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New Simple games: Tanks get customized, zombies get shot
D3 has revealed a couple new entries in their budget-priced Simple DS series, and they look awesome. Simple DS Vol. 31 THE Super Bullet!! Custom Tank is a side-scrolling run-and-gun that looks like a Metal Slug game, except starring a tank. It also happens to be quite a bit nicer-looking than SNK Playmore's own Metal Slug 7. Vol. 32 THE Zombie Panic is a zombie-themed rail shooter like Touch the Dead. And, inexplicably, it's developed by Dream Factory, the company responsible for Ehrgeiz and Tobal No. 1. It also looks surprisingly high-quality! Please, D3 of America, put some of that Naruto money into localizing some Simple series games! We'll give small amounts of money back to you in exchange!Both games are due on January 31 in Japan. Check after the break for the magazine scan in which these games were revealed.
Refresh Finder is ready to refresh Leopard's Finder, too
Reader Fredrik L sends word (thanks!) that Samuel Svensson is back from India, and that means his little mini-application, Refresh Finder, has been updated and is Leopard-ready.There's not much more to say about this one-- you can probably guess what Refresh Finder does from its name, and while it is small and simple, it's also proof positive that even small and simple things can make life a lot easier. Keeping your Finder windows up to date isn't hard, but it's definitely helpful.
Simple Wii: THE Surprisingly neat-looking shooter
D3 Publisher released some screenshots of the next two entries in their Simple Wii series, Simple Wii Vol.3 THE Party Casino and Vol. 4 THE Shooting Action. Both games use the same set of Mii-like characters, which we think are adorable. We're particularly interested in THE Shooting Action, because it appears to be a competitive shooter!Using four different kinds of weapons, up to four players can shoot at each other in spaceships. Given the appearance of targeting reticles on the screen, we're guessing that aiming is done with the Wiimote pointer. And ... it's online. Suddenly, we're very interested in this game. If it's the same kind of space dueling found in Star Control, but with four players and online play? We'd gladly pay a budget price for that.
Oneechanbara R: a revolution?
GAME Watch is referring to D3 Publisher's Oneechanbara R as Oneechanbara Revolution now, solving the mystery of what the R means. We sort of assumed that it was "Remake," ourselves. Does this mean that the new Oneechanbara game takes significant steps forward toward becoming more than a ridiculous novelty game?Probably not. The title is probably just a reference to the Wii, once called the Revolution itself. Oh, well. Let's not let the supposed terribleness of the games bring us down. Today is the best day of the year for browsing a bunch of screenshots of bloody zombies, and GAME Watch has obliged with a large collection of new screens. Their post also reveals that the game contains not just the cowboy-hat-and-bikini-clad Aya, but also Saki, the other playable character from the first Oneechanbara game, just in case you'd like to choose which underdressed girl with whom to slash monsters.
D3's Simple plans
Before TGS, we learned that D3 Publisher would be expanding their Simple series to the Wii, with the first two titles being Everybody's Kart Race and Everybody's Bass Fishing Tournament. But after the first two entries in the series, D3's already got four more titles lined up, not including Oneechanbara R, which comes from a series that used to be in the Simple category. The next four games are, in order of Simple series number, THE Party Casino, THE Shooting Action, THE Block Kuzushi, and THE Wai Wai Combat. A Block Kuzushi game actually came out in the U.S. for the DS, under the name Break 'em All, so there may be a possibility of a similar release on the Wii. If Data Design Interactive can get away with PS2 shovelware on the Wii, then we don't see why D3 can't make some original budget software and market it worldwide. We've always wanted to see the Simple brand in the U.S. There's something refreshingly honest about making the "budget-ness" of a game apparent right away.[Via Siliconera]
A clever adventure game from the Simple series?
D3 Publisher, best known for Puzzle Quest and Naruto games over here, is up to volume 25 in their Simple DS series in Japan. The latest is quite a bit more interesting on the surface than most of the imitators they release: an adventure game about police negotiation.Rather than being a simple graphical text adventure, The Negotiator involves researching background information about criminals and investigating the scene before attempting to contact them. Of course, as with other Simple games, the execution may not live up to the concept, but the concept is so strong here that we almost feel like it's worth a shot anyway. There's precedent for domestic releases of Simple DS games in the form of Break 'em All. Not only that, but D3 recently released Puzzle Quest in Japan as a Simple game. We can only hope that either The Negotiator makes the overseas trip or that it's terrible enough for us not to want it. We're selfish!
Joystiq impressions: Gravity Blast (mobile)
Hudson's newest mobile game, Gravity Blast, is scheduled for release on August 7 for Verizon and August 8 for AT&T. Judging by playtime at a recent Hudson event, the $5.99 game could be everything we want in a mobile title: it's quick, simple, and fun.Gravity Blast uses just a single button to swing a spaceship around planets and other obstacles. Hold the button to activate a gravity attraction towards larger objects. Release it, and fire off in a straight path based on the previous momentum. With the right timing, the spaceship swings around planets through small mazes. That's the whole game, and it works.%Gallery-5458%
Play DS while learning to drive
Vingt-et-Un, the developer responsible for some of the weirder Simple 2000 games like The Zombie vs. Ambulance, have created a new entry in D3 Publisher's Simple DS series. Simple DS Vol. 14: The Driving School is a DS program designed to teach the rules of the road, with text-based quizzes and drills. It also attempts to teach driving skill with "practical" driving-instruction segments. This looks great for us, since we taught ourselves to drive on Spy Hunter anyway. We just need to break our habit of trying to drive into 18-wheelers and we'll have it down. While we're talking about this game, we want to complain about the lack of Simple series games in the US. D3 started a US branch, and they currently publish the Naruto games, but the only games we've seen from their hilarious budget series were Break 'em All and Dino Rider. The Xbox 360 just got Earth Defense Force-- we hope that's the start of a trend.
