61 Frames Per Second : nintendo ds

Whatcha Playing: Earth Day Edition

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:30:00 GMT

April 22nd, the day we all take off from work and gather at our local mosques and synagogues to solemnly pay respects to our mother Earth on the anniversary of her creation... or something. So do your part and take your game time today away from blasting zombies and chainsawing aliens in half, instead playing games all about helping mother Earth. Here are the four games that I'm playing for Earth Day:

Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol for Nintendo DS

Rather than cleaning up a house and helping with domestic troubles, this Chibi-Robo has been tasked with turning a barren field of sand into a lush flourishing public park. Like SimCity, you get to design your own world, laying paths and streams, rocks and hills, even benches, fountains, clock towers, statues, and mini-games to your liking. The nicer your park, the more visitors it gets each day. You also have to befriend local toys (including Molly Mapletree, seen above) to help you build up your park and battle smoglings who aim to pollute all the beautiful nature you've brought to the park, but the majority of gameplay is planting flowers. It's actually a lot more fun than it sounds, thanks to the charm and playfulness found in all Skip-developed Nintendo games.

Flower for Playstation 3

Nature is so relaxing for those first few levels, but the final stage really flaunts the nature vs. man-made-atrocities vibe. It's vindicating to smash your trail of flower petals straight through scaffolding and watch a child's swing-set color itself and start swinging in the wind. My only problem with this for Earth Day is that it romanticizes the wind more than the flowers. Playing Flower makes me want to go ride a bike, not water a tree. Still, at least it's prompting me to go outside.

Bonsai Barber for Nintendo Wii

This WiiWare title asks you to be kind to nature in a very different way, by playing the neighborhood barber in a village of anthropomorphic plants. Yes, it's a cute and quirky little topiary simulation. The adorable factor in this game is fairly high without ever becoming sugary sweet, and seeing your shrubbery clientele bristle with joy when you've completed their new 'dos might just make you want to go outside and trim those hedges.

Pixeljunk Eden for Sony Playstation 3

If the above games are a bit too casual and cutesy for you, though, here's a true hardcore platformer. While a bit more abstract, the main focus of the game is pollinating flowers. You essentially play as a spider who thinks it's a bee who has done some psychadelic drugs in the garden. Through the techno and bright colors, the message is clear: more flowers = more awesome.

Related articles:
Ecco the Dolphin: Was This Game Ever Considered Fun?
Comfort Through Gaming: Accomplishing Anything in SimEarth
Chiptune Friday: Spring Into Spring with Sonic

My Night At DJ School With Rhythm Heaven

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

I've written about Nintendo's Rhythm Heaven and its predecessor Rhythm Tengoku a couple of times before. I love them, they are my ideal games. Nintendo did not need to do anything fancy to get me excited about the game's long-awaited western release, and yet they were kind enough to invite me to their DJ School event hosted at Scratch DJ Academy last week. You guys are so good to me sometimes.

A decidedly casual affair outside of the hors d'ouevre, most of the people I talked to there were from local community meet-ups and hip-hop discussion groups, a welcome change from the depressingly stereotypical otaku at most of the Nintendo events I've attended. DS kiosks glowed on the dancefloor, surrounded on all sides by turntables, and everyone seemed to be having a good time playing around with both.

Describing the night's activity is kind of futile, though, so here's a video I shot to give you all a better idea of how it went down:

I did feel a little down that I didn't get to compete at the end of the night and show off the vinyl scratching skillz I'd picked up in the previous two hours, but considering I would have dominated in the DS portion of the competition, I also would have felt bad depriving somebody else of the prizes.

All in all, I had a blast. Chatting with real people about a video game they'd mostly never heard of or touched before that night which I'd already completed twice (granted, in another language) provided a fun new persepective, and getting a few pointers on scratching records was sort of a daydream-come-true for me. Add on that this was all to show off and promote what will probably end up being my favorite game of 2009 and DJ School may very well be my favorite game-related event I've attended in years. More like this, please!

Related articles:
Whatcha Playing: Tappable Rhythm Sequels
Fun Fact: Metroid Meets Metronome
Make The Music With Your Games, Kids!

The 61FPS Review: Suikoden Tierkreis

Joe Keiser — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

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. Sure, it cribs from parts of older Suikodens, and those parts of Tierkreis endeared themselves to me. But I can’t believe that’s anything but a Pavlovian reaction to JRPGs loved and lost (or rather, JRPGs loved and left to gather dust in the closet).

Here’s what is there from older Suikodens: 108 Stars of Destiny to gather, a castle with an elevator, a streamlined and elegant battle system. The series’ legacy of excellent music is upheld impressively as well. It’s what’s not there is a lot more important, and takes a little bit more explanation.

