Ever wondered what some folks did before video games? Before they had a DS or a Wii to draw all those pretty graphics for them? Well, they drew their own. It seems some folks simply can’t give up that old lifestyle, though, as they’ve taken to creating their own hand drawn video games. In this case, you get a pretty fun animation of Mario drawn on the fly.
Ever wanted a Nintendo DS with a hot pink top, but a black bottom? Sure, who hasn’t? Now, thanks to Colorware you can have just that. Or, basically, any other horrid combination you can imagine.
Colorware is offering an online custom paint application for the DS. Using it you can color just about any part of the DS whatever you want, including the stylus. They even offer the option to send your current DS in or to buy one from them. The prices, however, will set you back a bit. A fairly basic color scheme will run you $129. (more…)
That headline is perhaps misleading in that it’s a gross over simplification of the issue at hand. That issue being that a game is currently being developed in Europe centered on the Holocaust. In it, you play a young French boy who escapes the horrors of Nazi occupation during World War II by retreating into a fantasy world. Does that premise sound familiar to you Pan’s Labyrinth fans?
Nintendo officials have stated the game will not see a US release. The game, titled Imagination Is the Only Escape, is being developed by a single independent artist and distributed by British company Alten8. It appears to be an artistic attempt to deal with the horrors of the Holocaust in a game that might educate young people. (more…)
As April Fool’s Day looms ever closer, things seem to be popping up everywhere that one would assume are clever pranks. For example, on THQ’s website recently it was announced that they would be venturing into the unexplored realm of cheerleading games. This, however, is no joke and THQ is hoping that it will take advantage of, as they put it, “the explosive growth of the girls gaming market in recent years due to the continued success of Wii and DS.”
All Star Cheer Squad for the Wii will follow a year in the life of a cheerleader from learning cheers to creating new routines and eventually become captain of the squad. You’ll use the Wiimote and the nunchuck to perform real cheer and dance moves and to ensure real cheerleading authenticity THQ has even signed on Tony G, who is best known for his work in the Bring It On movies. (more…)
For married folks who can remember what it was like to be engaged. They can remember the excitement of planning the wedding, the stress, the money but most of all they remember the day they proposed, or for you ladies, were proposed to.
A student and amateur game designer going by the name Bernie came up with an amazing way to ask his lady to marry him. He designed a mock up of Bejeweled for his girlfriend to play and after getting to a certain score the screen cleared and a ring made of jewels dropped down.
This gives hope to the hopeless romantic gamers out there ensuring that there’s someone for everyone, especially if you’re a DS fan. No word yet on when the big day is but here’s hoping that by posting this story we’ll at least get invited to the reception.
Nintendo of America stated in a press release today that piracy in Latin America has resulted in a $975 million loss worldwide. Nintendo stated the reasoning behind the outbreak of piracy was due to the “extremely high tariffs and taxes in Brazil on the sale of authentic videogames and Nintendo software” and “and “the widespread corruption in Paraguay and increasing violence in Mexico against authorities attempting to combat piracy.”
China, however, remains the largest distributor of pirated Wii and DS software and it is reported that close to 7.7 million counterfeit games have been seized from Chinese factories and retailers. Paraguay and Hong Kong were also singled out by Nintendo as major distribution points for illegal products. (more…)
The researched behind Nintendo’s wildly popular Brain Age titles, Ryuta Kawashima, recently revealed in an interview that he turned down all royalties for the title. How much did that amount to? $11 million and counting. The good news? It proved he was no charlatan behind the series.
The Brain Age series, while incredibly fun and addictive, does hinge some of its popularity on the idea that it actually improve your brain in some manner. Japanese doctors even prescribe the DS to patients to help prevent the onset of dementia. In place of accepting the royalties personally, Kawashima used them to fund construction on the campus of Tohoku University in Japan. So, he put academic and scientific pursuits above self-serving personal? (more…)
Google’s Android is their new mobile phone platform. While it isn’t the gPhone many had wished for, it is an interesting shift for the cell phone industry. With most major carriers signed up to produce Android handsets, it was already a potentially interesting avenue for game development. Dell just made it more interesting.
Rumors are circulating that Dell will announce a new mobile device running on the Android platform. While Palm and Microsoft have fought it out between one another for the past few years, the last year alone ahs brought two major new competitors to the handheld market in Apple and now Google. What does this mean to gamers? (more…)
Nintendo has reported a profit of $2.43 billion for the last nine months of 2007. That’s almost double their profits from the previous year. Imagine what the profits might have looked like if they could just have produced enough of the Wii and DS.
The resurgence of Nintendo has been one of the best stories in gaming in years. Here was a company many thought would be out of the hardware industry entirely within a few years. They looked well on their way to being another Sega before the release of the DS. In fact, it was the DS itself that looked like it might send them there. While Sony was prepping its entertainment wunderkind PSP, the DS in comparison looked like a colossal misstep. It couldn’t play video, music, surf the Internet, and the entire system looked like a gimmick. Two screens? Touch capability? A microphone? Wait a second, is this the DS or a cell phone being described?
It may sound goofy, as the PSP has the gee whiz features that cell phone companies have been crowing about for years, but the DS outdid the cell phone manufacturers by a few years. Look at many modern cell phones, the iPhone included, and you will see a move to touch screens and even dual screens. Granted, such phones seem to have a more practical purpose for their second screen (usually hidden on the inside of so-called candy bar phones), but it is difficult to deny the similarities to the DS design. (more…)
10) Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Puzzle games are a dime a dozen these days, and while particularly addictive ones can still get attention, it usually takes something truly innovative that breaks the mold to make everyone sit up and take notice. That’s exactly what this title did.
9) Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Isn’t it just another romp through the world of Ratchet and Clank? Yes, but it’s also an incredibly polished game to be released in a console’s first year of life. The story might be lacking compared to past installments, but if ever there were a game that took us one step closer to controlling a Pixar cartoon, this is it.
8 ) Pac-Man: Championship Edition
The announcement of this game drew laughs from many, including much of the gaming press. Once they played the actual game, however, all opinions changed. It’s the most addictive arcade game in years, and with the minor caveat of the time limits, it’s one of the few “perfect” games released all year. (more…)
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