Just in time for America’s shopping nightmare, Black Friday, Nintendo has announced two Nintendo DSi bundles that will be available on November 27.

Metallica Blue DSi with Mario Theme

White Nintendo DSi Brain Age Theme

Customers who purchase the Metallica Blue DSi system will find that it will be pre-installed with five Mario titles — Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, Dr. Mario Express, WarioWare: Snapped!, Mario Clock, and Mario Calendar.

White Nintendo DSi, and you’ll get Brain Age: Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Sudoku, Brain Age Express: Math, Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics, Photo Clock.

The bundles will retail for the standard $169.99 Nintendo DSi pricing, and Nintendo says the software is valued up to $20. Can’t go wrong with either of those, since either way, you’re getting a great clock. Oh, and these will be available for a limited time only, so get some sleep after your Thanksgiving dinner….and wake up early on Friday.

It will be available to consumers in Europe and America in Q1 of 2010.

Thank you : thaids

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

It is very good News for the fan of The Legend of Zelda, I’m very please to announce that The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is available for pre-order already at Amazon.

Product Link

Just about right time before the Holiday Season, Hope everybody have a good time in this holiday season 2009.

Cooking Mama

DS Nintendo Game Reviews

” Simple, relaxed, inoffensive fun for everybody.”

Pros : It’s simple, it’s fun, 76 different dishes to make.
Cons : No multiplayer, but there’s enough single player options and unlockables

Anyone looking for intense action, over-the-top explosions, or nail-biting storylines, why the heck click on a link that says “Cooking Mama?” This Nintendo DS game has enjoyed a nice comfortable time on Japanese shelves due to its quirky not-for-the-hardcore game design, and Majesco, through its current partnership with Taito, has localized the title for the US crowd. It’s a game that’s nothing more than a series of challenges that tests your ability to follow instructions, but at the same time it’s been designed in such a way that it really fits the whole idea of the Nintendo DS platform.

Cooking Mama isn’t a cooking simulator, so don’t expect it to teach you how to make some yummy dishes. It might have the side effect of giving you the idea of how particular meals are prepared, but it’s doubtful that you can apply any skills learned in Cooking Mama to real world cooking.

The game is nothing more than a set of casually laid-out challenges where each “level” is a certain meal. It can be as simple as making instant ramen to something more involved like pork curry and rice. Each step in the recipe has been paired down into a touch-screen mini-game. Most are retardedly simple: slicing an onion on the lines, or quickly chopping chives, or shredding some garlic. The complex tasks are the ones you have to watch out for: cutting tough meats, weighing specific ingredients, saut¿ing diced vegetables, or performing specific tasks in “rhythm.” Even though most of the game is a simple matter of paying attention and following the instructions, the tougher techniques can turn a gold metal meal into a bronze medal yuckfest.

The big question: is any of this fun? Though the entirety of this game is simply doing what you’re told as quickly as possible, it’s actually an amusing game if you’re not expecting much out of it. More importantly, though, it’s been well-designed as a portable game, as the developers have given it a good “pick up and play” presentation: turn on the system, make a dish, get your rank, turn it off. All progress is saved, and the more dishes you complete the more that become available. So there’s a discovery element to Cooking Mama: what sorts of dishes are hidden to unlock? It also has a bit of challenge due to a “margin of error” element — as good as you are at following directions, there’s that one portion that can screw up that important gold medal.

And as you add more recipes to the queue, you’re also building up the skill set of mini-challenges that can be practiced and played outside of the cooking “game.” Here, you can try and top the high score or go for the maximum, and if you pull off the top score possible it’ll be noted with a nice, satisfying chef hat. For a simple set of touch screen challenges, the designers give the production a good amount of legs.

This game is a good example a DS-specific game, made for the crowd that Nintendo’s aiming for. Cooking Mama for the parents, grandparents and girlfriends of the Super Mario crowd, and the game never tries to be anything more than a simple bunch of mini-challenge tasks for the non-gaming population. Cooking Mama does what it sets out to do very well, even if its concept will never be a true gaming classic. It’s a really good niche-filler that utilizes the DS well.

GameSpot Score : 6.9
IGN Rating : 7.0

Available at Amazon.com

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[Minna no NC] Nintendo DSi LL – Info Trailer

DSi LL – First Video Comparison – Japan

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized

DS Nintendo Game Reviews

“Bringing Wars to your Nintendo Handheld”

Pros : Lots to do and great replay value. Local multiplayer with friends is pretty fun.
Cons : Graphics is technically great, but still not as visually appealing as many other DS games.

