Playing on the Go

Not one to miss a new color scheme, it looks as if Nintendo will be releasing one that is, at the very least definable as odd, pretty soon. As you can see from the image above, it is dual toned in red and black. And for whatever reason is being released in connection with the release of Brain Age 2. Which doesn’t really primarily feature either of those colors. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, but as hot as the DS is, Nintendo could probably release one branded “Vomit Green” and it would still sell a gazillion units.

Look for the dual package of the red DS and Brain Age 2 to hit on August 20.

nintendods, brainage2

[via kotaku]

It’s a proven scientific fact. People who are devoted enough to Sony to own both a PS3 and PSP are vampires. And as such, also enjoy games about vampires. A study from CNN and Dr. Sanjay Gupta backs this up with clearly unambiguous data.

Those vampires interesting in playing what happens to be a sweet ass vampire game should check out the Playstation Network. On it, those creatures of the night can download Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for ten bucks. The game can be played both the PS3 and PSP, which happen to be appropriately enough, black. That CNN report also frees it of any garlic aftertase, so you’re good on that count.

sonypsp, psp, castelvania, ps3, psn

[image and link via joystiq]

It seemed like a no brainer at first. But there was no initial indication as to whether or not the game would actually do it or not. But the ever detail oriented gang at GoNintendo seems to have found a bit from a Nintendo catalog that would seem to say that the game will be…

You have to look closely, but there is a Nintendo WiFi logo at the bottom of the page. As the graphic appears on a related page from the horse’s mouth, that horse existing as Nintendo itself, perhaps that’s a good go ahead on expecting the game to go online after all.

My one concern with this would be the crowd who seems to find it appropriate to force a disconnect by powering off the system when losing a game. As I’ve gone over in the past on this blog, it’s an ever growing problem. Given the slower pace of the Mario party games, it seems that players obsessed with win / loss records would have ample chance to cut the system off and reconnect to another game once they are a star or two behind on the Mario Party board. Not a promising prospect. Let’s hope that Nintendo can somehow solve the problem before launch time.

nintendods, marioparty, mariopartyds, nintendowifi

You read that right, what could usually be seen as kiddie crap fodder has the potential to be freaking awesome. Those of you seasoned enough to remember a time when the Loony Tunes were actually cool and aired on ABC on Saturday mornings may remeber a short featuring Daffy in which he was the sole character on screen. He talked with and smarted off to the animator, who was intent on drawing props and scenery that had the sole intention of torturing Daffy. Up until the end when you discover that it was Bugs all along, the animator shows up only as a hand and a paintbrush.

Now. Imagine this if you will. Replace the hand with your own and the paintbrush with a DS stylus. Do that and you’ve got a new game on the way for DS. Once you get over your premonitions, admit to the fact that the idea is completely awesome. I certainly already have. Of course, the game has the potential to suck, as most liscensed games do. But done right, this could be an awesome game experience. Be sure to check back with us, as we are going to certainly keep tabs on this potentially awesomely fun and funny game.

daffyduck, nintendods

[via mercury news]

Phantom Hourglass is really shaping up to be a doozy. Much more than a capstone game for the afternoon hours of the DS, the new Zelda could actually shape up to be a revolutionary game that sets the bar for future Zelda games to come. Don’t believe me? See what right hand man to Miyamoto himself, Eiji Aonuma has to say on the subject.

“With this DS Zelda, I and the staff, our eyes were opened to the possibilities of the hardware, as game developers, to understand what our responsibility is. And what we were creating, what the potential was there. So not only are we planning to do the same thing for the Wii, but to continue to do so for the DS as well.”

Twilight Princess aside, I’m of the belief that the series has been in a bit of a stall ever since Ocarina of Time set the standard for what nearly has been a decade. Majora’s Mask was a nice change of pace, Wind Waker brought a fresh visual approach, and Twilight Princess had a fun new method of control on Wii. But really, none of these games have truly brought something new to the table as when Ocarina of Time truly turned the entire industry upside down. Phantom Hourglass has the potential to do something truly new for the series that could set the stage for future Wii offerings and beyond, and it looks as if Miyamoto and Aonuma are taking the opportunity seriously.

nintendo, zelda, wii, nintendods

[via wired]

As you select few are waiting for your demo UMD for Chains of Olympus to arrive in your greedy little paws, you may want to check out the hands on provided by PSP Fanboy direct from last weeks E3 festivities. According to the guys checking the game out, this game could possibly be the best example of a PS2 game shrunken down for the little PSP.

