The DS is five years old today, so the G4 staff got together over a long e-mail thread and discussed everyone's favorite games for the system that surprised everybody. As a testament to the DS' amazing library, there were no duplicate submissions for favorite game. Feel free to join the thread in the comments below!
Mike D'Alonzo -- Manager, G4 Interactive Services
To this day, my favorite DS game is still Brain Age. There’s nothing that motivates you to want to be smarter more than the shame of being told that your brain is literally years older than you are. It’s always fun to feel your lack of intelligence and your mortality, all at once.
Rob Manuel -- X-Play Associate Producer
The World Ends With You: Daring, innovative, quirky; there are few games that can tout such praises, let alone a JRPG from Square Enix. The World Ends With You takes full advantage of everything the DS can dish out.
Patrick Klepek -- News Editor
DS proved itself to me early on. Kirby Canvas Curse proved what the platform's technology could do to traditional video games through an application of touch screen gameplay few games have been able to replicate since.
Tim Jennings -- X-Play Associate Producer
Let me start out by saying that I don’t normally like sports games. I’m as uncoordinated throwing a pass in Madden as I am in real life. That said, I loved Tecmo Bowl Kickoff for the DS.
Jake Gaskill -- Feed Writer
I haven’t been as genuinely surprised, enthralled and pleased with a game as I was with Level-5’s mystery puzzle title, Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Not only does it feature beautifully crafted cinematics and a wonderful mix of whimsy and dread, but the premise is just instantly engrossing.
Brian Leahy -- Previews Editor
Just as Lumines captured me on the PSP, Q Entertainment’s Meteos caught my attention on the DS. I sunk a lot of time into the games modes and I thought the stylus controls worked really well for the game’s mechanics. The different planets and effects added some depth and strategy and Meteos didn’t leave my DS for an extremely long time.
Abbie Heppe -- X-Play Editorial Coordinator
If you define “favorite” as the game that barely left my DS for over a year and that I actually wore away a small part of my touch screen playing.
Sterling McGarvey -- Reviews Editor
As much as I love Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land is still my personal favorite DS game. As you might’ve read in my article on a decade of Tony Hawk, this DS debut was the brightest point of a rapidly declining game series. Why?
Eric Eckstein -- Director of Editorial, G4tv.com
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney may be as much a training tool as Pauly Shore’s Jury Duty, but what it lacks in accuracy, it makes up for in sweet goofy stories that revolved around revenge and spirits.
Michael Demski -- X-Play Writer
I’m sure everyone’s saying Mario Kart DS or New Super Mario Bros. but my pick is Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. After an extended hiatus from the series, I immediately became re-hooked thanks to the solid gameplay.
Andrew Pfister -- Senior Games Editor
I'm frequently finding myself in situations where A) I'm over my head and B) I really need to hear some good music to help me through it, so it's natural that one of my favorite DS games is Elite Beat Agents.
Jonathan Goorvich -- Interactive Content Specialist
Happy Birthday DS! The two things I love about you most are The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and the very unique form of carpel tunnel syndrome you gave me. Phantom Hourglass brilliantly utilized everything the DS was built for.
Daniel Whitehill -- Director, New Media
Picross DS: If Soduku were fun, it would be Picross. This overlooked gem and my trusty iPod has gotten me through plenty of flights.
Stephen Johnson -- Lead Editor, The Feed
PictoChat: Not enough attention is given to the Nintendo DS’s groundbreaking ability to allow friends to share crudely drawn pictures of dongs.The DS is five years old today, so the G4 staff got together over a long e-mail thread... more
With so many weird games made over time it is too hard to choose the weirdest, but here is a nice compilation of games that you cannot deny are weird. However as weird as the games are, some are highly addictive and fun. Which of these games have you had the privilege to play?With so many weird games made over time it is too hard to choose the weirdest, but... more
The Wii Balance Board–similar to the Wii itself–was set to change the way people interacted with their video games. A new peripheral to change the perspective of the Wii, more specifically to help people get in shape and to have fun while they do it. What better way to help people get fit than to add the drive of getting the high score or winning? These are all great ideas, but like many first generations, it failed to impress and was met with mediocre reviews. Nintendo opted to give it another go taking the most common criticisms of the first Wii Fit game and improving upon the formula. Lucky for us, we had the chance to try out this new iteration, and so far, we have nothing but good things to say.
A new Mario game with much improved graphics similar to the DS. Use the arrow keys to move and jump Check it out here: http://easygames4you.com/mario-adventure-2/A new Mario game with much improved graphics similar to the DS. Use the arrow keys to... more
People could expend more energy playing the Wii Sports games or doing aerobics and yoga with the Wii Fit than during a brisk walk, the researchers found.
The study said a third of the activities on the games console required energy expenditure that is the equivalent to "moderate intensity exercise" of the kind the Government recommends to keep fit and healthy.
Adults in Britain are recommended to take 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise five or more days a week.
It comes after the Wii became the first games console to be endorsed by the NHS and elderly people are taking up the games to stay active in residential homes.
More than 50 million Wii consoles have been sold globally since it was launched in 2006. As well as traditional video games, there are a range of sports and a balance board for players to stand on to practice activities from skiing and yoga to dance and aerobics.
Lead author Dr Motohiko Miyachi said: "The range of energy expenditure in these active games is sufficient to prevent or to improve obesity and lifestyle related disease from heart disease to diabetes."
The study was funded by Nintendo.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Active video games, where people need to jump up and down or dance about as part of the game, are a great way to get moving more and help beat obesity.