Call of Duty started its life on the PC, but over the past few years it has expanded to take over just about every gaming platform in the known universe. The Nintendo DS hasn’t escaped this behemoth with its third handheld version of the mega-franchise in as many years hitting store shelves. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare — Mobilized continues the progression of refinement the franchise has seen on DS, successfully delivering the Call of Duty experience on the small dual-screen.

Before getting into the meat of the review, it’s important to talk about how Mobilized handles on a DS. This is a first-person shooter — not a generic action game with the Call of Duty name slapped on it — and that may be a selling or a sticking point depending upon your approach to handheld gaming. Do you love a technically impressive game that does its best to mirror its big brothers on the consoles? If so, you’ll find a lot to like here. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, you’d do well to read the rest of this review before making a decision.

The controls here aren’t for everybody. Those gamers that love to gripe about dual-analog controllers ruining shooters for the keyboard and mouse crowd thanks to their less than precise aiming should stay far away from Mobilized. You can play either right-handed or left, using the D-pad or the face buttons respectively to manage where you move. The triggers are used for shooting or tossing grenades, and the touch pad handles the rest. Drag the stylus to the right and the camera will follow. Swapping weapon or grenade types, activating switches, or aiming down the sites are all done by tapping buttons on the touch pad. It’s a technically proficient system, but it does require you to hold the DS with your off hand and then lean on it a little with the other. It’s an odd posture that left me with a sore wrist after my first play session. And, of course, it doesn’t offer the most precision or speed. That left me feeling sour about dying with blame laid on the control more often than not. It isn’t a rare occurrence at all to see the enemy and try to aim at him, but not get your shot sighted and fired before he takes you down.

But if you played last year’s Call of Duty: World at War, also by developer N-Space, then you’ll be right at home with the look and feel of Mobilized. The design follows the same play book, save for a change in scenery and plot. You take on the roles of the British and American special forces on a quest around the modern-day world to track down a missing nuclear weapon. The emphasis is on standard first-person shooting, but in classic Call of Duty fashion that isn’t the only thing to keep you interested. Manning turrets, rolling tanks through war-torn streets, piloting unmanned spy planes, hacking into consoles, planting tactical C4 and much more are all in a day’s work.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized

There’s a heck of a lot of content to go around in Mobilized. There was no skimping on making a lengthy game, you can go back and replay any again once you’ve passed them once, and there’s even an extra challenge mode to eat up more of your time. I do wish that a little more time was taken to make every level memorable, even if it came at the expense of axing a few levels. Mobilized does a good job of mixing up the action, but it also falls back on old tricks a little too often.

Even when it does fall into routine gameplay, it’s still an interesting handheld game. This is, after all, a fully 3D shooter with two or three enemies on screen, occasional bits of destructible environment, and two AI squad mates — all running on a little Nintendo DS. It’s fairly smooth, too, and if nothing else deserves kudos for pulling off such a similar game as to what you can find on the vastly more powerful consoles. The guns are all modeled realistically and handle uniquely — even peering down the iron sites looks slick. Downed enemies writhe in pain and occasionally rip off a few last stand shots at you, adding to the immersion. Just hop into the mission that puts you in the gunner position on a helicopter skimming a city’s skyline and you’ll see what I’m talking about. This is a handheld, though, and that means the textures lack detail in a big way, giving Mobilized an overall muddy look to it. While you might marvel at the technical accomplishments, you’re equally likely to be turned off by the low-resolution, low polygon count models. It all depends on your point of view. The same problems from last year’s World at War are present as well. Nighttime sections, or any that aren’t well lit, make it difficult to differentiate enemies from the background.

The audio too is another technical high point. Like past Call of Duty games on DS, there is a whole lot of voice acting here and it’s all about as high-quality as you could hope for. My only real gripe is the awful death call enemies make as they fall to the ground. It’s the same sound every time and it definitely could use some variation.

After you’ve had your fill with the campaign and challenges, there’s still a multiplayer mode to keep you busy. Gather five friends (and five additional copies of the game) and you can face off in a test of DS first-person shooting skills. You can play over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online service, but the experience isn’t nearly as good as when you play locally. There’s no voice chat and the lobby system is pretty bare bones, not to mention that the critical mass of people playing online is unlikely to ever be reached. Finding an online match will be difficult.

