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Top 10 Portable Games for Long Trips

by Evan Shamoon, posted Jun 13th 2008 at 12:45PMBreaking NewsFeatured Story

Summer is a time to escape -- to the beach, to the countryside, to the other side of the world. And for those of us who just love our down time, there's plenty of it (mostly spent on flying on planes, riding in cars, and laying on beach chairs). So we've compiled a list of the best portable games for Sony PSP and Nintendo DS to pack in your bag this summer; whether you're looking to hit the baseball diamond or the bustling streets of Tokyo, we've got just the digital escape. Oh, and here's a little tip: if your PSP is your handheld of choice, you might want to invest in the PSP Extended Life Battery -- especially, for owners of the new model PSP, for whom it will nearly double your battery life (old PSP owners only get a 20% jump).



Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (PSP)

For years -- since the original PlayStation days, in fact -- Sony's cartoonish 'Hot Shots' series has been one of the best golf games around. Open Tee 2 continues the tradition, with 24 playable characters, 12 courses, and more than 300 different options for clothing, hairstyles, clubs, and more. There's a 16-player online mode, clothing/item boosts, and, most importantly of all, an impressively realistic golf experience. The number of unlockable items is bananas, and the load times are much better than those in the original Open Tee. There's something slightly obsessive about playing a virtual golf game on your way to play golf, but we won't tell anyone if you won't.
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Totally '80s Synthesizer Being Developed For Nintendo DS

by Evan Shamoon, posted Mar 18th 2008 at 1:04PM



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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Romantic Geek Proposes Via Homebrew DS Game

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 7th 2008 at 6:06PM

Geek Proposes Via Homebrew DS Game
We have a new winner for geekiest marriage proposal ever. Proposing in 'Second Life' and 'World of Warcraft' is so 2007. Now you uber dorks will have to top Bernie, a Xanga user who wrote a version of 'Bejeweled' from scratch for his girlfriend's Nintendo DS.

When his girlfriend, Tammy, reached a certain score, the screen cleared and ring made out of the game's namesake jewels lowered on to the screen. Of course, waiting near by with a ring, was Bernie.

Congratulations to you both on the engagement! And Bernie, you're an unbelievable dork. And we love you for that.

From Joystiq

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Disney Uses Nintendo DS as Interactive Guide to the Magic Kingdom

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 22nd 2008 at 2:10PM

Disney Uses Nintendo DS as Interactive Guide
Non-gaming uses for the Nintendo DS are starting to become more widespread. Initially, these alternative functions were made up of non-traditional gameplay, brain and face training and skin care. Then, Wii-nnovations morphed into services such as ordering food and showing replays at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners. Now, Disney is piloting a program to use the dual-screened device as an interactive map and guide to Walt Disney World.

The quite extensive application called 'Disney Magic Connection' features not just maps, but GPS for locating the nearest bathrooms, ATMs, and other amenities, as well as estimated wait times at rides and attractions, and, of course, games to help you kill time on those lines.

Currently, 'Disney Magic Connection' is only available preloaded on DS systems provided by Disney, but that may change when the program moves out of the testing phase.

From Engadget

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Cooking Mama 2

by Evan Shamoon, posted Nov 19th 2007 at 8:16PM



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
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Nintendo Targets Women & Grandparents

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 17th 2007 at 12:01PM

Nintendo Tauts Expansion of Gamer Market

Nintendo has been selling out of its little white Wii console since its release late last year, and sales of the DS Lite portable have been equally stellar. At last week's E3 video game conference, Nintendo demonstrated that sales of both systems have been fueled largely by groups that aren't typically seen as, well, gamers. Making the systems as accessible to non-gamers as possible was one of the key design concepts when Nintendo designers were piecing the systems together. According to Nintendo's own research, that work is paying off.

From the DS and success of general-appeal games like 'Nintendogs' and 'Brain Age' Nintendo has managed to boost the portable gaming side of things. Portable gaming consoles now account for 50 percent of all video game system sales. That's up from 30 percent in 2002. The DS alone makes up for half of those sales, while Nintendo's older handheld, the GameBoy Advance, makes up most of the remaining half. Though it has been gaining steam lately, that still leaves the PSP with very little market share.

