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Gaming to Go: Crosswords DS
Ready to slow things down a bit? Sure, sitting down with a good ol' crossword puzzle might not get the blood pounding, but there's something simple and serene about filling in the grids at a leisurely pace. It's a game of patience and dedication, not to mention smarts -- not the typical fare for today's high-adrenaline gaming, but definitely a worthy alternative when you want a pleasant distraction next time you're on the go.Crosswords DS, yet another Nintendo entry in the Touch! Generations lineup, provides such a distraction. It's simple, fun, and caters to crossword puzzlers of all skill levels. Add to that numerous word searches and anagrams and you have a pretty well-rounded package, one that even a staunch anti-puzzler could find something to like in. Want to hear more? Check out this week's edition of Gaming to Go and see for yourself if it's time to switch out the Sunday paper for your trusty DS. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> %Gallery-4773%
Gaming to Go: Picross DS
Math is fun! Or something. Normal people likely don't put much stock in the words, but every now and then a complex equation or three can be a great way to get the mathy part of your brain up and going. You could also just play Picross DS, an interesting take on the puzzle genre that emphasizes numbers and clever calculations over explosions and unbridled quirkiness. That probably paints Picross in one of the least interesting ways possible, but, uh, just run with it, okay?Picross is fun. I didn't fully expect it to be the first time I fired it up, but wonders never cease when a refreshingly different kind of puzzle and the charm of Nintendo's Touch Generation series unite in nerdy, digital glory. With a ton of puzzles to conquer and numerous different modes of play, Picross certainly has a bevy of content to work with, transforming it into a title definitely worth snagging for your daily commute. Sure, some of those later puzzles might take longer than your lunch break, but Picross DS is still a supremely portable title, and one definitely suited for this week's edition of Gaming to Go. Want to hear more? Click that big button there and start believing in the power of numbers.%Gallery-4794% #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >>
Wii Chess looks comfortingly like the real thing
We find it inherently amusing that Wii Chess is -- minus a few frills -- the same game as countless other titles on the market, many of which can be bought with a small handful of spare change. Despite this, we still suspect Wii Chess' no-nonsense approach to the world's favorite strategy game could be a commercial hit for Nintendo; certainly, the budget price tag won't harm its chances. There's a couple of things to note about the above video, however. One: that elevator music is freakin' hideous (and on that note, we'd really like MP3 support in this please, Nintendo). And two: where are the optional Nintendo-themed pieces?! To have Mario and Peach playing the king and queen would have been an excellent little touch. Other Nintendo games get outstanding fan service, so why not this? Two words: Missed. Opportunity.[Thanks, Troy!]
New details on Wii Chess remind us that the game exists
Considering it's a Nintendo game, there's been astoundingly little fanfare for Wii Chess. The game's Wikipedia page is absolutely barren, while a release date has only just appeared (January 18th), and then only for Europe. Despite the lack of information, Nintendo obviously reckons this could have broad appeal, as it's slapped the "Touch! Generations" logo on the corner of the box, which roughly translates as: "Your Gran and her friends will like this."Anyway, further details finally emerged on the title today, with CVG reporting that Wii Chess is to retail for a budget price of £20 / €30 (we'd presume the game's budget status will be preserved if and when it reaches other markets -- our educated guess would be $30 for the U.S.), and that it will support both local multiplayer and games played over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. We're also promised a number of graphical styles, which hopefully means Nintendo-themed boards and pieces, including Goomba pawns and knights that look like Yoshi.And yes, that is the German boxart. We travelled the seven seas of the internet searching for an English version, but returned empty-handed. Still, at least you now know the German word for "chess." Never know when that might come in handy.
Today's most beautiful video: Face Training
Ever since we heard about it, we've been waiting to see Face Training in action. The DS muscle control game program just launched in Japan, and three commercials show it off. We're amazed.A camera connects to the GBA slot, and the DS perches on a stand, pointing the lens at the player user. Face Training then seems to monitor and rate your ability to smile. Aside from physical therapy, we're not sure where the market is for this game application. Maybe Japan has more of a need to practice eyebrow movements than we ever realized. See the trailers after the break. (Or for an even longer look, visit the game's Japanese site.)
DS Fanboy review: Picross DS
Picross DS is very much a puzzle game, despite its attempt to lure you in to its grids with a slow, comforting pace of gameplay. It can instill those emotions of tension as the clock ticks away or those almost-insurmountable mental hurdles we stumble upon so frequently in the genre arise, however. So, in a lot of ways, Picross DS is a genre-breaking title, taking things here and there, patching them together into a brand new game. A fun game.%Gallery-4794%
Budget Brain Academy
Need to figure out your brain's weight, but not prepared to saw your skull open to pull out its spongy mass just yet? Amazon has come up with a cheap way for you to calculate its heftiness, saving you a few bucks and several quarts of blood. For just $12.99, you can purchase a copy of Nintendo's Big Brain Academy from the online shop. The Touch Generations title has a robust Test mode that determines the weight of your brain, as well as Practice and Multiplayer options. This deal ends today, so don't sit around thinking about it for too long![Via CAG]
Nintendo Media Summit: Picross hands-on (DS)
Although Picross has been available for a while in Japan, the North American release is coming out on July 30th, and Nintendo had it on display at last week's Nintendo Media Summit. The premise behind Picross is kind of hard to explain, but I'll try anyway: It's a type of mathematical crossword puzzle with an image-based theme. It kind of feels like Minesweeper at times but kind of feels like Suduko at other times. As you can see from the screenshots below, you are given a grid with numbers on the outside edge. You have to figure out from the numbers what pattern of squares should be filled in on the grid, with mistakes costing you big penalties on your overall time score. Once you've completed the puzzle, you reveal a picture in the pattern on the grid. The larger the grid, the more complex the picture.You can also make your own puzzles easily; all you have to do is draw an image and the game will turn it into a puzzle for you. If you want more control, you can also create a puzzle by hand. You can even trade puzzles with friends over the wireless connection and Nintendo promises additional puzzles will be made available for download for free, which is always a nice plus.The game was a lot of fun and the ability to draw your own puzzles was a nice touch. Puzzle fans, look for this game when it comes out on July 30th.%Gallery-3413%
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!
