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Swag Saturday: Picross and CrossworDS (DS) [update]
Update: Comments have been closed and winners will be contacted tomorrow (or, ya know, pretty soon). Thanks for playing, every one! Check those inboxes and please by all means join us next week.Interested in using your Nintendo DS for a ton of puzzle solving this summer? We'll bet you are, you little puzzle solver, you! That's why we're offering up a duo of puzzle games this weekend for Swag Saturday with Picross DS and CrossworDS. We're not so much for the crossword puzzles, but we do love a good handheld puzzle game (we're looking at you, Planet Puzzle League), and so we're hoping you could suggest your favorite overlooked handheld puzzle game, dearest reader. You'll have 24 hours to tell us in the comments section after the break so get rambling, ramblers! Leave a comment with your favorite overlooked handheld puzzle game. (That means it can be on DS or GameBoy or PSP or the iPhone, etc. -- any handheld!) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada, excluding Quebec. (Kisses, citizens of Québec!!) Limit 1 entry per person. This entry period ends at 8:01 pm ET on Sunday, August 9. We'll randomly select two winners at that time to receive: one copy of either Picross DS (ARV $11.50) or CrossworDS (ARV $19.99) (first to answer email gets to choose). For a list of complete rules, click here %Gallery-4773%%Gallery-3413%
Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens
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. When determining the best games of the year, it's a good idea to go at it from different angles: by referencing our own history of reviews, obviously, but we must also look to the wider journalism community. Our reviews, while insightful and entertaining, were not comprehensive. We just didn't play everything. In addition, one reviewer's opinion is simply not sufficient data to make definitive conclusions, even if that one reviewer is me. So we turned to everyone else in aggregate to see what they thought of this year's releases. We've gathered the top 10 DS games of 2007 according to their Metacritic ranking. Keep in mind that many of these games tied in Metascore, meaning that if we were to rank the games, there would be fewer than ten positions. It's still sequential, but with a lot of tie scores. We then carefully applied science to these games in order to convert the Metacritic numbers into a rubric we feel more accurately conveys the quality of these games. Head past the post break for Metacritic's top ten DS games of 2007, graded on a scale from adorable kitten video to unbelievably adorable kitten video.
Picross DS gets downloadable content in the US
We mentioned previously that the European and Japanese releases of Picross DS had weekly downloadable puzzles, some of which were drawn from Mario's Picross and Mario's Super Picross. Well, being total skeptics, we didn't believe we'd see this feature in the US. It's just too cool for us! It turns out we were delightfully wrong. Starting on the game's July 30th release date, players will be able to download new bonus puzzles every week. That should be great for people who, unlike us, will complete more than one puzzle!
Picross DS gets a nice review
Since we haven't picked up Picross DS yet and are therefore unable to review it, we're going to assume (pretend) that our friends at 4 color rebellion have reviewed it just for us. And according to the Official 4cr (for DS Fanboy) Review, Nintendo's puzzler will be worth picking up when it arrives in the US in July, and is worth picking up ... now, in Europe!The review is especially positive about the online features of the game, including the ability to share your own puzzles online, and free weekly downloads of extra puzzles. Some of the downloadable content includes puzzles from Mario's Picross and Mario's Super Picross! Technically, we shouldn't be happy about recycled content, but it gives us a warm, happy feeling.The only real complaint they have with the game is the stylus control, which seems like it should be a natural for Picross. Luckily, it's optional! So we can all just pretend it didn't happen and doesn't exist.
More evidence of a US release for Picross DS
The cat is slowly emerging from the bag, it would seem. We knew that Picross DS was in Gamestop's computers as a July release, and now the ESRB has pretty much confirmed it by rating the game.Just think, this summer we could be filling in squares and making pictures just like they do in Europe. Well, you could be. Availability isn't the issue for us; being able to buy the game isn't going to magically make us less awful at Picross. [Via Siliconera]
Europe gets Picross DS
We didn't think the awesome Picross DS would ever find its way out of Japan. But Nintendo surprised us, as they tend to do now and then, by announcing that the puzzler will get a European release on May 11th. They're branding this as part of the Touch Generations series, and mention that it will include 300 puzzles, and features like a "Daily Picross" mode, puzzle creation (with Wi-Fi sharing),and unlockable minigames. For the Americans out there who feel left out-- don't worry! Even if Nintendo doesn't release Picross DS, this European version will have English text, so it's still good news for you, if you don't mind importing!
