New commercial DS game


Dare Demo Asobi Taizen is a compilation of board games. The software supports Wi-Fi connection for multiplayer contests.

http://www.yesasia.com/?/info.php?pro...4&lsaid=219793 ...

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Rob_PSP has just released PSP-PDA v1.2 for the PSP.

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Added: Stopwatch and Timer
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Added: View Week and Month Events in Calendar
Added: Theme support including theme by Pochi
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Modified: Keyboard input now wraps around
Modified: File->Save now also manually saves Address book and Calendar
Fixed: Notepad carriage return bug
Fixed: Calendar event bug

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Dragaron & cancan have made some great icons and more for PSP-PDA here --> http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=13171 ...

It's been a while since Nintendo last mentioned New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, but the latest issue of Famitsu gives some fresh details on the latest adventure for the plumbing pair.

For the first time in a side-scrolling Mario game, New Super Mario Bros. will let two gamers play simultaneously. The game's producer, Tezuka Takushi, explained in the article that simultaneous play wasn't really possible in past side-scrolling Mario games because both players had to be restricted to the same screen, a problem the DS gets around nicely with its two screens and wireless capabilities. While players can work together to achieve their goals in this mode, Tezuka said that the two-player action will be primarily competitive.

The game limits the versus mode to two players, but Tezuka said that there will also be minigames that can be played by up to four players. In addition to original minigames, Tezuka also hopes to port the minigames from Super Mario 64 on the DS, albeit with some tunings to make them enjoyable for multiplayer competition.

While New Super Mario Bros. uses 3D graphics, it's fundamentally a side-scrolling game. And as such, the developer is throwing in plenty of nostalgia-driven references to the original game. In addition to hidden blocks that hide 1UP mushrooms and stage-ending flagpoles, gamers can expect to run into 3D versions of familiar foes, like goombas, piranha plants, and cheep cheeps.

In terms of music, New Super Mario Bros. will feature a mix of new tunes and arranged tracks from the original game. And, of course, the game will include the classic Super Mario theme.

As previous images released by Nintendo have shown, New Super Mario Bros. introduces various new elements to the series, such as a pump-up mushroom that can be inflated and picked up to make Mario as big as the screen. If beefing up isn't your thing, Famitsu reveals that Mario can shrink himself to fit into tight spaces. Other bits of the classic Mario gameplay are being tweaked as well. For instance, after defeating a koopa troopa, Mario can take the remaining shell and use it to slide himself into enemies instead of merely kicking the shell away. ...

Nintendo's announced that it will have over 7,500 Wi-Fi Connection hotspots active in the UK from 25th November when Mario Kart DS launches, and will be rolling out the service across the rest of Europe at the same time.

In the UK, the announcement owes a lot to deals with BT Openzone and The Cloud. Piggybacking their infrastructure, Wi-Fi Connection will allow gamers to play Wi-Fi-enabled multiplayer games like Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (Nov 18) and Mario Kart DS (Nov 25) from all manner of locations.

Those named include McDonald's restaurants, Coffee Republic, Hilton and Ramada Jarvis hotels, Road Chef and Welcome Break service stations, First Great Western railway stations, over 25 student unions and city centre BT Payphones and airports, football stadiums and the British Library and Canary Wharf.

An American version of the press release suggests that pay-service Wi-Fi hotspots, such as those at airports, will require use of a laptop and USB dongle to act as a bridge, but that the actual gameplay will be free - you just won't be able to access any of the other paid services. Presumably this is down to the specific log-on processes of pay-services.

UK gamers can establish the location of their nearest Wi-Fi gaming spot by plugging a postcode into www.thecloud.net or www.btopenzone.com. According to The Cloud, there's one in this writer's local pub. Good bit of PR there!

Nintendo says it will also be installing hotspots in major game retailers and other outlets throughout the land.

Those who would rather play at home can do so through a broadband connection, either connecting directly to their wireless routers or access points using the DS, or, in the absence of a home wireless network, using Nintendo's £30 Wi-Fi USB Connector device plugged into the back of a PC.

