Upcoming Crafting Mama

Cooking Mama isn’t satisfied with Cooking Mama 2, Cooking Mama 3, and Gardening Mama. Upcoming Majesco title Crafting Mama will let players help Mama with her new skills and hobbies.

MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES ‘CRAFTING MAMA’ FOR NINTENDO DS

The extent of Mama’s talents are limitless! She can hold her own in the kitchen and garden next to the world’s best, but now Mama is poised to dominate arts & crafts too as Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, announces Crafting Mama exclusively for Nintendo DS. Developed by Cooking Mama Limited, this all-new crafting game lets players create their own unique crafts across a wide range of different projects.   

“Crafting is a natural extension of our most successful franchise,” said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco Entertainment. “Much like last spring’s Gardening Mama, Crafting Mama combines the award-winning Mama formula of addictive stylus-based activities with a popular pastime that has been underserved in videogames. We’re looking forward to sharing Mama’s newest hobby with her vast and diverse group of fans this holiday season.”

In Crafting Mama, players will create 40 different projects across a wide range of different crafts: make patchwork quilts, earrings, candles, xylophones, kaleidoscopes, birdhouses, flower decorations and even mini-Mama dolls! Using the stylus as a universal crafting tool, crafters will sew, mold, glue, cut and paint under Mama’s masterful direction. Best of all, players can use each of their creations within the game itself: dress Mama up in a new apron you’ve sewn or even fly a freshly folded paper airplane.  In addition, new materials, colors and patterns are available to customize each project, and multiplayer support lets players create with a friend. Crafting Mama is guaranteed to turn Mama fans into crafty creators in no time!

Crafting Mama for Nintendo DS is expected to release this fall.  For additional information about Majesco’s exciting line of products, please visit http://www.majescoentertainment.com/

Popularity: 1% [?]

ThumbGods in 2009

In 2009, I reviewed indie games like Funky Farm 2, A Case Of The Crabs, Rotoadventures Momo’sQuest, Slayer of Dragon,  Democracy 2,  Electric Box,  Faerie Solitaire, and CyberWord. I plan to keep focusing on creative, indie games next year. I also played major mainstream titles, like Cartoon Network’s new MMO Fusionfall, and James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club:  Games of Passion for the DS. ThumbGods reviewed the match-3 Atlantis, Totem Tribe, National Geographic’s Mystery of Cleopatra, Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, Sims 2 on the DS, and Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! Major misses  this year were  My Boyfriend,  Create-a-Mall,  the disappointing Build-a-lot 3, and Jack in Lost in Blue 2. (Not all of LiB2. Just Jack.)

I tried to branch out a bit from reviews, and started writing some hints, including a guide to solving MyTribe mysteries and hints for Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger! I’ll probably keep doing this whenever I’m really proud of solving a puzzle and want to help out.

Thumb Gods had a great guest post when when Lexton Collins reviewed Runes Of Magic. I guest posted reviews of Cake Mania 3 and Ciao Bella, over on Casual Gamer Chick, Crayon Physics Deluxe review on Angry Gamers, Travians: Asterix Meets The Sims on SeeJaneGame, and contributed to several issues of Indie Game Mag.

Popularity: 1% [?]

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% [?]

What We’ve Been Talking About On ThumbGods

I recently reviewed My Boyfriend, Women’s Murder Club:  Games of Passion, and Lost in Blue 2 for the Nintendo DS (more on Lost in Blue 2 here), as well as Mystery of Cleopatra, Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, and Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting To Danger on the computer (Not to mention hints for Resorting To Danger!). I usually take a lot of time with game reivew, but I managed to review Nancy Drew: The Mystery of the Clue-Bender Society for the DS in under 140 characters.
PS ThumbGods also got onto Facebook, and Twitter.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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% [?]

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: 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% [?]

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% [?]

Press Release: Globulos Reopens, Free To Play

Supercute gaming site Globulos.com, which offers a bunch of casual multiplayer games, reopens with a free-to-play basic model and a cash shop for extras.

The 20 games and the 50 playing fields are playable 100% for free. Games are 1 against 1 player, 2 against 2 or melee of 4 players. The gameplay is a mix between arcade fun and simultaneous turn based strategy. The kawaii style was noticed by the Japanese Nintendo official magazine, Nintendo Dream with a full page article.

Some options like character customization or power-ups (teletransportation, invisibility and a lot more) can be purchased using Globbies, the website currency.

The 20 games are: Arena, Football, Croquet, Tic-Tac, Save the King, Darts, Funky Foot, Bomber, Rally, Volley, Sumo, Flipper, Pétanque, BomberKing, 4-Square, Snooker, PacGlob, Basket, DartsKing, Monster.

