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From Russia with fondant
Game cakes may be well on the way to cliche-dom, but we don't care, since they continue to be almost uniformly awesome. For the happy occasion of Tetris überfan Nightsnack's wedding, his sister and friends had this cake made by A Piece of Cake, being careful not to complete any single layer lest it blink and disappear.It looks like this cake was made just for us, doesn't it? Actually, the topper represents the bride and groom's first initials, which break apart into Tetrominoes to be fit into spaces on the body of the cake. Only after these and the other floating Tetrominoes were placed did the cake get cut up and served. We wish the happy couple a lifetime of eating their favorite games together.[Via Kotaku]
LOCKJAW: Tetris the way you want it
Fed up with Tetris DS's infinite T-Spin? Looking for a Tetris clone with a ruleset and play style that fits your specific needs? LOCKJAW aims to give you that personalized experience, providing over 20 configurable options. While this homebrew release doesn't have the visual flair of Nintendo's recent remake, you can customize nearly every aspect, from scoring methods to line clear delays.Want to limit the amount of upcoming pieces that are displayed? Or try out a narrower well? Load up LOCKJAW, and fashion your tetromino experience to your heart's content. [Via DCEmu]
DS Fanboy Favorites: Eric's top five
All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers. When my afternoons aren't busied by hours of photoshopping cat heads onto pictures of my friends, I pass the time with puzzlers and plumbers on my DS Lite. But those kitten-free days are few and far between, so I end up being able to only fit either the most polished or the most eccentric games into my packed schedule. Wario: Master of Disguise? Sorry, I've got things to do and feline faces to retouch. Lost in Blue 2? I'll have to pass -- I'm already lost in trying to get these whiskers to look perfect. My collection is a mishmash of AAA titles and niche releases, their cases piled atop one another like a Jenga stack of mismatched blocks, threatening to topple over at any moment. Just pulling a game from the middle of the shaky structure is an act preceded by hours of anxiety and self-doubt. Having my wife provide commentary during the ordeal, remarking "Oh god, it's going to crash this time for sure, I just know it. Why'd you even try, Eric?! Game over, man! Game over!" as I tug out my copy of Advance Wars DS doesn't make the challenge any easier. So when I do manage to put aside the pussycat photos and secure a game to play, it better damn well be worth it. Journey forth and read which of those titles have captured a place not only on my top five list, but in my heart.
Nervous Brickdown brings sexy back to Breakout
Nervous Brickdown breathes new life into the Arkanoid-Breakout genre, updating its basic template with ten distinct gameplay modes. This might be Arkedo Studio's first game for any console, but the charming soundtrack and highly-stylized environments -- ranging from 70s mod to playful retro -- really give Nervous Brickdown a first-rate polish that other Breakout-clones usually lack. The break-a-brick game takes advantage of the Nintendo DS' hardware, making use of the system's touchscreen, microphone, and WiFi (multiplayer) features. Ecrans has a few videos showing how hectic the game can get as it forces you to dodge bullets, fight bosses, and catch items, all while keeping the ball in play. No release date has been announced yet, but we're happy to hear that Eidos has picked this title up for publishing. You will definitely be hearing more about Nervous Brickdown from us in the future. [Thanks, Sebastien!]
DS Fanboy presents: Game Night (1/9/07) [update 1]
We've tallied up the votes and our Game Night title has been chosen. We'll be meeting up in the same room as last week, at the same time. All of the details, including the results of the poll determining what game we'll be playing tonight, are after the break.
Best of the rest: Zack's picks
Tetris DS (DS)Nintendo is guilty of shoveling franchises at its fans; did we need another Tetris? Does the NEStalgia design make the game more fun? Probably not. (And I think the pixelated graphics on the top screen detract from the game; I'd rather have the classic Russian graphics and music.) But this game with just adequate art direction excels in its online match-ups. I just keep coming back to Tetris DS to battle other action-puzzle dorks online.
Japanese software chart, 22-28 May: Mario madness
Giving his competitors a veritable butt-stomp, Mario finds himself at the very top of the Japanese software sales chart this week -- nearly 900,000 people donned their rose-colored glasses and marched out of a store with a copy of the portly plumber's retro adventure. [DS] New Super Mario Bros. [DS] Brain Training 2 [DS] Brain Training for Adults [PSP] Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable [DS] Tetris DS [PS2] Kimikiss [PS2] World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 [DS] English Training [DS] Animal Crossing: Wild World [PS2] Jikkyou Powerful Major League
New Super Mario: Big in Japan
It's easy when you're big in Japan. Nintendo recently announced at a Japanese retailer meeting that New Super Mario Bros. sold through over 900,000 copies in its first 4 days of availability. Not a huge surprise, but another indicator that even Nintendo benefits from everything old being new again. Other successes in Japan, where the Eastern seas so blue, were Tetris DS which sold 800,000 in 4 weeks and of course, the DS Lite itself. In the month of April alone, Nintendo shifted 950,000 Lites. It looks like this whole "double screen" thing is going to work out for them after all. [Apologies for the Alphaville lyrics used throughout this post. Thanks Feek!]
