phantom-hourglass
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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.
Phantom Hourglass gashapon does not help our financial situation
You'll have to forgive us me for making two Phantom Hourglass-related posts in the same day (it's like Zelda week all over again), but these capsule toys are irresistibly cute -- yes, possibly even cuter than this. Unfortunately, at just $3 a piece from Play-Asia, they also happen to be irresistibly cheap, a combination that does not mix well when you're a financially impoverished blogger, already reduced to a scurvy-inducing diet of noodles and water for the rest of December.Which gashapon you receive is entirely random, though as they're all pretty fantastic (and did we mention cheap?), we can't see a lot of people complaining. Not when we'll happily take any like-for-likes you receive off your hands. We're kind like that, you see.[Via BGB]
Live in the UK? Still waiting to pick up Phantom Hourglass?
If you answered both of those questions with "Yes, oh god, YES!!" then we have just two things to say to you: Calm down, dear, it's only a game, albeit a very fine one. As part of its January sales, Amazon is currently offering Brits The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass for the wallet-pleasing price of £19.99. Admittedly, this post is addressed to a fairly small portion of the DS Fanboy audience -- UK residents who have yet to pick up Link's excellent DS debut -- but we've learned that such good value shouldn't be ignored when it does pop up. And don't forget that that's not the only place us British folk can find bargains right now. Get spending that Christmas money, folks!
Readers' Choice: The best of 2007
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 asked, and as always, you guys delivered. While the top-voted game of the year will probably come as no surprise to anyone, especially since it ran away with all the votes, the other five games that topped out in our readers' choice polls demonstrate not only the wide variety of content on the DS, but the depth of taste among DS Fanboy readers, as well. While the top games were above and beyond, every title feature snagged its fair share of votes. This can only mean one thing: it was one hell of a good year to be a DS owner.So which six games were most deserving of attention this year, according to you guys? Mosey on past the break to see the winners.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout!
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 -- and we figured we might as well start with the crown jewel: the Limited Edition Legend of Zelda DS Lite with Phantom Hourglass. It's gold. It's gorgeous. And it comes complete with one of the best games this year. Don't you want it? It's part of the grand prize, so if you're interested, head over and throw your name into the hat! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Promotional Consideration: Why we're not watching the Spike Video Game Awards tonight
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.American cable channel Spike premieres the 2007 edition of the Spike Video Game Awards tonight at 9:00 PM (likely re-airing it a dozen times over the course of the next couple of months). Despite the scorn it received from gamers in its previous years, the show lives on, now in its fourth year. There are many reasons one could give for refusing to watch the two-hour program tonight -- the event really is as ridiculous as you'd expect a video game award show to be -- but one specific flaw brought about our decision to avoid the production ...
Friday Video: Bundles are beautiful
What's a dedicated DS lover to do when two sweet new bundles hit the streets? There's really only one option on the table: shoot a video of the boxes, complete with music and dramatic close-ups. It's just such a random thing (and yet, exactly what we would probably do) that we couldn't resist sharing it with you as part of this week's video spotlight.
GameStop overbundles new DS Lite bundles
If you're looking to buy one of the new DS Lite bundles, we hope you have extra money! And, depending on which one you buy, very little shame. EBGames/Gamestop, the masters of making you buy things you don't want in exchange for the privilege of buying something you do want, are offering both the Nintendogs and Phantom Hourglass DS Lite bundles online-- with "exciting" "extras."For $239.96, the Zelda bundle includes not just the DS and Phantom Hourglass, but Final Fantasy III and Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker as well. Buyers of the Nintendogs bundle are even worse off, and not just because they're stuck with the Nintendogs bundle. For $249.96, you get the pink, pawed DS, three different versions of Nintendogs, and Petz Dogs 2. It's perfect for people who only like one kind of game, but like it obsessively.
Zero Punctuation disembowels Phantom Hourglass
We've all played or heard of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. We all know that everyone who played it loved it. Let's move on. Wait ... what's that? Not everyone loved it? Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, in fact, despised it?Apparently so! But hating on a game is never as amusing as it is in The Escapist's "Zero Punctuation," so we don't mind. We found this review to be rather funny. If you don't feel like your poor heart can take it, though, feel free to watch some other reviews of Phantom Hourglass that involve girl cosplayers.Warning: The audio in this video makes it NSFW. Oh, and there's some bad visual bits, too.[Thanks, Brian!]