A Nintendo DS game is being developed and is targeting the upcoming DSiWare channel.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Shaun The Sheep Review

A new casual game review from Killer Betties:

Not baaad at all. Shaun is based on the stop motion animated series Wallace and Gromit by Aardman Animation. I do remember Wallace and Gromit but my 7 year-old quickly put me up to speed letting me know that Shaun has his very own cartoon show. The series are not as well known in the US and the game could go either way and become a sleeper hit.

The premise is that the Farmer went to town and forgot to close the gate. Shaun must rescue the flock that is lost all through the farm. Navigating the farm through the map gets old very quickly but the mini games are little gems that will range from cute, fun and imaginative to the exhausting to repetitive and you will find yourself blowing (huh?) onto the controller.

Seems like a cute kids in the style of Chicken Run for sheep!

Via Shaun the Sheep Nintendo DS review By Venus Royce | Killer Betties

Popularity: 7% [?]

MumboJumbo Games Coming To The DS

DALLAS (January 9, 2008) – MumboJumbo, a leading developer and publisher of casual games, has entered into a publishing agreement with phenomedia publishing gmbh to bring their latest Moorhuhn titles to Nintendo DS™ system in the North American market.

The three-title deal includes Star Karts, Atlantis Quest and The Pharaoh’s Treasure, all of which will launch in 2009 for the popular handheld gaming console at retail prices of $19.99 each.

“We’re very excited to bring these three Crazy Chicken games to the North American audience,” said Mark Cottam, CEO of MumboJumbo. “The strong character, variety of game play and overall production values of these titles make them a perfect fit for MumboJumbo.”

Developed by phenomedia, Star Karts follows the zany Crazy Chicken through an intergalactic racing competition, while Atlantis Quest is a side-scrolling action (or platformer) game that takes Crazy Chicken through 30 levels of challenges both above and below the sea. In The Pharaoh’s Challenge, players can try their hand at puzzle-solving in the Egyptian-themed adventure.

“We would like to tie Moorhuhn’s latest three adventures on Nintendo DS to international success of Moorhuhn DS. Each of these games represents a different genre – racing game, Jump&Run and puzzle – and thus not only emphasizes the platform’s diversity, but also that of the strong character Moorhuhn itself,” said Helge Borgarts, phenomedia publishing gmbh’s CEO.

Crazy Chicken originally launched in Germany as Moorhuhn X and quickly developed a league of fans who found the zany and precocious chickens entertaining and comical. Bringing the mischief and mayhem to Nintendo DS will serve to broaden the game’s already impressive audience.

Via MumboJumbo to Bring New Crazy Chicken Titles to North America Gaming Industry | Press Release by MCV

Popularity: 4% [?]

Casual Game Review: Zenses

My friend Rick, of Panda Passport and Little Red Blog fame, reviewed Zenses for Nintendo DS. I love casual games and Rick is a great writer, and the combination makes Zenses Rainforest Review: Do You Want a Break From Frustrating Games? much more than the usual “This game r0x0r!!!1!1!” (or sux0rs, I guess).

Zenses Rainforest is a puzzle game. Well, more specifically it’s a group of six puzzle games. Picture Tetris in a Japanese rock garden with a waterfall, and some pot-smoking Enya fans sitting nearby. That’s kinda like Zenses.

I started playing this game after trying out Quantum of Solace for about an hour. I’m a pretty casual gamer, and maybe I just don’t have the patience required for the Jame Bond game. But in any case, 60 minutes of repeatedly trying to follow Judy Dench’s commands was enough to make me want to put my head through the wall. I quit before even finishing the training round. And that’s when I decided to give Zenses a try.

Unlike many other games that have a difficulty level setting, Zenses is a little more “Zensitive” about choosing its words. Rather than making you feel like a wuss for choosing the easy level, Zenses asks you to choose the difficulty level by sliding a selector up the intensity bar. The default is zero intensity, which is kinda like Zenses telling you “Hey man, don’t over-do it.”

Kind of makes me want to try it… when I finish playing Harvest Moon!

Via Zenses Rainforest Review: Do You Want a Break From Frustrating Games? Zenses is Your Version of DS R&R

Popularity: 2% [?]

