Since the launch of the Nintendo Channel for the Wii earlier this year, Nintendo has been providing a DS Download Service with demos of released and upcoming DS games. Wii owners can boot up the DS Download Service through the Nintendo Channel and download various playable demos directly to their Nintendo DS, using the Download Play option. It works in the same way as the in-store download stations. The third-party games get updated every week and we've got info on this week's batch to let you know a little more about what you're getting.

The week of March 16

Monsters vs. Aliens Demo
The Dreamworks film's coming out relatively soon, and to piggy back on that release Activision's put Griptonite to work on a DS game. The demo features the Missing Link as he uses his Spider-Man like skills to get through the alien structure.

TrackMania DS Demo
What was once a PC phenomenon is now a Nintendo DS game. In the full product you'll get to test your arcade driving skills on a variety of different track settings (including your own creations). The demo that hit the Nintendo Channel is just a sampling of the gameplay within the final product.

Avalon Code Demo
XSeed continues to crank out the Japanese imports. This latest action RPG introduces a few strategic elements, and the demo now available on the Nintendo Channel gives you a sampling of the gameplay items you can expect in the extensive adventure.




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Nintendo also keeps a selection of first party titles up for download. They're not cycled out as often and most of them have been there since the Nintendo Channel launched.

Personal Trainer: Cooking Lasagna Demo
The Nintendo DS cookbook is now available in stores, and to give owners a little taste test (ha ha) Nintendo's thrown a freebie demo of the software up on the Nintendo Channel where you can follow along, step by step, to make some truly kick-ass lasagna.

Personal Trainer: Math Demo
If you're unsure if math can be fun on the Nintendo DS, give this demo a download: you'll take part in the game's Kageyama method in solving math problems using the touchscreen to hand write all the answers as quickly as possible.

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir
The demo offers one of the levels for the hide and seek portion of the game. Players are given five minutes to find eight items in the level. Upon completion, players can start again, and find eight different items. We played it three times without having to repeat items.

Brain Age
The older sibling of the Brain Age 2 demo. It's the same kind of deal. There's a Brain Age Test minigame that has players shout colors into the DS microphone. The training game is a simple math problem test that uses the touch screen to write. Sudoku is in this one too, which means you've got two free sudoku puzzles you can play if you get both demos.

Brain Age 2
The Brain Age 2 demo features three quick play modes. There's the Brain Age Test that will give the player an approximate brain age based on a verbal match of rock, paper, scissors. There's also a quick play training mode that shows off the rotating letters minigame, complete with touch screen letter recognition. Finally the Quick play sudoku lets players enjoy a quick sudoku puzzle in one of the better presentations for the system.

Flash Focus
Flash Focus is a game designed to improve focus and hand-eye coordination. It features a simplified Eye Age test where players remember the direction letters are facing as they flash by on the screen. The training game is more hands on. It's a baseball minigame where players have to tap the ball to hit it. The pitches get harder each time the player connects with the ball and the game ranks you at the end.

Crosswords DS
For the non-Sudoku inclined, Crosswords DS features the classic crossword puzzles that have been gracing newspapers long before number puzzles. The demo features the classic Crosswords mode, one of three gameplay modes in the final version. Players can select the difficulty of the puzzle, as well as the option to turn on an assist mode that lets the player know if the answer is right or wrong. The whole demo uses the touch screen so players can see how well the letter recognition system works.

http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/963/963053p1.html ...

Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market, today announced that Gardening Mama for Nintendo DS will ship on March 31st. Developed by Cooking Mama Limited, the team that created the award-winning Cooking Mama franchise that has sold 3.7 million units domestically, Gardening Mama stars the iconic culinary cutie in the first ever gardening game. Gamers anxious to get growing can download a playable demo currently in approximately 10,000 Nintendo kiosks at major retailers nationwide.

