The Daring Game For Girls

A review of the new DS game The Daring Game For Girls:

I know this is the girl-player stereotype, but I just can’t overstate how important a customizable avatar is for making me feel connected to the game. I felt a bit guilty playing demos at E3 and, as the demonstrator told me about system reqs and combat styles, I’d ask if I could change my battle bikini, but The Daring Game For Girls is, well, for girls.

via The Daring Game For Girls.

Popularity: 1% [?]

DragonQuest IV Trailer

DragonQuest IV for the DS will be out here in the US on July 23rd.

Popularity: 1% [?]

New Screenshots For The Upcoming House, MD Game

Legacy Interactive has released a new batch of screenshots from their upcoming PC and DS game, House M.D. This game will be available for both formats in the spring of 2010.

From the press release:

Interview/Physical Exam

House: Where were you when you collapsed? And don’t say “Florida,” because I despise clichés.

Henry: I was in Malaysia, shooting an episode of my Emmy award-winning show, Globetrotting!

Blood Draw

Trevor: Wow, either I’m really brave, or that was incredibly minor!

Chase: It was incredibly minor. Also, your arms are numb because of the paralysis.

Intubation

Foreman attaches the nasal mask respirator to Trevor’s face.

House: Good work, Foreman. You just earned your ‘Saved a Douchebag’s Life’ merit badge. (to Taub) Taub, watch him. Let me know if he exhibits any weird symptoms, like emotional growth.

Taub nods, stays by Trevor’s bedside, and monitors his vitals.

Microscope

Popularity: 3% [?]

Game Review: Cake Mania 3

I have a new review of Cake Mania 3 up over at Casual Gamer Chick.

Cake Mania 3 is an adorable time-management game for the Nintendo DS. Jill, our heroine from Sandlot Games’ PC versions of the Cake Mania imprint, is cheerfully preparing for her wedding day when she accidentally breaks a time-bender (I suppose it was wedding decor), and sends herself and her loved ones off through space and time, only to be saved through extensive cake baking! Jill must rescue her displaced friends and family, repair the time-bender and make it back for her wedding – all by making and decorating cakes.

Once Jill lands in a new location and sets up her bakery (“Oh look,“ Jill notices, “My oven works in ancient China! That’s not weird at all!”), the top screen is used for progress stats, like time spent and money earned, and icons of waiting customers. The bottom screen is Jill’s bakery. Players send Jill rushing from oven to customer with a tap of the stylus. A checkmark appears over the future actions in Jill’s queue so you can easily keep track of what she’s doing. Tap the checkmark to remove a planned action from Jill’s to-do list.

Read the rest of my Cake Mania 3 review over on Casual Gamer Chick.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Game Review: Cooking Mama 3

Game sequels are in a tough spot. Go too far from what we loved in the original, and players who loved the first game will lose interest in the second. Stick too close to the original game, though, and players feel like we’ve bought the same game in a pretty new case.

Cooking Mama 3 brings back all the usual chopping and frying fun, but adds new recipes and techniques. You’ll still use the stylus as a knife, a whisk, a rolling pin and almost any other kitchen implement as you practice cooking with Mama or prepare dishes for guests. You can also dress Mama in different paper-doll outfits, redecorate the kitchen or jazz up your picture diary, but that’s really secondary to cooking.

Translated instructions are still a bit vague, but the game isn’t too punishing for failure to understand what the arrow is telling you to do.

I could spend all day talking about the cutely addictive qualities of cooking with Mama. The stylized utensils, cartoon meat and produce, Mama’s unfailing ability to recover my burned food, and of course the fun of pretend cooking and pretend serving. Recipes come from all different cultures, with an definite Asian focus — some Western dishes are plated just like the UBC coffee menu.  Tempura and sushi offered my favorite minigames (chopping!) and prettiest final dishes.  I was especially fond of the dried-squid recipe, although the minigames were nothing special, because it reminded me of the rows of hanging squid, an everyday scene in beachside Shandong province.

CM3 has quite a few options involving de-veining shrimp, gutting salmon (slit the fish’s belly and rub the stylus over opening to clean), de-inking squid and other fish-preparation tasks that would be quite unpleasant off Mama’s pink cutting board. My kindergarten-age niece and Cooking Mama partner-in-crime found some of the seafood preparation tasks a little icky, which led to a long discussion about different cultures, and what we find gross, and why. Foreign customs through Cooking Mama! And people say games aren’t educational.