Thanks to those games on the DS and the pick-up-and-play nature of the Wii, Nintendo has managed to break long-standing industry standard demographics as well. For example, women make up an impressive one third of Nintendo gamers compared to about 20 percent for the competition. Likewise, while game companies typically target young males, half of all men over 50 have tried the Wii. This expansion of the gaming industry has resulted in an amazing 56 percent increase in sales of games and game hardware compared to last year in the U.S., and an even more impressive 114 percent increase in Japan.

With the DS being seen as a tool for seniors to ward off dementia, and the Wii getting more and more recognition as a healthy and fun way for everyone to game, by next year the mainstream gamer may indeed just be ... mainstream.

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Which Video Game Console Will Rule This Year?

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 16th 2007 at 3:22PMFeatured Story

We have just limped back from E3, the video game "Media & Business Summit". This conference, held in Santa Monica, CA, was an intense four days of seeing and playing all the video games that will come out for the next year. Sounds horrible, right?

We took some time to digest what the major players -- Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft -- had to say, and our verdicts are in. Some of the results are surprising.
Nintendo

Tim Stevens: Nintendo Wii
Each year the "big three," Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, try to out-do one another with major announcements that make the E3 crowds go "ooh" and "aah." Each year someone is crowned a winner. When compared to years previous it's hard to pick a winner, with nobody really clearly out-doing the others. However, of the three, Nintendo's Wii had the best showing, with a selection of great games due out before the end of the year like 'Super Mario Galaxy,' 'Metroid Prime: Corruption,' and 'Super Smash Bros. Brawl.' Sony's PS3 and Microsoft 's Xbox 360 dazzled with visually amazing games, but Nintendo's got the gameplay squared away.

Sure, the Zapper isn't too enticing and the Balance Board is perhaps a bit niche (Yoga gamers??), but if nothing else these are signs that Nintendo is still taking risks, even if they're still relying on their core franchises like Mario and Zelda. With any luck, some third-party producers will get in on the party by next year's show.
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'Napoleon Dynamite' Video Game. Sweet!

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 16th 2007 at 11:01AM

Napoleon Dynamite Strutting to PSP, DSCrave is showing off a game that's been a long, long time coming. Napoleon Dynamite is finally making an appearance in a video game and it's a suitably bizarre one to compliment the generally bizarre film. The game, due out for Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS handhelds, is basically a collection of silly little mini games that are, on their own, fun but not really all that captivating. However, as in games like 'Wario Ware' and 'Rayman: Raving Rabbids,' when you combine enough of these little diversions together and you can create a fairly addictive experience.

The DS version will ship with 24 games while the PSP will have 30, making it the one to get. The games are all connected to the movie in some way, like one that has you flinging lasagna at Tina the llama (while she tries to spit it back at you). Another pits you against Uncle Rico in a football tossing contest. And, of course, you'll also make Napoleon dance -- 'Dance Dance Revolution'-style naturally. The games are simple but fun and all share the same big headed cutout visual style that's equally cool.

'Napoleon Dynamite' doesn't have a firm release date yet, but fans of the film will definitely want to check this totally sweet game out whenever it shows up on store shelves.

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Nintendo Wants You Thinner, Smarter

by Tom Conlon, posted Jul 12th 2007 at 8:40AM

Wii Fit
Nintendo, it seems, thinks we're all fat and lunkheaded. The Japanese giant has made it clear at this year's E3 video game conference that it is out to fix us. To target both novice and core gamers with its Wii console and DS handheld, the company has promised a suite of new games similar to the simple-yet-genius crossover titles like 'Wii Sports' and 'Brain Age,' with which it found so much success.

'Brain Age 2' is the first fix-em-up on the way. The game is already out in Japan where it quickly eclipsed sales of the original. If you haven't played the original puzzle/brain tease/brain builder, do so immediately. Your IQ will thank you.

Also in the works is a game called 'Flash Focus,' a so-called "vision training game" that aims to improve your vision and coordination with such exercises as baseball batting practice and basketball passing practice. Ditch your eyeglasses this October 15.

Ubi Soft, the developer of such console hits as 'Splinter Cell' and 'Rainbow Six,' is working on a couple of self-improvement games for Nintendo. One is called 'My Word Coach' and aims to beef up your vocabulary. The other, 'My Life Coach,' we were given no details about, but one assumes it will be a cheap alternative to psychotherapy.

