via dsfanboy

We've had our eye on Chocobo Tales for quite some time now, watching with fevered anticipation that the spin-off game would provide us with some more entertainment on our handheld system already populated by other highly-entertaining games. Now that the game has hit retail and been reviewed, we can finally see if the full NTSC version is for us. Not that imports aren't our thing, mind you, just we usually steer clear of the Square-Enix titles (lots of text, don'tchaknow).

So, what did the critics have to say? Let's check it out:

IGN (83/100) doesn't want the presentation to fool you, the game is fun for older gamers: "The game might feel a bit "kiddy" in its focus, what with those great, big, cute Chocobo eyes peeking at you from the box art. But even though the idea might skew young, the product is surprisingly enjoyable for the older crowd."
GamePro (80/100) finds the game to be a melting pot of good ideas: "Chocobo Tales is about quick and easy fun. The Crayola art style, pop-up book style graphics and fable stories may make it seem like a kiddie title and technically, it is. However, the game is fun enough that and packed with enough nods to diehard fans that Final Fantasy fans of all ages should give it a look."
New York Times (75/100) has issues with the card system: "Tales has a ridiculously cumbersome system in which you can't easily swap one card for another or compare two cards; even finding a particular card in your collection requires a tedious search. The designers would find it challenging to come up with a worse system. This flaw is surprising in a game that is otherwise beautifully designed."
The other remaining reviews come from Japanese import copies of the game, so as soon as more reviews of the English NTSC version come in, we'll update the post. In the meantime, discuss! ...

via dsfanboy

We've had our eye on Chocobo Tales for quite some time now, watching with fevered anticipation that the spin-off game would provide us with some more entertainment on our handheld system already populated by other highly-entertaining games. Now that the game has hit retail and been reviewed, we can finally see if the full NTSC version is for us. Not that imports aren't our thing, mind you, just we usually steer clear of the Square-Enix titles (lots of text, don'tchaknow).

So, what did the critics have to say? Let's check it out:

IGN (83/100) doesn't want the presentation to fool you, the game is fun for older gamers: "The game might feel a bit "kiddy" in its focus, what with those great, big, cute Chocobo eyes peeking at you from the box art. But even though the idea might skew young, the product is surprisingly enjoyable for the older crowd."
GamePro (80/100) finds the game to be a melting pot of good ideas: "Chocobo Tales is about quick and easy fun. The Crayola art style, pop-up book style graphics and fable stories may make it seem like a kiddie title and technically, it is. However, the game is fun enough that and packed with enough nods to diehard fans that Final Fantasy fans of all ages should give it a look."
New York Times (75/100) has issues with the card system: "Tales has a ridiculously cumbersome system in which you can't easily swap one card for another or compare two cards; even finding a particular card in your collection requires a tedious search. The designers would find it challenging to come up with a worse system. This flaw is surprising in a game that is otherwise beautifully designed."
The other remaining reviews come from Japanese import copies of the game, so as soon as more reviews of the English NTSC version come in, we'll update the post. In the meantime, discuss! ...

via dsfanboy

We've had our eye on Chocobo Tales for quite some time now, watching with fevered anticipation that the spin-off game would provide us with some more entertainment on our handheld system already populated by other highly-entertaining games. Now that the game has hit retail and been reviewed, we can finally see if the full NTSC version is for us. Not that imports aren't our thing, mind you, just we usually steer clear of the Square-Enix titles (lots of text, don'tchaknow).

So, what did the critics have to say? Let's check it out:

IGN (83/100) doesn't want the presentation to fool you, the game is fun for older gamers: "The game might feel a bit "kiddy" in its focus, what with those great, big, cute Chocobo eyes peeking at you from the box art. But even though the idea might skew young, the product is surprisingly enjoyable for the older crowd."
GamePro (80/100) finds the game to be a melting pot of good ideas: "Chocobo Tales is about quick and easy fun. The Crayola art style, pop-up book style graphics and fable stories may make it seem like a kiddie title and technically, it is. However, the game is fun enough that and packed with enough nods to diehard fans that Final Fantasy fans of all ages should give it a look."
New York Times (75/100) has issues with the card system: "Tales has a ridiculously cumbersome system in which you can't easily swap one card for another or compare two cards; even finding a particular card in your collection requires a tedious search. The designers would find it challenging to come up with a worse system. This flaw is surprising in a game that is otherwise beautifully designed."
The other remaining reviews come from Japanese import copies of the game, so as soon as more reviews of the English NTSC version come in, we'll update the post. In the meantime, discuss! ...

New from Ruckage

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd let you know about my new game that I have released. It was a speedy development for this one - started late yesterday afternoon and it's now finished (just need to add sounds and music.) The game is basically a snake clone but inspired by the snake mini game in Timesplitters 2 where the snake can travel in any direction. I'm quite pleased with the movement, unlike most snake games that basically stamp the body of the snake into the background this one actually moves smoothly with all the body segments following the head.

Gameplay details:

Start as a single cell organism and eat other organisms to increase your cell count.
Avoid running into your own body or one of the enemies as this results in game over.
3 types of organism to eat - all moving.
Adjustable speed and enemy count to allow the game to be customised to individual players skill.

Download Here ...

AgentQ has updated his port of ScummVM to the Nintendo DS.

Heres the news:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

AgentQ has updated his port of ScummVM to the Nintendo DS.

Heres the news:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

AgentQ has updated his port of ScummVM to the Nintendo DS.

Heres the news:


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Foobar2k posted this on his site:


More Info ...

via joystiq

The internet speculation machine has been gearing up of late over a recent press release announcing that Japanese middleware provider eSol has been selected to provide its "'PrUSB/Host' USB host stack" for use in the Wii. How to interpret this inscrutable piece of techspeak? Well, the release goes on to state that PrUSB/Host provides "optional Mass Storage class driver enables using USB flash memory, other mass storage device and digital camera as the external storage."

Many sites (including our buddies at Engadget and Wii Fanboy) have used this announcement to speculate that Nintendo might be planning to announce USB mass storage support for the Wii in the near future. GamingTarget went so far as to say that USB storage on the Wii "looks like it will finally become a reality." Nintendojo hedged its bets a little more, saying, "It's not quite an official announcement of expanded storage possibilities for Wii just yet, but Nintendo now has the potential for such a statement."

The only problem is, the Wii has always had this functionality, and Nintendo has always had the potential to make such a statement. Check out this copyright notice found on the inside of the Wii's System Setup Operations Manual (from November, 2006):

"This product contains PrFile(r)2 FAT file system, PRmail client library and PrUSB/Host USB host stack of eSol Co. Ltd."

That's right ... this days old press release is announcing a feature that was already in the Wii nearly six months ago. ESol isn't announcing a new business deal or a new feature for the Wii -- it's simply trumping up an existing relationship in light of the Wii's recent success.

We've contacted Nintendo for an official comment but, based on the evidence, we don't think there's reason to believe Nintendo has changed its current position that this is something they "could" explore in the future. ...