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Nintendo losing their Touch (Generations)?
If Nintendo's desires are realized, it won't be too long before the image of Grandpa hunching furiously over his DS Lite and murderously screaming "Blue" joins that of the bespectacled nerd in the ranks of uninformed gamer stereotypes. In an effort to reach out to those who would normally shy away from electronic devices and their confusing beeps and boops, several forthcoming and readily available DS games have recently been shoved under the Touch Generations banner. The range highlights Nintendo's popular "non-games", titles that are meant to be approachable by any person, regardless of their previous gaming experience.In North America, games like Nintendogs, Brain Age and Sudoku Gridmaster seem to gravitate towards the label quite naturally, but it seems that the selection differs significantly from that of other regions. Anthropomorphic neighbour sim, Animal Crossing: Wild World, slots right in with Electroplankton in Europe, but the choices of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Trauma Center: Under the Knife seem to fit in less comfortably. The latter two titles are far more traditional, with linear stories, clear conditions for success and failure and, in the case of Trauma Center especially, a more pronounced difficulty level that requires intricate stylus strokes--lest your patient's internal organs become reduced to a bloody mush (technical term). In other words, all the stuff that the mythical casual gamer doesn't want.The Japanese selection is almost the exact opposite, filled with English trainers, dictionaries and travel guidebooks. If you looked up "game" in one of those dictionaries, you'd likely find a description far removed from most of these titles. It raises an interesting question, then: What constitutes a game that, according to Nintendo's mantra, anyone can pick up and play? Is it a game that almost exclusively relies on intuitive touch screen controls? Or is it something with simplistic gameplay mechanics? Perhaps it's not even a game at all. Nintendo's pretty clear about the kind of people they're chasing with the DS and the Wii, but things seem less vivid when it comes to matching specific games with specific audiences. With games being such unique and often personal experiences, it's doubtful that the line between hardcore and casual will ever become especially obvious.
Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends in time for Lite launch
Nintendo of Europe has announced that Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends will ship to canine-loving Europeans on June 16th for £30/40 Euros, just days before the DS Lite launch. A nice companion for the new DS design, the game will feature 6 breeds to choose from at the beginning of the game, and a total of 14 unlockable pup. There is sure to be a great variety of canines to play with and/or train come release. The canines in the game are the most popular breeds from the other Nintendogs titles, along with the given dalmatian breed.
Wii version of Nintendogs coming?
When posed with the question of a Nintendogs iteration seeing release on Nintendo's new console the Wii, Takahashi Tezuka said nothing in regards to a version of the game being planned to hit the console, however he didn't exactly deny it wouldn't see release on it either. Take it as you will...
Nintendogs: Dalmation and Friends info
Over at DS-X2, they unleashed the boxart and included a list of possible pets in what is to be released as Nintendogs: Dalmation and Friends from Nintendo of Europe. The boxart, which you won't notice over to your right, shows every fireman's best friend staring off in the distance, wishing you would take him/her for a walk and show him/her some attention. What is wrong with you? Why don't you pet him/her? Are you some kind of monster?! The roster of possible pups in the game reads:
