Catan On DS

The German based boardgame, Settlers of Catan, always been a favourite for me since the first time I played it. Ever since I played it, I'll find an excuse to get away from work just to be with my buds having coffee and enjoying few games of Catan.

Good news for DS owners though, rumoured said there will be Catan for our dual screen portable. Sources said it will be a port from the mobile version of Catan for, obviously, mobile phones that was launched earlier this year called Catan: The First Island. Check out the video of it.



Yes, I found that crappy IF it will be a direct port from the mobile game itself. Please don't be. The DS can handle better. Still, it's a good thing that boardgames will be finding it's way to the DS. Let's hope for Betrayal at House on the Hill, Arkham Horror and few other boardgame favourites end up to the DS.


Source wired.

Nintendo DSi. Region Locked.

The news of the new Nintendo handheld called the DSi shook the world. Nintendo tried so hard to keep this a secret till they revealed it early this month.

A follow up news came up and really tore the heart of Nintendo fans out there.

"DSi software (software that is only compatible with DSi) is region locked, eg: European DSi software can only be played on European DSi consoles."

So it's confirmed. DSi exclusive games and DSi downloadable software will be region locked. Now I have to scratch my head for Japan release only DSi games. What if Japan comes out Ouendan DSi and never be released in other regions? OH THE DRAMA!

Looks like I have to rethink when getting the DSi.

Source computerandvideogames.com.

Behold! Nintendo DSi!

Typical of Nintendo for not revealing the next generation of their portable gaming device. For some of us fans, we expected there will be an upgrade, just when is the question.



Oct 2nd 2008, Satoru Iwata announced the new Nintendo DSi during Nintendo's Media Summit. The new handheld console now jam packed with newly added stuff like 2 cameras, music playback capabilities, SD Card slot, DS download service and bigger screens.



The overall size of the console reduced 12%, which somewhat should be fair since they decide to ditch the GBA slot. There will be an external camera and another camera on the hinge, that makes 2 camera on the console alone. Music playback capability are one of the most wanted by DS owners, which finally Nintendo listens to their fans and upgrades their sound chip (rumoured).

The screen size of the DSi are 3.25 inches, just .25 inch smaller than the Ipod Touch. It has an onboard memory and an SD slot if any case you need the extra memory. It also ships in with an internal Nintendo DS browser.



The cherry topping will be, MATTE COLOUR! Matte White and Matte Black currently. No more fingerprints on your DS!



Rumoured selling price will be USD$179 or around RM600.

Source Nintendo.

When DS puts the DS in DSLR.

This is a cool hack for photography enthusiast and a DS lover, somewhat like me. This is one of the best mod I've seen so far. Since the DS was so portable, not to mention you can just pop out any game in between, why not make the DS more than playing games? Like setting up your Canon EOS 5D?



Steve thinks of nearly everything on when developing the mod for the DS, from taking bulb-mode to HDR interface. Amazing what some people can do.

Read more in his blog.


Source engadget.

Ragnarok Online DS for Japan, Winter 2008.

Thanks to one of my friend who told me about this.




During my MMORPG days, Ragnarok Online was one of the online games I played with my pals. Good to know that GungHo brings this thing to the Nintendo DS! I missed this game so much.

As we all know, RODS was never meant to be ONLINE but it supports multiplayer up to 3 people to conquer dungeons.

Here's a summary from what my friend told me.

- Gameplay closely related to the online game on PC.
- Main focus on the offline story.
- Protagonist will be Ares, mild-mannered kid who wants to start his own guild and be an adventurer like his father.
- Takes place in the realm of Rune Midgard.

What you do is:-
- Recruit party members.
- Build up characters to gain new jobs and skills.
- Build up characters to gain new jobs, skills.
- Two brand-new jobs (Dark Knight can do special moves that drain HP, Shaman has various magic skills).

Gameplay will be:-
- Mostly stylus based control.
- Tap to pick up items, attack enemies.
- Draw circles and more for spells.
- Online play: three people team up to take on the Tower of Mirages, a 50 floor random dungeon.

Release:-
- December 18th 2008 in Japan.
- No US plans yet.

More GrooveStep Goodness

I'm keeping eye on this awesome music homebrew and it seems that the team doing this are aiming for it to be retail. Which I find to be fair enough. But being a homebrewed and going retail sounds tough.

Anyways, just enjoy the vid and the potential of Groovestep.

Determine if your R4DS is genuine or not.

Important point:

1. After 15 September, Team R4 will do something for the fake card, original program(firmware) with Fake R4 may damage your DS machine (brick), original R4 will have no problem with this program.

2. Make sure you have buy a original R4 (see photo below), if you brick your DS with fake R4, please go ask the selling shop and Team R4 will not admitted this liability.

If this is the genuine R4 package then looks like you guys are somewhat safe.



According to my research the fake R4 using internal memory instead of using a Micro SD card on the genuine but we will know this when someone will end up bricking their DS.

To know more about the fake R4DS, read it in MyDS News.

R4DS fighting R4DS fakes.

R4DS now battling counterfeits of their own product by bricking your DS when using fake R4 with their new firmware. It will be released on September 15 in order to eliminate competition of the same product under R4's badge, which we know there are some fakes lurking around.

