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Best of the Rest: Scott's Picks of 2007
by Scott Jon Siegel 
{ Jan 1st 2008 at 3:30PM }
Vanillaware's side-scrolling action RPG caught me completely off guard when it came out, but I fell instantly in love with the game's style. Practically everything about Odin Sphere is unique: the circular levels; the gigantic, beautifully-drawn sprites; the bizarre food-crafting mechanics. Toss in a healthy amount of Norse mythology, and you've got one damn fine, under-appreciated game. Here's hoping Vanillaware's upcoming Wii title is up to snuff.
A year of Promotional Consideration
by Eric Caoili { Dec 30th 2007 at 4:00PM }
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
The titling of this post is a bit of a misnomer, as we didn't start this column until early July, so it's more of a "half-year of" piece. No, you jerks, the humor in us beginning our Promotional Consideration retrospective on a disappointing note isn't lost on us.
Still, with 26 articles now behind us, one every week since this feature's inception, we've written enough of these to develop a few that are actually worth reading. We've picked out our five favorite Promotional Consideration posts of 2007, carefully hiding them after the post break, that magical realm where anything seems possible.
UK gets a price break on select DS games
by David Hinkle { Dec 24th 2007 at 5:00PM }
As far as good games you can get on the cheap, Drawn to Life (£12.99), Custom Robo (£14.99) and Jam Sessions (£17.99) are a few of the titles that are up for grabs. Not only that, but newer games like Call of Duty 4 (£17.99) are even getting in on the price cut action.
New Wiimote hack for the air guitarist in all of us
by Chris Greenhough { Nov 26th 2007 at 12:45PM }
The idea of using the humble Wiimote to create music seems to have really fired the imagination of the hacking community recently. DJing WiiJing and drumming are already both possible with the waffly versatile controller and a bit of know-how, and now those of you who lack the funds for Guitar Hero III can get your virtual shred on for free.
Hacker Evan, maker of the Wiimote drum sampler we linked to exactly one paragraph ago, has developed software that allows users to play air guitar, simply by "strumming" the Remote while holding down the d-pad to alternate between chords, or the B button to toggle between major and minor chords. As Evan points out, this has a similar feel to Jam Sessions on the Nintendo DS, which is far from a bad thing if you ask us.
[Thanks, Evan!]
Today's most vulgar videos: Jam Sessions' instant rockstar
by Scott Jon Siegel { Nov 19th 2007 at 12:01AM }
Off the charts, then, are New Zealand's excellent television spots for the title, which emphasize how having Jam Sessions in your DS repertoire can transform you into an instant rockstar. According to the ads, being an instant rockstar involves hitting on your buxom aunt, and cursing out your mum for baking you the wrong birthday cake. Honestly, the things those New Zealanders can get away with on television!
If we haven't made it abundantly clear, these videos are definitely not-safe-for-work material. Catch all the raunchy, raucous action after the break (and not a single shot of gameplay, either!).
Promotional Consideration: Party Like a Rock Star
by Eric Caoili { Nov 18th 2007 at 2:00PM }
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
This marks the third time we've featured Ubisoft's Jam Sessions in our Promotional Consideration column, but these latest ads for the New Zealand market are the best ones yet. We're not going to ruin their illicit content for you before you've had a chance to watch these not-safe-for-work commercials yourselves, so hurry past the break and see what all the kids are nattering about at recess.
Promotional Consideration: Santeria
by Eric Caoili { Oct 14th 2007 at 5:15PM }
It physically pained us to see Ubisoft's print campaign and European boxart for Jam Sessions, but the publisher came through with its commercial for the recently-released guitar sim. The 30-second spot is broken up into three scenes of alleged teenagers playing and enjoying the game, all of them singing along to Sublime's "Santeria," a track that isn't actually included on the Jam Sessions cart. It's a catchy tune, one we're sure you've heard many times on the radio, and we can see why it was picked for the piece. Continue past the jump for the commercial and this week's installment of Promotional Consideration.
Ubisoft looking for Jam Sessions musicians
by David Hinkle { Oct 9th 2007 at 12:20PM }
So, any of our fine readers plan on participating in this contest?