One of the most important elements of the Suikoden franchise is its constant focus on local histories—“local” in that it depicts conflicts between nations, and “history” in that it depicts them in a believable way with little sense of which side is good and which is evil. Those of us who play JRPGs may think it is compelling to wrest dreams of world destruction from the grip of a mad god, but that is nothing compared to maneuvering political webs and enlisting the local citizenry to take a conflict that may or may not be just to its better end. At its best Suikoden provided the latter but it also added personal battles intensified and complicated by the war at hand. An engaging mix that easily trounced the fairy tales of JRPGs it competed against, you never saved the world in Suikoden. Suikoden, for all of its successes and failures, was above saving the world.

So in Suikoden Tierkreis, you save the world from a mad god and the nation of zealots who worship him. Your team of “starbearers” are clearly in the right the whole time, and most of your enemies, with dreams based in selfishness or fanaticism, are clearly in the wrong. The nameless hero, a village boy whose origins are mysterious, is far too simpleminded to engage in political intrigue so the game pays shallow lip service to the concept. His simple nature and devil-may-care attitude also means personal troubles elude him completely. There are glimmers of past brilliance in the story—a handful of villains have complex motivations, for example—but this is largely JRPG 101, complete with horrible voice acting.

The rest is not horrible, provided JRPG 101 is your thing. Suikoden’s battle system is still a thing of elegant beauty, and it’s sleeker than ever in Tierkreis. The technical presentation is wonderful, though many of the face textures are pretty questionable. The main characters are likable—Tierkreis deserves credit for presenting its dumb, good-natured hick of a protagonist as an actual dumb, good-natured hick, and the rest of the cast falls into place well around him. There’s a lot of things to see and fun to be had, two elements that have not been present in every Suikoden. It’s not the worst Suikoden by a good margin, assuming it’s a Suikoden at all.

And it’s not, not really. It’s Suikoden with the heart ripped out—all of that good storytelling and risky characterization replaced with comfortable genre tropes and easy mythmaking. It’s Suikoden as directed by a publisher that is seeing diminishing returns on Suikoden, and its intention to make the franchise more “mainstream” feels obvious and cynical. It’s Suikoden for JRPG fans, but not for Suikoden fans. It’s amazing to me that there’s a difference, but Suikoden Tierkreis proves there is. It’s a good RPG, and yet I can’t help but be disappointed by it.

Grade: C+

Previous Reviews:

The 61FPS Review: Eat Lead - The Return of Matt Hazard
The 61FPS Review: Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop
The 61FPS Review: Resident Evil 5

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

John Constantine — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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. Take a look at this screenshot from Tomb Raider 3 as a prime example:

It’s a relic, no pun intended. The cliff face is made of perfect right angles, covered in muddy textures doing their best to look like rock. Lara herself looks like a drawing dummy. This screenshot should be a text book example of why early polygonal graphics are best-forgotten growing pains from the medium’s adolescence. Given, low-poly graphics like these have survived. Most 3D Nintendo DS games are comparable to this screen, though they can be much better. Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy IV is not unlike graphics seen in the best the Playstation and Nintendo 64 had to offer ten years ago. DS games of its ilk though feature graphics of necessity, not of stylistic choice. Style is where I see the potential beauty of low-poly graphics. Ugly as they are, they could make for a whole new style of retro game design.

In the same way that Retro Game Challenge and Mega Man 9 have leveraged NES-level visual limitations to inform and color compelling game designs, I can see a designer intentionally choosing a low-poly presentation to inform their game. Instead of the game looking antiquated and ugly, you have a ready made cubist style that can make for extremely expressive games. Just look at Katamari Damacy.

Bust-a-Groove, Enix’s long forgotten rhythm game pictured at the top of this post, is what got me thinking about the potential of low-polygon design. Its models are primitive, but appealing in their simplicity and expressive thanks to the game’s excellent motion captured dances. Imagine if that game hadn’t come out in 1998. Say it came out in 2016. Would we say it’s ugly? Or would we say approvingly, “That’s old school.”? Retro even.

Mark my words, dear reader. It’ll happen. And it will be, if nothing else, interesting when it does.

Related links:

Not All Games Age Well
Question of the Day: Why Can’t I Emulate?
The 61FPS Review: Retro Game Challenge
Continuing the Old-School Conversation
Don’t Call It Retro: Mega Man 9 and Design Resurrection

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

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:32:00 GMT

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.

Discovering this ending for the first time helped me realise that my favourite games were not in fact programmed by super robots from Mars: they were written, planned and programmed by human beings with families and tight schedules. I've likewise since come to realise that the good-natured jokes about losing weight and getting grey hairs probably weren't hyperbole.

The Dream Project ending in Chrono Trigger DS differs slightly. Did Manabu Daishima always wag his finger at rented and borrowed games?

Yuji Horii says, "Wow, the years sure do fly by! This game was first released in 1995!" Square-Enix left out, "Got your money again, suckas!"

The “adjusted” credits screen still makes me laugh.

Related Links:

Game Endings Out Of Left Field: Pilotwings

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

John Constantine — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:30:00 GMT

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!