First screenshots of MySims DS lack fun
Though EA announced MySims for both the Nintendo DS and the Wii, we haven't spotted many previews for the handheld version like we have with the console's. Looking at the screenshots Jeux-France posted earlier today for MySims DS, we're a little worried about where EA plans to take the game.We understand that MySims will have to be pared down for its portable adaptation, but the limited character customization options on the DS seem bare-bones compared to what we've seen on the Wii. Also, the media released for the Wii's MySims features the cartoonish characters in a range of activities -- hosting parties, playing in fountains, and eating spaghetti dinners at the neighborhood restaurant. These DS screenshots show the Sims strolling through empty streets and exploring lonesome piers. How depressing!We're hoping that EA won't wait too long to reveal screenshots of MySims DS that better resemble the Wii version's cheerful attitude. As it stands now, the handheld game looks like it has more in common with REM's music video for Everybody Hurts. Jump past the post break for a preview of the bleak neighborhood.
Tower of Goo evolves into World of Goo, 2D Boy is born
The Experimental Gameplay Project has produced a number of crazy, unique, and surreal games, such as On a Rainy Day, Attack of the Killer Swarm, and probably the most famous, Tower of Goo. Recently project founder Kyle Gabler stepped up with buddy Ron Carmel to start a brand new indie game studio, 2D Boy. The bubbly had barely been popped when they announced their first project, World of Goo.What is World of Goo? According to the 2D Boy website, "it is extremely mysterious." Let's go out on a limb and say it will be a lot like Tower of Goo but inflated to full-game proportions.[Via Independent Gaming]
D3 Publisher Simplifies mobile gaming
D3 Publisher has already conquered the budget-friendly game market in Japan with its Simple 1500 PSone games, Simple 2000 PS2 games, and the Simple DS series. (The numbers there represent the retail price, in Japanese yen, of titles in those series.) There's no news of Simple 3000 PS3 games yet, sadly, but D3 Publisher has today announced its imminent move towards domination of the cheapo mobile game market in Japan with the introduction of its Simple 500 series. The new wave of ¥500 downloads, which are compatible with all i-mode phones in Japan, includes concentrated versions of Love Upper (a female boxing game, originally on the PS2, that floors the Rumble Roses), One-chan Bara (a game of bikini girl-with-guns versus aliens, which has recently appeared on the Xbox 360), and Earth Defence Force (pictured; a b-game version of Sin & Punishment, and another recent 360 release in Japan). It's about time D3 Publisher America released some of D3 Japan's best games in the West, we think, instead of blurting out Naruto games and Cabbage Patch Kids.
Secret "Simple Start" Wi-Fi connection? [Update 1]
File this one under "What the hell?" Some astute gamer has discovered a hidden feature inside the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection setup menu, and one that certainly leans itself toward DS-to-Wii connection theory. The video gives an extremely detailed explanation, so check it out....now. Go ahead.Done? All right. The system asks for the player to press a "Simple Start Wi-Fi Button", something that clearly doesn't exist on any existing Nintendo hardware. So, is this how the Wii and the DS will sync up? Before you run off wildly screaming the news throughout your house, we offer these two bits of counter-evidence. First, regading the Wii, we've seen essentially every button and switch on the damn thing, even inside the "mysterious" front flap; no "Simple Start" or even remotely related button has been seen or reported. Second, accessing this mode by hitting the absolute upper-left pixel on the touch screen is ridiculous; in certain cases the stylus can't even reach the pixel, and a toothpick or other thin, prodding device must be used.We've seen no reason why "DS Download Play" would fail to properly pick up and sync with a Nintendo Wii console, so we'll chalk this up as a feature that will fade, like the legendary city of Atlantis, into one of the unexplained mysteries of the past.[Update 1: The internet, it seems, will brook no mysteries. Save Atlantis. Click here for an extremely detailed explanation of this feature, and as speculated, it has nothing to do with Wii connectivity.][Thanks, Super-Jesse-Mario!]
Hands-on with Motorola MOTOFONE F3
Who knew going back to segmented displays on handsets was such a good idea? No, seriously -- check out the picture, it looks pretty nifty in the flesh. Mobile Burn was equally impressed in their up-close-and-personal look at Moto's MOTOFONE F3, their newest low-cost handset for emerging markets, saying that the screen actually reminded them a lot of an Etch-a-Sketch. With a large text readout and voice prompting, they were equally impressed with the phone's foolproof simplicity, suggesting this might be a great device for the very young and old in, uh, emerged markets as well. We'll reserve final judgment for when we can get our hands on an F3 ourselves, but we'd like to cautiously offer Moto congratulations for getting us unusually worked up over an extremely simple phone.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Indian firm boils the mobile phone down to basics
What if you were to take the mobile phone concept and strip away every conceivable nonessential feature. What would you be left with? The Migo, you say? The Firefly, perhaps? Not even; both of those devices have luxuries like selectable ringtones and displays. India's National Institute of Design has devised the "Mini Mobile," which bears a strong resemblance to a remote control but actually functions as an ultra-simplified phone. We can recite the entire spec sheet to you in three words: three speed dials. That's it. No GPS, no display, no dedicated emergency button. (Technically, there are dedicated buttons to send and end calls, though we don't consider those features.) No word on production plans, but the firm is shopping the design around to manufacturers, arguing that a no-nonsense device will appeal to parents and the elderly. One recommendation, guys: the five randomly placed, identical buttons sorta go against your design principle.[Via I4U News]