Local play can be a lot of fun if you get the right crowd together. There are a handful of maps, as well as the standard game varieties including deathmatch, capture the flag, capture and hold, hunter/prey, and the team-based sabotage where one group defends a point that the other is attacking. The feature set is about what you’d expect out of a mid-level console game, which is pretty darn good for a handheld.

If you played and enjoyed last year’s Call of Duty: World at War on DS, then you can expect to like Moblized. It brings the war to modern times once more while sticking to the same winning formula. Shooting, manning stationary guns, and getting behind the wheels of some heavy machinery are all part of the classic Call of Duty package and the DS crowd isn’t missing out on the fun. The controls won’t be ideal for everyone, so give Mobilized a try on a friend’s system before you take the plunge if you can. The same goes for the look. Even so, this is one fully featured package and a technically impressive game that successfully takes Call of Duty to the handheld while bringing its own unique presentation to the table.

source : http://ds.ign.com/articles/104/1043815p1.html

IGN Rating : 8.0

Available at Amazon.com

Crosswords DS

DS Nintendo Game Reviews

“Put your newspaper down — you won’t need it anymore.”

Pros : 1,000 crosswords to keep you busy
Cons : Dull and uninspired music

Some of our favorite DS games are designed specifically for the hardcore player. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. New Super Mario Bros. The World Ends With You. Metroid Prime Hunters. The list goes on and on. Of course, these titles cater to gaming traditionalists, but in recent years Nintendo has also made a business of appealing to the casual user — and frankly, it’s hit upon some winning videogames in the process. Nintendogs is one example. Brain Age is a better one. The latter project shipped with a fully-functioning recreation of puzzle game Sudoku and it was so well made that many players preferred it to the primary content in Brain Age. Now, Nintendo has taken the intuitive control mechanics powering Sudoku and applied them to an altogether different brand of puzzler for equally engrossing results.

Crosswords DS comes to Nintendo’s handheld courtesy Retro Nuevo Games and NST and the title features three different gameplay modes, including crosswords, anagrams and word searches. That’s really it, so if you’re looking for added presentational bells and whistles or mechanical options like downloadable puzzles or a multiplayer mode of any kind, you’re going to be disappointed. Nintendo has delivered a barebones package concentrated strictly on the basics of crosswords, word searches and anagrams. Thankfully, though, the core gameplay design and the selection of puzzles make up for any shortcomings in variety.

Of course, the game’s biggest draw is its considerable selection of crossword puzzles, which will keep you busy for many weeks to come. The crosswords vary in size and difficulty and ramp up as you progress from easy to medium, hard and so forth. All in all there are 1,000 different puzzles to complete, an impressive number for sure, especially when you think about it in terms of the newspaper equivalent, which you could most assuredly not fit comfortably in your back pocket. Sure enough, the easiest puzzles are comprised of only a half dozen tiles and are in turn ridiculously shallow, not to mention quickly completed. In contrast, some of the more difficult crosswords will really challenge you in the same way that the good ones in the back of newspapers do, and this is really where the the puzzler transforms into a portable addiction. Best of all, if you aren’t able to complete a crossword in a single sitting, you can save and resume it at another time.

The developers have smartly used Sudoku’s friendly touch-screen control interface as a base for Crosswords DS and as a result the process of scribbling in letters is intuitively picked up and mastered. There’s a training mode, but you won’t need it — you can learn everything in a matter of minutes simply by experimenting logically. Meanwhile, the hand recognition software works very well with only a few minor quirks here and there. You’ll want to be careful to close the loop on your “P”s and always dot your “I”s, or the software may accidentally mistake you input for an R or an L respectively. If you make a wrong guess at a letter, you can tap an erase icon on-screen, but you don’t need to; alternatively, you can simply scribble in another letter and it’ll replace it, which is great. Handily, incorrect guesses display in red and correct ones in black (if you turn the hint system on.) It’s clear that Retro Nuevo Games and NST have put some thought into the control mechanics for they are simple and smart.

That being noted, there’s still a little room for subtle improvement (and hopefully we’ll see a sequel that addresses some of our minor quibbles). First, as avid iPhone owners, we’ve grown accustomed to double-tapping to zoom in and out of the screen and while Crosswords DS will magnify tiles if you click on them, you’ll need to tap a zoom icon to pan outward again, which is slightly, barely, we’re-not-even-sure-we-should-mention-it irksome. Also a miniscule gripe, the speed at which the game auto-slides you forward (or downward depending on your orientation) after you inputted a correct letter. It’s not slow, but it’s a little slower than we’d have preferred. Indeed, the pace of the game sometimes borders on the tedious. For example, having completely a puzzle, you’ll be forced to sit through a long calculation process and the title meticulously totals your score and begrudgingly moves forward to the next stage. Hey — we fully understand that these are nit-picky criticisms, but they are criticisms nevertheless.

