes, but the bus ride is relaxing and the hour I spend on campus, playing chess with some friends. It's really a testament to the quality of the library on the DS, that it would stand against the heavy-hitting consoles without the added advantage of portability.I'm a bit of a Renaissance gamer, playing titles far and wide. Sure, I've grown tired of the World War II shooters, but if a game is innovative and/or well-crafted, I'll give it a shot. I also like bunnies and salsa dancing and figure skating; I'm so macho.
St. Louis Airport Marriott now offering HDTVs
Note to travelers: the St. Louis Airport Marriott Hotel now offers 32-inch HDTVs in certain rooms. We know this is becoming somewhat of a common feature in upscale hotel rooms but it still doesn't hurt to pass along the good word. Apparently, the "Executive Room" technology package includes the 32-inch LCD that even allows for laptop, MP3 player, and AV hookup. (Black panel pictured off to the right by the phone) No word on the extra cost associated with this little creature comfort but it might be a good thing to let your company's travel agent know that having this option will increase your productivity.[via DBuisnessNews]
Cooking Navi goes high-end
Cooking Navi has been a smash in Japan, so it's hardly a surprise that the game would get a sequel. This particular sequel, however, is somewhat of a surprise. Shaberu! DS O-Ryouri Navi Marugoto Teikoku Hotel (Talking DS Cooking Navi Marugoto Teikoku Hotel) is a new version of the game containing recipes from the chefs who cook in the prestigious Japanese hotel.We're thinking about picking up Koei's latest nongame, since we'd love to try some gourmet Japanese cuisine. But we have a concern: isn't Cooking Navi supposed to be about basic recipes and helping regular people make them? Seriously, look at those seven chefs on the box. This interactive cookbook has the potential to be the hardest game on the system.
HD PPV movies coming to more hotel rooms
High-def and hotel rooms are nothing new but they are still exciting to us. nSTREAMS is the next hotel solution provider to offer the picture quality we all love so much. Their service is going put PPV HD movies in, hopefully, your next hotel room. No word on cost of each movie but it's likely that each hotel can set their own price. It is just nice to see more hotel chains embracing the idea of superior picture quality and installing systems like these. If they install it, we will come.
DS Daily: New horizons
There have been a lot of familiar franchises on the DS, and we love them! But, and this is where a lot of the system's publicity comes from, there has also been an explosion of new genres and new experiences, as well as revivals of past trends. So, as hardcore gamers (the kind who read game blogs), has your gaming universe been expanded by the DS? Have you taken part in any completely new experiences? Played your first graphical text adventure? Minigame collection? Whatever Brain Age was?Or maybe what you discovered on the DS is something popular that you just missed out on for some reason, like Final Fantasy or Castlevania. We want to hear about your experiences! We want to know how the DS has affected your gaming tastes! We want to know how you classify Brain Age!
EA hosts SSX party at Ice Hotel
To celebrate the release of SSX Blur, EA held an event at Quebec's Ice Hotel, which is a hotel made of ice. A hotel, where people sleep, where the walls are made of ice. Journalists got a chance to play the new game and see new demos of Army of Two and a mysterious new property that is, unfortunately, under embargo. Junkie XL, who is responsible for Blur's soundtrack, provided a performance, presumably using non-ice-based instruments. The crowd was also treated to drinks at the ice bar (a bar made of ice), and, of course, warm chicken soup, which no doubt helped everyone keep warm. Ice, as you may have heard, is cold, and the event took place in a building made entirely of ice.We don't know whether to be jealous of the people who were invited to this unusual locale, or happy that we spent the day in an environment habitable by humans. Luckily Blur is out in stores and we can enjoy it in our nice, temperate homes.[Via QJ.net]
Marriott hotels to get LCD HDTVs with digital connectivity panel
We know how it is, out on the road with choices to make in regard to which hotel you stay in the for night, but booking a room in a joint that lacks high-speed internet of the free variety just isn't going to happen. These days, however, the gadget-packed traveler demands even more connectivity options, and apparently Marriott gets it. By the year's end, Marriott International plans to have 25-percent of JW Marriott, Marriott, and Renaissance guest rooms in the US and Canada hooked up with 32-inch LCD HDTVs that boast a nifty "digital connectivity panel" to encourage gadget integration. Guests will reportedly be able to plug in laptops, camcorders, digicams, video games, and iPods (we presume DAPs / PMPs in general) into the swank set, and the built-in PIP functions will allow the business savvy to check their corporate inbox while playing back a video clip in another window. Additionally, the firm plans on throwing in a bevy of new channels to delight couch-dwellers, and the rollout is slated to hit completion by 2009. So if you just so happen to be stopping in the San Francisco area and feel like checking this out, SF's Moscone Center has officially been dubbed the first to offer such niceties in 100-percent of its rooms.[Via TGDaily]
Hotel Dusk gets European release date
The "interactive novel" Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has been swimming its way around the United States for over a week now, bringing people back to their roots with gritty, film noir style. But, alas, we cannot forget our comrades on the other side of that large, salty blue thing. Europeans, get ready from some pencil-sketch, because Hotel Dusk is dropping on April 13th.The game has created quite a bit of controversy over whether or not its even a "game", per se, but our experiences with it so far have been rock solid. Though we won't be compiling a full review on the game (at least for quite awhile), Hotel Dusk receives a solid recommendation based on dialogue, graphical style, and originality. Americans and Europeans alike, give it a run for your money.
