Inside the thoughts of an average gamer.
Posts tagged ds
It’s Funny Where Inspiration Can Come From
Nov 25th
Even if it’s from a commercial for an earlier game in the series nearly ten years ago.
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is a game that I have been waiting for since it was announced at last year’s E3. Now out in Japan and hitting North American stores on Monday, I keep looking back to my preorder receipt, anticipating the game that it will get me on the day it arrives.
Earlier this week, I found an article on Destructoid where the developers seemed to draw inspiration from the commercial for the US release of Golden Sun back in 2001. For those that remember the style of GBA commercials around launch time, they usually took real life scenes and created them into something out of the game they’re advertising. The one for Golden Sun was quite bizarre:
Quite sure I’ve never gotten attacked by an opera house chandelier that turns into crystal dragon.
Now, as far as Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is concerned, Camelot seemed to have had a good memory, (especially for a commercial that didn’t even air in their country) and decided to make something of it.
And the rest is all history:
Local Multiplayer Accomplishes Things That Can’t Be Done Online
Jul 31st
Captain Obvious title, mirite?
In this day and age, the Internet is bringing everyone together in new ways. From the days of usenet, to AOL chatrooms and IRC, followed by BBSes (now forums) we are now in an age where social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are commonplace.
For most of the past fifteen years, PC gaming has had its place online in one way or another. At the turn of the century, that started to spread to consoles, starting with the Dreamcast and XBOX. Today, every current-gen console and handheld is online and part of its own distinct service; XBOX Live for the 360, Playstation Network for the PS3 and PSP, and Nintendo WFC for the Wii and DS. Nowadays, many console games ship with multiplayer modes that are strictly online, where in the past we would have split screen. As time wore on, the Internet has reshaped the way we play games with other people.
However, this does not mean that the days of local multiplayer are gone forever.
Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference
Jun 15th
I only have two words to describe Nintendo’s E3 Presser.
….holy shit.
Here’s all that they had to show for us today:
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)
- Mario Sports Mix (2011)
- WiiParty
- Just Dance 2
- Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (Q4 2010)
- Goldeneye 007 (Q4 2010)
- Epic Mickey
- A Kirby game that I can’t remember the name of
- Donkey Kong Country Returns (This game probably got the biggest applause out of every game there)
- Dragon Quest IX (July 2010)
- Metroid: Other M (August 31st, 2010)
- Nintendo 3DS Reveal
- Kid Icarus Uprising
As far as the 3DS is concerned, Nintendo announced a possible lineup of games including DJ Hero 3D, a Kingdom Hearts game, and even the possibility of a Metal Gear Solid game.
If you weren’t saying “Holy shit” when you started reading this, you are now.
UPDATE: Destructoid has posted a list of games/fanchises that are supposedly being developed for the 3DS here.
First Impressions: Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
Mar 21st
Was I ever excited about this.
In October 2000, Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver had already been out in Japan for quite some time. I had a preorder for Gold, due out October 14th. It was a day I couldn’t wait for. I remember I didn’t sleep the night before and I showed up at the mall a half hour before it opened so I could pick the game up right away. I took it home and played, played, played, and played the crap out of it. So much, in fact, that the only game that I have ever played more than my beloved Gold version is Tales of Symphonia.
Pokemon Gold and Silver introduced a lot of new things to the series that wasn’t around in Red and Blue: A real-time clock, day/night phases, pokemon genders, battle screen enhancements such as experience meters, new plot events, and Pokemon Crystal took it even further by introducing a playable female character, battle animations, a “second rival” (Eusine) and a forced legendary battle after the seventh badge; Something we’ve seen in every game after Crystal.
Nine and a half years later to the day on March 14th 2010, Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver made landfall in North America. Just like before I had it preordered, although I didn’t rush out to get it. As I unboxed the big package that the game came in (which includes the Pokewalker, which I will get to in a bit) and started playing, I came to realize that not only has all of that been improved on, but things that had been added later on had also been put into this game, along with a few new things.