However it's done, Nintendo's keen to stress that there are no fees or subscription costs for playing, and no risk of harassment as players will not directly communicate with each other while playing.

In terms of in-game options, games will allow players to play with friends - specified using unique identifier codes entered into the DS's memory - or people of a similar skill level worldwide, and Nintendo's confirmed that games will work across borders, so the US version of Animal Crossing: Wild World, for example, which is due out on December 5th, will work fine if you bring it back home from abroad.

Wi-Fi Connection launches on November 25th then - and Nintendo adds that Revolution, whenever that launches, will use the same technology. ...

Nintendo's done as it often does and issued a list of release dates for all its major first quarter 2006 releases in one fell swoop.

The list, which notably lacks The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube, pins dates to the likes of Phoenix Wright, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Animal Crossing, all for DS, and gives us an idea of when to expect the likes of Trauma Centre and Harvest Moon (DS and Cube).

It also features an entry for Brain Training (working title), which has done sterling business for Nintendo on the DS in Japan - prior to unveiling the Revolution controller during his Tokyo Game Show address, Satoru Iwata used the game as an example of how small development outlays can still reap massive rewards for the company under its current philosophy.

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Here's a list of all the major exclusives and first or second party titles:

Nintendo DS:
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - 27th January
Rainbow Island Revolution - February
Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble - February
Brain Training - March
Trauma Centre: Under The Knife - March
Harvest Moon - March
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 10th March
Tamagotchi - 17th March
Worms - 17th March
Animal Crossing: Wild World - 31st March
GBA:
Top Spin - January
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection - Jan/Feb
Wario Ware Twisted! - 24th February
Final Fantasy 4 Advance - early 2006
Tales of Phantasia - 31st March
Cube:
Mario Party 7 - 27th January
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble - February
Harvest Moon Magical Melody - March
Odama - 31st March ...

Nintendo's done as it often does and issued a list of release dates for all its major first quarter 2006 releases in one fell swoop.

The list, which notably lacks The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for GameCube, pins dates to the likes of Phoenix Wright, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Animal Crossing, all for DS, and gives us an idea of when to expect the likes of Trauma Centre and Harvest Moon (DS and Cube).

It also features an entry for Brain Training (working title), which has done sterling business for Nintendo on the DS in Japan - prior to unveiling the Revolution controller during his Tokyo Game Show address, Satoru Iwata used the game as an example of how small development outlays can still reap massive rewards for the company under its current philosophy.

Here's a list of all the major exclusives and first or second party titles:

Nintendo DS:
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time - 27th January
Rainbow Island Revolution - February
Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble - February
Brain Training - March
Trauma Centre: Under The Knife - March
Harvest Moon - March
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 10th March
Tamagotchi - 17th March
Worms - 17th March
Animal Crossing: Wild World - 31st March
GBA:
Top Spin - January
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection - Jan/Feb
Wario Ware Twisted! - 24th February
Final Fantasy 4 Advance - early 2006
Tales of Phantasia - 31st March
Cube:
Mario Party 7 - 27th January
Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble - February
Harvest Moon Magical Melody - March
Odama - 31st March ...

Source - C&VG

It's been a busy old week in Nintendo land, and none more busy than yesterday when a bunch of lucky journalists were literally catapulted like giant peas from a secret location in the depths of Heathrow all the way to sunny Frankfurt for Nintendo Europe's Gamers Summit. In return for the light bruising and high-velocity hairstyles, we were rewarded with a good long look at the company's forthcoming 2006 lineup alongside some transatlantic Mario Kart DS antics and the full lowdown on its Wi-fi Connection Service which made the whole thing possible.
Given that we came away with enough material to fill, ooh, a King Kong notepad, we've only got time to go through some of it today - largely because we're all set to go and enjoy the free-flowing alcohol at the Golden Joysticks later on.

