Nintendo Fights Breast Cancer With Pink Ribbon DS
[Via DS Fanboy]
Posts with tag NintendoDs
[Via DS Fanboy]
Colleges Handing Out iPods to Incoming Freshman
However, some educators do worry about the distraction such devices provide. Students already carry cell phones and laptops with them, but an iPhone or iPod touch provides a level of distraction comparable to a laptop or the quick and quiet access of a cell phone.
Most expert agree that mobile electronics will play a bigger role in education, but that the movement is still very much in its infancy. Schools and teachers have experimented with lectures on iPods and Zunes, software on Nintendo DS's, and iPhone specific applications. What, if anything, will stick to the wall? We're not sure, but it is an exciting time to be an educator or a student. [From: NY Times]
Video Games for Girls on the Rise
Nintendo's leading the way into new markets for gaming, expanding beyond the typical young male players into the retirement home arena and, more recently, the female market. Ubisoft is the third party games publisher that seems to be making the strongest push in this area on Nintendo's DS handheld, which is selling just as many for men and women. Ubi is expanding its popular 'Imagine' franchise, and introducing a new female-oriented sports series.Ubisoft's 'Imagine' series lets girls have fun trying out different dream careers, and it's set to be augmented by a slew of new virtual careers including games highlighting fashion design, acting in films, and wedding planning. They're titles that will make your typical male gamer cringe, but for the 6 - 14 year old girl market (a.k.a. "tweens") they're hugely popular.
So too should be Ubi's new 'Ener-G' series, which is a set of sports games angled directly for girls. The games will include 'Dance Squad,' where players act as a choreographer, 'Gym Rockets,' letting a player go through gymnastics training, and 'Horse Riders' which involves equestrian training and Olympic competition. Again, not something most guys will be interested in, but girls should when these games hit the DS later this year.
This isn't the first time at the rodeo for these girls games companies. Remember the now-defunct Purple Moon? Will these new millennium offerings fare better, now that the DS seems to be paving the way into new markets?
Guitar Hero: On Tour DS Bundle Revealed
by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 4th 2008 at 11:12AM
Nintendo DS Version of Guitar Hero Launching This June
There's not a lot of details on this one just yet, but Activision CEO Mike Griffith has dropped word in a earnings conference call that the company's upcoming Guitar Hero: On Tour game / controller combo will not only be released on its own this June, but in a new Nintendo DS bundle as well. No word on a price, unfortunately, nor is there any indication that the DS itself will be undergoing any Guitar Hero-inspired changes, but it seems like those little details should be making themselves known soon enough. [Source: Joystiq]
Totally '80s Synthesizer Being Developed For Nintendo DS
Korg and AQ Interactive are developing Korg MS-10 -- a portable version of the vintage music synthesizer, designed specifically for the Nintendo DS. It's a synth, drum machine, and sequencer, all controlled with the DS stylus and touch screen. For those who want stats (from the official Web site):
In addition to the two analog synth simulators and drum module, a 6-track/16-step sequencer enables precise control and provides a wide range of musical possibilities. Several units can be connected and played together through a wireless link, and this and other features make the Nintendo DS and KORG DS-10 almost limitless in their application -- they can take you places that no single synthesizer can.
No promises yet, but we're gonna go out on a limb and say this will be the best handheld console-based music studio ever created. It's set for a Japan-only release in July; while's there's no official US release date, DS cartridges have no regional lockout, so you'll be able to rock out on your honky DS no problem.
From Crave
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Nintendo Holocaust-Era Game Draws Criticism
Putting players in first-person situations is one of the most popular narrative devices in video games, and a French video game developer, working for a British distributor, has done just that with his latest digital adventure. Typically, this would not draw much fanfare but his game topic is startling to some: a first-person experience of a first-person experience of a young child in France during the Holocaust. The game, 'Imagination Is the Only Escape, 'puts players in the role of a young boy in Nazi-occupied France during the war, and follows his attempts to escape the horror of the times by pursuing a fantasy world of his own devising.
Unlike most games developed for the Nintendo DS, which typically caters to kids titles, this game portrays often brutal scenes, with startling imagery and events.
Early outcry on online message boards indicates that the game distributor, Alten8, may not export the game to stores in the United States (although that's not a certainty) but it will be available in Europe.
The 21-year-old game developer says he does not consider the topic of war to be a game, and doesn't intend to demean the concept. Another game he's developed, also distributed by Alten8, puts players into a fantasy realm where the world has been destroyed by global warming.
Tackling serious issues head on, and with a first-person experience, seems to be catching on as a popular device in France. French president Nicholas Sarkozy recently introduced a new education initiative that "pairs" all his country's fifth-graders with the story of one of the 11,000 French children who were killed by the Nazis during World War II.
