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• The 61FPS Review: Suikoden Tierkreis

  Let’s get something out of the way first, to avoid misunderstanding: I love Suikoden. I know that Suikoden II is the best game on the PlayStation, and that it is easily one of the two best games I’ve ever played. I left Suikoden III spinning in my PS2 for hours, and I’m not talking about playing it—I’m talking about letting the attract video repeat over and over just to listen to its score. I played Suikoden Tactics from beginning till end, and so help me, I didn’t hate it. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand the depth of my meaning when I tell you Suikoden Tierkreis isn’t for me. Read More... Posted Apr 08 2009, 09:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, konami, 61fps review, joe keiser, Suikoden ii, Suikoden Tierkreis, jrpgs

• The All New Retro: Bust-a-Groove and Low-Poly Love

  I won’t deny it. My gaming tastes are a little unusual. Take my emulation aversion. Does a normal person spend months and months tracking down a rare and expensive cheat device so they can play an imported SNES game when they could download a ROM and SNES emulator in about ten seconds? No. This is not how a normal person behaves. As I slowly morph into something approximating an adult, I’ve been noticing another strange predilection in my gaming brain: a love of low-polygon graphics. Some games do not age with grace. Their mechanics, and especially their graphics, develop the distinct taste of vinegar when they used to be wine just five years before. Yet the games of the 32- and 64-bit era, games that I thought were repulsive even at the time, are starting to take on a strange allure. Read More... Posted Mar 31 2009, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, mega man, katamari damacy, Playstation, square-enix, tomb raider, retro, final fantasy iv, sega saturn, Retro game challenge, nintendo 64, enix, tomb raider 3, bust-a-groove

• Game Endings Out of Left Field: Chrono Trigger and the Dream Project

  I bought Chrono Trigger for the SNES from a game store merchant who called it “The game that never ends.” If only. There eventually came a time when I had in fact seen everything the game had to offer, and all that was left was to gnaw on its bones in a future search for Schala. Still, the beauty thing about Chrono Trigger is its lack of a cemented beginning, middle and end. Sure, it's a fairly linear adventure the first time you play through...but after you've taken in your fill of the Moonlight Parade, you're encouraged to slip away and explore Crono's world from as many angles as possible. Even making the tiniest changes in the time stream before taking down Lavos could result in a whole new game ending. Go up against Lavos before you're scheduled to fight Magus, and Frog will fight him one-on-one. Visit the spiky bastard after unlocking the door to the Mammon Machine, and listen to Marle and Lucca make lewd comments about Men Through The Ages. Then there's my personal favourite: finish the game before it even starts, and visit the development staff. Read More... Posted Mar 27 2009, 11:32 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, snes, chrono trigger, super nintendo, nadia oxford, chrono trigger ds, game endings out of left field

• Henry Hatsworth Prototype Not as Awesome as Final Game, Still Awesome

  A few weeks ago, I saw a trailer for Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. Then I freaked out. Because it looked fantastic. Last week, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure came out. Turns out it isn’t fantastic. It is totally fantastic in every possible way there is to be fantastic and sweet. Okay, in fairness, I’ve only played the first few levels, so I’m not sure how deep it is or how good it is overall. (Derrick tells me it gets hard near the middle. We’ll see.) From the start, though, the platforming’s methodical and silky smooth, the puzzling simple but oh so satisfying. You already know the music’s great. Its sense of humor is everything the trailer promised as well. Hatsworth is a funny, funny game. I want to tell you about Tea Time in the game, but I also don’t want to ruin it for you. Tea Time made me laugh out loud on a crowded subway. I can, however, show you what the prototype of Tea Time looks like without ruining anything! Read More... Posted Mar 27 2009, 07:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, ea, trailer review, ost, madden, prototype, Tiburon, henry hatsworth in the puzzling adventure, henry hatsworth