Touch! Generations brand extending to Wii
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Touch_Generations_brand_extending_to_the_Wii'; Included in their package of Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn, Siliconera came upon the above Touch! Generations brochure. Guess Nintendo is extending their brand to the Wii, which makes sense. The brand has been responsible for getting many non-gamers into the DS, so why wouldn't it work on the Wii? The nature of how we play on that system has been very appealing to non-gamers, so is this brand even needed?Oh, and the only two games they list as being part of the brand are Wii Sports and Wii Play.
Take a peek at Picross
The Japanese Touch Generations site has been updated with all sorts of new Picross content, including several videos that not only showcase the game, but show off a little tag team multiplayer action. Oh, we don't mean with multiple DS units running the game ... rather, having more than one person working on the same puzzle. Dual brains for your dual screens? Sure can make puzzlin' a little easier.[Via DS-x2]
DS Daily: Surprising new gamers
It's hardly news that the DS appeals to many people who aren't exactly traditional gamers. Expanding the market is part of Nintendo's entire strategy for the handheld. That doesn't make it any less (delightfully) surprising when you get to see a new adopter in action. Every day, people who've never really gamed before pick up a DS, which isn't as immediately appealing as its new cousin, and yet something pull them in. We're betting it's all the incredibly awesome games, but that's beside the point. We want to hear your stories, stories of friends or family members now hooked on the DS despite little or no love for gaming in general.
Touch Generations reach out and touch greatness
The amount of greatness Nintendo's Touch Generations line of games has touched in the US can only be conveyed through numbers. Around 3.5 million numbers, to be exact. Yes, you read that correctly, Nintendo's Touch Generations brand, which is shared by numerous titles such as Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!, Magnetica and True Swing Golf, has sold close to 3.5 million copies in the US. Clearly, Nintendo's philosophy of making games "meant for anyone to pick up and play, regardless of their prior gaming experience" is working out for them.[Via Joystiq]
Tour Nintendo.co.jp's bit Generations site
The good news: the website for Nintendo's retro, budget bit Generations (née Digistylish) series has gone live, featuring mini-pages for each of the three games contained in the series 1 package, Dotstream, Boundish, and Dialhex. The bad news: it's in Japanese. What we can extract from the site: the series 1 package, which includes the aforementioned three titles, will launch on July 13th in Japan for 2000 ¥ (about $17); the series 2 package, which includes Coloris, Digidrive, Orbital, and Soundvoyager, launches two weeks later for the same price. More good news: we've embeddded a trailer after the break, so if you're unable (or unwilling) to navigate the Japanese page, keep reading to get a glimpse of some GBA-goodness. [Via 4cr]
Brain Training used to defeat dementia
According to a BBC report, Nintendo's hugely popular Brain Training titles are invading Japanese classrooms in an effort to help the older population get their minds in motion and running swiftly from encroaching dementia. How effective Dr. Kawashima's unnervingly polite floating head is at preventing or combating the condition (of which hallucination is a symptom) still hasn't been conclusively established, but for some people, keeping their minds active is enough.After demonstrating how to turn on the Nintendo DS and how to insert a game cartridge, the teacher has his elderly students engage in several different activities, not all of which are limited to Brain Training's repertoire of challenges. A golf game is used to train hand-eye coordination which, thanks to the DS' intuitive control scheme, seems to be quite easy to grasp. "It's not difficult to learn how to play them," says Atsuo Umetsu, one of the teachers. "After all I learnt, so everyone can do it." Though one of the students admits that she joined the class in order to better compete with her gamer sons, most are joining in the hopes of doing everything they can to avoid mental problems in a society where a large percentage of the population is older. Dr. Takao Suzuki, an expert when it comes to elderly affairs, points out that "nobody wants to get dementia so even if there is a very small possibility that it might work, most elderly people will want to do something in order to prevent dementia." And it's not just Nintendo that's reaching out to an older generation -- Namco has set up a day-care center allowing older people to bash drums and clobber cartoon crocodiles to their heart's content. Is this the key to defeating dementia? We don't know, but it sure sounds like fun, doesn't it?[Thanks Jon!]
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.
Nintendo to Touch Generations
Nintendo of America have announced that as of June, they'll be rebranding many of their DS "non-games" under the Touch Generations label. As the name suggests, this move supports Nintendo's continuing desire to expand the gaming demographic and to reach out to those who are under the impression that gaming's all about shooting space pirates and smashing blocks with your head. Currently available games to fall under the brand are Brain Age, Nintendogs, Tetris DS and True Swing Golf. These will be followed by Big Brain Academy, Magnetica and Sudoku Gridmaster later in the year. If all goes according to Nintendo's plan, it won't be long before Grandma and Grandpa start swinging canes because someone forgot to feed the little Nintendoggy. [Thanks AssemblyLineHuman!]