Gardening Mama transforms the stylus into a universal gardening tool that players will use to plant, nurture and harvest 37 different varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Gamers can manage their garden through the seeding, blooming and maturation phases, and then produce items from the plants they've grown. A robust multiplayer mode lets up to four friends compete to grow the biggest harvest and Treasure Box mode lets players share items they've grown with online friends. In addition, players can change Mama's outfit to their liking while customizing the screen design to their preference.

Gardening Mama will launch March 31st for a suggested retail price of $29.99. To watch the gameplay trailer and learn more, please visit the official site at www.gardeningmama.com. ...

MetaFight has released Shiny Red Tank v0.1.1a


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PinballWizard, WarpedFlash, and Arikado have released a demo of their upcoming library:



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AgentQ has released a new version of the port of scummVm for the Nintendo DS, heres the release information:


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In a guest lecture at Macquarie University on Monday night (AEST), Distinguished Professor Anderson, Director of Centre of the Study of Violence at Iowa State University spoke of the risks of violent videogames, presenting a series of findings that would surprise even the most seasoned gamers.

"Research was clear by 1975 that media violence caused aggressive behaviour," Prof. Anderson said.

"We know that short term exposure to violent media can lead to aggressive behaviour and aggressive thinking within five minutes of watching a violent film or playing a violent game, while long term exposure can lead to aggression into early adulthood."

To highlight this connection, Prof. Anderson examined the likelihood of violent videogames leading to aggressive behaviour by drawing on well-known examples of cause and effect. Such examples included the chances of regular consumption of aspirin leading to heart attacks, the chances of asbestos causing cancer, and the chances of condom use reducing the risk of contracting HIV. In all these examples, violent videogames proved to be a higher risk factor, going as far as being approximately three times more likely to happen than asbestos exposure leading to cancer.

On the scale of youth violence risk factors, violent videogames were more likely to increase aggression than substance abuse, poverty, and anti-social peers.

Anderson was careful to point out that this did not necessarily mean that everyone who played violent videogames would begin committing violent acts. Rather, violent games made players more prepared to think aggressive thoughts.

He cited another study where college students were asked to play a pro-social, neutral, and violent game, after which each was tested to see how willing they were to help their peers solve puzzles. The study showed that those who played non-violent, pro-social games were more inclined to be helpful by choosing easier puzzles for their peers to complete, whereas those who had just played violent games chose difficult puzzles to impede on their peers' ability to complete the challenge.

While Anderson believes that this increase in aggressive behaviour is a cause for concern, he doesn't think that violent games are solely to be blamed for anti-social behaviour.

"Extreme acts of violence always require multiple risk factors being present. You just don't ever have a school shooter, for example, who only has one risk factor. It just doesn't happen. There's usually four, five, six, seven risk factors, sometimes more. Media violence is one of those risk factors." he said.

"Does that mean playing violent videogames is going to create a school shooter? No, not if there aren't any other risk factors. But in kids who have a lot of other risk factors, can it contribute to the likelihood of some sort of extreme violent behaviour occurring? Probably, it can. More so than other risk factors? We don't know. There's no data on it."

Despite these findings, Anderson believes that games can be great teaching tools and, in many cases, can lead to positive behavioural changes. Titles such as Chibi Robot, Mario Sunshine, and Food Force were some examples of games he mentioned that lead to pro-social behaviour in children, encouraging them to be more helpful.

"There are some games out there that teach kids how to manage diabetes, ADHD and asthma, and kids who engage in those kinds of pro-social games experienced fewer health consequences," he said.

Anderson's lecture ended with what seemed to be the obvious: ways of reducing the impacts of aggression caused by violent games.

"We have empirical evidence that shows that adult involvement reduces the harmful impact of violent media," he said.

"We have data on that from several studies now. It's not conclusive, but it does suggest adult involvement is very important."

So it seems like it's not all doom and gloom. We can have our cake and eat it too. Sort of.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/963/963251p1.html ...

Codemii have released a new version of the Homebrew Browser:


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A new version of the input plugin for PS2 emulators LilyPad has been released.

http://forums.ngemu.com/ps2-plugin-q...lame-name.html ...

Happy St Patrick's Day from DCEmu!! ...