• Daily DS Sutra - Position of the Nail

  Today, we close our series of looks at the more interesting poses in amateur French developer Cid2Mizard's SutraDS, a homebrew Kama Sutra application for the Nintendo DS. Have we saved the best for last? Well, that really depends on what you consider "best." One more time, if you are offended by imagery or discussion of a sexual nature, please do not continue reading this post and generally avoid the rest of hooksexup.com Just to be clear, even though we do not see this content as pornographic, it is most likely NSFW. Read More... Posted Mar 27 2009, 01:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, sex, education, homebrew, kama sutra

• Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Elephant

  Today, we look at another of the more interesting poses in amateur French developer Cid2Mizard's SutraDS, a homebrew Kama Sutra application for the Nintendo DS. Once again, if you are offended by imagery or discussion of a sexual nature, please do not continue reading this post and generally avoid the rest of hooksexup.com Today's position: Union of the Elephant Read More... Posted Mar 26 2009, 02:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, sex, education, homebrew, kama sutra

• The Legend of Zelda: Manifest Destiny

  The assembled audience held their breath. Satoru Iwata had played them all. He said there would be no new Zelda announcement at the Game Developers Conference. He lied. The lights dimmed, and the trailer rolled. Wind Waker’s Toon Link sits on bended knee. Text appears: "Link, you have crossed a vast ocean and found a new Hyrule for us to settle!" A golden railroad spike descends into a fire-red z in The Legend of Zelda: Manifest Destiny. Cut to a monocled Link checking his pocket watch impatiently on a train platform. A moblin tries to sell him the day’s paper. Link chases him away with the new Dandy’s Cane item. “Join Link as he brutally wipes out the indigenous people of Zelda's new kingdom!” Read More... Posted Mar 25 2009, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, legend of zelda, link, satoru iwata, spirit tracks

• Trailer Review: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

  If the concept behind The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks tells us anything, it's that humans and Hylians likely share a similar transportation history, from beast domestication to the age of iron and steam. Apparently, both our races got tired of getting our heads stomped in by irate horses, and decided that challenging billions of tonnes of angry water while riding a thin wooden shell is for the birds. Bending iron to our will is the only way to ride. In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Link has stepped away from the filth of the stable (have you seen what goes into breeding horses?) and barrels across Hyrule as the conductor of a train. Dignity, Yes! The trailer for Spirit Tracks stirs up conflicting emotions. I love the idea of trains in the Zelda series. Trains are my preferred method of transportation, and it's exciting to watch the trailer and speculate what might be. Will Link get to determine where tracks are laid down? Will he be able to somehow design stations? Will he pick up passengers? Why didn't Old West trains install pirate ship-style canons to protect against bandits? Then there's the gameplay, which registers as a little less spectacular, at least in my picky heart. Read More... Posted Mar 25 2009, 07:29 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, nadia oxford, the legend of zelda spirit tracks, the legend of zelda phantom hourglass

• Reminder: Nintendo of Japan Still Gets All the Nicest Things

  Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's keynote today was actually pretty nice. We got the long-awaited Wii storage solution, confirmation and reveals of a bunch of downloadable titles, the reveal of a new DS Zelda game, and some insight into just how creepy Shigeru Miyamoto really is to work with. As ecstatic as I am to see Nintendo committed to promoting Rhythm Heaven in America (my early pick for "game of the year"), it's still hard not to envy Japanese Nintendo fans. Of course they get many of the best games we never do (Captain Rainbow) or get very late (Professor Layton...still waiting on either of the sequels), and there are a few times when the tables are turned (Japan will likely never get MadWorld), but Nintendo of Japan just gets to do things that Nintendo of America would never dream of. Japanese Wiis can control television browsing and order business cards with your Mii on them. Nintendo of Japan even sponsors an annual student game developing seminar, 10 months of programming, sound and graphic design training for forty lucky applicants, with the best of the final student games distributed at Nintendo download centers. Not only do we in the west not get a program like this, we don't even get to enjoy the fruits of their awesome labors. Just take a look at Fufu Kirarin, one of the games made available from the class of 2008 Read More... Posted Mar 25 2009, 06:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, japan, independent developer, student, fufu kirarin