From how it looks and plays, you’d probably not be able to tell the difference if it actually were a PS2 disc.

godofwar, psp, sony

A lot of folks have wondered for a while why there’s not been a Mario Party DS. And for good reason. The mini-game fest on New Super Mario Bros. practically was half of the game already that just got our taste buds wet for a full board game bonanza. But finally we know that it is indeed on the way thanks to the above little trailer for said game. No mention yet of a release date or if there will be any WiFi connectivity with the game, but that news shouldn’t be too far behind.

mariopartyds, newsupermariobros, e3, nintendods

We all knew it was coming, and here she is.

It doesn’t look all that different at first glance, but official specs tell otherwise. The new version is 33% lighter and 19% slimmer than the original. Which doesn’t really slim down the system to DS Lite proportions, but given the limitations influenced by the mightier hardware, Sony has honestly done a good job to bring the system down to this smaller size. If you’d like a more detailed comparison of how the new system stacks up to the old, PSP Crazy has done a good job of comparing the two.

The newer PSP will feature a brighter screen, and a video-out port which allows for stored videos to be played on an external screen along with the same gameplay as on your portable system. Sony also purports that the system will also feature faster load times, but we’ll just have to wait and see about that. The new system will drop in September at the tag of $200. However, that slightly increased price will also pick you up a game in different packages. The most notable is a Star Wars package which includes a white PSP with Vader’s mug on the back and a copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron.

Nothing all that earth shattering concerning the DS came about from the Nintendo show. However, there was plenty for the Wii to be had. Be sure to check out our sister site at 1pStart for that coverage. The only real news concerning the DS other than the fact that its selling more units that gallon jugs of milk was some specific control schemes for Phantom Hourglass and a few casual games that will be localized from Japan. No mention whatsoever of any redesign or “sequel” to the DS. And frankly, at this stage Nintendo doesn’t need to.

Now, on to Sony. That show starts at 11:30 Pacific, 2:30 Eastern. Mere minutes from now, actually. I’m sure there’s no need to remind you where to find coverage for the show, if you are reading this I’m certain you already have that taken care of.

nintendo, nintendods, sony, psp

Don’t forget that the Nintendo E3 Confernence will be this morning at 9:00am on the West Coast, or Noon on the East Coast. Whichever time zone you happen to fall in. It’s at 11:00 for me here in Huntsville. If chatter around the web is to be believed, we should be seeing a lot about DS to Wii connectivity at the conference. As long as you can tune out the gloating about how well the Wii is selling, there should be a lot of new information to be had.

I won’t pretend that I’m actually at the show by liveblogging the event from a real liveblog (like some sites are prone to do), but I will reccomend some sites that do a good job. If you are at work and can’t watch the video, Kevin Cassidy at Go Nintendo is probably as obsessive as they come and always handles live events great. If you’d like to see the live video for yourself, 1up/EGM has good coverage.

All in all, it should prove to be an interesting show. No one really knows for sure what to expect from this one.

e3, nintendods, nintendowii, connectivity

As best as they may try to tame it, all of the lunacy that is E3 begins today with the highly anticipated pre show exhibitions. The handlers of the show may try to bring it down a few notches, but as long as game developers and publishers have overblown expense accounts to throw around it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. With the show beginning in earnest today, I thought it would be nice to provide you with a list of what can and can’t be expected.

Likely To Happen:

With all of the hoopla over new systems out of the way, the 2007 E3 should be mostly focused on second and third wave games for them. That includes handhelds as well. This should probably be the last show dealing with news for the DS and PSP, as it won’t be very shocking to see new handheld offerings announced next year. Look for both Nintendo and Sony to announce at least one or two AAA titles for each respective system that will give you a reason to stick with it for another year or two. Specifically, look for announcements from Sony in conjunction with Square Enix as well as one from Nintendo concerning another blockbuster game that actually isn’t Phantom Hourglass.

Possibly Could Happpen:

While relatively unlikely, it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility that Nintendo could announce a price cut for the DS. With Pokemon out of the way and Zelda to be here before you know it, sales of the system could potentially slow down with only one or two big titles on the horizon. A price cut to the magic $99 price point would completely undermine recent price cuts for the PSP and give the DS a big spike in sales. As it has been recently cut, and is already a big cost for Sony, don’t expect the same for the PSP. Also, new features or downloadable content for the PSP should probably be expected. On the same token, new periphials for the DS wouldn’t be a big shock either.