SONY PSP GRAPHICS

First I was scouting to buy a mobile game. Being a video fan since I was young I’m very picky in my console and games. I own a Super Nintendo, Sega Dreamcast, Playstation1, Playstation 2 and Xbox 360. Now I’m scouting for a mobile game. Of course I wasn’t expecting mobile games to have great graphics like xbox 360 or PS3. So I choose between Nintendo DS and PSP. Finally, I choose PSP, because of the god of war game series. I have just finish god of war 1 and 2, chain of olympus is only available in PSP. I was surprise the PSP has a good graphics. It is an equal I think to PS2. To think of it’s little screen and very little packaging could produce a graphics equal to a regular console. I never regretted it one bit. I’ve been playing it a lot. My plan was only to play when I’m not at home, like when where on the road with my parents or just outside being bored. But now I’ve been playing it more than I’m playing my other consoles. For one, it’s more lighter to our electricity bill, against a regular console like PS3 hookup with a 40″ plasma tv. It is really a bargain.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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% [?]

Little Big Planet ON PSP?

I am sure that you all have heard about Little Big Planet. Little Big Planet is one of the best PS3 exclusive games i have seen so far. In this game one can create a whole world by yourself in this game including the backgrounds, trees, obstacles and everything that one can imagine. This game has changed the way people used to look at games. And now Media Molecule is planning to bring LBP to PSP. The news are not confirmed but it is said that they are planning to bring out a PSP version. Rumors are that they will allow PSP users to import there own music in the game. If it comes out on PSP, i think it will help Sony to get ahead from its rival Nintendo DS.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Level-5, 4 new projects

Level-5 is working right now on 4 interesting game projects for portable games console available only next year 2009.
On Nintendo DS, “Inazuma Eleven 2″ has been confirmed for the next year 2009 (a new alien team and a statistic system more complete).
An other title for DS, “Ninokuni The Another World” is a role gaming on which the Ghibli studio will participate to create the video animations and character design. Moreover the game will have a kind of magic book which will contain informations about different spells and runes and the player has to look into it often.
On Playstation PSP, “Cardboard Senki” is a role gaming on which the player will have to play a little robot called LBX and it has to go through a world build of cardboard.
An other title for PSP, “Ushiro” is also a role gaming. The player will have to play a shinigami (a kind of death god) who has to follow a person, to protect him against evil spirit…

Popularity: 3% [?]

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% [?]

Accidentally A Gamer

Miss Milkshake on Weddingbee has a cute story about how her fiance accidentally made her a gamer, and about the nicknames she gives his games.

When I was younger, Super Nintendo was the coolest thing, and I’m sure we all had gameboys (heck most people our age, guys and girls alike, have the nintendo DS), and donkey kong country and all the sequels rocked my world. But then the video game industry introduced the concept of 3D, which soon dominated, and I couldn’t maneuver my little Mario guy in a straight line, quickly became dizzy, and gave up. Gone were the days of running across the screen, from left to right, jumping on bad guys.

After dating Mr. Milkshake, I came to learn these were called “platform games.” When we first started dating he trained me to play a soccer game, Winning Eleven, and he was surprised at how good at it I became. Somehow he managed to suck me into playing Resistance with him last year and with the recent releases of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, I can officially play “first person shooters.” Not well enough to play against any hard core guys online, but well enough to get a few kills in when him and I play together….

Read the whole story here at WeddingBee (you may have to ignore the wedding overload!)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Accidentally A Gamer

Miss Milkshake on Weddingbee has a cute story about how her fiance accidentally made her a gamer, and about the nicknames she gives his games.

When I was younger, Super Nintendo was the coolest thing, and I’m sure we all had gameboys (heck most people our age, guys and girls alike, have the nintendo DS), and donkey kong country and all the sequels rocked my world. But then the video game industry introduced the concept of 3D, which soon dominated, and I couldn’t maneuver my little Mario guy in a straight line, quickly became dizzy, and gave up. Gone were the days of running across the screen, from left to right, jumping on bad guys.

After dating Mr. Milkshake, I came to learn these were called “platform games.” When we first started dating he trained me to play a soccer game, Winning Eleven, and he was surprised at how good at it I became. Somehow he managed to suck me into playing Resistance with him last year and with the recent releases of Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3, I can officially play “first person shooters.” Not well enough to play against any hard core guys online, but well enough to get a few kills in when him and I play together….

Read the whole story here at WeddingBee (you may have to ignore the wedding overload!)

Popularity: 2% [?]

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% [?]

First Grope: DS-Xtreme Nintendo DS Media Enhancer

This guy makes gaming sound so sexy. Oh yeah Donkey Kong you rock my world you … err I better stop. This is not an item that will find it’s way to my wee gaming collection but for those with money to blow out their bums then I say why not? “Keep up with the neighbors down the street or die” has always been my moto, and if it’s good enough for me then it should be good enough for you.
Read More: First Grope: DS-Xtreme Nintendo DS Media Enhancer

Popularity: 2% [?]