• Daily DS Sutra - The Big Opening

  Today, we look at another of the more interesting poses in amateur French developer Cid2Mizard's SutraDS, a homebrew Kama Sutra application for the Nintendo DS. Once again, if you are offended by imagery or discussion of a sexual nature, please do not continue reading this post and generally avoid the rest of hooksexup.com Today's position: The Big Opening Read More... Posted Mar 25 2009, 02:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, sex, education, homebrew, kama sutra

• Respect the Pokeymans

  Confession: Pokemon frightens me. It's nothing to do with the dead eyes of Jinx or Psyduck, either (okay, maybe a little). The truth is, Pokemon is intimidating. It's a sprawling franchise that sucks you in waist-deep after two steps. A skeptic who spares naught but a quick glance at Pokemon sees a bunch of cash-in kids' games that merely scotch tapes a few new Muppets to its roster with each new installment. So untrue. Oh, so untrue. I was a self-proclaimed Pokemon Master through 1998-1999. No ten-year-old had a chance against my Nidoking, “AAAAAA” (“I choose you! AAAAAA!”). No job supervisor could tear me away from my heated matches for dominance—because I knew all the best places to hide. I ran out of slacker friends to play Pokemon with, and I took a long sabbatical. A friend of mine bought me a copy of Pokemon Pearl, and I decided it was time to whup preschoolers again. I quickly came to realise that the audience for Pokemon has grown up—and not all its fanbase dropped away as the franchise aged. Nintendo is well aware that there is a well-seasoned adult fanbase that is far beyond coddling Pikachu and drinking punch with Charmander in the shade of a big tree. Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 11:05 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, game boy, pokemon, nadia oxford, pikachu

• Screen Test: Blood of Bahamut

  Since its launch in 2004, Square-Enix has developed over thirty games for the Nintendo DS. Thirty. They haven’t made that many games for the Playstation 2, a system that’s existed for almost twice as long. Damn. Want to know the worst part? Approximately one tenth of their total output on the Nintendo DS is original IP. This would be troubling if it weren’t for the fact that one of those original games, namely The World Ends With You, is one of the best games made in the history of the publisher. I mean across Square, Enix, and Taito. TWEWY is that good. Blood of Bahamut, the forthcoming Nintendo DS original IP from S-E, is worth taking a look at solely because it’s something new. Convenient then that it also looks awesome. Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, the world ends with you, nintendo ds, screen test, taito, square-enix, blood of bahamut

• Daily DS Sutra - Mobile of the Wheel

  Today, we look at another of the more interesting poses in amateur French developer Cid2Mizard's SutraDS, a homebrew Kama Sutra application for the Nintendo DS. Once again, if you are offended by imagery or discussion of a sexual nature, please do not continue reading this post and generally avoid the rest of hooksexup.com Today's position: Mobile of the Wheel Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 01:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, sex, education, homebrew, kama sutra

• OST: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

  I've been playing Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure for just under a week now and am utterly stunned by the quality of the product. The art is appropriately vibrant, the story is wonderfully goofy and the gameplay is nostalgically frustrating (seriously, the action is hardcore not unlike Mega Man and Castlevania). Of course, this finely-crafted other-worldly goodness would all be for naught without an accentuated atmospheric soundtrack to tie it all together, and Henry Hatsworth does not skimp in this department either. Click on through for three musical tracks from the game! Read More... Posted Mar 23 2009, 05:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, ea, derrick sanskrit, ost, henry hatsworth in the puzzling adventure, henry hatsworth

• Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon

  Last week, amateur French developer Cid2Mizard released his homebrew application SutraDS which, as the name implies, is a representation of a timeless pocket guide Kama Sutra for the Nintendo DS. Putting aside all criticism for the application's lack of polish or practicality, I have to admire its mere existance, wonderfully embodying everything that's great about the DS homebrew community by creating a non-game that changes what the DS is used for. As this is the video game blog for a fairly prominent internet sex magazine, I feel it is my duty to report on and promote discussion of SutraDS, and as such I now present the first in a week-long series reviewing just a few of the 37 poses included in the application. Note: If you are offended by imagery or discussion of a sexual nature, please do not continue reading this post. In fact, you probably shouldn't be on Hooksexup at all. Read More... Posted Mar 23 2009, 02:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, sex, education, homebrew, kama sutra