I loved CM2, so finding more of the same in CM3 was great, but there are also some new playmodes. One of the major changes in Cooking Mama 3 is a new multiplayer mode for competitive chopping, egg breaking and other prep tasks. (I often rant about technical issues interfering with game enjoyment, so it’s worth noting how fast Cooking Mama 3 found and connected with the second DS.)  There’s also a chance to make up your own recipes, using ingredients and techniques from other parts of Cooking Mama to make something new.

Cooking Mama 3 also offered a new shopping game, which sends players out to pick up ingredients without running into annoying store characters who’ll slow you down by trapping you into annoying minigames. It was uncannily like shopping in China. I enjoyed the cuteness of the supermarket  — Cooking Mama really is adorable without becoming an all-pink disaster –  but lost interest in the actual games pretty quickly, just like I did with Gardening Mama.

Overall, I found it a great new addition to the Cooking Mama series. If you liked Cooking Mama 2, and you’ve finished unlocking the recipes, rush out and pick up Cooking Mama 3!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Game Review: My Boyfriend

I was way too excited for the new My Boyfriend game. I anticipated all the fun of Sim dating, plus my favorite guilty pleasure (changing my avatar’s clothes every five minutes), without all that tedious eating and sleeping and meter-watching of actual Sims. I really wanted to like it. I wasn’t lying in angry-feminist wait for objectionable themes, I wanted to blog about frothy dialogue, cute outfits and imaginary boyfriends.

But it was awful.

The game opens with you and your best friend arriving at a resort full of  fun activities and hot guys! Unfortunately, the dialogue is stilted, partly because it’s EFL, and partly because I hoped for witty banter. There’s a lot of clicking ok, only “ok” is an awkward agreement. The dialogue was so awkward that I couldn’t always tell who was supposed to be an attractive possible friend and who was a mean girl to be thwarted with my killer wits. I could tell which guys were potential boyfriends, though, because the minor NPCs only had one line to say.

As you walk around the resort, white stars appear over activatable items, and you have the option to participate in different resort activities. Whether you choose to relax in the sun, rent waterskiis, or swim in the pool, you don’t play a minigame or even watch a little cutscene animation. You watch a clock tick. I’m not exaggerating. You watch a pink clock tick. Um, when does the fun start?

Other activities do involve minigames. These are activated by talking to an NPC. I’m usually a big fan of minigames (see also: all my recent hidden objects game reviews), but these minigames were awful. AWFUL. We’re talking incomprehensible directions, repetitive gameplay and bizarrely uneven difficultly levels. For Step Aerobics, you need to click the right color in the right order five times to complete level one. For Kareoke, you need to click the right color at the right time FORTY EIGHT times to complete level one. Wait, one is more difficult than the next by a factor of ten?

Your character can also experiment with makeup, but the extremely limited choices forbade either adorable looks or hilarious fashion trainwrecks. (If you think makeup doesn’t lend itself well to a videogame, check out the facial minigame in Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger for a makeup game done right, or Sims 3 for recreational avatar decoration.)

I really wanted to like My Boyfriend, but we have to break up. This just isn’t working out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Upcoming Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop!

I’m almost embarrassed by how much I love Cooking Mama 2: Cooking With Friends, I even love when I mess up and Mama reassures me that she can fix it. And I can’t wait to play the next Cooking Mama. From the press release:

Mama is back in the kitchen whipping up 80 new recipes – including mushroom quiche, tulip chicken and more. Players use the stylus as an all-in-one cooking utensil to chop, grate, roll, slice, spread, sprinkle and more through over 200 manic mini-games. Eight gameplay modes allow them to shop for fresh ingredients, create custom culinary concoctions, compete with up to three friends in timed challenges and more. Additionally, players can send friends items they grew in Gardening Mama and use them to make meals in Cooking Mama 3: Shop & Chop!

And the screenshots look great too!

Info via GamesPress, CookingMama.com

Popularity: 9% [?]

Game Review: Women’s Murder Club

James Patterson’s Women’s Murder club has been a successful series of novels, a TV show and a series of casual mystery PC games before coming to the DS. The new Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion seems designed for a casual DS gamer to tuck her into her purse, instead of a Patterson mystery novel. Most of WMC is played with the DS turned sideways, using the read-only screen to display a list of objects to find, instructions, or images to accompany the action in the interactive screen, which creates a book-like format for more of an interactive novel feel.

