minigames
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Jackass: The Game is as painful as the show
At DS Fanboy, we like to advocate the idea that any task can be made into a game. Given the right goals and rules, any real-world (or other) activity can be an enjoyable game -- consider the example of Brain Age, which consists of normally boring tasks with timers and scores applied to make a game-like experience. For that matter, Cooking Mama starts with the idea of simulating the steps involved with cooking, and derives minigames from those steps. Designing a game around activities not normally associated with games is an interesting way of stimulating creativity, and adding some novelty to the medium.It is for this reason that we don't really have an issue with the premise of Jackass: The Game. Our problem lies with the execution. Sure, we haven't played it, but we already know from the screens (and based on the fact that it's a licensed Jackass game) that Jackass: The Game won't be an avant-garde experiment in game design. It's just a game about hurting yourself in a shopping cart or whatever. One with no consistent visual style, for that matter, which is a bad sign. Some games are in 2D, some are in 3D. Maybe that's the experimental part.%Gallery-11123% [Via GoNintendo]
Bomberman Land contains Bomberman
Don't worry! The latest round of Bomberman Land screens contains plenty of pictures of those minigames we all love. Bomberman is skiing! Bomberman is dancing, apparently! Bomberman is ... sorting things, apparently!But in addition to those wacky tasks, Bomberman Land has an extra multiplayer mode called the Battle Pack Mode, in which players face off in arenas and try to blow each other up -- with bombs. We think it's an interesting direction for the Bomberman series, and we really think it could catch on as a party game. Maybe between minigames and after getting through some of the story, we could try some of this novel multiplayer!%Gallery-7628%[Via press release]
Taito's terrific trailers (Exit DS, Arkanoid DS, Legend of Kage 2, and Cooking Mama 2)
Much like with yesterday's fantastic Space Invaders Extreme clip, Taito put out new promotional videos for four of its upcoming games -- Exit DS, Arkanoid DS, Legend of Kage 2, and Cooking Mama 2. The three-and-a-half-minute Exit DS trailer above, in particular, is pretty slick, reminiscent of Lucky Number Slevin's opening credits. Despite the touchscreen control issues many brought up when previewing Exit DS at the past TGS event, the action-puzzler looks pretty fun! The rest of the streaming videos are available for you to check out at Dengeki's news page. Make sure to watch the Legend of Kage 2 clip all the way through, as the gameplay bits have been tucked at the end, after all the character art and gusts of cherry blossom petals.
Wii Warm Up: Can it possibly be any good?
Even though we found out today that Ninja Reflex is going to be a "party game" of some kind and not an action game or silly ninja-esque training game or whatever we thought it was going to be -- and even though we saw the EA name on it from the start, we're staying positive about the title. Why? Well, because it incorporates one of our favorite themes: tired Internet jokes ninjas. But what do you think? Is it possible for EA to sneak a decent game out under the cover of darkness? Or will it be just another minigame compilation to toss onto the pile?
Ninja Reflex details revealed, hopes shattered
While we're still holding out hope that the game can be one of 2008's gems, the revelation today that EA is making yet another minigame compilation title for the Wii has us down in the dumps. We understand that they're trying to tap into the same audience that the Wii has appealed to (see: every living person on the planet), by making games that can be enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible, but can we cool our jets on the minigame compilations already? Please?Hopefully, EA will understand that a ninja party isn't just a bunch of peeps dressed in black hanging around, playing with some hula hoops. No, a ninja party is something different, where a clan of ninja sneak onto a pirate ship in the dead of night, proceeding to murder every single drunken, disgusting excuse of life that is found within the confines of the creaky, wooden vessel. But, we're sure EA will replace the killing with cookies and milk, or some such other bit of nonsense.
Rocky and Bullwinkle bound for Xbox Live Arcade
In the spirit of Thanksgiving... okay, so this is in no way relevant to the American holiday, but we're posting it anyway. Who remembers Rocky and Bullwinkle? No one? Well, the classic cartoon characters are getting their very own mini-game compilation, coming soon to Xbox Live Arcade.At the very least, this will be an opportunity for the franchise to redeem its former sins; the duo starred in atrocious platformers on the Game Boy and NES back in 1992. The new title, The Bullwinkle Show (what, no Rocky?) is being developed by Zen Studios, and will include Live Vision Camera support in its plethora of party games.So, is this even news? By all means, let us know in the comments.[Via X3F]
Mario & Sonic at the Olympics for all to see
With the DS receiving its version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics during Q1 next year, we find ourselves growing more anxious as to how the portable version will differentiate itself from its console version. Actually, we're just wondering if it'll be good, since the Wii version wasn't received with accolades and some kind of parade. In fact, it was just the opposite.But, we're optimists. So, we're perfectly fine with believing the game will be incredible up until we have it in our hands and find out the truth for ourselves. Heck, we've done it enough times with other games, that's for sure.Head past the break for some more screens.
