via dsfanboy

2006 was a banner year for gamers, particularly DS gamers. We've got it all: a rainbow of system colors, an incredible library of games, and powerful studios clamoring for a piece of the action. Our favorite handheld consistently rocked out, thundering over the competition -- all the competition -- for the entire year. The DS avalanche of awesome can't possibly continue at this rate ... and yet, when we look at the forthcoming year and the incredible parade of titles set for the year, it seems that the DS will, in fact, continue to dominate global gaming.

And we're totally okay with that. Just so you know.

If you're still scrambling to finish some of the titles from the latter half of 2006, play harder -- no matter who you are or what you like, you're sure to find at least ten games this year that are must-haves, and that's just among the games we know about right now. What's worse (or is that way, way better?) is that most of them are slated for the next few months. So run through Portrait of Ruin and put aside the hard rockin' Elite Beat Agents (your fingers will thank you for the break), and check after the jump for a few of the games that will drain your free time in 2007.


Phoenix Wright: Justice for All

If you didn't already import the Japanese version of everyone's favorite attorney, then this month provides what will certainly be one of the most talked about games of the year. The import reviews have already promised a stellar send-up and we can't wait to get the cross-examination going.

Look for more zany characters in the second installment of the growing franchise, and though the caseload may be lighter, we hear each one is far more in depth. This is a great way to kick off a new year of gaming.


Hotel Dusk: Room 215

And speaking of adventure games, Hotel Dusk may not be getting as much attention as some other titles, but that doesn't mean it isn't worthy. Hotel Dusk, the spiritual successor to Trace Memory, is the story of Kyle Hyde, a cop-turned-salesman, whose search for a friend takes him to the mysterious hotel that serves as the center of the story. Details on the retro action -- the story takes place in the twilight of 1979 -- are as sketchy as the art style, but from the haunting trailers to the snippets we've seen, this one looks every inch a winner.


Wario: Master of Disguise

Action platformers have been a little touch and go on the DS, with even some of the most popular series, like Kirby, receiving mixed reviews for their handheld offerings. Wario, however, seems about to slink into the spotlight with a solid game that will prove why anything with Mario's darker shadow is worth playing until you can't play any more. If nothing else, the bizarre mix of puzzles, minigames, and action -- which incorporate both the controls and the touch screen -- will provide enough variety to please almost any gamer, and Wario himself will be his good ol' devilish anti-hero self. Wario: Master of Disguise is likely to end up one of the most fun and most well crafted games we'll see this year.



Pokemon Diamond & Pearl

There's really only two words we have to offer up here: five million. Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl have already sold more than five million copies, and that in less than three months. Pokemon is going to own April like April's never been owned before, and the WiFi battles may bring in a legion of all new Pokemasters. For those who've just gotta catch 'em all, the two titles offer up more than one hundred new monsters, and there were several other small changes when the franchise moved to the DS. Anyone care to start laying bets on how many copies of Diamond and Pearl will sell worldwide by the end of 2007? We're not sure we can count that high.


Line Rider

Which one of these is not like the others? Surely the answer is Line Rider, which is not exactly making an appearance here because it's a game we'll all own by this time next year. However, it is representative of a recent surge to bring popular web-based flash games to the portable DS. Done right, this new deluge could be big on the DS, as it's definitely a matter of two addictive tastes that could go great together. The innovative Line Rider could be really excellent on the DS, as its gameplay is well-suited to the stylus treatment. But only if the price is right, and we hope the right people are listening when we say that. Done well, this trend of ports could be very exciting on the DS, but we'll have to wait and see. And don't worry, dear reader -- we'll let you know what we see as soon as we see it.


Sim City DS

Speaking of movements ... we're all about porting PC strategy games to the DS. If there's anything the stylus is built for, it's managing cities as they march across a barren landscape, spreading a little light industrial love as they go. And Sim City DS certainly looks like it's going to be done well, though we can't exactly say that EA always bats a thousand. We do have high hopes, mainly because we could probably lose ourselves ...

via dsfanboy

It seems like just yesterday that we were first talking about Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, a roflcoptery title if ever there was one, and now it's mere weeks away from a February release. It's crazy how time flies, especially when we're busy being fanatical for our favorite handheld.

Just to get you into the campy ninja spirit, there's a video of poor Izuna after the jump. Please, for the love, give this girl a job. Everyone deserves to feel like they have a purpose in life, and we have a soft spot for funny-colored hair. Not to mention we do love a game that doesn't employ the stylus unnecessarily, and apparently, Izuna is stylus-free. We're in! Now go watch the video. --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sboEYWmt7Rg ...

via cag

As someone who owns way too many DS games, it’s easy to see a few great games that the vast majority of people pass on for one reason or another. While several games, such as Elite Beat Agents, Brain Age and Cooking Mama, have benefited from being on the receiving end of positive reactions across the Internet, just as many games are passed on to fade from gamers’ collective consciousness.

This article is designed to illuminate five of the best, yet forgotten DS titles of 2006 that were lost in the shuffle of the biggest year for the biggest handheld in the world.

The Five Most Under Appreciated DS Games of 2006 (and the Cheap Ass Way to Get Them)

As a quick note, these were the five most under-loved games on Cheap Ass Gamer, not across the entire internet. That's why Contact and Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime will not appear on the main list as they've been pretty highly buzzed all year on CAG despite selling far below what we thought they should. Without further delay, here’s my list of the five most under appreciated Nintendo DS games of 2006 in no particular order:

1. Scurge: Hive
- Half Metroid, half Secret of Mana, all fun. While Scurge: Hive suffers from being almost identical to the GBA version of the game, the gameplay and story are both solid. Scurge: Hive pits you in the role of the intergalactic female bounty hunter Jenosa Arma. You suit up to fight a mutant virus ravaging a space colony, and yes, you're infected with it too. So plot-wise, this is a near total rip off of Metroid (particularly Fusion).