WMC follows the usual pattern of story cutscenes, hidden objects and minigames. The hidden objects casual adventure game is a pretty crowded genre, so it’s hard for a new game to really stand out. Probably the most unique characteristic was the James Patterson characters.  Players solve crimes and meet with the WMC ladies as Patterson’s detective Lindsay Boxer, and supporting characters with solid personalities made this more that just a reskinned HO game.

The story progresses via cutscenes and dialogue options. Players have some choices for what to say, but it was more of a quiz on recent plot events. Believable banter makes the cutscenes worth reading, and the linear storyline makes it feel like reading a novel, not being hemmed

Random side note: The mysterious Chinese markings found on the victim actually do say bu zhong, Not Loyal. My Chinese  literacy is just good enough to be completely thrilled with the developers for using real words when dramatic red scribbles would have acceptable. (It always cracks me up when I see upside-down characters or random other words.) Good work, THQ.

A lot of the game was hidden objects, whether it was tidying a crime scene or looking for clues, but this was a particularly bad HO. The small DS screen doesn’t really lend itself to searching, and players search a picture that’s larger than the screen, for maximum squinting-at-the-screen annoyance. It was also the Highlights magazine type of hidden objects, instead of the cluttered-room HO. It felt oddly childish to look for giant peace signs and lightning bolts, especially on crime scenes with mysterious dead bodies. The game does mix up the hidden objects a bit by giving players a clue instead of a list of items, but still gives the feel of an activity book more than an adventure game.

The story leads to several minigames, which were much more engaging than the picture find. When I got the Women’s Murder Club press release, I was pretty excited to see the game included a science lab minigame, and the puzzle’s gameplay didn’t disappoint.

One of the minigames was a mah-jong game, which is also accessible under an icon that says China (This character is a different zhong, an object lesson on why I am not so good at Chinese!). I usually consider mah-jong games to be computer solitaire 2.0, but I found something charming in the tiny tiles and stylus interface, and ended up playing this minigame more than I’d expected.

Women’s Murder Club: Crimes of Passion offers a solid storyline and characters from the popular novels to fans of the hidden objects mystery.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Game Review: Lost in Blue 2

I’ve been playing Lost in Blue 2 on the DS, and while I always love games about island survival, like MyTribe, Sims 2: Castaway, etc., there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Cool minigames make use of the the DS’s capabilities, but the hundredth time you have to light a fire, it stops being fun. The same can be said for cooking, fishing, catching animals, and every other repetitive action. I’m a big fan of Cooking Mama 2, but this is no Cooking Mama. Also, the actions you need to perform repeatedly are hidden in sub-menus or are only available after a chain of choices, instead of being accessible, one-click actions.

The story begins as two high-schoolers are washed up on a beach after a shipwreck. Players can choose Jack or Amy as their primary character, but they are responsible for the survival of both.

Jack, your companion on the island, is not the brightest bulb in the box. You need to feed him, making him more like a rather dim pet than a boyfriend. Every time he gets hungry, you need to let go of his hand (one click), target Jack (varies), select Talk (one click), tell him you have something for him (one click), wait for him to ask what it is, tell him it’s something to eat (one click), wait for him to ask what he’s eating, and then select the item from your backpack to feed him (varies, but you select, choose ‘give’ and confirm), he says it’s delicious (one click to confirm). Early items, like raspberries and coconuts, fill his meter between 3 and 5 percent, out of a possible hundred percent, so even if he doesn’t perform any physical labor — like a million walks to the stream to quench his inexhaustible thirst — which makes the hunger meter empty faster,  you’ll need to do this series of actions between 20 and 33 times in a day to get him full.

Items must be fed from Amy’s backpack to Jack. You cannot feed him items that he’s carrying, and he will literally die of starvation with a backpack full of lunchboxes and fruit.  To exchange items between backpack, you need to let go of his hand (one click), target Jack (varies), select Talk (one click), tell him you have something for him (one click), wait for him to ask what it is, select give  (one click), wait for him to ask what you’re giving him, and then exchange items between the backpacks. If you play as Jack, Amy becomes similarly dim-witted.

A lot of the game involves learning about the island… read the rest here.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Game Review: Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Clue-Bender Society

I’ve been pretty busy recently, but I managed to review Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Clue-Bender Society for the DS in under 140 characters.