Deca Sporta NA-bound, Hudson asks you to name the game
Hudson's Wii Sports clone (or wannabe sequel, depending on how you look at it) Deca Sporta will be making its way to North America. If compilations of 10 different sports minigames is your sort of thing, then Hudson's title might be right up your alley. Based on what we've seen, the plethora of minigames available within are varied and, most important of all, look fun.%Gallery-7109%[Via Siliconera]
Oh, oh-oh, oh, ohhhh! It's Mario Party DS!
We were pretty skeptical of Mario Party DS, having been nonplussed by the previous portable Party (and most of the console versions, as well). In fact, we had resigned ourselves to just not being Mario Party people. But then we saw this commercial, with its bouncy, nonsensical Kidz Bop song, and ... let's just say we were successfully advertised to. If the song is in the game, we're definitely buying it; if it's not, we're still buying it to show our support of the song. At first we thought this must be some other region's crazy Mario Party commercial with the speech overdubbed into English. It appears on the American Mario Party DS website, though, which means that it must be a U.S. commercial. Is the song even ... language? [Via GoNintendo]
Guild bank checkers
Guild banks are one of the banner features of patch 2.3, along with leveling improvements and of course Zul'Aman. We all know that you can store lots of things in them, although it might cost you. People are even making single-person guilds just to get to use the guild bank for storage. Come to think of it, why can't we have account banks, where we could transfer items and gold among our alts on the same server without having to use the mail? But that's not the point of this post.No, the point of this post is a new use of the guild bank that has nothing to do with storage: checkers! Affix, from Tichondrius-A, has discovered that the bank is good for fun as well as utility. One player is using Netherweave, the other is using Arcane Dust, and they both seem to be having a good time (check the thread for more pictures). I have to say, this is the first time I've seen somebody playing a minigame inside WoW without AddOns or anything. Drysc speculates that chess would be somewhat viable, despite the fact that there is one row too few, what with the variety of item icons that exist. Tic-tac-toe should obviously work as well, though that's a fairly trivial game to not lose. Who wants to play guild bank connect four? Can you think of any other games that could be played within the default interface?
Mario & Sonic sprints to DS on Jan. 22
If you intentionally ignored overlooked last week's Wii release of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Sega hopes to entice you with the DS version instead. The handheld mascot showdown has been assigned a release date of January 22nd, placing it in the sea of calm following this holiday's storm of intergalactic mega-epics. By next year, you might actually care whether or not a portly plumber can best a hedgehog in a test of physical endurance. The press release notes that the DS version of Mario & Sonic boasts single- and multi-card multiplayer, as well as exclusive Olympic events not seen in the console variant. These include platform diving, cycling and "Dream Shooting (Skeet)," no doubt an event tasking players with murdering the star of TV's "Jericho" before time runs out.[Image: Fanboys Online]
DS Daily: Game Survey CX
A very simple topic today: would you play the Game Center CX game? Check out our previous coverage of the game and make a hard decision about whether parody retrogames, combined with parody game magazines, are the kind of thing you'd like to experience.Just in case somebody from Namco Bandai happens to wander into our little website, we'd like to have proof that there's an Anglophone audience for this game. Your comments will be that proof! (Note to hypothetical Namco Bandai representative: if nobody comments, it's just because our readership has puckishly decided in unison to play a little joke.)
Mario and Sonic at the wacky Dream Events
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the DS looks startlingly similar to the Wii version, except, of course, for the obvious downgrade in graphical quality. The style is the same, and the events are all the same. The only major difference is the change in perspective done for the sake of controls. For example, the camera in the hammer throw event is directly above your character, to allow you to draw swirls around him or her to simulate the character's rotation. For the events in which the controls are not significantly different, like the button-controlled trampoline, both versions look almost identical.Like the Wii version, the DS game contains a few off-the-wall Dream Events set in the Mario and Sonic universes. Two of these, along with a bunch of the normal events, are revealed in this latest set of screens. Dream Marksmanship looks similar to a normal shooting contest, except everyone shoots at what look like some enemy robots from Sonic games. And Dream Basketball involves flying hoops!