WRUP: Hotel Dusk edition
Hey, guess what we're playing this weekend? Probably the same thing you are, no doubt. Yes, it's a little game by the name of Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Interactive is the name, and mystery is the game in this noir-inspired title. We cannot wait to pick up our copy this afternoon, come home and get under the covers (it's cold here, y'know) with our new game. What about you guys? Will you be joining us, or do you have another game (or games) in mind for this weekend?Previous posts: what were you playing?
DS Daily: The new book?
The adventure genre peaked in the early to mid 90's. And then it crashed. Hard. As it trudged along through the years, essentially dead but for rare gems like The Longest Journey, it slowly faded from the minds of modern gamers.The point-and-click capabilities of the DS have certainly given the once-zombified genre a much-needed jolt. We've seen excellent offerings, including the superlative Phoenix Wright series, the soon-to-be-released Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Trace Memory, Lost in Blue, and a few others (let's not even mention the ScummVM homebrew project). But the DS gives these games something they could have never had in the nineties: absolute portability. It's almost as though these games compete directly with the classic novel, something which has never really been seen even amongst the myriad of gadgets anyone can go out and readily purchase.Our question is this: how does a DS adventure game compare to that of a classic book? What would you rather whip out on the way to work? Phoenix Wright 2 has had our hearts and minds in a legal grip for days on end. You may not look as smart as those punks reading Vonnegut, but that's okay. You look cooler.
New Japanese Hotel Dusk commercial piques interest
For those of you looking forward to Hotel Dusk: Room 215 as much as we are, you'll be pleased to know that the Japanese website for the game has updated with a new commercial. The commercial is fairly short, but does a wonderful job of presenting some of the puzzles to be expected, as well as the amazing hand-sketched, noir style that got us interested in the first place. The commercial also presents a large amount of characters that the player is expected to interact with.See also: EGM so-so over Phoenix Wright, anoints Hotel Dusk Hotel Dusk in the twilight of the year Hotel Dusk in stills
LodgeNet HD reaches 17,000 hotel rooms, offers HD VOD
If you're going to travel, you might as well travel right. While LodgeNet made some stout promises concerning its rollout of HDTV services in 2006, it seems the company is actually following through, as it recently announced that its Signature HDTV services had been "contracted to over 80,000 hotel rooms and was deployed to more than 17,000 already." Additionally, those lucky enough to land a room with this luxury will notice that "around 20-percent" of the films on demand are of the HD variety. Although the size and model of the HDTV can vary from room to room, it's tough to complain about a widescreen flat-panel television that's pumpin' out 1080i when you're on the road, and just think, seeing "Free HBO" used to be all it took to swerve over to a given hotel. Kudos for raising that bar, LodgeNet.
Dubai's new luxury tower to resemble an iPod
As if the Burj Al-Arab (and Time Residences) in Dubai wasn't unique enough, Omniyat Properties is getting set to construct a 23-story luxury tower inspired by none other than Apple's iPod. Slated to be built in Business Bay, the "iPad residential tower" is scheduled to house more than 200 units, and was "designed by Hong Kong-based architects James Law Cybertecture International." The high-rise will sit atop a "docking station angled at six degrees," which should have iPod fanboys flying over in droves just to snap pictures. While no preliminary sketches have surfaced quite yet, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for future development (ahem) of the world's largest iPod, and you can go ahead and pencil in "sometime in 2009" as your "must-take" vacation.