I’m not positive where or when this footage was shown — the YouTube video is dated February 24th, 2008 — but, as you can see, the game was very, very different early on. The trademark humor is there but the visual style is much more spare, recalling Craig McCracken Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends cartoons. Very, very cool. I wonder what else changed between this early prototype and the final game?

More on Hatsworth as I get deeper in.

Related links:

OST: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Trailer Review: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
Portrait of the Prince Pre-Persia

Daily DS Sutra - Position of the Nail

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT

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 Nerve.com

Just to be clear, even though we do not see this content as pornographic, it is most likely NSFW.

Please skip this post if you're in a position where you don't want digital representations of sexual activity on your computer screen.

If you're in Google Reader, just tap the J key on your keyboard to skip ahead.

Nobody wants a repeat of yesterday's shenanigans.

Are we all clear yet?

If you're someplace where it's cool to be looking at stuff about video games and sex (like your home, the Nerve office or the corner Starbucks), we're all cool, right?

If not, skip this.

Ready?

Okay.

Today's position: Position of the Nail

Wow. That looks uncomfortable.

It also doesn't look particularly pleasurable, but hey, different strokes, right? Very different strokes.

SutraDS does praise this position for "very intense stimulation" and "angle and amplitude of penetration exitante" which I understand translates to "exciting." It also warns "here you will have understood that the risk of wounds is rather raised. Therefore go with caution there." That sounds like a Liz Lemon joke gone horribly awry.

Ugh, this is going to be what I picture every time Stephen Colbert claims to have "nailed" somebody.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our week-long look at this very quirky homebrew title. Odd and unfinished as it is, I think it's certainly worth a look. The software is sorely lacking any sort of audio component, so I would recommend some MIDI Marvin Gaye to go along with it. If you'd like to read more about sex, just click "Home" at the top of this page. If you've got a Nintendo DS with a flashcart or even just a DS emulator, you can download SutraDS here.

Related articles:
Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Elephant
Daily DS Sutra - The Big Opening
Daily DS Sutra - Mobile of the Wheel
Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon
Roundtable Discussion: Pushing the Envelope on Sex and Nudity
God of War III Does Not Need Another Sex Mini-Game
Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, but No Al Green

Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Elephant

Derrick Sanskrit — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

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 Nerve.com

Today's position: Union of the Elephant

Can somebody please tell me what this position has to do with elephants?

Compared to the other poses reviewed this week, Union of the Elephant is downright bland, lacking all sense of adventure and wonder and offers a fairly superficial degree of penetration. What's it got going for it? Well, clearly comfort is a factor, as both partners are essentially lying flat on their fronts. This allows for increased opportunity for fondling, cuddling, and a general sense of intimacy, as your entire bodies are touching. A good pose for love, not particularly great for passion. But again, why elephants? Is this how elephants have sex, laying flat on their stomachs? That seems completely impossible. Worth noting, this position can be excellent for female stimulation, as SutraDS points out "the front wall of the vagina and point G are well stimulated."

"Point G." Thank you, SutraDS.

If you'd like to read more about sex, just click "Home" at the top of this page. If you've got a Nintendo DS with a flashcart or even just a DS emulator, you can download SutraDS here. Check back every day this week as we look through some of our other favorite positions in this quirky bit of homebrew.

Related articles:
Daily DS Sutra - The Big Opening
Daily DS Sutra - Mobile of the Wheel
Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon
Roundtable Discussion: Pushing the Envelope on Sex and Nudity
God of War III Does Not Need Another Sex Mini-Game
Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, but No Al Green

The Legend of Zelda: Manifest Destiny

John Constantine — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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!”

Flash to Link negotiating with Gorons to run Zelda’s railroad tracks through their traditional lands. He gives them one case of whiskey and three bails of grain.

“Watch as he forces Zora laborers to dig his tunnels!”

Link has Navi and other fairies whip Zoras into exhaustion as they dig. Link races John Henry through a dungeon before facing off against Henry as a boss. Link must stab him in the heart with The Master Sword of Industry.

Coming Fall 2009

The crowd freaked out.

Nah, I’m playing. As soon as I read that the new DS Zelda’s big item-theme this time out was trains and railroads, I couldn’t stop laughing at the idea of Link living in the golden age of the American railroad. Despite some notable locales and objects — the steam engines of Phantom Hourglass, clock tower of Majora’s Mask, etc. — it’s pretty jarring to see something as familiar in its modernity as a train in a Zelda game. I like the premise though, even if there isn’t abuse of Gorons and Zoras. As a man who travels by train with some regularity, I can attest to the feelings of adventure a locomotive can inspire. What else does a Zelda need?

Related links:

Trailer Review: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Konjak: Legend of Zelda Platforming the Right Way
For Love of the Game: The Legend of Zelda – The Shadowgazer
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Stupidity
Miyamoto Says Something Was "Missing" From Zelda: Twilight Princess. We Know It, Too.

Trailer Review: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:29:00 GMT

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.

From what we can garner by the video and Nintendo's press release—and I'm happy to remind the world that none of this is cemented fact—the dungeon exploration and game mechanics are pretty similar to what was already utilised in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Not a terrible thing by any means, but if the Internet loves mouthing off about something, it's how badly the Zelda series needs a shot of innovation.