Cooking Mama's celebrity spokes-Mama
With a new TV commercial about to hit the airwaves (in Japan,) we've been able to learn a little more about the "cosplayer" Taito employed in some print advertising. It turns out that she'll be the face of Cooking Mama on TV as well.The actress in question is a Japanese comedienne named Shizuyo Yamasaki, commonly called "Shizu-chan." She's part of a comedy duo called "Nankai Candies" and also played a supporting role in "Hula Girls." We figured she must be a celebrity of some kind and not just the first person who fit in the apron.As for the commercial itself: there are stills at Inside-Games, but no video yet. We pretty much get the idea anyway. Cooking Mama 2 is fun, whether you're a child or Shizuyo Yamasaki.
Mario Party DS sells over 90K in first day in Japan
According to GameFront, Mario Party DS had an alright first day of sales in Japan, selling over 90,000 copies of the game. While it isn't as impressive of a first-day showing Nintendo would have liked to see for a game with Mario on the cover, it's not exactly the worst sales day for a game, either.As of now, projected estimates see the title selling between 200,000 and 400,000 in its first week.[Via Go Nintendo]
Spanish for Everyone likely to teach Spanish to no one
After seeing the epic storyline in Activision's Spanish For Everyone, we have been waiting to see how the gameplay would stack up. Well, the same kind person who posted the cutscene videos has uploaded examples of gameplay, and they don't disappoint! Er, in that they do disappoint. Basically, we wanted hilarity and not education, and we got it.So here's how a few of the games work. La Pinata is Hangman with a pinata, meaning that you guess letters to build Spanish words. Of course, since the target audience for this game doesn't actually know Spanish, you basically have to put together words you don't know based on vague ideas about what Spanish words are supposed to look like. Then when you've randomly assembled the correct word, you get a one-word translation! Congratulations Felicidades! You're learning Spanish! Match Las Tarjetas is Memory, but each card displays a Spanish word in addition to its picture. In this game, knowledge of Spanish is completely ancillary to gameplay, and potentially even a confounding factor. Finding Palabras is a word search. That's actually ... not terrible.So Spanish For Everyone is not only offensive, it's also pretty much useless as a language teacher, as it just dumps words on you with minimal instruction and no attempt to help you commit them to memory.
Wii Fanboy Review: Namco Museum Remix
Even while gawking at the bizarre screenshots of Namco Museum Remix, I secreted away a bit of genuine hope in my heart. I had more interest in this game than I dared tell anyone. More than any other game, I saw the potential in Namco Museum Remix to express the Wii's charm to the widest possible audience. A retrogaming minigame collection, in my mind, was the perfect second Wii game for casual gamers or parties, combining the gee-whiz factor of Wii motion controls with familiar, beloved games. The reborn classics would interest retrogamers and lapsed gamers who have missed out on the last few years of video games; the unmodified arcade games on the disc would allow them to reconnect with "traditional" gaming. It would combine the strengths of Wii Sports and the Virtual Console, using the relative simplicity of old games as a substitute for casual-focused design. Somehow this potential allowed me to react positively to a demo of the game.I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person who put so much hope into this game, which means that the reality of Namco Museum Remix hurts me more than it hurts anyone on Earth. The game, then, feels like a personal insult.
It'll take you all day to see these Mario Party DS screens
Due to release later this month, we can't wait for Nintendo's franchise to hit the DS. We're like incredibly crazy right now, anticipating this stress-reliever like we would anticipate a cure for some kind of deadly disease. We need some Mario Party DS in our lives and we care not who knows.Are you guys as anxious as we are? If so, hit up our gallery below for some fresh screens, which number in the ridiculous. If not, well ... we aren't BFF anymore.%Gallery-4736%
Mario & Sonic get an official site
The official site for Mario & Sonic at the Olympics has launched, providing those anxious to play some very real games with some very imaginative characters some fresh content. There is screens, there is trailers and there are some breakdowns for the events within. Sega is really putting everything into this game, aren't they? We can't say we share their insane predictions.[Via press release]
Making eyes at Mario Party
A new trailer for Mario Party DS has hit the intertrons and where it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in content. The trailer gives us a glimpse at everything we would want to see, from navigating the game board to a look at some of the different minigames that make up the title. Clearly, this is going to be a Mario Party to remember.