Sarkozy has come under significant fire since announcing the education plan, with critics saying the learning experience will be traumatizing to the students.
The video game will not depict violence, according to the developer, and is intended to be educational, and not exploitative of the events.
From The New York Times.
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Cooking Mama 2
As fans of the original already know (and the rest of you can probably surmise), Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends ($30) is a game about cooking. The original game Cooking Mama Cook Off came out for the Nintendo Wii, but the follow up has gone all handheld. In Cooking Mama 2, you use the Nintendo DS touch screen to complete recipes that are divided into steps -- usually involving rice, fish, and chopping. Lots of chopping. So, for example, you'll wash the rice, swirl the rice around, cook the rice, chop the ginger, remove the scales from the fish, fillet the fish, steam the fish...and so on. All with the stylus. Though much of the food is of the decidedly Japanese variety, you'll make white trash favorites like hot dogs and pizza as well. There are loads of recipes for the aspiring chef; we must say, after a week of playing this game, anyone's cooking ability (or at least knowledge) will get a swift kick in the apron.
From Majesco
Video Game Sales Up, Up and Away
Market research firm NPD has reported video game hardware and software sales for the month of June and, when compared to last year's results, there's some impressive growth to be seen. Overall video game sales are up by 31 percent compared to last year, largely spurred on by the hugely popular Nintendo Wii, of which Nintendo moved 381,800 units in the month. The little white box outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 at 198,400, which itself more than doubled the sales of Sony's PlayStation 3, which sold only 98,500 units.
But, it's not all bad news for Sony. The company's handheld PSP game system, which had been struggling to keep up with Nintendo's overwhelmingly popular DS, saw impressive sales of 230,000 units, making it the third-most-popular console of the month. However, it still couldn't match the DS, which racked up 561,000 sales -- the most of any system over the period. With Nintendo locking up the two top hardware spots, it's that the company's expanded focus on non-gamers is paying off in a big, profitable way.
From I4U News
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Nicole Kidman Training Brain for Nintendo
The game series purports to keep your brain "young" by having you to play a series of headache-inducing mini-games. Each time you play, your supposed brain age is rated and tracked so you can see how much smarter (or stupider) you're getting as you train. Kidman, who turned 40 on June 20, certainly doesn't need any help looking young. And, by ditching Tom Cruise before he went completely and publicly insane, she seems to be doing fine between the ears too.
From Evil Avatar
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Attack of the Clones
Neo Double GamesSo Junior wants a Nintendo DS for his birthday, but you spent all of his gift money on the ponies? Not a problem! Your bookie should have no trouble finding you a deal on this Chinese imposter. Just be aware of a few minor differences.
The included hand strap and ear buds are garbage, as is the hinge that joins the two screens. And what about those screens? That's where things get weird. The Neo comes packaged with two randomly selected, low-budget games -- the model in this photo came with 'Soccer' and 'Street Fighter' (yes, 'Street Fighter' is also a fake). The games are actually built right into the two removable screens. You power on the Neo and the top screen plays 'Street Fighter' while the bottom screen plays dead. To play 'Soccer,' you have to turn the unit off and swap the screens. As you'd expect, there's no touchscreen. There isn't even a Luigi.
Spotted at Tech Blog
(Careful, the video clip on this page includes some not-so family-friendly language)
Nintendo Works Letterman's Brain
Unless you're Howie Mandel, the perks of being famous are sweet. You have companies constantly sending you free goodies in the off chance that you'll show up in public with their products, discuss them in an interview, or mention them on the air. And it's not just youngsters reaping the rewards. Even elder celebrities get the treatment, with Nintendo sending David Letterman a free DS system and copy of 'Brain Age' for his 60th birthday. The game, which has been selling like gangbusters since its release nearly a year ago, purports to condition the player's brain and blow off the cobwebs of senility. Whether it also helps maintain wit and sense of humor into old age remains to be seen.
From Joystiq
Jon Heder, Nintendo Fanatic
by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 5th 2007 at 12:51PM
Even though you may or may not not look quite as fantastic as Jon Heder does in a silvery-blue unitard, chances are you and the Blades of Glory star have something in common, at least if you're a gamer who likes to play Nintendo DS and Wii. In a recent interview with GameDaily, Jon talks about his holiday gaming antics with his family, creating Mii avatars for everyone, racing his twin in Mario Kart, even being the recipient of a few hard knocks from his father via a Wii remote. It turns out he's found the time to complete The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and is even planning on taking golf lessons after finding success at Wii Golf. Hopefully he won't get too discouraged when he finds out real golf is a wee bit more difficult than the Wii variety.
From GameDaily
From GameDaily