Berlin hotel offers cel-shaded room to guests
The Arte Luise Kunsthotel has to be one of the coolest hotels on the planet. Each room was designed by a different artist, and the prices won't require you to sell your PS3 for an overnight stay. The room "Comic" looks like something out of Jet Set Radio Future, or maybe an A-Ha video. That's an actual photo of the room above. You can just imagine losing your depth perception and sense of realism there, and we can't think of a more perfect place to set up a game console. Preferably a Wii, because anything with more horsepower would overpower the room.Check out some of the other rooms in the place, it's a real trip. Next time we're in Berlin, Joystiq calls dibs on this room and "Future Comfort". That shower looks like something out of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.[Via Boing Boing]
Leipzig: DS games overview video
In this small snippet of footage for already-released and upcoming games for the DS from the Leipzig Games Convention, we see titles such as Mario Vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis and Hotel Dusk: Room 215, which has players looking for a lost friend during the late seventies in Los Angeles. With some stylish noir overtones and an interesting story, it's clearly our pick for best game of the bunch in this video.
Traveling to London? Stay at the Canary Wharf's Four Seasons for in-room HDTV
Hotels are suppose to feel like home away from home but sometime those non-detachable coat hangers just make the place seem so, um, staged, but if need to get your high-def fix when travel abroad, check out London's Four Seasons on Canary Whalf. NXTV has outfitted 142 rooms with high-def VOD along with high speed Internet, and a customized guest interface. We are wondering what kind and size HDTVs these rooms are outfitted with...wonder if Weblogs INC will foot the bill to fly the four of us over there to check out the rooms HDTVs?
Travelodge trials Travelpod tent / hotel room
Although you may have skipped the whole Boy Scout thing as a kid and still can't envision yourself ever setting foot on a campground, Travelodge's Travelpod may be of interest. Chances are if you've never tried roughing it in the wilderness just for kicks, you may still have considered camping out for certain launches of inexplicable importance, or found yourself homeless after a long day at name-your-music-festival. Travelodge is aiming squarely at those who turn their noses at the the thought of a tent by offering a semi-portable hotel room at various outdoor venues. The palatial pod is sealed up by clear polycarbonate glass to keep those pesky creatures out of your dwelling area, and features a "luxury double bed" (since when have hotel beds been luxurious?), tables, lights, duvets, pillows, carpeted flooring, a mirror, and even a fully functional bathroom. While we're unsure how similar the restroom is to an indoor outhouse, we do admire the effort, and the sealed nature of the pod helps to quell the noises of the nocturnal. The Travelpod will be offered at various concerts and festivals in the UK next year, and if catching a good night's rest just doesn't happen while you're flat on the ground, you can shack up in style for £26 per night.[Via Core 77]
Blackberry detox offered at Chicago-area hotel
We've heard plenty about the negative effects of Blackberry dependence -- eye damage, thumb damage, the complete loss of interpersonal communication skills -- but Chicago hotel general manager Rick Ueno is helping his guests kick their high-tech habit. Upon check-in to the Sheraton Chicago, you can surrender your precious handheld -- we're assuming any type of life-stealing smartphone is eligible -- where a non-robotic clerk will keep it under lock and key until you break down and ask for it back. It was Ueno's own addiction that sparked the idea for the free program, so he understands how hard it is to go cold turkey, even if you're only out of touch from the time you check in until you fire up the in-room WiFi connection.[Thanks Alex N]
HDTV content coming to a hotel near you
Tell us how much you hate it when you are staying at a high-end hotel that features HDTVs and they don't have high-def content on them. It sure annoys us. LodgeNet is working on changing that though. They are indicating that 2006 will be the year that HDTV content finally makes inroads towards the 160,000 guest rooms that LodgeNet services. Don't think that these hotels are installing HD just for you though as this is something to set them apart from the competitors. Truthfully though, we don't care who they do it for as long has they have HDTV content on their high definition sets.
Charge your iPod and listen to it at the same time
This might be old news for most of you, but those new to the iPod might benefit from Chris Breen's latest iPod tip. Chris found himself in a hotel that has a TV with the right ports to hook up his iPod with video, however, the iPod was seriously lacking juice. He could just plug it into his laptop, but then it would display that 'Do Not Disconnect' message and not allow him to use it. That is, unless you eject the iPod from the iTunes source list.Easy, simple, and potentially useful. Just how I like my tips.