Zero Punctuation hates on Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
This week on Zero Punctuation, the ornery Yahtzee puts into video form (after the break) the same basic ideas discussed on the last Joystiq podcast regarding Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Luckily for Yahtzee, he's embedded in Uluru and need not fear reprisals like most members of the gaming press do when speaking ill of Zelda. Everything he says about the Zelda franchise and Nintendo has pretty much been said before, just not in a sexy, angry, British accent using a grab-bag of verbs and adjectives. The real kudos (you know, for people who don't fear for their life) come at the end of the piece when he implies that the next time Nintendo wants to make another Zelda... they should just make Okami.[Thanks Sam]
DS Fanboy Review: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
For a franchise as lengthy and storied as that of The Legend of Zelda, we're honestly surprised that Nintendo has managed to keep things fresh and engaging throughout each of the titles. Take Wind Waker, for example, which was quickly met with cries of "Cel-da!" and "This looks like utter crap!" by many internet-faring folks following its unveiling, but managed to be one of the best entries to date (it was our favorite before Twilight Princess hit the scene, to be honest). But, for as much as Nintendo has tried to keep the franchise alive and well, The Legend of Zelda games have always maintained a set of core features and values, becoming a bit formulaic lately. Hey, don't get us wrong, we love the games, but you have to admit that it's becoming old hat in the way that they are doing things, always sidetracking you with another task when all you want is entry into one area of the game (see: where you need to go). This "gopher" way of doing things (go for this, then you can go for this) is kind of becoming a problem with the franchise.One of the ways Wind Waker was better than its predecessors and tried to nip this in the bud a bit was the inclusion of its open seas, allowing the player to go wherever they wanted from the get-go. Sure, the fields and other locales that made up Hyrule proper in these titles (even in Twilight Princess, which released several years after Wind Waker) were accessible and presented an illusion of a game world that was freely navigable from the outset. The reality was, in fact, different.So, what does this have to do with Phantom Hourglass? Everything.%Gallery-4748%
Game sales by region: who printed which demonimation of money?
We know that Nintendo's games are awesome and all, but we can't help but feel that their constant monopoly on DS game sales must make compiling sales lists dull. "Nintendo ... Nintendo ... another Nintendo." In North America., all five of the top five DS games sold this week are first-party; only one in the UK comes from another publisher. If we had an impish sense of humor (check) and access to near-unlimited funds (dang) we'd go buy 50,000 copies or so of something like Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations just to mess with the charts. As it stands, in NA and the UK, the big winners are both Brain Ages and Phantom Hourglass. And, we suppose, the people who bought those and can feel like they're on the victorious team.In Japan, a detective game from Tecmo sits at the top spot, followed by Final Fantasy Tactics A2. This report conflicts with the report yesterday that had FFTA2 at the top-- maybe DS Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense sells better on Amazon (from whence the results for this study are tallied) than other retailers. Check after the break for the full top-five lists!
Two new DS Lite models, both branded & bundled
Nintendo's making a final push to indoctrinate the rest of the world's pet-deprived tweens and twenty-something geeks, according to a new Sears ad. Come "Black Friday," two more DS Lite models will hit retail ($150 ea.), each branded and bundled with a corresponding game.There's the metallic pink Pound Puppies Nintendogs case, complete with (bloody?) paw print and game -- which reminds us, our lil' pixelated Shih Tzu hasn't been fed in about two years ... Anyways, moving on: there's also the gold-sprayed Zelda unit, (spotted a few weeks ago and) bundled with Phantom Hourglass, featuring the Triforce logo for those of us not quite ready for the more-permanent expression of our faith.[Via DS Fanboy]
Croal and Totilo go toe-to-toe about Zelda
Super-journalists Stephen Totilo and N'Gai Croal have started one of their "Vs. Mode" exchanges, in which they debate the merits of a particular game at length. This time, the subject of their discussion is The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. MTV's Totilo finds that while the new control scheme of the game is largely great, other parts of Phantom Hourglass are too stripped-down or simplified; for example, finding bombable walls, once an exercise in tapping walls or just bombing everything, now you are often led right to the spot via a pattern on the floor. In addition, what hasn't been messed with, he thinks, may need to be. As a longtime Zelda fan, Totilo thinks that the series may be getting stale.Croal, on the other hand, is a Zelda neophyte, starting with the DS game, as Nintendo imagines many others to be doing. He loves the controls-- so much so, in fact, that he all but states that the fun of controlling Link is the only thing keeping him hanging on. He finds that there's too much wandering and backtracking in Phantom Hourglass, and probably in Zelda in general, and not enough forward motion.It doesn't sound like either journalist will be donning a Link suit to review the game. Did the same issues weigh on your decision to buy or pass on the game, or was it as easy as "new Zelda, must buy"?[Image part of a wallpaper found here, via GameSetWatch]