• Ghostface & DOOM Bring The Ruckus To Chinatown

  Arguably the biggest game released this week was Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS. It's an impressively deep, true-to-the-series, handcramp-inducing marvel, but when it comes to a series like Grand Theft Auto it's not about the game, it's about the street cred. Many were worried about a loss in credibility by putting such a controversial series on the family-favorite DS. Well, contemporary music snobs and hoodrats alike, take note, as Chinatown Wars gets a heaping helping of respect in its theme song. Oh yes, villains, it's the legendary killer bee Ghostface Killah and the man in the mask DOOM (formerly MF Doom) in this sick cut produced by Oh No. Read More... Posted Mar 19 2009, 11:30 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, music, doom, grand theft auto, gta: chinatown wars, ghostface

• Whatcha Playing: Tappable Rhythm Sequels

  I love a good rhythm game, but Guitar Hero and Rock Band have always felt forced to me. Holding a plastic representation of the object I'm simulating using just feels awkward to me (the same reason I've not enjoyed my few sessions with Mario Kart Wii so far). PaRappa The Rapper and Dance Dance Revolution really did it right, making a game out of the music rather than a simulation. My favorite, as I've mentioned before, is Rhythm Tengoku, the Japan-only Gameboy Advance cart from the WarioWare team that's all about keeping the beat in a series of wild and hilarious cartoon scenarios. It dawned on me the other day that Rhythm Tengoku's DS sequel is finally being released in the west next month as Rhythm Heaven and that it may very well be a deservedly huge hit for Nintendo. I brushed off my nearly year-old import copy last week for a refresher. Read More... Posted Mar 17 2009, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments Filed under: whatcha playing, nintendo ds, derrick sanskrit, ipod, iphone, rhythm tengoku, rhythm heaven, tap tap revenge

• Miami Law: Welcome Back Victor Ireland of Working Designs

  Somehow I missed Victor Ireland’s re-emergence last December. I shouldn’t be too surprised. It might be big news to me, but the return of a niche industry icon best remembered by a handful of geeks for his American localizations of niche videogames ten years ago isn’t exactly Edge Online headline news material. It’s sidebar at best. For everyone reading who doesn’t smile when they hear the word Alundra, here’s the score. Victor Ireland co-founded Working Designs. After opening in 1986, Working Designs was one of the only publishers in the Western world devoted to localizing strange Japanese games, particularly those JRPG things we enjoy so much here at 61FPS. Working Designs translations tended to be a bit strange, littered with juvenile humor and American pop culture references. They serviced a very small audience; not only were they putting out games in an unpopular genre, they had a habit of releasing them for doomed consoles like the Turbo-Grafx 16, Turbo CD, Sega CD, and Sega Saturn. Working Design’s golden age was when they started releasing Playstation games at the end of the 1990s. Read More... Posted Mar 04 2009, 08:05 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, working designs, playstation 2, sega, Playstation, lunar, sega cd, lunar the silver star, sega saturn, hudson, arc the lad, turbo grafx 16, turbo cd, gaijinworks, Miami law

• Trailer Review: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

  Videogames do bad things to your brain. Not games themselves, but the business and marketing that surrounds them. Familiarity, as they say, breeds contempt. When I see a name like Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, I immediately think of poop. It’s bound to some terrible Professor Layton clone, right? Surely, it has to be Data Design Interactive’s latest abomination. You don’t expect it to be some awesome 2D platformer/puzzle game hybrid. You especially don’t expect it to be coming from EA’s Tiburon studio. Tiburon makes Madden! Watch this trailer and get excited. Read More... Posted Mar 02 2009, 03:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo, nintendo ds, ea, trailer review, wii, madden, tiger woods, professor layton, Tiburon, henry hatsworth in the puzzling adventure, ncaa, data design interactive, henry hatsworth

• Perfect Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth: Eigo Desu, En Ingles, In English, Talkin’ ‘Merican