Of most note, aside from the frankly sublime Animal Crossing: Wild World and Mario Kart DS, was our first look at Nintendo's Wi-fi Connection Service in action. We've been hearing for a while now that it's designed to be as transparent and simple for players to use as possible and - whoop! - it looks like Nintendo wasn't fibbing there.
We're not even going to pretend we understand the technical gubbins going on in the background but that's because we don't have to - the whole point is that it works seemlessly with the games shoved into your DS, just as long as you've got your own wi-fi connection at home or happen to be near one of Nintendo's 7,500 announced free public hotspots around the country.

Using Mario Kart as an example (given that we thrashed a bunch of US journalists in Seattle and even made Mario Kart DS producer Hideki Konno run away - although that might just have been because he wanted to go eat his tea), it's simply a matter of selecting the appropriate WCS option on the game's main menu and you'll be rocketed around Nintendo's server while the game tries to find three other competitors based on your chosen criteria.

At the moment, the service allows for searches based on players online in your Friend's list, Rivals (which is anyone the game judges to be of similar skill level to yourself), Continental (so that's anyone in your territory) or Worldwide. As far as Mario Kart goes, all that's left to do after that is to select your racer then each player gets to pick their preferred track and the game randomly selects from the nominations. From there on, it's racing ahoy - it's a remarkably solid and stable online racing experience at that. Kudos Nintendo!

The set-up is pretty similar for Activision's Tony Hawk title, although we didn't get much in the way of play time on that one, suggesting that these are likely to be consistent options for most online games - assuming developers decide to make them available in their games.

As is pretty common knowledge by now, certain games like Animal Crossing: Wild World only permit you to go online with people in your Friend's list if you want to cross-pollinate in each other's villages. The logic behind this is simple: rogue traveller's can't enter your village unannounced and cause havoc on your messageboard and hack down every tree in sight - it's worth noting as well that Nintendo's worried enough about the safety of its younger gamers to have implemented a swear filter to stop any language naughtiness. B@!!&ck$.

Interestingly, Animal Crossing also uses a feature which brings a whole bunch of possibilities to Nintendo's service in the future. At the moment, there's an option which enables you to connect to Nintendo directly and download freebies and extras for your game - the example we were given is that you can currently download a mutant cat character for Animal Crossing who'll reside in your village until you switch your DS off.

After some determined probing, we discovered that it's technically possible to store these downloads onto your game cart's memory for some more persistent goodies. While it's unclear whether the early roster of games will use this feature, it opens the gateway for reams of downloadable extra content on your DS such as, we hypothesise, future release promos and tie-ins along the lines of a pet puppy for Nintendogs events and so on.

Probably the most striking indication of how seriously Nintendo is taking it's Wi-fi Connection Service is its dedicated website which we got an early peak at too. Very much in the style of Xbox Live, you can log on and check out your current stats and rankings, alongside who's online and who's playing what. All this info is initially only available for viewing by yourself, to preserve anonymity, but it seems it will be possible to link this information to your Nintendo.co.uk account so anyone can check out how skilled or otherwise you really are.

Furthermore, the site also contains forums for game chat and, presumably, the opportunity to share gamer tags to add to your Friend's list as well as detailed information on getting your DS properly connected and even a handy postcode-based ...

New gameplay videos and trailers for Mario Kart DS have been released, as well as a hands-on preview from Nintendo of America’s Redmond headquarters.

A bright direct-feed trailer for the game is available, but it’s basically a 26-second ad. The two darker off-screen gameplay videos are where the action’s at—clocking in at 31 minutes total—even if they’re as dark and fuzzy as the picture you see here. At least the game’s supposed to be running at 60 frames per second! (Clearer ones from before can be found over here.)

Some very thoughtful multiplayer features have been added, though, including mixed multi-cart and download-play matches, classic tracks from older games, as well as an automatic win/loss-based matchmaking service (even if Internet matches are limited to four players at a time). Single-player Battle Mode against racing bots is also available. MK DS will be released November 14th, and the DS bundle is scheduled for the 28th.

http://media.ds.ign.com/media/682/682877/vids_1.html ...