Ubisoft looking for Jam Sessions musicians
by Jason Dobson { Oct 8th 2007 at 4:56PM }
Ubisoft's quirky Jam Sessions is less a game and more an interactive toy in a vein similar to that of Nintendo's own Electroplankton, turning the Nintendo DS into a kind of minimalist guitar for virtual strumming. While its appeal may be decidedly niche, Ubisoft has now set about looking for people who are both skilled at creating music with the stylus as well as unafraid to Between now and October 23, touch screen virtuosos can upload their Jam Sessions videos, which must include both lyrics and vocals, to Ubisoft's special Jam Sessions contest page on YouTube where they will be judged by the internet masses. Winners will be announced on November 6, with two people representing the winning entry making the trip to New York City to perform live on MTV lookalike, Fuse TV. Ubisoft urges musicians to keep this last bit in mind, as they "don't want to be responsible for your band breaking up," though imagining a musical act throwing down over an argument over who gets to go on national television to play Jam Sessions live on camera is hilarious and certainly something we'd pay to see.
[Via press release]
The Jam Sessions bundle-within-a-bundle
by JC Fletcher { Oct 5th 2007 at 9:50AM }
The Jam Sessions Performance Bundle, with its included amplifier, was only kind of big. It was an "awesome" bundle, but not a "DUDE OMG AWESOME" bundle. If you want to give a loved one a "DUDE OMG AWESOME" gift this holiday season, GameStop may have the solution with their DS Lite Music Bundle.Comprising a Polar White DS Lite, the Jam Sessions Performance Bundle, and a set of JAMMIN Guitar Picks, the set makes up a complete musical instrument (and a set of JAMMIN Guitar Picks). And it only costs $207.97, a savings of ... hey, wait! Nothing! This bundle is just three currently-available regular-priced items sold together! Well, even so, this would make a great gift for the musically adventurous.
DS Fanswag: Win a copy of Jam Sessions
by Alisha Karabinus { Oct 2nd 2007 at 4:40PM }
Are you strapped for cash after facing the deluge of awesome DS releases? We understand, and DS Fanboy is here to help. We've got three copies of Ubisoft's Jam Sessions, valued at $29.99, for three lucky readers, and we need to make sure they go to good homes. If you have the urge to get your strum on without giving up any cash, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us what song you want to learn to play sometime between now and Sunday, October 7, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. You may enter as many times as you'd like, so long as you always answer the question. On Monday the 8th, we'll select three lucky winners in a random drawing and ship off your free games. Does it get any better than that? We think not.
There are, of course, a few caveats. Winners must be both U.S. citizens and over the age of 18 (sorry, guys!). You can check out the full official rules here.
So ... what song will you be attempting?
There are, of course, a few caveats. Winners must be both U.S. citizens and over the age of 18 (sorry, guys!). You can check out the full official rules here.
So ... what song will you be attempting?
DS Fanboy Review: Jam Sessions
by JC Fletcher { Sep 29th 2007 at 7:51PM }
Ubisoft's Jam Sessions isn't a guitar. It sounds kind of like one, and encourages you to play melodies with it that were written for guitar. There have even been guitar-pick-shaped styli designed to be used with the program. But don't think of it as a guitar. It's not even a "virtual guitar." It's certainly not a game either, and not in the way that Brain Age is a non-game, but rather in the way that the web browser is not a game.
Jam Sessions is a new, digital musical instrument that is every bit as innovative as Toshio Iwai's Tenori-On, with the added benefit of making sense to someone other than Toshio Iwai. It is endlessly configurable, ridiculously feature-rich, and easy to operate. It is potentially useful for traveling musicians, but is just as enjoyable for amateurs who just want to mess around and make some impromptu music.
Jam Sessions lets you play show tunes
by David Hinkle { Sep 18th 2007 at 3:50PM }
And, you don't even need to have a ridiculous haircut, either!
Creepy Jam Sessions audio clarified, un-creepified
by Eric Caoili { Sep 18th 2007 at 12:20PM }
Remember how we were so spooked out by last week's hidden message in Jam Sessions that we swore off haunted houses for the rest of our lives and ran home to eat pizza rolls, sans ghosts hovering over our heads? We haven't been that scared since, well, since we saw the game's European boxart! Oh, burn!
One of the programmers from Plato, Jam Sessions' developer, posted a video to explain the voice that seemed to be whispering, "Don't kill us," or "Forgive us," whenever users let the A6 chord play out. It's actually one of the recording engineers saying, "Tsugiikimasu," which is Japanese for "next," as in, "I'm going to play the next chord."
While that makes a lot of sense, it doesn't explain that tapping noise we hear on our bedroom window every night, nor does it clear up the moaning and creaky mattress sounds coming from the apartment above us. We think it might be the Chupacabra. Bring your ghost hunting gear past the post break for videos of the creepy message and Plato's explanation.
WRUP: Drawn to jam edition
by David Hinkle { Sep 14th 2007 at 12:20PM }
Will you get your jam on, or do you plan to release your inner artist? What will you be playing?
