Category: DS

Nintendo DSi

Nintendo has gone Apple. Welcome to the i, the DSi. At Nintendo’s Fall Press Conference, they’ve unveiled their latest handheld device. While not an official successor to the original Nintendo DS, the DSi offers plenty of new hardware and software features.

Hardware –
No more Game Boy slot: I’m sure Nintendo fans will be annoyed with this move, but hey the future is forward, not backward.

Thinner: Yes the DSi is now even thinner than the DS Lite. Hopefully you won’t break the handheld in fit full of rage as you lose to a 9 year old playing Mario Kart online.

Larger screens: Now you’ll finally be able to read lines and lines of poorly written video game dialog! With screens being enlarged by 17% to 3.25 inches, I’m sure everyone will be able to notice the difference.

Audio Enhancements: It’s unclear what Nintendo has done to improve audio on the DS, but apparently whatever they did is worth talking about. But I’m still want to be able to listen to the radio on my Nintendo DS.

SD Memory: Portable memory is key to the success of a handheld. No one wants all their data stored onto only one device. Transfer information over to your Wii, PC, etc. Think of the possibilities.

Camera: Remember how the Game Boy Camera, sucked? Well Nintendo is going back to its roots by offering a new twist on an old friend. This bad-boy 3 mega pixel camera (yes it has more mega pixels than my cell phone!) is going to ‘change the way we play games.’ Ok, that’s an exaggeration, cameras and video games have already been in a long-term relationship.

Software –
DSi Shop/DSiWare: Download games, music, and more stuff that a shop can offer. Now you’ll be able to actually save your downloads onto your DS! Pricing starts from Free, 200 points, 500 points and 800 points.

Built in Browser – Surf the net without having to pay for a browser! Is Nintendo now imitating Microsoft?

All-in-all, I cannot wait for the new Nintendo DSi. I’m a sucker for this stuff. It has a release date of November 1 in Japan, at a price of $179.

It’s Official: Brain Age Improves Your Maths Skills

Thought that Nintendo’s Brain Age game was nothing but money-making crap? You’re in the disappointment line, because Scottish scientists have proved that it does indeed improve your mental skills and to be specific, they found that math skills were improved in the study.

The game was given to like half the student body and was incorporated in their daily school routine. Tests were taken at the beginning and end of the study. The results are surprising: the ones who had the game had their scores improved by 50% more than the other group (how this math works we have no idea, we don’t play Brain Age, apparently).

The game doesn’t show any apparent difference in the results between girls and boys, and most notably; between playing the game at school or home. So get your parent-approved DSs while you can, kids! The results also showed an improvement in school attendance. Not surprising: I’d show up on time everyday for school if we had some video game playing time.

So Brain Age is really that educational and brain-improving awesome? It will improve our math scores? What do you think?

Source: BBC

Will Wright’s Top 5 Favourite Video Games!

Tired of random bloggers and trolls and other nobodies listing their top 5 video games, lists that nobody cares about? Now read it from game designer extraordinaire, Will Wright, creator of Spore, Emperor of Maxis and a Geek Hero. Here’s Will Wright’s 5 favourite games, straight from MSNBC.

The ‘Civilization’ series

“I think the strategic diversity of ‘Civilization’ always interested me. There’s just so many different strategic approaches to playing the game.”

‘Grand Theft Auto’ series

“It’s such an open-ended world … you can actually be very nice in the world and drive an ambulance around saving people, or you can be very mean. The game doesn’t really force you down one path or the other unless you’re playing the missions. For me, it’s not really about the missions, it’s about the open-endedness … going out and living a life in this little simulated city. It’s like a big playground.”

‘Battlefield’ series

“I really liked the first one the best – ‘Battlefield 1942.’ I’m a big World War II history buff. It’s a team-based shooter but it’s about the only team-based shooter that I can remember where half the time I’m playing, I’m laughing. It’s humorous because of the weird things that happen. It very much feels like kids playing in the backyard, cowboys-and-Indians-type thing. It’s not so much gritty reality as it is a bunch people just having fun in a multiplayer environment.”

Advance Wars’ on the DS

“This is a turn-based strategy game on the DS. I used to play these board games as a kid – these elaborate, real board games, so it’s kind nostalgic for me, for that reason.”

‘Flight Simulator’ series

“Even though this isn’t a game, one of my very first introductions to computer games was the original ‘Flight Simulator.’ The original one was black-and-white, with wireframe graphics and before Microsoft bought it, Bruce Artwick designed it. It was this little micro world inside the computer that always fascinated me.”