Could Come Way Out Of Left Field:

Mind you, these are very small possibilities. But both Nintendo and Sony have been rumored to have had upgraded versions of current systems in the works for a while now. The “DS Liter” as previously reported is highly unlikely, yet still possible given Nintendo’s track record for multiple handheld redesigns in the past. The same goes for the PSP, which still hasn’t wholly fulfilled the “hardware refresh” rumors of the past few months.

The show for this year is the first of the “in between” years in which new systems aren’t likely to be announced, providing for a mess of great games on all ends of the spectrum. Hopefully though, given that and the smaller size of the show, there should still be a few nice surprises. Be sure to stick with us throughout the week for what that may be for handheld gamers.

e3, nintendods, sonypsp

A lot of sites are reporting this image as “possible” box art for the game. But if it isn’t what you will see on shelves on October 1st, I’ll eat my hat. You see, games with certain name recognition don’t have to flail its arms and sprout all sorts of nice colors at you to get your attention. In fact, this game could just say “The New Zelda Game On DS” in a font akin to that of a rubber stamp, and Nintendo fanboys would not hesitate to pick it up.

Jokes aside, this is it. Nintendo usually goes with a relatively simplistic gold toned box for every Zelda release here in the states. Final Fantasy does pretty much the same thing in Japan. Every FF game that’s released in Japan has a overly white monochrome look with just the title. The name says it all.

I do have to say, that’s the best art I’ve seen on any DS box.

nintendods, phantomhourglass, boxart

[via nintendo-online]

Okay, seriously. This one is a bit of a stretch. Despite the fact that nearly every major retail outlet no longer carries UMD movies, as well as the fact that the format is pretty much irrelevant aside from existing as a format for PSP games, they still hold to the claim that the Universal Media Disc is still the format of the future.

Apparently, it “possesses many strengths, from size to form factor to portability,” according to Sony Marketing Manager John Koller. Okay seriously, what are you guys smoking? The thing loads like an overbloated game on Windows 95. Should you ever get anything to load from the format, you’re lucky to have it stick around without bumping into the system. While the PSP has many strengths, the UMD is certainly not one of them. One reason the DS has taken off so much is because there are no load times. Carts may have gone away for consoles, but there’s a reason that they should stick around for handhelds.

Hear this, Sony. Any moving media for handhelds don’t work. Get over it.

[via joystiq]

This brings the term “kiddie fodder” a new definition. I’m sure much of the readership who will see this surely won’t be interested in this game, but if you have younger kids and like to bring them in young, you might want to take a look at this one. Apparently, UK publisher 505 Games will be publishing a collection of games aimed at toddlers and other much younger age groups titled “I Did It Mum”.

Obviously, the title hasn’t been localized for us stupid yanks yet. (Remember, it’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Not Philosopher’s. No hard words for us dumb Americans.) What’s cool about this title is that it fully utilizes the microphone so that parents can record voice messages and commands that the kids will hear later as they complete tasks and such. Honestly, I think this is a great idea. The simple nature of the DS and Wii are perfect for young learning kids, I’m honestly shocked that Nintendo hasn’t attempted to break into this new market already. I mean seriously, people have babies all the time.

babygame, nintendods

[via joystiq]

I’d like to start a regular feature here that will spotlight other podcasts focused on gaming that you can listen to as you mull over whether or not you’d be a regular listener of one here. There are actually quite a few of them out there, many of which take a in depth look at the news in a way not usual to the quick and annoyingly witty way of us bloggers. As this site is titled “Playing on the Go”, why not listen about gaming while you are on the go?

The first that I’d like to draw your attention to is called Press Start from alt.NPR. It’s a show that only a handful of National Public Radio affiliates have bothered to pick up across the nation, but it’s one of the key shows of the alt.NPR initiative that gives listeners access to alternative NPR programming via podcasts. The page for the show describes it as the following..

Press Start is a podcast about the world of video games–and the culture that surrounds them. Hosts Robert Holt, Ralph Cooper, and Kyle Orland discuss the art and craft of video games: what’s new and what games they’ve been playing.

Having listened to an episode last night, I was mighty impressed. The show does not in any way do a quick run down of popular stories from the week. Instead, they take one issue and discuss it throughly amongst themselves. For instance, the most recent episode takes a look at the issue of whether or not retail sales in the industry is dead or not. Which on the surface may not seem like much of an interesting subject, but the hosts take it make it very intriguing. Do yourself a favor and take a listen to the show. It’s likely to change the way you think about gaming news.

podcast, NPR