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Warning: Pictoimage Isn't Really A Game

Posted by Bob Mackey

Yesterday, my general boredom led me to the Wii's space-gobbling Nintendo Channel, in the hopes that something could eat away minutes of my precious free time.  I was lucky enough to stumble across a DS demo for Sega's PictoImage, which amazingly transforms your DS into a virtual piece of paper!  Here's the trailer:



Yep, PictoImage is the same gimmicky crap that made everyone think the DS was a bad idea back in 2004. Thank god we can experience these feelings in 2008, what with Ping Pals being a forgotten tragedy nearly four years after the system's launch.

I know, I know--Pictoimage is essentially Pictionary. And there's really nothing wrong with that. But it doesn't need to be a video game, let alone on the DS. Unless, of course, you need some sort of CPU middle-man to ensure your weekly Pictionary games do not end in bloodshed.

In order to show you just how exciting PictoImage is, allow me to summarize my experience with its two-player mode.

  • - The game asks me to draw "mustard."
  • - I do, and pass the DS to my girlfriend.
  • - She struggles for a few minutes with PictoImage's awful handwriting recognition.
  • - The game tells her that her guess of "mustard" is correct.
  • - We are now awful people.


We later tried the same concept with a pencil and a piece of paper, and amazingly, no one died and hard feelings were mysteriously absent throughout the entire experience. It goes without saying that I immediately ran down to Gamestop, ordered my copy of PictoImage, and put $5 on Sega's next DS game, I'm Thinking of a Number Between 1 and 10. Wish me luck!


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

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About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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