Why is this worth playing then? While the frosting on this cake is the same as Metroid, the cake of this game is as different as angel food and pineapple upside down cake. Because Jenosa is infected, she must constantly find purification stations to suppress the disease. If your infection reaches 100%, your health rapidly begins to decrease. The game is a constant battle between exploring the spaceship while searching for purification stations.

While the gimmick of the game is neat, Scurge: Hive would suck if the gameplay isn't as fun as it is. Playing sort of like the exploration part of Sigma Star Saga, Scurge: Hive has you exploring the world in an action RPG with your blaster and various gadgets. Furthermore, the game adds in a ton of strategy as you're given the option to change the type of energy your gun fires out. Unlike Metroid though, if you shoot an enemy with the wrong type of energy, it powers them up. This adds a huge amount of strategy to the game especially when you consider you're constantly having to find purification stations for your infections.

Scurge: Hive clocks in at around 12 hours, but multiple difficulty levels, hidden costumes and an unlockable boss rush mode lengthens the game quite a bit. Scurge: Hive can be found used currently at EB/GS for $19.99. It's an early candidate for Spring clearances as it hasn't sold that many copies.

2. Break Em' All
- Attention collectors. Break 'Em All is destined to be the next Monopoly, Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle (currently the rarest DS game in case you're wondering). At only $20, it's a steal at the moment. Like most "rare" games, you'll probably want to pick up a copy to sell and a copy to play though because this is such a quality title.

Break 'Em All is arguably the best Breakout/Arkanoid port we've ever seen outside of the arcade. The DS control scheme allows for pinpoint controls that were never really pulled off all that well on a d-pad. Furthermore, Break 'Em All allows you to drag your stylus on any part of the screen if for some reason you don't enjoy playing on the bottom of the screen.

Break 'Em All offers a ton of replay value too. Tokoton Mode offers 50 well designed standard levels or over 3,000,000 (yes, three million) randomly generated levels of block and ball play. There's also a quest mode that adds in boss battles to the mix. Furthermore, Break 'Em All uses a neat Gradius like power up system to differentiate it from every other ball and paddle game.

Break 'Em All is a ton of fun for you and your friends. With 2-8 player single-card play, and a summer release date, I find it utterly shocking that this game never found an audience. Regardless, it's $20 right now, less if you can find it used or with a Gamer's Gift Card in Best Buy. Even if it doesn't become a huge collector's item, Break 'Em All is a ton of classic gameplay at a value price.

3. Magnetica - Of course, one of the games I choose has to be out of stock at all major retailers. Magnetica, better known in the United States as Zuma (which Popcap Games ripped off friends, not the other way around), is a puzzle game where you fling different colored marbles with your stylus at a constantly tightening string. Get three in a row and the marbles pop, combos get chained, and your score goes up. Simple, right? Well not exactly. Magnetica tosses in a variety of obstacles to try and slow you down. Between wind, black holes, magnetic walls, smoke screens, and a variety of other impediments, Magnetica is one of the most challenging puzzle games on the DS.

Magnetica (Actionloop in Europe) is easily one of the best experiences to ...

News/release from thos_thom




Download the excellent looking game and give feedback ...

Via Revogamer comes the list of Ubisofts releases for the Wii this March

March 1
Cosmic Family
March 22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
March 29
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
Driver Parallel Lines
Brothers in Arms D-Day
Blazing Angels
Spelling Spree

Brothers in Arms interests me ...

Via Revogamer comes the list of Ubisofts releases for the Wii this March

March 1
Cosmic Family
March 22
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
March 29
Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
Driver Parallel Lines
Brothers in Arms D-Day
Blazing Angels
Spelling Spree

Brothers in Arms interests me ...

via wiifanboy

Here's an interesting little factoid: the Wii is driving the Asian import/export market to record highs, and those are just the legal imports. No, we don't mean the act of one guy selling another guy a console, but rather the market surrounded the creation and transportation of our favorite new console. Nintendo had a big part in the record-setting month of November, when toy imports from China (where they build Wiis, as well as everything else ever) to Japan came in at a little over 200 million big ones (¥25.3billion). Apparently, the Wii was responsible for a good 40% of that amount -- nearly half! That's a huge effect, and according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun, "No other video game console has had such a big effect on imports."

Well, take that, analysts. You may continue to sing the imminent victory of the PS3, but the Wii drives global commerce. We hear it also serves as a volunteer firefighter on off days. Now if only you could find one .... ...

via wiifanboy

Here's an interesting little factoid: the Wii is driving the Asian import/export market to record highs, and those are just the legal imports. No, we don't mean the act of one guy selling another guy a console, but rather the market surrounded the creation and transportation of our favorite new console. Nintendo had a big part in the record-setting month of November, when toy imports from China (where they build Wiis, as well as everything else ever) to Japan came in at a little over 200 million big ones (¥25.3billion). Apparently, the Wii was responsible for a good 40% of that amount -- nearly half! That's a huge effect, and according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun, "No other video game console has had such a big effect on imports."

Well, take that, analysts. You may continue to sing the imminent victory of the PS3, but the Wii drives global commerce. We hear it also serves as a volunteer firefighter on off days. Now if only you could find one .... ...

A new release of WiiCR has happenned today, heres the info and whats new:

WiiCR is a media player solution for the Nintendo Wii. It acts as a streaming media server and is capable of transcoding nearly any video file to a suitable flv for an embedded flash player. It allows browsing of the remote filesystem to view: videos (avi/xvid/divx/mpeg/wmv/etc), text files, jpg's and play mp3s.


Download Here --> http://downloads.sourceforge.net/wmc/ ...