So, now that I have the remake of one of my most beloved games of all time, what do I think of it?
Notable releases: Q4 2009 UPDATED
Sep 28th
So, it’s been a bit of an uneventful third quarter at AGM. It appears I have come down with severe cases of writer’s block, laziness, and just plain procrastination all at once.
But, without further ado, here are some of the games you can expect between now and the end of the year:
(Note: The following list is only for North America)
Xbox 360
Oct 13th: Brutal Legend
Oct 27th: DJ Hero
Oct 27th: Forza Motorsport 3
Oct 27th: Tekken 6
Oct 29th: GTA4: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Assassin’s Creed II
Nov 17th: Left 4 Dead 2
Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Playstation 3
Sept 29th: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Oct 13th: Brutal Legend
Oct 20th: Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time
Oct 27th: DJ Hero
Oct 27th: Tekken 6
Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Assassins Creed II
Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Wii
Sept 29th: Dead Space Extraction
Oct 4th: Wii Fit Plus
Oct 6th: Spore Hero
Oct 13th: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Oct 27th: DJ Hero
Nov 3rd: Band Hero
Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 3rd: Rabbids Go Home
Nov 3rd: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex
Nov 15th: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nov 27th: Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Dec 22nd: Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Dec 26th: Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
(I also believe that Tatsunoku vs. Capcom is supposed to fit in somewhere here, unless I missed something.)
Nintendo DS
Sept 29th: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Oct 6th: Spore Hero Arena
Oct 12th: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Oct 13th: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Nov 3rd: Lego Rock Band
Nov 10th: Band Hero
Nov 10th: Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Mobilized
Dec 7th: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
PSP
Oct 1st: PSPGo [Hardware]
Oct 1st: Gran Tourismo
Oct 1st: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
Oct 13th: Half Minute Hero
Oct 20th: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Nov 17th: Little Big Planet
(And yes, that’s it for now.)
PC
Oct 13th: Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Oct 22nd: Windows 7 [Operating System]
Nov 10th: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Nov 17th: Left 4 Dead 2
Hands-On with the Nintendo DSi
Apr 8th
As if we didn’t need another interation of the Nintendo DS already, the DSi, which launched in Japan late last year, arrived in the rest of the world over the past weekend. The system, which looks to be the “Game Boy Color” of the original DS, has a few subtle improvements and additions from ths DS and the DSLite, from its larger screens to its two cameras. At a time where Nintendo would usually be long overdue for a new handheld, they’ve decided to add new innovations to their current one and leave the door open for titles exclusively for this enhancement.
I actually wasn’t looking to pick a DSi up this close to launch. It just so turned out that it wasn’t going to pull a Wii and sell out for the next year and a half on launch day and that I had the funds available for it without causing too much harship. Carpe diem? I guess.
First Impressions: Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Feb 20th
I have a couple of top 10s lined up, but for now here’s something that I can effectively write about.
For once, American Fire Emblem fans had to go through what European gamers go through in general. Believe it or not, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon has been out in Europe since mid December. The game finally made landfall in the US early this week, although it sucks to be you if you live in the land down under right now as you still have a couple of months to wait.
Realizing that I had some extra cash to spend, I ended up picking this up. Although I’m not all that great at this notorious difficult SRPG series, I’ve always picked them up starting with the first, but now how does the latest version of the game that started it all hold out?
And Now For Something Completely Different: Sega Announces Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Feb 12th
Pardon my eagerness to write something about this, but as I’m an Olympic fanatic and the next Olympic games happens to be happening in my hometown, I just have to go through with this.
On a day where Canada is marking the one year countdown to the start of the opening ceremonies for the 2010 winter games, Sega decided to mark the occasion in their own way by uploading a teaser video on YouTube for their second Olympic-based game following their Mario and Sonic mashup of Beijing 2008, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.