Related: Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses!, Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger!

Popularity: 16% [?]

Seeking DS Game Recommendations!

I’m looking for a DS game I can play with my little niece. She loves playing Cooking Mama with me, but she can’t read very well yet so I have to read her each set of instructions. She’s very good with the stylus, my screen is safe even in her kindergartener hands.

So I’m looking for a DS game that uses the stylus more than the buttons, and doesn’t have a lot of reading (she can sound out words and I can read her instructions, but a game based on dialogue is just too frustrating for a beginning reader). It goes without saying that I don’t want her to play anything violent or bloody.  Any ideas?

Popularity: 18% [?]

Women’s Murder Club Coming To The DS

After  Women’s Murder Club: A Darker Shade Of Grey, and Women’s Murder Club: Death In Scarlet comes a new WMC, Women’s Murder Club: Crimes of Passion, this time for the Nintendo DS and DSi.  I think the portable DS system, with the stylus-driven games, is perfect for casual gaming, and I’m seeing more and more story-based casual games coming out. I’ve been carrying the  Sims (or Sims Castaway!) in my purse, and I also saw a Nancy Drew game for the DS the other day.

From the Women’s Murder Club: Crimes of Passion press release:

“When I dreamed up the ladies of the Women’s Murder Club, I knew they were women of action; women on the go,” said James Patterson. “I never dreamed they could come to life like they have in the Nintendo DS version. This new game gives fans a chance to become a member of the Women’s Murder Club anytime, anywhere.”

And by “anytime, anywhere” I think he means “while waiting at the airport”.

I was lucky enough to get a look at some screenshots from the upcoming game. I had to include this one, because there just aren’t enough science-themed puzzles in games targeted to women!

Obligatory hidden objects minigame. It works well in a mystery-solving game, but I just don’t see what’s fun about squinting at the screen.

Nintendo DSi users will get a special feature that uses the camera, (can’t wait to see how they integrate that) but the game will also be available for the regular DS.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Game Review: Sims 2: Castaway on the DS

One day, you’re standing on the dock, waving goodbye to a friend, when you slip and fall and land in a crate, which is sealed and loaded onto a cargo ship, which is caught up in a storm and your Sim is shipwrecked on a deserted island! Your poor shipwrecked Sim must survive on this island, at first by finding food, building a shelter and starting a fire.

The zaniness we love about the Sims arrives in Castaway once you’ve gotten a handle on sleeping and not-starving. Your Sim can build an SOS sign for Dharma initiative-style airdrops of random things, like a victrola or a candy bar.  As you collect island items, you can cook tasty dinners (your Sim was getting tired of bugs and raw fish), make new clothes, make tools or decorations, build a new house, make a canoe and just create all kind of island crafts. You can even make and play an ocarina! And, as you explore more, you’ll also befriend the other island refugees, and check out the ancient temple. All tropical islands have an ancient temple, don’t you know?

I’ve written such angry things about sparkly pink shopping games as “girls’ games”, that I hate to admit when I fall into a traditional girl pattern, but, well, I love pretend cooking. I like it in World of WarCraft, too, if that make me sound any less like an eight-year-old girl. I also like making Sim clothes and playing dress-up. Castaway avoids being an unappealingly feminine game by also having survival puzzles and mini-games about fish-catching and fire-building. Oh, and the game’s not pink, which is always good in my book.

Sims 2: Castaway seemed to make much better use of the DS interface than Sims 2. In the regular Sims 2, you’re forced to ignore the stylus, and use the clumsy buttons to navigate, but you can’t put the stylus away completely, because you need it to select menu options that really should be hotkeys or at least accessible by arrow keys. Sims 2: Castaway takes better advantage of the DS-specific interface, using either the stylus to move, and even creating minigames that require use of the microphone. The top screen is used to display the meters that are very familiar to Sims players.

One interface annoyance is the crafting book. When crafting, your Sim cannot create multiples of the same item. You need to select the crafting spot, tap Craft Things, then click the item you want to make,which leads to a screen showing you what materials will be reguired. On this screen, you must click Make. Then you’ll see a picture of what you’re making, and you must click OK. Then you see a picture of what you made, and you’re forced to click OK one more time. If you want to make a duplicate (or a second item), you’re back at the crafting book, and you need to do it all over again. And if your item is on the second or third page of the crafting book, it can be even longer. And if you need three of one item to make something special, well, seems like EA figured out how to most of the suck the fun from a crafting game.