Terry Deary’s “Horrible Histories” to get Video Games!

Horrible Histories

Now if one of my favourite book series as a kid are Goosebumps, another will be Horrible Histories. Written by Terry Deary, Horrible Histories are essentially history books. They tell you history. But there’s a twist. They tell you the more horrible, the gorier, the more twisted parts of history. The sort your history teacher doesn’t.

Interestingly, there’s going to be an expansion to the franchise. While we won’t be seeing a movie for it, like Goosebumps (hmm, interesting idea), Horrible Histories will be going into the video games arena, with developer Slitherine Strategies taking it up.

If you’ve never heard of Slitherine, do not despair, for you haven’t missed anything. Slitherine’s previous works appear to be rather obscure titles I’ve never heard of either. Still, I think it should be in the right hands, since all of Slitherine’s previous works have been historical strategy games.

To be entirely honest. I’m not sure how a strategy game on Horrible Histories will work out. HH is more about the obscure facts and secrets of histories that were either distorted or maybe censored in time. How can you convert a series like that into a strategy game?

And the second focus of Horrible Histories is humour (and black humour at that). The last game I’ve seen that was actually funny would be Psychonauts. Okay, there’s Portal too. My point being, comedy in video games is an art. How well will Slitherine capture it?

Nintendo E3 Announcements

At the E3 Media & Business Summit today, Nintendo unveiled an enhancement for its iconic Wii Remote controller and new games that promise to further enrich and engage players around the world. These offerings build on Nintendo’s ongoing efforts to remove the barriers between expert and novice video game players, an approach that has been instrumental in creating a paradigm shift for the industry since the advent of the Nintendo DS portable system and the Wii home console.

“Much has been reported about the ‘expanded audience’ for games, but what’s really at play is an expanded experience,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “People of all ages having fun together—whether in the same room or from remote locations—puts smiles on faces and drives millions of new players into video game entertainment.”

Wii Sports Resort is not just a simple sequel to one of the world’s most popular console games, Wii Sports. It is the first title to make use of another Nintendo advance, the Wii MotionPlus accessory, which plugs into the base of the Wii Remote controller to provide an incredibly realistic motion experience. Scheduled for release in spring 2009, Wii Sports Resort includes new game experiences such as Sword Play, Power Cruising on a water scooter and Disc Dog, along with the new Wii MotionPlus accessory and Wii Remote Jacket at no additional cost. The Wii MotionPlus enhances precision and player immersion for the Nintendo-pioneered motion-controlled gaming trend that has drawn millions of new people to the world of video games.

This holiday season, Animal Crossing: City Folk lets players move into a fun community populated by quirky animals. Players can improve their community, chat with the locals or just spend the day fishing and collecting fossils. There is also the opportunity to catch a bus into the new urban city area. Though you’ll never see other players in the city, you can connect with them in new ways using WiiConnect24, such as bidding on your friends’ items at the auction house or visiting the Happy Room Academy headquarters to see the top-rated player house. Another new feature in Animal Crossing: City Folk is the ability to visit friends’ towns and chat with one another using the new WiiSpeak microphone. The WiiSpeak microphone is sold separately at an MSRP of $29.99 and allows Internet voice chat among Wii Friends – not just from person to person but from room to room.

Wii Music makes it easy for people to jam to tunes, even if they don’t know anything about music. Wii Music transforms the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers into more than 60 different instruments, including a violin, steel drums, electric guitar – even a cowbell. Players strum, shake, tap and drum along to the music in a pressure-free musical playground where there are no mistakes. They can improvise on their arrangements by skipping a note – or adding 10. The music always sounds great, but it’s up to players to come up with creative arrangements that they can then send to friends and family who have Wii Music. Those Wii Friends can then put their own spin on the arrangement and send it back and forth over WiiConnect24. Wii Music will be available in the United States for the holidays.

In the portable category, Nintendo DS remains on top. Nintendo DS has sold more than 20 million units in the United States and more than 70 million worldwide. Third-party publishers continue to take advantage of that installed base. Coming this winter exclusively to the Nintendo DS is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a new entry in Rockstar Games’ award-winning and hugely successful Grand Theft Auto franchise. Activision’s exclusive Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades makes its anticipated debut this fall, as does a collection of wild and wonderful critters from Electronic Arts’ Spore Creatures.