For good reason, too. I love my traditional Zelda games. Heck, I love horses, those filthy beasts. But I also love being pleasantly surprised by new and delightful ideas from my favourite game franchises. Spirit Tracks appears to be letting Link take one step forward with the train concept, and one step back by recycling old dungeon mechanics.

Link is so adorable in his conductor's outfit, though. I may be willing to forgive all.

Related Links:

Trailer Review: Terrifying New Mirror's Edge Content
Trailer Review: Final Fantasy XIII Looks Disturbingly Interesting
Trailer Review: House of the Dead Overkill

Reminder: Nintendo of Japan Still Gets All the Nicest Things

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:00:00 GMT

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:

Feel free to skip the first 1:50 of downloading the software.

Blow into the DS's microphone to launch the happy stars up into the top screen in the ADORABLE shooter. Look at this! This could be a finished product! Sure, it's only 24 minutes from beginning to end, but considering it's student work it's pretty amazing. Add a few more levels, stick it in a box and charge me twenty bucks, please!

Today's the last day users with access to Japanese download centers can access Fufu Kirarin, but upcoming student games include a hilarious sounding voice-acting sim with "unexpected videos", an action game where you control things by moving your body (I assume "you" is the character in the game and not the player), and a game where you goof around with a character with no body, creating goofy faces and photographing them. Plenty of mind-boggling screens available at Nintendo's game seminar website. I would probably be very happy to take ten months out of my life to learn things like this.

Thanks to Andria Sang for the translations!

Related articles:
Everything You Need To Know About The Wii Storage Solution
Nintendo Might Just Hate You
Crossing the Uncanny Valley part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5

Daily DS Sutra - The Big Opening

Derrick Sanskrit — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:30:00 GMT

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 Nerve.com

Today's position: The Big Opening

I admit, today's pick was partially inspired by the announcement of the Wii's SD Card channel and the increase in capability to 32gig SD cards.

Do I even need to describe how this one works? You guys are adults (I presume), you probably already know what goes into where. The important things with this position are to repeat the raising and lowering of the leg several times and to alternate legs every so often. Penetration is good but not excellent, but that's all made up by the compression of the vaginal walls with each motion of the leg. According to SutraDS, this pose should be ideal for pirates as the man "enters a hand holding the peg leg drawn up". Kinky!

If you'd like to read more about sex, just click "Home" at the top of this page. If you've got a Nintendo DS with a flashcart or even just a DS emulator, you can download SutraDS here. Check back every day this week as we look through some of our other favorite positions in this quirky bit of homebrew.

Related articles:
Daily DS Sutra - Mobile of the Wheel
Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon
Roundtable Discussion: Pushing the Envelope on Sex and Nudity
God of War III Does Not Need Another Sex Mini-Game
Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, but No Al Green

Respect the Pokeymans

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:05:00 GMT

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. They want numbers. They want stats. They want evolution and the abortion of said evolution. They want berries and balance and Ghost-types versus Normal-types and legendary dragon Pokemon that look unsettlingly like giant centipedes.

I thought I was all set in the world of Pokemon Pearl merely because I raised a Gyrados from a Magikarp. Soon, I was dragging “Super Joe” back to a PokeCenter on the end of a frayed rope leash. He smelled like a fish washed up on a beachside highway.

I mean, I imagine that's what he smelled like.

The haters are off their rockers: Pokemon isn't a kiddy sell-out franchise. It's a deep piece of work that requires equal parts skill, luck and memorisation. Granted, Pokemon doesn't punish you if you decide to strong-arm your way up to and through the Elite Four, but when I opt out of the fashion shows, I can feel my Bidoof burning a hole in the back of my head with his glare.

His pretty, long-lashed glare.

Related Links:

Gaming: A Throwaway Hobby
To Be a Pokemon Master
Summon Baphomet With Pokemon

Screen Test: Blood of Bahamut

John Constantine — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

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.

A lot’s still unknown about how Blood of Bahamut will actually play, but the action rpg meets Shadow of the Colossus premise holds a ton of potential. Just look at that giant stone goddess. That’s cool.

More screens at Nintendo Everything.

Previous Screen Tests:

Mars
Brütal Legend
Battle Rage
Ghostbusters
Duke Nukem Forever

Daily DS Sutra - Mobile of the Wheel

Derrick Sanskrit — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:00:00 GMT

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 Nerve.com

Today's position: Mobile of the Wheel

I have to say, this position looks dangerous. Definitely one you're going to want to be well lubricated for in order to avoid serious injury. The man inserts himself as is "traditional," but then proceeds to rotate himself around his partner 180 degrees using their connected privates as an axel. The animation loops here, so I'm not sure whether you are intended to return to the start position as depicted or go for the full 360 spin, though I imagine returning is less likely to cause pain to the man via twisting. Definitely a pose for the adventurous looking for something new and uncommon, SutraDS does warn that its very easy for beginners to slip out of penetration, so pay attention there.

