my-french-coach
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The best and worst (that we've reviewed)
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.We cranked up our review quotient in 2007 (and hope to do even more in 2008!), but we still can't review everything that comes out, to our chagrin. We wouldn't have time for anything else! However, we did try to hit a wide variety of titles this year, from the biggies like Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Phantom Hourglass, to some smaller titles, like WordJong and Duck Amuck. We even worked to review some more off-the-wall things, like the Nintendo Fan Network at Safeco Field -- you know, in case you happened to find yourself in the Northwest with a hankering for a day of DS and baseball.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day five)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- but it's not fair that the Grand Prize should get all the love. Today, we're looking at one of the crown jewels offered as part of the second prize: My French Coach. We dedicated an entire week to finding out just how awesome Ubisoft's French trainer was (so awesome), and now we're offering you a shot at it. Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
DS Fanswag: End of the Year Blowout!
It's been a good year, but sadly, like all those other years, it must come to an end. Before we roll out the red carpet for 2008, however, we wanted to give 2007 the send-off it deserves -- and what better way to do that than by offering up huge prize packs for our loyal readers? All you have to do is leave a comment on this very post telling us which DS model(s) you own, between now and December 26. The giveaway closes that night at 11:59 p.m. EST, and we'll announce the winners, chosen in a random drawing, on December 27. You may only enter once per day, and as usual, entries are limited to legal U.S. residents age 18 and older. Please check the official rules for any other questions.But enough of the details -- let's get to the prize packages!DS Fanboy's End of Year Fanswag BlowoutGrand Prize Limited Edition Gold DS Lite + The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (bundle) ($149.99) Nintendo DS headset ($9.99) Custom Robo ($29.99) Dementium ($29.99) Drawn to Life ($29.99) Fullmetal Alchemist: Trading Card Game ($19.99) John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland ($29.99) Mega Man ZX ($29.99) Pokémon Diamond ($34.99) The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) ($19.99) Geometry Wars: Galaxies swag Dementium skin Pokémon Diamond stylus Cruise on past the break to see the rest of the prizes!
DS Daily: Coaching
When we first heard about the My (Language) Coach series, we approached the idea with cautious optimism, and immediately turned to ask your opinion. They're non-games, sure, but they're non-games in an area that may be interesting. The response was overall positive toward the games, though there was plenty of talk (plenty) about wishing for a Japanese edition.Now that the Coach games have hit, and have been explored in exhaustive detail thanks to Alisha's daily gameplay journal, we thought we would ask again. Anyone out there thinking of picking up a new language with their own personal Coach? Or has Spanish for Everyone undone any goodwill you may possibly have toward DS language training?
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Seven
Notre semaine avec Ubisoft's My French Coach est arrivée, malheureusement, à la fin. That is to say, in properly worded and conjugated English (because I'm sure the French was terrible ... or it was before commenter Rodac helpfully corrected it!), our week with the recently released French language trainer has, unfortunately, come to an end. After seven days of working with the title, it's time to not only recap today's lessons, but speak on the worth of the title as a whole.If I were someone else, I would probably include a clip of Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" here, but instead you'll have to suffice with the shedding of one lone, tragic tear. It has been a very interesting sort of "review," and one that is well suited for a training game. I can even speak as to why, after lessons each day, that first sentence was so likely to be terrible.
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Six
All week long, we've been taking on Ubisoft's My French Coach in an effort to find out whether or not it's possible to learn (or at least supplement) a language with a DS game. If you missed the overview on day one, you might want to back up a little. If not, then let's get moving with day six of our language training.With only one more day to go in this diary after today's entry, I must say that I will be sad to see this wind down. However, the time with the training title has been so useful that I think I'll continue it, though perhaps a little less publically; after all, I really do struggle with French, though I find it a fascinating language. It's nice to find a resource that isn't based solely on spoken language, but is rather a blend of different styles. I know a lot of people who benefit from audio-based language training via CDs, and I am not one of them, alas. Being able to see and interact with things in My French Coach, however, has been dead useful.
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Five
The week is more than half gone, and that means our time with Ubisoft's My French Coach is winding down... at least, for the purposes of this diary. All week long, we've been taking on the training title in an effort to find out whether or not it's possible to learn (or at least supplement) a language with a DS game. If you missed the overview on day one, you might want to back up a little. If not, then let's get moving with day five of our language training.Today, I dropped back down to two lessons, though I had initially planned to do three. What happened? Directions happened. After continually confusing droite and droit (and really, who could blame me?), I thought it best to take a break instead of going for the gold. I did learn some new and interesting ways to maximize my learning with the game, however, which I will happily share.
