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.

Games to look at on September 2008.

Looks like I'm a bit late posting this, my apologies. I want to list out games that I might look at for the month of August 2008. It's more like my choice of what I'm might play.

Like July, theres not that much titles to look at but there are few worth to get out there while waiting for October.

List are from GameFAQs:-

09/15
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
- DQ is a must play according to JRPG fanatics.

09/16
Line Rider 2: Unbound
- This was brought foward to September, it's suppose to be out on August.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- This might be good.

09/23
Disgaea DS
- I've been waiting for this for quite awhile.

Lego Batman
- It's Lego, nuff said.

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
- I played the one on the Playstation. I wonder if it's as good.

Time Hollow
- I got recommendations from a friend who played the Japanese version of the game.

09/30
Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
- Another cult classic for the DS.

It's been awhile

This one will sound a bit personal rather than the usual DS gaming and accessories topic I've used to post about.

The reason for my hiatus was testing games. Since I'm doing this on my own, I have no time for myself to sit and play loads of games.

Then, I've decided just to review about the games I played briefly and give a verdict IF it's worth playing till u finish the game or not. The reason is there are alot of game review sites and I'm not a full time game critic anyways.

So yeah, soon there are few post to let you guys know if a game is worth to finish or not. Regardless of cheating or not!

Stay tune people!

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.