If you'd like to read more about sex, just click "Home" at the top of this page. If you've got a Nintendo DS with a flashcart or even just a DS emulator, you can download SutraDS here. Check back every day this week as we look through some of our other favorite positions in this quirky bit of homebrew.

Related articles:
Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon
Roundtable Discussion: Pushing the Envelope on Sex and Nudity
God of War III Does Not Need Another Sex Mini-Game
Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, but No Al Green

OST: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

Derrick Sanskrit — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:00:00 GMT

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.

Take, for example, "Pompous Adventurer's Club Theme" which plays on the overworld map:

My word, but that is hilariously pompous! The air of militaristic pride in the snare, cello, and trumpets is countered marvelously by the vocals, a mish-mash of drunken voices with stuffed sinuses, each trying to sing the incomprehensible "la," "nah," "yah," and "dahn"s louder than the adventurerer next to him.

Or what of "Go, Go, Golden Robo Q!" which plays every time Hatsworth activates Tea Time and dons his giant suit of robot armor:

The switch from harpsichord to electric guitar within the first six seconds perfectly encapsulates the voice of the game, using traditional adventurer stereotypes from television and film for comedic fodder and parody. Also, it's totally awesome.

Both of those tunes are presented wih tongue planted firmly in cheek, but here's one that just out and out rocks.

"Molotov on the Rocks" plays when Hatsworth enters puzzle mode during particularly tense parts of the game. The funky slap bass creates a driving rhythm while the ochestral blasts generate excitement, two things the puzzle mode at these times would not be fun without.

All in all, it's hard not to agree with the good adventurer Hatsworth when he enthusiastically exclaims "Good show!"

Related articles:
Trailer Review: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
OST: Big Bang Mini
OST: de Blob
OST: Everyday Shooter

Daily DS Sutra - Union of the Amazon

Derrick Sanskrit — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:30:00 GMT

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 Nerve at all.

Today's position: Union of the Amazon

This position allows for a great deal of comfort and pleasure for both partners as well as a deep penetration and high degree of mobility. The partners will probably need to be a little flexible and strong just to initiate, of course. I mean... look at that. That's not a position that you just happen to find yourself in. I imagine a little bit of regular yoga for the guy should be enough to keep this one going for a while. The man has plenty of accessability to the woman's body for manipulative stimulation, and the woman maintains control of the actual penetration, which I'm sure we all know is ideal for sustained arousal and mutual climax.

This is one of the few poses in SutraDS that features a still image of a CGI-rendered couple rather than a looping two-second animation, but I'm sure it's easy to tell what the motion here would be. The program does warn that this position can be difficult to control and that the man may feel crushed by his partner, so attempt at your own risk, and for heaven's sake, stretch first. Nobody wants to pull a hamstring in this type of position.

If you'd like to read more about sex, just click "Home" at the top of this page. If you've got a Nintendo DS with a flashcart or even just a DS emulator, you can download SutraDS here. Check back every day this week as we look through some of our other favorite positions in this quirky bit of homebrew.

Related articles:
Roundtable Discussion: Pushing the Envelope on Sex and Nudity
God of War III Does Not Need Another Sex Mini-Game
Sex in Games: Daniel Floyd is a Smart Cookie, but No Al Green

Ghostface & DOOM Bring The Ruckus To Chinatown

Derrick Sanskrit — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:30:00 GMT

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. That's right, hip-hop historians, on this one video game theme we have representatives of the Wu-Tang Clan, KMD, and Stones Throw. It's also worth noting that Ghostface and DOOM are two of the most critically acclaimed rappers of our time. A generally cool little number, the Chinatown Wars theme is yet another tease for the long-hyped GhostDoom album (and we know Doom plays well with others).

Oh yeah, videogames. You know, it's GTA, only it's on the DS. If you like both of those things, you'll probably love Chinatown Wars. I'm sorry, it's so easy to forget about that when you're groovin to the good shizz.

Thanks to the Stones Throw twitter.

Related articles:
New GTA Gets Europe's First 18 On DS
Exclusive: Peaceoholics Protest Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto 4
Grand Theft Auto IV's Post-Game Purgatory

Whatcha Playing: Tappable Rhythm Sequels

Derrick Sanskrit — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:00:00 GMT

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. I was joyously reminded of how addictive and utterly charming the game is. Using the touch screen to tap, hold, and flick isn't quite as precise as the original's button taps, but very few of the games suffer as a result. The all-Japanese text is a bit more daunting this time as they're most likely describing what you should do on the touch screen and you have to use trial and error to figure out what to do when, but I still managed to make my way straight on through the end credits without frustration. In fact, I didn't think it possible, but I find the DS version much more lighthearted and playful than the GBA game. Only one minigame returns for the sequel, the rest are all new with new characters, and it's hard not to have your heart warmed by some of them. Every time I do the mating dance with the little lizard-with-a-maraca-for-a-tail, its warm, approving chirps actually make me fall in love with it just a little.