  Not really. I apologize for misleading you. I didn’t need to lie in the headline. All it needed to say was “Miles Edgeworth” and you would have clicked it nine times, rabid with anticipation of countless jurisprudence-related delights! You wouldn’t even read the article. You would just come on in looking for images of Miles and his perfectly coifed visage, hoping for some small passage of his urbane wit and scathing insight. Maybe not. Naturally I’ve been curious about Capcom’s new Ace Attorney spin-off, Perfect Prosecutor. Not just because Miles has gone from supporting character to star. The game’s also piqued my interest since it’s the series’ first foray into third-person play. This is good news. Who wants to play a Miles Edgeworth game if you can’t look at him the whole time? Capcom’s been keeping the game under wraps since it was announced last year, letting out only a few screens and a trailer or two. Happy day though! The Japanese Perfect Prosecutor homepage has a flash demo of the game’s first case and, even though it’s a hassle to read, intrepid internet denizens Croik and JapaneseGIRL have made an English translation script! Read More... Posted Mar 02 2009, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, capcom, ace attorney, phoenix wright, perfect prosecutor, miles edgeworth

• Whatcha Playing: Guadia Quest

  “But Nadia! 'Guadia Quest' is just one part of the magnificent whole that is Retro Game Challenge!” You're right, you little mathematician! But as fans of Retro Game Challenge are already well-aware, this DS title isn't merely a half-hearted mini game collection. That goes double for its RPG "parody." Both my husband and I intended to play through Retro Game Challenge, but there is only one save file. We decided we'd split up the experience. I've been letting my husband to the lion's share of the work while I sit by and witness the outcome. I want to see what comes of Game Master Arino, the lonely Wizard of a digital Oz who went as far as to outfit himself with a paper crown from Burger King. But I cannot chicken out by the sidelines for the entirety of the game. Someone needs to take up the sword and hack away at Guadia Quest. My husband doesn't know a hilt from a blade, whereas I was weaned on unicorn milk (and cocaine). Read More... Posted Feb 26 2009, 08:29 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, dragon quest, retro, nostalgia, nadia oxford, dragon quest iv, Retro game challenge, dragon quest ii, guadia quest

• Chrono Trigger's Box Art Still Makes My Head Buzz

  I've never been a big fan of Chrono Trigger's box art. I love the game to pieces. I love its story, its music and its character designs. “Akira Toriyama” will be the last words to burst from my mouth in a bubble of blood when Mouseketeer revolutionaries, seeking to empower western animation, unsuccessfully try to force me to renounce my love for the manga-ka. But I just don't dig on Chrono Trigger's cover illustration. It certainly doesn't rank anywhere in Mega Man's Hall of Box Art Horrors, but it's too busy, there's an inflated sense of intensity, and it was a jarring change from the quiet RPG labels I was used to in the 16-bit era. The boxes for Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III on the SNES weren't as stylish as their Super Famicom counterparts, but they were recognisable. The “T” styled as a sword in the American Final FantTasy logo, though not especially creative, was iconic. Square RPGs outside of Final Fantasy still featured calm box art that carried a hint of mystery about the contents within. Secret of Mana, for instance. Chrono Trigger's box art, on the other hand, is bold and loud. Though it's obviously a finished piece of work, it feels like a piece of concept art that was randomly selected to represent the entire game. I look at it and I'm helpless to stop my mind from wandering into Geekville. I start thinking, “Why is Heckran on Death Peak? Why is Crono alive on Death Peak? Wait, maybe that's 12,000,000 BC? Those winter clothes are actually kind of badass, but we never see anything like them. Why would Frog even bother to look for a contact lens that's buried in two feet of snow?” (I know, I know, it's the Arc Impulse Triple Tech—for which Marle is incorrectly casting a Fire spell). Read More... Posted Feb 20 2009, 10:07 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, snes, rpg, chrono trigger, final fantasy II, retro, 16-bit, nadia oxford, box art, final fantasy III