"Activity like this throughout the day can easily add up to the 60 active minutes children need or the 30 minutes that adults need five times a week."People could expend more energy playing the Wii Sports games or doing aerobics and... more
How realistic is video game violence? We find out by blowing stuff up, crushing cars with tanks and firing real guns. Warning:Do Not Try This At Home. Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/gameongamingHow realistic is video game violence? We find out by blowing stuff up, crushing cars... more
"Bomberman Live was a big hit for Hudson and a massive resurrection of the publisher's explosive-crazed mascot. With over a half-million downloads, the publisher would have been nuts not to capitalize on the game's success with a sequel. And here it is. Phil Theobald got a first-look at Bomberman Live: Battlefest during a recent Hudson event. Besides new Xbox Live avatar integration, Hudson has apparently made some changes for the better, according to his preview..."
I liked playing Bomberman 64. & bomberman Hero. Hope this will be better than the recent one.
Cops are hunting for a group of robbers caught on camera assaulting a cabbie in Staten Island while wearing Halloween costumes of the popular video game characters.
The four young men were in a yellow cab around 4 a.m. on Nov. 1, apparently after a Halloween party, when one of them reached into the driver's pocket, police said on Wednesday.
The hack, 48, stopped at a gas station at 863 Arthur Kill Road in Great Kills and asked the suspects to pay and leave. Instead, they beat him up, stole his cash and fled, cops said.
A surveillance video shows two of the men - wearing colorful overalls and caps resembling Mario and Luigi - wrestling the cabbie while a third man dressed in a tuxedo appears to act as a lookout.Cops are hunting for a group of robbers caught on camera assaulting a cabbie in Staten... more
It would be difficult to argue that Nintendo is not the most important and influential game company of all time. No matter what you think of its personalities, its business practices, or its products past and present, Nintendo has been the central player in the relatively short history of the industry. Where other game makers enjoy a single era at most in which their products or philosophy were an unqualified success, only Nintendo has had three: The domination of the 8-bit era, the worldwide phenomenon of Pokémon, and the more recent blindside victory of Wii and DS.
And yet, the company is a bundle of contradictions. It constantly reinvents itself with the times, embarking on massive shifts in strategy to capture new markets -- or stoically resists change even as the rest of the industry passes it by. It develops wild new game concepts -- but is ultraconservative about expanding its development umbrella. It occasionally fails in the sphere of public opinion and marketshare -- but still generates bigger profits than any other company.
And on occasion, it gets very, very lucky.It would be difficult to argue that Nintendo is not the most important and influential... more
Constantly playing videos games might not make you into a couch potato after all.
Nintendo have announced a deal where the Wii Fit Plus will be introduced to Weight Watchers' 1million members in Britain.
Cheeky chappies Ant & Dec will be features in a series of TV adverts, where they will gatecrash a Weight Watchers meeting to try out the new Wii Fit Plus games.
Wonder why they didn't use people who were a little more horizontally challenged to do the the ad?
Baby and Me is a new game for the Wii. It comes complete with a doll. A doll that has a compartment for your Wii remote. That's right: it's a baby powered by Nintendo.
Way back in January of 2007, we[Engadget] reported on the Strange family, who were suing Sacramento radio station KDND-FM for the wrongful death of Jennifer Strange, who was found dead in her home after competing in a contest to try to win a Nintendo Wii. The contest -- "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" -- involved seeing who could drink the most water without urinating, and Jennifer, who did not win, left the studio and later died. Her autopsy later showed signs of water intoxication. Yesterday, a California jury ruled a wrongful death in the case, and ordered Entercom Sacramento LLC, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based Entercom Communications Corp., to pay $16.5 million dollars to her family as a result of the actions of the radio station's employees.
Games: Uncharted 2, Garry's Mod, Bowser's Inside Story, Fifa 10 and Lost Odyssey
News: DSi XL, ExciteBike World Rally, NetFlix for PS3, Modern Warefare 2 PC controversy and a special Podcast exclusive!
As discussed at the end of last week's podcast we've toyed around with the schedule this week, devoting more time to speculating on news and introducing the new, cheesily named "Software Update" segment. Of course changes to our podcast need not be perment so make sure to leave us a comment telling us what you thought. Although Stan faced some technical difficulties, the crew was as big as ever as we were lucky enough to be joined by Badger and, for the first time in a long while, Kristanigrad.Games: Uncharted 2, Garry's Mod, Bowser's Inside Story, Fifa 10 and Lost Odyssey... more
Last call, everyone. Bar's closing. Hey, you, at the end. Yeah, you, Emo McScowly. Why the long face? What's that? You couldn't find a Halloween costume that reflects you inner angst and darkness? Well they've got plenty of those down at the costume shop. No money, huh? Yeah those places can be a bit pricey. Oh wait, there are some cheap thrift stores downtown. Oh yeah, I guess they are closed at this hour.
Hold the phone. I think I've got just the thing to pull your soul up from the blackest depths of eternal sorrow....into the pretty normal areas of mild greyish depression....Our final episode features everyone's favorite misunderstood mutant experiment, Alex Mercer, of [Prototype].Last call, everyone. Bar's closing. Hey, you, at the end. Yeah, you, Emo McScowly.... more
Oh snap, dude. You STILL haven't put a Halloween costume together. Well it's too late at this point to make an elaborate Daft Punk helmet. And you'd need a friend to go as the Venture Brothers. And you can't go as Zombie Glen Beck. You were that last year....
Well, take our advice then and check out our Last Minute Costume ideas.
This episode, Dominic pays tribute to the righteous gods of metal with his Brutal Legend Eddie Riggs costume.Oh snap, dude. You STILL haven't put a Halloween costume together. Well it's too... more