Cosplaying Brit reviews Phantom Hourglass
As we've proven many times over, what with our posts on cowboy pigs and mutant cats, we have a penchant for the non traditional. Take Play Digital's Phantom Hourglass review, for example -- it completely reinvents the standard video review conducted by some dude, updating the formula with a video review conducted by some, uh, dudette. Alright, so female gamers are nothing new (we happen to have a couple of them on our staff, so I'm told), but the video still stands out for its success at appealing to people with two different, specialized fetishes: girls with British accents and girls who cosplay as Link. Even without those selling points, the review and its cutaway clips are entertaining enough to warrant watching.Katharine, Play Digital's English critic, has put together about a dozen of these videos, her other pieces covering titles like Jam Sessions, Naruto Ninja Council 3, and Sonic Rush Adventure. Before you run to see what furry outfit Katharine suited herself in for that last one, keep in mind that she doesn't usually dress up for these reviews; you'll have to yiff elsewhere.[Via Penny Arcade Forums]
Captain Linebeck, as played by Al Pacino
"I know it was you, Link. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!"Like everyone else, we imagined Linebeck, Phantom Hourglass' cowardly sailor seaman, as the Jack Sparrow character he was more than likely modeled after. We never really connected him with Al Pacino, but artist Margeaux McClelland insists that the two are one and the same, reading the mariner's lines with the Scarface star's raspy voice.Margeaux went so far as to paint Pacino's likeness in Linebeck's threads, complete with his flamboyant red scarf. We still don't see the resemblance, but it's a great piece, nonetheless! (We won't ever take sides with anyone against the family.)
Aonuma intended to design hardware
1up's interview/profile of Eiji Aonuma, the man currently in charge of the Zelda series, describes a person who came into Nintendo without any particular interest in video games. In fact, he was hoping to use his background in art to do some product design. In fact, as he tells the story, that's what he thought he would be doing when he joined Nintendo, until Miyamoto came along to upend his personal tea table.Of course, he came around eventually and decided that games could also be fun: "Yeah, I do like to create things with my hands, so I was hoping that I could create something like hardware eventually. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't want to create games -- because once I actually started working on them I really started to enjoy my job -- but I think that maybe Miyamoto didn't understand that I could take another route at the company. I am very happy where I am now, though."We have to wonder if Miyamoto saw something in a young Aonuma, or if he just grabbed someone out of a hallway?
Spoiler-free Phantom Hourglass tips
Not everyone has been able to run through and complete The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass yet; some of us have been too distracted with exploring every single pixel of the ocean or maximizing our cannon minigame scores (2660) to rush to the adventure's end.If you're still in the beginnings of your quest to save Tetra from the terrible Ghost Ship, the feel of Link's boomerang still unfamiliar to your hand, make sure to check out Portable Video Gamer's collection of miscellaneous tips and tricks. Some of their advice is obvious, but their points on performing Link's roll ("As you walk, touch the very edge of the screen, then drag your stylus towards Link and quickly slide back to the screen's edge.") and practicing for multiplayer battles in the Temple of the Ocean King are helpful.Provided that you've already sailed past the fog in the northwestern section of the map, the page of info should be spoiler-free, unlike the forum threads out there riddled with casual posts that give the game's great parts away. Have any random tips of your own that you'd like to impart to your fellow readers? Make sure to leave them in our comments!
Less pretty Phantom Hourglass special edition bundle appears
While it's not the gorgeous, golden special edition DS Lite of various rumors, what we have above is still a special edition Lite, and that makes it better than nothing. The emblazoned edition popped up on Nindie.com with no price and a placeholder release date of December 31. Could there be two editions this year, or could this one be specific to Europe? We can't wait to see how this plays out -- but if any game deserves numerous special editions, it's Phantom Hourglass.[Via GoNintendo]
Zelda pre-order case available for purchase soon?
Reader Andrew is in love with his new Phantom Hourglass case. You know, the one that Aussie EB Games' were giving to customers who pre-ordered the game? Well, he was kind enough to take some shots of the case for all of us. But, even better, he gave us hope that we may actually be able to purchase it, if we wanted one and live outside of his country.Turns out, Bigben Interactive GmbH manufactures the case out of Germany. In heading to their website, it looks as if the shop area is still under construction, but the case is definitely listed there. So, here's to hoping we can get one ourselves in the future.As for the case, Andrew asked that we host the images since his bandwidth isn't as plentiful as he'd like it to be. So, we made a gallery. Be sure to hit it up below.%Gallery-8485%