I was a big fan of Sims 2 for the computer, so I expected to like Castaway. It was even better than I expected, with the exotic island theme, a zany but cohesive storyline, and all the adorably realistic animations we expect from the Sims.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Pokemon Diamond Review

Pokemon Diamond: This was the first game of the Pokemon series that i played on the DS. I got the chance to play the game at my cousin’s house and i simply loved it so i decided to buy it. The game was released by Nintendo and Game Freak in mid 2007 and is a role playing game. Its ESRB rating is everyone. The main story is that you (either a girl or a boy) are living in some strange town. A professor named Rowan sends you and one of your best friends on a mission to collect as much information on the Pokemons that live in that area as you can. After that you will go on to gather information on Pokemons by fighting and capturing them.
That was the story, now let us come to the good points of the game. The game features colorful environments as you have seen in Pokemon cartoons. One thing that i would really appreciate that has been done by nintendo is the introduction of Online gameplay. The story is full of twists and turns and it is long enough to keep you busy for hours.
Overall, it is a great game and the gameplay is full of variations. it is a must have for any DS owner.

Overall Score: 4 out of 5

Popularity: 13% [?]

Skate it On Wii and DS

I am a huge fan of skating games and Tony Hawks skating series is one of my favorites. The latest installment in this series was Project 8 which was not that good but the previous installments like Underground and Underground 2 were superb. Another game like Tony Hawk is Skate by EA which was released last year and it was nice. The second installment of Skate, Skate 2 is going to be released on Jan 2009 and judging by the screen shots it is looking way better than the previous skate. That is too late. However, EA has announced that a version of Skate is going to be released on Wii and DS on Nov 09 2008. The Wii version will feature unique control scheme and players will be able to perform tricks using the Wii remote or Balance board. Only time will tell what it has in store for the gamers.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Moon for Nintendo DS

Nintendo will put out in the market for his Nintendo DS a shooting game and it calls Moon where you can guest, the story will be located in the lunar base. A first person shooter game which will try to blow out the graphic capacity of the DS !!! This game will drive to the players to accomplish a lot of actions within a scary atmosphere.
We have to keep in mind that the graphic of the DS is not like the PSP so dont think to get better and dont need to compare, we will just have what we have for this console with a good texture and the most important point, full of actions !!!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Nintendo DSi software region-locked

Software specifically created for the Nintendo DSi will be region-locked, meaning that European software will only work on European consoles, and more importantly US and Japanese software won’t.

Previous DS handhelds – and GameBoys before them – had been region-free, meaning that software purchased in the US or Japan could be played on European hardware.

However, Nintendo told Eurogamer this afternoon that DSi is region-locked “because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region”.

“Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent bodies.”

The good news is that this only applies to software that is compatible exclusively with the DSi, and that existing DS software remains region-free. Internet browsing and photo sharing also works globally.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Nintendo Point Won’t Be Transfered Between Wii And DS

I am a big fan of all the nintendo gaming consoles. I first started playing games when I was kid on a nintendo gaming console named Terminator. Thats a strange name. Well, i grew up playing nintendo games and i still like playing games on my Wii console. Here is a news for Nintendo gamers like me. The news is that nintendo has announced that it will not allow the transfer of points between DS and Wii. The point system on Wii which was called Wii Points will be changed to Nintendo Points and it will work on both Wii and the DS. But, you won’t be able to transfer points between these consoles. This means that if you will buy a card of 200 Nintendo Points. You won’t be able to spend 100 points on Wii and 100 on DS. You will have to make sure on which system are you going to spend those points before buying them. So, make a wise decision when you buy the points if you own both the consoles.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Konami announces Suikoden: Tierkreis

Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Suikoden: Tierkreis, the latest episode of the celebrated Suikoden series, will be exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Including a variety of different characters while exploring many exotic and beautiful locations and cultures across the game’s universe of different worlds, Suikoden: Tierkreis will expand the bounds of the handheld role playing games. Featuring the franchise’s established gameplay while maximizing the technological capabilities of the DS to provide all-new online elements, this epic RPG contains of many cinematic experiences that will drive the grand storyline of the 108 Stars of Destiny as they battle to thwart the powerful One King.
Read the full story on IGN.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Two New Nintendo DS Bundles

Just in time for the holidays, Nintendo releases two new DS bundles. One bundle features a gold colored DS and comes with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Also, a metallic rose colored DS is available and comes with the Best Friends version of Nintendogs.

