The last we saw of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was at the Electronic Entertainment Expo last year where Nintendo cobbled together a four level demo for the show. Since then, all has been quiet in the first touch-screen Zelda game. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, the company prepared a new demo for show floor attendees which spotlighted a new mode in the upcoming DS game: battle mode.

The demo at GDC did not have any single player component. When players booted up a system and touched the screen to begin a game, the system would automatically search out a system also looking for a second player. When two systems connected, the battle began.

In this two player competition mode, one player controls Link while the other controls three armored guards. Players who assume Link's control do so via the established touch-screen mechanics introduced in the E3 demo -- Link moves in the direction of where the screen's being touched in relation to him, so he'll move faster if the screen's touched further away from his centralized position. Players who take control of the guard have the map on the touch screen and guide them via drawn paths. The task: collect Triforces scattered around an enclosed dungeon and bring them back to your colored area while avoiding the guards that wander the playing field. If a guard captures Link, their turn's over and control swaps between the players.

There's a surprising amount of strategy involved in this mode. For example, the "Guard" player can always see Link on the map, but Link cannot see the guards on the map until he picks up a Triforce. The downside to carrying a Triforce is that it weighs Link down, and moreso as the Triforce pick-ups increase in size. Some Triforces are tiny and worth fewer points, but only slow down Link's movements a little bit. Huge Triforce pickups are worth more points but slow Link down to a crawl.

Almost as if the designers took a cue from Pac-Man, Link can hit escape tunnels at the top and bottom of the map, which are also surrounded by a "safe zone." While in these zones, Link cannot be touched by guards since the guards can't wander into them. Link also disappears from the guard player's map while in these zones...but if Link's carrying a Triforce, the Guard player can still see that Triforce move...giving away Link's location.

On top of all this, there will be power-ups scattered throughout the dungeon. Red power-ups can only be used by the red player, blue pick-ups by the blue player. Red players can run over blue power-ups to destroy them and take them out of play. Power ups include giving Link or the guards an extra boost in speed, or allowing Link to take a hit from the guard. Guards can activate power-ups that turn blowers on within the dungeon that will block Link's path with enormous gusts of wind.

At the end of three Link and three Guard turns for each of the competitors, the game calculates how many Triforce points each player earned within the battle and decides the winner...and in the demo it's a very uneventful "Win" or "Lose" screen.

It's a pretty cool tease of a mode that will eventually make it into the final product, but Nintendo's still not talking release dates for Phantom Hourglass. Nor do we know if the multiplayer will be accessible single cart or if it will be an online mode. Visually the engine nor the Wind Waker toon style hasn't changed since we saw the E3 demo.

We'll have more on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass as the game continues in its development cycle.

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At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today, VP of Development at iNiS Corporation Keiichi Yano announced at his session entitled "From 'Ouendan!' To 'HELP!'": Inside the Elite Beat Agents" that the upcoming Ouendan sequel will feature a new rival group of Ouendan cheerleaders that players will both encounter and play.

Keiichi Yano mentioned that Nintendo will reveal more details on the sequel, later this week, but he gave us a glimpse of the new game and characters on the overhead projector. He also revealed that the original cast of Ouendan characters will return with a slight, ever so subtle edgier art style.

The sequel will be called Moeru! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashi: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2, which, according to Keiichi Yano, loosely translates to "Burn hot rhythm soul!"

In his panel at GDC, Yano revealed the behind the scenes effort in not only bringing the Nintendo DS rhythm game Osu! Takakae! Ouendan! to life in Japan, but what lengths the team went to bringing the design to the US with different characters. He credited inspirations such as Ghostbusters, Men in Black, and The Blues Brothers for the creation of the Elite Beat Agents team, as well as Austin Powers and Charlie's Angels for their drive to motivate through music.

One tidbit of note was the revelation that the Elite Beat Agents were originally inspired by The Village People, and that the team was originally set to be called the Disco Rangers.

No details were revealed on a possible sequel to Elite Beat Agents, only hopeful words that the series may continue in some capacity...either as a continuation on the Nintendo DS or on a different game platform. Yano did seem very excited for the Wii platform in particular, and mentioned that Inis is in talks with Nintendo about developing on the system.

via ign ...

via ign

During a session at GDC this morning titled 'Burning Mad - Game Publishers Rant,' time was taken about half way through to allow developers a chance to spew their own rants. One speaker, Chris Hecker, currently working on Spore at Maxis, took the opportunity to call out Nintendo for not taken games seriously.

"The Wii is a piece of shit!" Hecker began his talk, which was called "Fear of a Wii Planet." He blasted a few bars of Public Enemy to set the tone. Hecker said the Wii is nothing more than two GameCubes stuck together with duct tape, and that the console isn't powerful enough to provide the next-gen experience he has been waiting for.

Although he stated the system is "severely underpowered," Hecker noted that he wasn't simply referring to the Wii's graphical capabilities. He wants to spend a console's CPU making games more intelligent, and he has found the Wii doesn't have the power to process things like complicated AI.

Hecker also took Nintendo to task for not taking games seriously enough. "It's not clear to me that Nintendo gives a shit about games as an art form," he said. To illustrate his point, he searched for references to games as art on all three console manufacturers web sites. While he found numerous such references on both the official PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sites, Wié.com had none at all. He then shared quotes from executives at Sony and Microsoft talking about games as a serious artistic medium, and then a quote from a Nintendo executive saying the company only wanted to make "fun" games.

Hecker ended his spirited rant with two demands for Nintendo: First, recognize and push games as serious art. And two, "make a console that doesn't suck ass."

Vent your anger at his comments ...

The PlayStation 2, PSP and PC get a new brand of Sudoku, Carol Vorderman Sudoku, shipping today across North America.

Yanks like us might not be familiar with Carol Vorderman, but she's a math guru and television star in the UK, according to publisher Eidos (our cohorts across the pond confirm). Carol Vorderman Sudoku offers "over a million" of the number puzzles, plus live-action FMV tutorials and tips featuring the aforementioned Welsh star.

Look for PS2, PSP and Windows versions of Carol Vorderman Sudoku in North America in the coming days.

via ign ...

via ign

Eidos announced today that it will be distributing the realistic billiards simulator, Gone Wild Pocket Pool in North America, exclusively on the PlayStation Portable.

Gone Wild Pocket Pool features 13 different types of billiard games, including mainstays like 8-ball and 9-ball, as well as more hardcore pool hall challenges like Black Jack, rotation, and Snooker. Furthmore, Eidos seems to understand its audience, as evidenced by the inclusion of some well-endowed hotties, known as the Dream Models. In-game success directly results in some unlockable babalicious video and picture galleries.

"Pocket Pool is a game that can stand alone as a realistic billiard simulator, however sprinkle in some sex appeal and now you have a true gaming treat," said Robert Lindsey of Eidos. Kevin McGill, Eidos's marketing manager expanded on this, stating that "the PlayStation Portable is a great handheld platform for mature audiences. Pocket Pool is a game designed to tap into the desires of a dominant male audience, providing players with a fun and sexy gameplay experience."

This can only be good news, as the main thing we felt was missing from previous pool games was ridiculously oversized breasts. ...

GrizzlyAdams has updated MythRemote :

MythRemote is a remote control application for the DS. It is for use with MythTV front-ends only.


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Shadow90 has released a new paint app for the Nintendo DS:


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The guys behind Gnirfleo the free Internet Browser have released Screenshots of their app in progress:


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Magicwp has released a new puzzle game for the GBA thats in both english and french.

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