I've also been pretty fond of Tap Tap Revenge 2 on my iPod Touch since its release a week and a half ago. The engine is overhauled and much improved since the original, which was little more than a touch screen Guitar Hero. There are local and online competitive play and achievement-like rewards, but the truly fantastic feature that keeps me playing is the licensed downloadable songs. The basic game comes with three tracks: Death Cab For Cutie's "the Sound of Settling," a world premiere of the Crystal Method's new single "Double Down Under," and a brand-new exclusive theme song from Stroke 9 (remember them?), the surprisingly awesome "Tap Tap DomiNation". As with all music games, most of the downloadable tracks are stuff I don't care about nor do I even want to try, but there are a few that caught my interest. Daft Punk's "Technologic" is a must. Breakbot's remix of Fatlip's now-legendary "What's Up, Fatlip?" is synthetic bliss. Tap Tap Revenge even had another world-premiere last week with The Prodigy's new single "Omen". Weekly updates promise a smooth stream of new material, and the casual affair is well worth the price of admission for a free application with free song downloads. I'll never be truly satisfied, though, until these games start bringing in more Professor Murder, His Name is Alive and B-52s, but hey, that's what the rest of my iPod is for.

So basically I'm spending my daily commute looking at bright colors and tapping on touch screens to catchy music. Ain't technology grand? And to think, now we've got Bit.Trip Beat at home to keep the rhythm going...

Related articles:
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Miami Law: Welcome Back Victor Ireland of Working Designs

John Constantine — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:05:00 GMT

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. Now that there was a growing market for Japanese games, the publisher was able to put out some extravagant packages. (Most notably the PS1 releases of Lunar, Lunar 2, and the Arc the Lad Collection. They all game with cloth maps, hardbound instruction manuals, and even zany bonuses like boxing puppets.) By the time the Playstation 2 came around though, Working Designs was in decline. They released three games for PS2 and shut their doors in 2005. Irleand put an impassioned statement on the company homepage which you can read here. In 2006, he opened a new publishing house called Gaijinworks and then promptly disappeared into the ether.

Today, Vic and Gaijinworks are finally on the map for real. Their first game, a Hotel Dusk-style DS adventure called Miami Law, is currently being developed for America by Hudson in Japan. It’s the perfect cultural stew, considering the man’s history. I’m psyched he’s back.

(Link: Joystiq)

Related links:

Where is Victor Ireland?
FMV Hell: Lunar, The Silver Star
Sega CD on iPhone: I Like Where This Is Going
The One That Got Away: Arc the Lad

Trailer Review: Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure

John Constantine — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:00:00 GMT

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.

How great does that look? An action platformer with slick, colorful art starring what appears to be the protagonist from Braid aged thirty years and doing some kind of Doctor-Livingston-I-presume cosplay. You attack enemies who then turn into blocks who have to be color matched to make them disappear and then fill an ammo/special move meter. That is amazing. You solve columns style puzzles and get “super exciting robot juice” as a reward. The robot juice turns you into a Big Daddy.

Nintendo, this is the sort of game you used to make. Now I have to go to EA, to the freaking Madden team, to get this kind of glory. Talk about defied expectations.

Previous Trailer Reviews:

Dante’s Inferno is Looking Even More… Something
Machinarium
Mightier
Demon’s Souls
Final Fantasy XIII Looks Disturbingly Interesting
Priston Tale II: The 2nd Enigma
King of the Fighters XII
Edge
Dante's Inferno
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Resident Evil 5

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

John Constantine — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

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!

GO PLAY! While you do that, GO READ!

It’s pretty cool. I like the new twists on the vintage Ace Attorney play and the new perspective is just the sort of fan-service I love. I’m really hoping I don’t have to play the whole game reading a printed script like this, though. Capcom still haven’t announced Perfect Prosecutor for the States.

Derrick got me hooked on Ace Attorney last summer. Guy walked up to me, shady as any alley lurker in some 1989 anti-drug PSA, and said, “Go ahead, John. Check this cart out. First case is free, man.” Even after I got clean (i.e. beaten the originally trilogy between June and August), I couldn’t kick my obsession with Phoenix Wright’s rival, Miles Edgeworth. There’s something about the character that I find hilarious and charming. The anime-straight-man is a cliché that’s usually reserved for brooding warriors, burly he-men, or stern authority figures. Edgeworth, however, never falls into a specific model. He’s the rarest sort of videogame character: a well-rounded one. I really hope the game makes it to the West.

(Link: GoNintendo)

Related links:

Fandom Unplugged: The Beginning
Turnabout Animation
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

Whatcha Playing: Guadia Quest

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:29:00 GMT

“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).

Guadia Quest is a loving tribute to the Dragon Quest days of olde...though drawing comparisons to Dragon Quest II might be more accurate, as both it and Guadia Quest are staffed by three warriors who are (kissin') cousins. To “complete” Guadia Quest and move on in Retro Game Challenge, you're required to grind to a certain level, collect a certain amount of money from dead monsters bodies, and slay a bad demon. I'm giddy over the whole experience; I feel like I'm ten again. Oh, for the days when I had to kill piles of slavering monsters just to turn their pockets inside-out for a few pennies.