• Rite of Spring: Flower and What’s Lacking in the Romantic Games Movement

  Last week was full of everything you want out of a vacation: a change of setting from urban sprawl to glorious mountain range, rancid air exchanged for clean winter wind, great food, better scotch, and the best company. Of course, there was also a smorgasbord of great portable games. Retro Game Challenge, Atlus’ under-the-radar curiosity My World, My Way, and Kirby Super Star Ultra made for marvelous palette cleansers, washing away the last traces of Epic Holiday Gaming morsels still stuck between my gaming teeth. It was restful, brief, and rejuvenating. When I returned, I knew that it was going to be time for 2009 hardcore gaming to go into high gear what with Street Fighter IV and a Killzone 2 demo waiting, but the first thing I had to spend some time with was Flower. As soon as it had finished installing, well, it felt like my vacation had just gotten an extension. The game is exhilarating. Having grown up in rural upstate New York, the contrast of Flower’s city-bound preludes and its soaring bucolic playgrounds pulls at very specific heartstrings in me. The game is brief but I’m no less taken with it. Jenova Chen and ThatGameCompany are damn good at eliciting just this sort of emotional response with their games. Their debut Cloud was rich with the same bittersweet catharsis that characterizes Flower. Both are something like the game equivalent of a symphonic poem, their fluid flight-based gameplay replacing music as the visceral informant of a visual/audio narrative. They’re games unified in subject too; Cloud and Flower chronicle escapes to a pure, natural world from metropolitan confinement. They are concerned with beauty and simplicity. I wouldn’t say that Chen and TGC started it, but they’re certainly poster children for what appears to be a burgeoning romantic movement in game design. Read More... Posted Feb 19 2009, 09:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, nintendo ds, xbox 360, psn, xbox live, atlus, braid, Retro game challenge, cloud, façade, procedural arts, jon blow, my world my way, flower, thatgamecompany, jenova chen, flow, Kirby super star ultra, rite of spring, that game company, Stravinsky, scotch is awesome, windows

• The Console Wars Made Adorable

  Everyone gets embroiled in a console war once in a while. We have some kind of inborn instinct that causes us to rush to the defence of our beloved consoles as if they were a damsel cornered by a dragon. It's interesting to wonder what system-associated developers like Miyamoto think about such behaviour. “What, do you people have deep-rooted problems revolving around peer approval or something?” When you think about how silly the console wars ultimately are, you really do have to duck your head in shame for participating (shortly before you go back and do it all over again). Or, sometimes, you might receive another reminder of how easily we can all get along if we just try. For instance, through an art project. Read More... Posted Feb 19 2009, 07:50 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, microsoft, xbox 360, wii, psp, Playstation, ps3, fan stuff, nadia oxford, fanboys, console war

• Mega64 Calls On the Elite Beat Agents

  The world would be a better place if the Elite Beat Agents could fly at our everyday problems singing and dancing. Flat tire? Beautiful voices can re-inflate that. Broken vase? The Elite Beat Agents can coax those pieces back into place. Failing with your girlfriend in bed? Maybe not. She might run away with Agent Spin (I know I would). Game-related comedy troupe Mega64 has catapulted to nerd fame by videotaping themselves bouncing around in a kuribo, performing stealth operations in a grocery store as Solid Snake, and wandering around PetSmart as a lonely Tetris L-piece looking for a corner to lean on. This time, the group dressed up as the Elite Beat Agents and tried to bring joy to Californians by the ocean. Unfortunately, Californians seem immune to joy. Actually, given the demographic of San Francisco, they've probably just learn how to politely step around crazy people the same way suburban dwellers have learned to step around piles of dog poo. Video after the jump. Read More... Posted Feb 18 2009, 06:46 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, metal gear solid, mega 64, mario, elite beat agents, tetris, video, media, fan stuff, nadia oxford

• Here Comes the DSi

  It came down from on high today that Nintendo will be launching its new handheld system, the DSi, in the US on April 5th. The good news is that it will be $170, a far cry from the exorbitant Japanese price and ten bucks less than the swirling rumors were assuming. The better news is that it’s not just coming out in black, but in an ugly shade of turquoise that I can’t wait to whip out on the subway. I’m a little bit confused by how Nintendo has been handling the DSi announcements in the US. At the West Coast press conference where it was announced it was kind of brushed off with a “we’ll get to that some other time” style discussion. Now it is Some Other Time, and we have a press release with a price, less than two months of lead time, and no games to speak of. It feels more like another DS color than a whole new DS system. Read More... Posted Feb 18 2009, 11:00 AM by Joe Keiser with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, dsi, joe keiser, nintendo dsi