Finally, the big news is the new Wii game developed by game legend Shigeru Miyamoto, the brains behind the Mario and Zelda franchises. 'Wii Fit' comes with a new peripheral called the Wii Balance Board, which you stand on in front of your TV. It measures your balance while you do aerobics, push-ups, dance moves and even yoga poses. Besides measuring balance, it measures your Body Mass Index to help you track weight loss while doing these exercises.

Nintendo: building a slimmer, smarter, better-sighted you.

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Nintendo DS Gets Camera and "Facening"

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 5th 2007 at 3:16PM

DS Gets Camera and FaceningSure, training your brain, that makes sense. But your skin? Not so much. And your face? Even less. But apparently that's the next step for the Nintendo DS. A game that translates roughly into 'Face Training' is being prepped for release (in Japan) that helps you improve your looks though face exercises, or as Nintendo calls it (we kid you not), "facening."

The game comes with a stand for hands-free use and a camera to assure you're performing the face exercise correctly. We're not sure if the software matches up points on your face, or if you have to just look and see if you're performing the exercise properly.

The camera is also the first official one available for the DS, though so far there has been no mention of other uses for the camera. It's hard to imagine Nintendo is wasting it on just this game.

From Engadget

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Nintendo's Zelda Named "Best Game Ever"

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 3rd 2007 at 11:40AM

Zelda =

While we may think that claims of the Wii being the best thing ever are a bit exaggerated, it's hard to argue with results from a new poll by 'Edge' magazine that found 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' is the best game of all time, beating out other great titles like 'Resident Evil 4' and 'Tetris.' The 10 year-old classic was first released for the Nintendo 64 system but has maintained a strong following among fans. It has also seen re-release on both the Nintendo GameCube and Wii.

Impressively, Nintendo claimed six spots in the top ten.

In other Zelda news, Nintendo has announced that 'The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' for Nintendo's portable DS will be released on October first in the US. The game is a follow-up to the cell-shaded GameCube entry, 'Windwaker.'

From BBC News and I4U News

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Limited Edition Yellow DS

by Evan Shamoon, posted Jun 12th 2007 at 8:41AM

Limited Edition Yellow DS
If you prefer your portable gaming like you prefer your taxi cabs -- we mean yellow and black, not smelly and unsafe -- then look no further than Nintendo's new Pokemon DS Lite. In addition to the yellow paint job and black accents, there's a matching yellow stylus and an etched portrait of Mr. Pikachu himself.

But don't get too excited: The yellow DS is being produced in a limited run and will only be available from the Japanese Pokemon Center in Tokyo -- and only to those lucky enough to enter and win a forthcoming raffle.

It looks like you'll have to settle for tricking out your DS Lite with a bright yellow highlighter pen and some Pokemon stickers.

From TechDigest
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Attack of the Clones

by Tom Conlon, posted May 20th 2007 at 5:56PM

Attack of the Clones
FUN
A PlayStation-based cell phone has been rumored to be on the way almost since the day Sony released the PSP. But instead of waiting for Sony to come around to actually producing it, one unscrupulous Chinese gadget maker just went ahead and built one -- kind of. The FUN (pronounced F-U-N, we're guessing, to sound similar to P-S-P) is like a 50 percent photocopy of the PSP that makes calls, does music and video and plays 8-bit games. Sadly, this GSM wonder is available only in Hong Kong.

Spotted at PhoneDaily.com
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Nintendo's Fashion Runway Show

by Tom Conlon, posted Apr 26th 2007 at 4:00PM


Giorgio Armani, Gianni Versace, Dolce & Gabbana. These are the names that immediately come to mind when one thinks of legendary Italian couture. And you can now add Mario and Luigi to that distinguished list. The fashion world has been abuzz since the pair debuted its new line of Nintendo-themed t-shirts, hats, backpacks and other apparel at a recent runway show in the Nintendo World Store in New York's Rockefeller Center.

You want the truth? It was actually Nintendo putting on the show, and not two fictional video-game characters. And, well, it's a pretty safe bet to assume that the fashion world failed to acknowledge the event. Still, this isn't your run-of-the-mill, crappy corporate propaganda -- these clothes definitely have style. Check them out for yourself in the gallery below.

SPOILER ALERT! This gallery contains photos of a pale, overweight gentleman in 'Super Mario Bros.' underwear. You've been warned.

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Gallery: Nintendo Fashion Show

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Jon Heder, Nintendo Fanatic

by Tim Stevens, posted Apr 5th 2007 at 12:51PMFeatured Story



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
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