If you grow bored with the selection of crosswords, you can turn to the anagrams and word search sections, both of which offer a commendable selection of additional puzzles to complete, none of them as fun as the crosswords. Still, un-jumbling letters into words in the anagrams section is enjoyable and easy to control, as you just slide everything around with the stylus. Word searches are likewise smartly controlled — all you have to do is slide the stylus across the letters that form hidden words and they will auto-outline within the puzzle.

If you have ever found yourself looking over the crosswords section of your favorite newspaper with pen in hand, I think you’re going to really appreciate what Nintendo has done with Crosswords DS for it very effectively translates the engrossing and challenging nature of crosswords to the handheld format. With 1,000 different puzzles. With anagrams and word searches. And with a very smart, intuitive control scheme to boot. All for a bargain bin price, I might add. For these reasons and more, it’s a game that will prove a spectacular time killer — pop it open the next time you’re waiting for a movie to start or wasting away at the doctor’s office and the minutes will speed by.

At the same time, the game offers nothing in the vein of extra bells and whistles. The graphics are ridiculously simple., as is the elevator music-inspired soundtrack. There’s no multiplayer mode of any kind, a missed opportunity, as far as I’m concerned. And what about downloadable puzzles? It’s certainly possible — Picross already pulled it off (and, by the way, you could upload your own puzzles in that game too). I just get the impression that while the core package was done very well, no attempt was made to go the extra mile.

source : http://ds.ign.com/objects/949/949623.html

IGN Rating : 8.0

Available at Amazon.com

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Picross DS

DS Nintendo Game Reviews

“High-quality collection of logic puzzles at a terrific bargain price”

Pros : Lots of puzzles to solve, Hectic online action provides a lasting challenge.
Cons : Music can get repetitive.

The incredible popularity of the daily Sudoku newspaper puzzles (as well as the umpteen Nintendo DS games) has set a fire under Nintendo’s butt to go back to its classic roots and revive one of its less remembered Game Boy games. Picross has been around for years and has a place in many gamers’ hearts, but clearly without the Sudoku craze Nintendo arguably wouldn’t have brought back the design. It’s a good thing it did: Picross DS is easily one of the most addictive and engaging pick-up-and-play puzzle games released on the Nintendo DS, and the clean, sterile Nintendo DS redesign fits the “casual gamer” demographic perfectly. Pass this one up and you’ll be missing out on one of the finest DS titles yet created.

The concept is about as mathematical as Sudoku is, which is to say that it’s not very. Using the clues given at each row and column, you’ve got to determine which blocks are active in the grid. The clues given are how many “groups” are active: if a row says “1, 3″ it means that the particular row has one square, then a group of three squares, with at least one inactive square between the groupings. If it’s a 5×5 grid, it’s pretty easy to know that, using this example, the first, third, fourth and fifth square in that row are active to the puzzle…but if it’s a larger grid you’ll have to do a bit more hunting to figure out where the active ones are. Solve the puzzle and you’ll reveal the picture, a low-resolution two-bit image like a fruit, an animal, a vehicle…anything.

Now, early in the experience you’ll probably try to convince yourself that there’s no way to solve some puzzles without blind guessing in order to open up more clues. But the way the game lays out its levels, the designers stealthily teach the mechanics of finding the tiny clues that will lead you to solve some of the tough puzzles in the game. The trick is to use the “X” markers as liberally as possible – if you know where an active block isn’t, don’t be chicken to mark it with an X…the game will actually gray out the row/column hints if you block out a proper grouping to help out. There’s almost always enough given away in a puzzle to peck away at the grid properly, and the sooner you find the little clues the more the brain will work to uncover the viciously difficult challenges deeper inside Picross DS.

If you mark an inactive square as active, you’re penalized time – that’s how you’re ranked in a game: how long it takes to finish a puzzle. If you take more than an hour – whether that’s real-time or penalized time – you don’t get full credit for completing the puzzle. And that’s the only big issue with the game – once you solve a puzzle you already know what it is, so if you have to play through it again you already have a huge hint on where to start. And the whole “penalize with extra minutes” thing is fine, but the game should be tracking how many errors you made along the way. It doesn’t.