• Old Man, Take a Look At My Life

  Somewhere over the American Midwest, on February 7th, I was playing through Retro Game Challenge. Five hours on a sold-out airplane, stale air, more screaming kids than tranq-ed adults, and surly Delta Airlines employees shoving headphones and stale bagels in your face every ten minutes makes for the perfect gaming atmosphere. You put on the best headphones you’ve got, jack up the volume, and play until the power runs out. The flight allowed me to access almost all of Retro’s faux-NES games. It wasn’t until I was plodding about its Dragon Quest homage, Guardia Quest, that I noticed my audience. Aaron was about five or six years old, a quiet kid peculiarly calm for such a long trip. “I have a DS too.” Read More... Posted Feb 17 2009, 06:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, nintendo ds, legend of zelda, nes, dragon quest, wii sports, famicom, Retro game challenge, phantom hourglass, guardia quest

• The 61FPS Review: Retro Game Challenge

  I have a confession: every night, the part of my soul that is all id and desire has taken a spirit journey to Japan, where it developed Retro Game Challenge. Of course that’s not actually true. But with an excellently executed premise that is laser-focused on the childhood dreams of the 20-something game player, it certainly feels true. It’s probably impossible to even review the game properly, as RGC is specifically designed to take the sort of person that would review a game and completely disarm them. I will try, but I wanted you to know going in that in this case, I don’t have any arms. Read More... Posted Feb 13 2009, 10:15 AM by Joe Keiser with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: review, nintendo ds, 61fps review, xseed, Retro game challenge, joe keiser

• Dragon Quest IV: Re-Reading the Chapters of the Chosen

  Keeping true to my reputation as the Fastest Gamer in the West, I'm still playing through Dragon Quest IV. I played the NES original, though I never finished it. I was put off by the fact a Dragon Warrior game had a story, and I just never got into it. I was a very dull child, as you can imagine. Dragon Quest IV's branching story isn't anything that would throw Stephen King into a jealous rage, but it's fun and ambitious, and I appreciate it very much. Jumping from the flat-rate story in Dragon Warrior III (“Save the world because your father fucked the mission up”) to a headstrong cast of warriors with their own thoughts and feelings just kind of knocked me for a loop back then. The Loto Saga was effectively over with Dragon Warrior III, and I had decided to be a pouting child about Square-Enix's decision to move on. Read More... Posted Feb 11 2009, 11:22 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with no comments Filed under: nintendo ds, rpg, nes, square-enix, 8-bit, retro, dragon warrior, nadia oxford, dragon quest iv, game stories, dragon quest iiii

• Bob's Game Invades The Nintendo World Store

  Bob, the human being who single-handedly created Bob's Game (and won't let us forget about it) continues his steady descent into madness. So why talk about this poor creature? Because his empty-headed flailing is something I'm helpless to turn away from. If you ever saw a man fall from fifteen storeys up, you'd be similarly horrified, but your eyes would trace his vertical path until the final wet thud of impact. “Bob” has put together a video of his attempt to seed the Nintendo World Store with a handful of Bob's Games. Those of you who have worked in retail will no doubt feel some memories surface like poison gas bubbles from the depths of a bad well. Bob's methods of advertising and distribution are pushy, messy and obnoxious, not unlike the homeless regular who'd turn your gas station into his own personal pulpit and deflect your threads to call the police by waving around a bag of Funyuns and declaring diplomatic immunity as a “paying customer.” When the police sirens finally cry out Bob's name from a distance, you're glad to hear them. The video gives us a look at what I'm assuming is the finished game. Interestingly, the promotion also presents the very clear reason why Nintendo won't pick up the game with a used tissue. Read More... Posted Feb 02 2009, 11:20 AM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo ds, retail, nadia oxford, nintendo world store, bob's game