The Nintendo DS is sure to be on more than a few Christmas lists this year. With two new bundles, it gives those buying a DS a few more options.

Zelda is always popular with fans, and the gold colored case with the Zelda logo do make this a must-have fanboy item. Nintendogs is the flagship game for the DS that is very popular with kids, especially girls. Sporting a rose color with a metallic finish should be a hit with boy and girls alike.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Brain Age 2

Does your brain need exercise? It does and now it can get even more with Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day. Brain Age 2 is available for the Nintendo DS and is the sequel to the highly addicting Brain Age.

In Brain Age, you are presented with various questions and puzzles to solve usually dealing with reading, math, or spelling. After taking a sample of tests, your brain age is displayed. Age 20 is the best Brain Age to achieve. Don’t be surprised if your first brain age is in the 70s. With a few days or practice, that age will fall dramatically.

Brain Age 2 features new puzzles to test your brain. Players will use the stylist to answer questions while holding the DS like a book so the dual screens are side by side.

Brain Age is based on the theories of neuroscientist Dr. Kawashima. Some of the puzzle games included in Brain Age 2 include:

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Speak the symbol that beats the one on the screen. Players may be asked to lose as well as win.

Change Maker: Touch coins and bills with the stylus to make correct change.

Piano Player: Play notes on a keyboard as the cursor scrolls over the sheet music.

Brain Age 2 retails for $19.99.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Nintendo BS

You’ve all seen the Nintendo DS but someone with a sense of humor made the Nintendo BS. This has been around for a few years, but I still have friends who have never seen it, so here it is The BS. More than anything else it’s pretty fun and makes a lot of people say “I’d like to them them fold it up”. I however think that if the nerds got beat up before, wait until somebody sees them with this thing. =)

Popularity: 13% [?]

Battles of Prince of Persia

Ah, Prince of Persia…The very first game I played on PC, when I still was a happy camper in junior high and would be in awe in front of those computers I could only use at friends’, during afternoons of gaming. Still a nice, nice memory.

The game has evolved a lot since then, and according to Gamespot, UbiSoft now releases some information on the upcoming Battles of Prince of Persia game for DS:

Battles of Prince of Persia will stray from the franchise’s traditional acrobatic action and take a mellower path. Battles will be a turn-based strategy game with a card system. Cards are acquired by progressing through the single-player campaign, and they can be used in competition or traded with friends through the wireless multiplayer support.

The story takes place between the plots of The Sands of Time and its sequel, Warrior Within. The prince unwittingly unleashes a great evil, spurring a war between Persia and India. Gamers will be able to play as nine different generals leading their respective armies on their various conquests for power.

Myself, I’m really not fond of “cards stuff”, but as usual with games, this will be of interest to more than one.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Lunar Comes To DS

GamesAreFun.com had previously reported that Lunar: Dragon Song was being developed for Nintendo DS:

According to the translation, the game is set to take place 1,000 years before Lunar: Silver Star Story. Players will assume the role of Gien Campbell, a 15 year-old who works in a harbor city. He will be accompanied by Lucia Collins (a 14 year-old magician), and Gabriel Ryan (who can absorb and reflect enemy attacks).

More info has now been added, notably regarding the players’ ability to use the microphone in order to directly give commands during combat, as well as release dates for the game: Lunar: Dragon Song is slated for U.S. release this September, a European release sometime in the 3rd quarter, and a Japanese release on August 25th.

The full article, along with screenshots and sketch artwork, is available here.

Popularity: 5% [?]

C – O – N – Spiracy

Our theory: Capcom’s bringing Johnnie Cochran back to life as a video game the same way OCP turned Officer Murphy into Robocop. Sound far fetched? Eat us.

Whatever the case, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (not to be confused with Harvey Bridman: Attorney at Law) is Capcom’s upcoming “lawyer adventure” for the Nintendo DS, as if the portable didn’t have an obscure enough library of games already:

Assuming the role of the intuitive Phoenix Wright, players will conduct interviews, question witnesses, and gather evidence in a series of court cases. Each possible answer by the witness allows for Wright to pose more questions about their motives in an attempt to attempt to unravel the truth.

Capcom’s Lawyer Game Comes to the DS [MODOJO.com]

Popularity: 4% [?]