Posts with tag Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
by James Ransom-Wiley Feb 20th 2007 9:25PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Adventure, Online, RPGs
Square Enix keeps the
Final Fantasy franchise spinning along, announcing
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales for North America, the ninth game dedicated to the "chocolate ball" birds. Part adventure, part RPG, part card battle, part minigame, and part 'microgame,'
Chocobo Tales packs a lotta
genre into a tiny DS cart -- and keeps it just as cuddly as last year's
Final Fantasy III makeover.
Awww...
Chocobo Tales is scheduled for release on April 3; retailing for $29.99.
by James Ransom-Wiley Feb 7th 2007 6:29PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Driving, Online, Metareviews
As so many did, my friends and I bought into the original
Diddy Kong Racing, which had been hyped as a superior blend of
Super Mario 64 meets
Mario Kart 64, from the same developer that had won our allegiance with
GoldenEye 007 just months before.
Diddy Kong Racing wasn't fun (despite mostly
bloated reviews). Still, we fell into a self-perpetuating trap of lying to ourselves; reassuring each other of the game's promised greatness. Weeks passed, and
Diddy Kong Racing eventually faded away -- but not for good.
Rare has remade its N64 "classic" for DS. Despite Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support,
Diddy Kong Racing is still lame, further marred by poor DS-specific design choices. Thankfully, critical reception seems to be more on point this time around:
- IGN (71/100) - "[Any] time you're encouraged to touch the lower screen, you can pretty much assume that it wasn't in the original game and created specifically for the Nintendo DS "remake". It's these new DS-centric elements that point to the fact that this is a first-generation DS game handled by a team that's not quite familiar with the platform ... someone really needs to tell Rare that microphone blowing is so 2005. It wasn't a whole lot of fun when developers did it in the Nintendo DS' early years, and it's still not fun now ... unfortunately the development team focused a bit too much on "DS-izing" the product with completely unnecessary and frustrating touch-screen and microphone challenges that disrupt the racing design."
- GameSpot (67/100) - "Diddy Kong Racing DS isn't a bad kart-racing game, but its best feature, the racing, is buried underneath so much unnecessary garbage that some people will find it nearly impossible to enjoy. Had Rare stripped the island setting, toned down the tedious collecting, and tweaked some other minor issues, the game would have been better with less. Instead, it chose to add more and more content, and the game suffers for it. Some of the new additions, such as online multiplayer and the various customization features, make the game more enjoyable, but many of them, particularly the touch-screen controls, make it worse."
- Games Radar (60/100) - "Diddy Kong Racing wants so damn hard to be the next Mario Kart that it hurts our eyes to play it for long periods of time. The racing itself is totally fine (if a little slow), but this simple pleasure is smothered in monotonous collecting and mindless wandering ... For those who remember the Nintendo 64 version from 1997, this is mostly the same game. Back then it wanted to be the next Mario Kart 64, but obviously wasn't. Now, the only thing that's been done to bump its stature is moderate touch screen silliness."
by James Ransom-Wiley Oct 24th 2006 1:25PM
Filed under: Arcade, Nintendo DS, Retro, Action, Online, Sports
Konami is doing a good thing. Sure, we could write off this "new" DS-bound collection,
Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits, as a cheap way to make an easy buck -- these nostalgia-driven releases scream impulse buy. But, this one's packing
Contra, and Konami's promising Nintendo WiFi Connection support. Say, word?
Twelve titles in all will be along for the ride, including
Circus Charlie,
Gradius,
Roc'N Rope,
Rush'N Attack,
Time Pilot,
Track and Field, and
Yie-Ar Kung Fu. Aside from a traditional port, each game will be playable in a dual screen-tailored "remix" mode. In addition to wireless multiplayer,
Arcade Hits will support online high scores and a replay feature allowing players to send highlight clips to friends.
Arcade Hits is scheduled for release in March 2007.
by James Ransom-Wiley Aug 14th 2006 4:55PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Portable, Action, Adventure, Online
The updated box art says it all.
Yoshi's Island 2 will feature (unspecified) Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support. Let's just hope it's not another
evolutionary step for rehash of those tired
Mario 64 DS mini-games. Suspicion has already been raised with Artoon, an unproven developer, at the helm of this project, but Nintendo wouldn't put the sequel to one of its most coveted titles in incompetent hands, right? Right?
by James Ransom-Wiley Jul 27th 2006 6:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Online
Before you confuse the DS title
42 All-Time Classics for a compilation of Nintendo's best of yesteryear, know that it's merely a collection of popular card, board, and parlor games. Also known as
Clubhouse Games (in North America), the latest entry in the 'Touch! Generations' series has finally been confirmed to feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection play, with the ability to "PictoChat" in-game. Its bland presentation won't appeal to all gamers, but for anyone who has remote interest in card games (or chess, backgammon, etc.) and also has wi-fi access,
42 All-Time Classics is a must-have.
42 All-Time Classics is scheduled for release in Europe on September 29 for an estimated £20.
Clubhouse Games will follow in North American on October 9.
[Thanks, cringer8; via
Nintendojo]
by James Ransom-Wiley Jul 7th 2006 11:55AM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Online, RPGs
ClubSkill.com reports that a leaked screenshot from
Jump, a Japanese publication, reveals that
Final Fantasy III will make use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, at least in part, by allowing friends to send 'letters' to each other. Exchanging these
emails is said to trigger special events in the game.
Fair enough, but we're still holding out for some true co-op functionality, or even just a simple battle mode. C'mon Square Enix, we play games to take a break from emailing!
by James Ransom-Wiley Jun 23rd 2006 1:25PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Online, RPGs
A few days ago, we were sent a scan of a page from
Nintendo Power. The image suggests that
Final Fantasy III (DS) will feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support. See the tiny blue icon?
Today, IGN
confirmed with Square Enix that
FFIII would indeed be wi-fi enabled. Unfortunately the company representative added, "I can't reveal the details at this time."
Final Fantasy III is scheduled for release on September 12.
[Thanks,
Sean]
by James Ransom-Wiley May 26th 2006 5:55PM
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Action, Simulations
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Nintendo looks like it's finally ready to shed the obligatory '
DS' titling format used for its first-party franchise line* by renaming
Star Fox DS to
Star Fox Command. While the official website reflects the new naming, the game's logo has not yet been updated.
Star Fox Command is scheduled for release on August 28.
*Includes:
Mario Kart DS,
Super Mario 64 DS, and
Tetris DS.
Posts with tag Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection
A few days ago, we were sent a scan of a page from Nintendo Power. The image suggests that Final Fantasy III (DS) will feature Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support. See the tiny blue icon?