Rumoured said it will damage the DS permanently and trying to restore your bricked DS will be futile. For that Team R4 won't be held responsible and all you can do is seek the people who sold you the R4 cart.

Harsh move by R4, why don't they just make a warning sign or limited gameplay in order to show people that they bought fakes instead of killing of DS? This will make other homebrewers run for other carts. Do you think this is a good move Team R4?


Source from GBATemp.

I need the KORG DS-10 now!

It's finally out, quite unfortunate for the Japan market. I'd really want to try out this thing since the first time I laid eyes on it. Not to mention it being previewed live on one of the club in Japan.

Now that it's officially out, I hope I can grab this thing as soon as possible.

Hey, what about you guys grab it first and tell me how good it is? You can grab the KORG DS-10 via Play-Asia.



Play-Asia.com - Your One-Stop-Shop for Asian Entertainment


Forget about it being an Amazon Japan exclusive.

More Hinge Problem

Defects on the Nintendo DS Lite finally struck one of my friends, this is not the first time I posted about the DS Lite's defects and seems like there's a distinct pattern on which DS Lite that has that problem.



The DS Lite looks very innocent indeed when its not opened, do take notice on the colour too.



Unfortunately it could be deceiving unless you opened it.

Looks like a change of casing will be a great option. With all the funky colours out, why don't we just change?

KORG DS-10 Making an Appearence in LINEAR, Shibuya, Japan.

Who said the DS is pure crap? Here's a video of a club in Shibuya called LINEAR where the Nintendo DS amazed the crowd with the KORG DS-10.

The start is a bit bad though but I'm sure with a bit of practice, this thing will hit the club scene like crazy! (A bit exaggerated!!) Imagine being a DJ without the heavy equipment and just the DS. Check out the vids!

New Colour for DS in Europe.

If I were to own one of those, I'm so into the red one. Our friends in Europe will be happy to get them. It's a sight not to be missed! How cool is that! Soon we'll see Europeans holding some funky colour DS around. Will it hit the Asian market as well?




Source Engadget.
Pic Jeuxvideo.

HUDSON cracks up. DS Lite style.

Numero Uno problem of the DS are the hinges. I heard lots of stories about it but yet to encounter my DS buddies having such a problem. Then it struck Takahashi Meijin. He blogs:-

Well, well, the other day my DS Lite got a hinge crack.

Didn't the white DS Lite go on sale in Fall 2006? I've used this for the past two years, and then like that, a mysterious crack.

Since he's from Hudson, I think Nintendo don't mind replacing with a limited edition DS. Read Master Higgin's/Takahashi Meijin's Blog if you can read Japanese.


Source Kotaku.

Windy x Windham - Original 2D Fighting Game for the DS

Well, that's what's stated when I translated Famitsu.com from Japanese to English. I can't understand anything from what's been translated. Being a typical 2D fighting game, the storyline runs the usual storyline of "fighting tournament-participants join for personal reasons" thing.



For those who has been playing DS games should know Izuna from Izuna, Legend of the Unemployed Ninja. She's featured as well.



I have doubts on these but I'll give it a try when it's out.



Source Famitsu

Rhapsody: Another PS Game Ported to the DS.

I remember this game very well on the PS. Since I have loads of games to focus on, I totally forgot to continue the game from my last save. It did not matter anyways since I just played around 1 hour of it.



Now I have the chance to get back into the game. Expect this in English on September or October since our brothers and sisters in Japan can grab hold of it on August.


Source siliconera

Sneak Peek of Guitar Hero: On Tour Buttons.

Yes, some German gaming site get hands on the Guitar Hero: On Tour buttons. Envious? Me? Yes. But pictures of it will be sufficient for now.








Source videogameszone.de.

Japan announced Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel.

I'm sure the previous Layton series caught the attention of lots of puzzle fans out there. The success of the Layton series comes from the stunning animation, great storyline and challenging puzzles to solve. Level 5 has announce the next installment of the Layton series in Japan around Fall. Which is around September to November.

To be honest, I've yet to finish Curious Village yet.


Source Go Nintendo.

Guitar Hero for DS buttons are Add-ons?

Here's a news that I got from getting information for the upcoming game Guitar Hero: On Tour. Vicarious Visions, the developer for the said game for the DS has mentioned they tackled lots of challenges before coming up with the game.

Obvious reasons is the DS itself. Too keep to the DS being compact, they rejected the fact of making the peripheral look like a guitar fretboard. That means, no guitar sized thingy.

The most interesting thing I found was about Vicarious Visions asking for permission to add buttons instead of mapping together with the buttons available on the DS. That means the buttons that is shipped with Guitar Hero are additional buttons for the DS.

Very interesting sales strategy.

LOL. Seriously it's LOL.

Now this is a game that you might just say "You're paying for Pictochat?!" or some case just "LOL".

Why do I say this? Well, first of all this game is a MULTIPLAYER GAME only game. Which means you need to bring your DS buddies to have some fun with this thing. Heh, I can see instant fail unless they do last minute changes.



You can read more in GameSpot.

Guitar Hero : On Tour Making Deal

Should I grab it? Maybe I just leave this? The Guitar Hero franchise reached the DS and making a deal to their fans. Especially those who already owned a DS. I'm sure some of you want this thing on your hands on the day of the release, then this is your chance to get one!


Click Here To Get from Play-Asia