Actually, I'm pretty okay with not having to to do that kind of thing anymore on a regular basis. Though it's kind of funny that I set aside Dragon Quest IV on the DS in order to play Guadia Quest. Is there a word in the dictionary for someone who defects from one nostalgic experience to another, deeper nostalgic experience?

Also, I named my warriors after swear words. Little Arino gave his opinion on the bottom half of the DS screen: “Oooooh! Interesting!”

Related Links:

Retro Game Challenge Is Out Today. You Will Buy It
The 61FPS Review: Retro Game Challenge
Old Man, Take a Look at My Life

Chrono Trigger's Box Art Still Makes My Head Buzz

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:07:00 GMT

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).

Thirteen years later, my thoughts still stumble all over one another crying “But--but--but--!”, when I see the cover for Chrono Trigger. It makes the inside of my head feel like a car crash.

Everyone on the box also looks uncharacteristically snarly. I wouldn't laugh off a threat from a giant thorn-lizard that will only succumb to magic spells (*%&$&#!!!!!), but poor gentle Crono comes off as a spiky-haired Rambo. It just ain't right.

Related Links:

The Weakest Link: Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross
The End of Time and the Beginning of Fan Drama
WTFriday: The Chrono Trigger Anime

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

John Constantine — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:00:00 GMT

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. As much as Jon Blow’s Braid was a commentary on play conventions, it was also a deliberately lyrical game. Trading in pastoral visuals and acoustics to inform its tale of romantic loss and redemption, it shares more than a little with Flower and Cloud. I’m wondering, though, why these new romantics have yet to explore more emotionally troubling and challenging themes. Gamers and critics are constantly citing “dark” themes as a mark of credibility in mainstream game design, but the darkness they refer to is usually tied up in angst driven narrative and violence. Where are the games that are legitimately dark, games that don’t just gain their emotional thrust from beauty or human ugliness? Braid’s ambiguous conclusion and TGC’s exploration of predatory natural selection, Flow, flirt with ugliness and dissonance but never make them their focus. (Flow’s poetic prescript “…life could be simple…” limits the game’s reach from the start.) But why can’t the lyrical style and play of these games be applied to subject matter like Procedural Arts’ Façade, a game that places you directly into a married couple’s complete relationship breakdown?

I’m excited by these creator’s efforts and, yes, moved by them. I was caught up in Flower from the start. But I am anxious and thirsty for the romantic games’ movement to find its Stravinsky, that artist who asks me to look at and hear and play something I’d rather not to make their work that much more powerful.

Related links:

Flower - A Zen de Blob?
Indie Dev Moment: Dyson
Far Out, Man
Ceci N'Est Pas Une 1-Up: The Surrealist Future of Postpunk Gaming

The Console Wars Made Adorable

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:50:00 GMT

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.

A board member on IGN has put together a small group of sketches titled, “The Console War is Officially Over.” The adorable pictures feature the major game consoles (and their young portable siblings) in various states of play.

(Those bedsheets should be burning merry hell.)

It's a heart-melting group of pics. It makes me feel really bad for ever fitting my Xbox 360 with sharp spurs and sending it after the PS3. They don't want to fight. They want to love. I vow to be a better console owner from now on.

(PSP, moar like Pee-ass-pee, lol)

Related Links:

Roundtable Discussion: Where Is the Handheld Version of the Console Wars?
Sign of the Times: Current Gen to Stick Around a Little Longer
Microsoft's New Year's Resolution

Mega64 Calls On the Elite Beat Agents

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:46:00 GMT

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.

Watching this makes me nostalgic for Elite Beat Agents. It was a great game with a fantastic localisation, but it wasn't the Nintendogs successor Nintendo was obviously hoping it would be. Despite careful retooling of the source title, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!, the sharp anime art style was still a bit intimidating for mom and dad.

Related Links:

How Chicago Inadvertently Penned an Anthem for Dead Fathers
Ready? Okay! Wii've Got Spirit, Yes Wii Do...
No Alternate Soundtrack: Chibi Robo

Here Comes the DSi

Joe Keiser — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT

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.

But I’m not the first guy Nintendo has confused with its marketing strategy; hell, the last time that happened the Wii took over the whole damned world. So who knows? Maybe the company feels that the addition of two cameras, an SD card slot and a digital download store really is too experimental in its gigantic market to bet the hype machine on. On the other hand, they could just be waiting for Oprah’s next free interview segment to do a real big announcement.

For the record, I hope that big announcement includes Face Training, because I can’t wait to whip that out on the subway either.

Related Links:

Nintendo Customer Service Training Video Gives Disturbing Look
Why Nintendo’s Hardcore vs. Casual Commitments Aren’t the Problem
Nintendo Might Just Hate You

Old Man, Take a Look At My Life

John Constantine — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:30:00 GMT

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.”