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Four
The week rolls on here at DS Fanboy (and, uh, everywhere, really), and that means more quality time with Ubisoft's My French Coach. All week long, we're on a mission -- French language mastery! Or at least a valiant attempt to get through as many lessons as possible in seven full days. If you missed the overview on day one, you might want to back up a little. If not, then let's get moving with day four of our language training.As promised, today I attempted -- and passed! -- three lessons instead of two, and I do not recommend it. Maybe very early in the game, when it's just vocabulary, but by the time I was getting close to finishing, everything was starting to run together, and it took me longer to get through the lessons. I also made the mistake of trying to a) watch a little television during the first lesson, as well as b) carry on a conversation. The result? Brain overload. DS Fanboy's official advice while training on a language game is to focus ... or at least do something mindless while working through your lessons.
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Three
It's another day at DS Fanboy, and this week, that means more quality time with Ubisoft's My French Coach. All week long, we're on a mission -- French language mastery! Or at least a valiant attempt to get through as many lessons as possible in seven full days. If you missed the overview on day one, you might want to back up a little. If not, then let's get moving with day three of our language training.Since I did two lessons yesterday, it only seemed proper to keep that up. Even at this rate, I won't make it halfway through the lessons by Sunday! I may have to step it up to three tomorrow, but that's a lot of French, and my brain is weak and poor, and my mushy Southern accent may get in the way of mastering all that pronunciation. But that's no reason not to try, eh? Today's lessons weren't as complex as yesterday's ... or maybe I'm just getting better!
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day Two
It's another day at DS Fanboy, and this week, that means more quality time with Ubisoft's My French Coach. All week long, we're on a mission here -- French language mastery! Or at least a valiant attempt to get through as many lessons as possible in seven full days. If you missed the overview on day one, you might want to back up a little. If not, then let's roll on through the second day's excursion with the language trainer.During the second day's session, I decided to do not one lesson, but two. I also learned that cockiness does not pay -- but the butt-kicking I endured was completely worth it, as I managed to increase my list of mastered words by a great deal, and grew much more confident with the mini-games and various features of My French Coach.
Man lays into DS microphone, we leap to heroic defense
Over at Next-Gen, Ben Reich has penned an article on the worst ideas to hit gaming, with two Nintendo creations in his choices. The first, Friend Codes, we can kind of roll with. They're unwieldy, awkward, and let's face it: there are better solutions. Perhaps they deserve to be there, but the DS's microphone? Not so much. See, we quite like the mic. OK, it's not as widely used as other parts of the handheld's unique feature-set, but we're struggling to swallow the argument that it's one of "gaming's worst ever ideas." Not in a world where the Roll & Rocker exists.Two things seem to irk Reich about the DS's mic: that it can be embarrassing to use in public, and that not enough game developers have used it well. We partially agree with his first point -- e-nun-ci-at-ing "Buh-loo!" into your handheld while on the bus to work would make most people feel like a bit of a nugget. Then again, nobody is forcing you to play such games in public. It's all a question of choosing an appropriate location.Secondly, plenty of games find a good use for the microphone. Being able to yell "Objection!" just before you start dismantling your rival in the Ace Attorney games is a fantastic touch! Summoning your hound in Nintendogs with a whistle or a shout of their name is equally nifty. My French Coach, which Alisha is covering all this week, makes terrific use of the microphone, allowing users to record themselves, in a bid to achieve greater fluency.In other words, Mr Reich, we're going to have to politely disagree with you.
Une semaine avec My French Coach: Day One
var digg_url='http://digg.com/gaming_news/One_week_with_Ubisoft_s_My_French_Coach'; As soon as Ubisoft announced their language trainers, we here at the DS Fanboy offices just knew we'd have to take one for a spin. The real question was ... which to choose? I love studying languages and have made a casual hobby of it over the years, and thus have a little bit of knowledge in a lot of areas. Of the two languages at hand -- Spanish and French -- I struggle more with French, so that seemed like a natural choice for the big test. I love the sound of the language, but the peculiar (to me) accents, the soft, slurring sounds, and all the similarities between the singulars and plurals often leave me mystified. Written French I can handle in small doses, but spoken leaves me struggling. Can Ubisoft's trainer help me master my difficulties in the space of one week? There's only one way to find out!
DS Daily: Finally, with the language 'games'
Three words we weren't sure we'd ever say: God bless Ubisoft. They're finally bringing some English-based language trainers to the DS: listings for My French Coach and My Spanish Coach have turned up on GameFly. We've yearned for such as these after drooling over all the English and Kanji trainers out for Japanese DS owners, and at last, it looks like the tide has turned in our favor. Between this and Jam Sessions, we're starting to feel a little better about Ubisoft and their unfortunate port habit. Also listed is My Word Coach, which sounds like it might be a vocabulary trainer, and we're all for that! We're hoping we'll begin to hear words like mellifluous and tmesis in daily conversation. So today's question is: are you interested in any of these three, or are you firmly holding out for languages not taught in the average high school? Or perhaps we should say, vous voulez acheter Mon Entraîneur Français? Feel free to correct any errors there -- we could use a French coach![Via Joystiq]