“Yeah, I saw.” I pulled off the headphones, but kept the DS open. Aaron had periodically busted out a DS Lite during the flight. He played quick, frantic sessions of Phantom Hourglass and stabbed the living hell out of the touchscreen. “Do you like Zelda?”

“Yeah. What is that?”

“It’s called Retro Game Challenge. See here on the lower screen? That’s you trapped in the past. To get back to the future, you have to play a bunch of games like the ones I played when I was your age.”

“Why do you keep doing the same thing over and over?” He pointed at the top screen, a paused random battle in Guardia Quest. To anyone my age, it looked like any other RPG. To Aaron it just looked like a bunch of names, numbers, and a googly-eyed orange frog. The little guy threw me. Why the hell did I keep going back into these games to complete Arino’s challenges? Forget the fact that the game targets my nostalgia centers with bullet precision, forget that I write about games day in and day out. What about these simpler games kept me interested?

“It’s fun to keep playing a game so you get better every time. Even when you beat it, you go back to it to see if you can do it faster. That’s kind of what this whole game is all about.”

“Yeah. It looks fun. I don’t like it when games just stop. Keep going.”

Aaron watched me play Guardia Quest until the captain turned the fasten seatbelt sign back on and all electronic devices had to be shut off. The kid turned his attention to pestering his older sister and I got to thinking about what it’s like to grow up with the Wii and DS like I grew up with an NES. Games do just stop. When Aaron finally finishes Phantom Hourglass, that’s it. No second quest, no harder difficulty. Playing it again will be the same thing it was the first time, no shortcuts. Guardia Quest, admittedly, is no different, but every other game on that little cartridge keeps on giving after the credits roll.

It’s more than nostalgia, this push back to NES-era design that’s been so prevalent in the past year. In twenty years, is Aaron going to be playing some Retro Game Challenge descendent packed full of lengthy, scripted 3D games? Or is he going to play something that mimics Wii Sports? I’d bet on the latter. Aaron and I, despite the age gap, understand something essential about games; the best ones can be played again and again.

Related links:

The 61FPS Review: Retro Game Challenge
Retro Game Challenge is Out Today. You Will Buy It.
Trailer Review: Retro Game Challenge
Game Center CX is Charming as Hell

The 61FPS Review: Retro Game Challenge

Joe Keiser — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:15:00 GMT

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.

RGC has been called an 80s childhood simulator, but that’s not exactly true. It’s really more of an 80s nostalgia generator, the way kids of the time remember their favorite games rather than the warty and bug-ridden reality of the era. RGC contains eight games (though two are retreads, bringing the count of original games down to six) that are 8-bit-esque, and it walks a fine line with them: while together they illustrate the progression of 80s console game design, they are individually scrubbed of all the major annoyances that plagued the games of the day. So the games themselves are an enjoyable homage to the shooting, top-down racing, platforming and RPG genres as they existed then. The Star Soldier tribute Star Prince and 8-bit Symphony of the Night/Ninja Gaiden hybrid Haggle Man 3 are particular standouts.

But it’s the presentation of these games that makes RGC a truly charming work. If this were just a collection, it would have come off as some sort of competent but inexplicable NES tribute band. Instead, the game begins by warping you back to the 80s, where you and your buddy must take on the Famicom-based challenges of a mad gaming god. Games are unlocked as the decade progresses, in line with the trajectory of the industry as it actually happened. But it’s your little buddy Arino that really makes the game work. He always, always watches you play, cheering you on or making fun of you at exactly the right moments. He brings you the latest gaming tips from the schoolyard, which you are encouraged to try at your own peril (though they are sometimes true). He talks about how hungry he is, but never actually leaves to feed himself.

And he brings you the gaming magazine GameFan, a tribute print rag that’s loaded with cheat codes, in-jokes, and real world game journalists writing in the exclamation point-fueled style of the era. The bottom screen is devoted to this simulated meatspace, so you can leave up a game manual or magazine page down there, or a notebook page where you’ve written your favorite tips. More often then not it will just show you and Arino, cross-legged on the floor, worshipping the tiny cathode tube for hours.

That RGC actually knows how kids played games in the 80s and lovingly recreates that scenario right down to the parental screaming is what really makes the game something special. If you didn’t live through it, RGC could come across as a whitewashed history lesson, and might have some value if you’re wondering how any human being alive could have ever enjoyed Ninja Jajamaru-kun (we remember it playing more like Haggle Man). But if you’re the person who spent your childhood writing letters to dead tree gaming magazines and dreaming of the day that big in Japan cartridge would finally come to the US, you owe it to yourself to play Retro Game Challenge. You’ve not played games like this in some time, and you might be surprised to realize how much you miss it.

Rating: A

Related Links:

Retro Game Challenge is Out Today. You Will Buy It.
Trailer Review: Retro Game Master
Pole’s Big Adventure: Sega Rides the Retro Train, Takes Advantage of You