The lack of error tracking is a shame because Picross DS does a great job keeping track of other elements. The “Daily Picross” item is a fantastic evolution of Nintendo’s effort to get gamers to play games on a regular basis. It’s an item that in basic form for Brain Age and branched out in other Nintendo games, most notably the recently released Planet Puzzle League. Daily Picross enables quick-paced versions of Picross to be played once a day, and the times are tracked over the course of weeks via an on-screen chart. Just like Planet Puzzle League’s mode, the Daily Picross challenges give the game that “must play today!” addictiveness. As if standard Picross wasn’t already addictive enough. Which it most definitely is.

On top of this, players can create their own drawings and turn them into Picross puzzles, and then trade them all locally or online. Nintendo will also be creating new puzzles for downloading for as long as they can keep up with the demand. The construction element’s pretty powerful but it doesn’t allow for the creation of the same pixel animation that the built-in puzzles have when they’re solved. Even so it’s a welcome and useful addition that allows for tons of creative ideas (most likely Picross Penis Puzzles Aplenty) and near endless play time.

The Picross concept is also extended with some really great multiplayer competition. It’s a simple race against the other person to see who can finish the puzzle first – any mistakes penalizes the player by deactivating his puzzle for five seconds…and that could be an eternity against a veteran Picross player. This mode can be played locally or over the internet. Locally, you only need one copy of the game to play it. The benefits of a graphically minimal game design.

The game may not look like much on the surface, but once you delve into a handful of Picross puzzles you might find it hard to stop playing. Picross DS is a brilliant, mature-focused Nintendo DS product that’s incredibly addictive with near endless gameplay. If you missed out on the original Game Boy design Nintendo’s got you covered: those puzzles can be downloaded off of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection servers for free. This is a fantastic alternative to the Sudoku design, and as fun as that number puzzle is, Picross DS trounces it.

source : http://ds.ign.com/articles/809/809486p1.html

GameSpot Score : 8.0
IGN Rating : 9.0

Available at Amazon.com

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Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a GTA game specifically tailored for the Nintendo DS platform, and while the Nintendo DS may be the weakest current generation system in terms of hardware power, Rockstar doesn’t let that get in the way of producing one of the deepest and extremely fulfilling chapters in the Grand Theft Auto saga. More…

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Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

Mario and Luigi’s eternal struggle against the forces that threaten the Mushroom Kingdom—and frequently kidnap Princess Peach—continue in Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, the latest in the lighthearted, action-oriented role-playing game series. More…

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Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second game in the Professor Layton series created mostly by Level-5’s puzzle-obsessed Akihiro Hino. Like the other games, the plot of Diabolical Box is driven by the Professor’s need to solve an overarching mystery – this time around, it’s the death of his friend and mentor. More…

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Rhythm Heaven

Rhythm Heaven

It’s not surprising to find out that Rhythm Heaven has been produced by the same team responsible for unleashing Wario Ware: it’s crazy, experimental, and it never takes itself seriously. It’s also surprisingly robust and addictive as hell. More…

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Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts

There are very few games in which the biggest obstacle that stands between you and success is the limitation of your own imagination. In Scribblenauts, you have access to thousands of objects that can be summoned at any point using the in-game keyboard, and your goal is to push the boundaries of your creativity and vocabulary to solve the puzzles in whatever fanciful way you dream up. More…

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Animal Crossing: Wild World

Animal Crossing Wild World

It’s a difficult task to convince someone, simply by describing what’s involved, that Animal Crossing: Wild World is an enormously fun and engaging game experience. I mean, much of the focus is turning menial, real life tasks like housecleaning, landscaping, and scavenging,  More…

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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Alright, baby! The famous Nintendo cash cow the Legend of Zelda finally makes the big jump to the DS here in this Phantom Hourglass game and it just so happens to be the sequel to the Gamecube title: The Wind Waker. More…

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Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS

Mario Kart DS, Nintendo’s pulled out all the stops for this “next generation” Mario Kart sequel, and though it’s a handheld game, there’s nothing small about this design. here’s absolutely not a doubt in my mind: Mario Kart DS is the greatest Mario Kart game ever, which, in turn, makes it the greatest Kart racer game ever created. More…

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New Super Mario Bros.

New Super Mario Bros.

Despite the sort of weird title, New Super Mario Bros. is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a new Super Mario Bros. game that pulls off the series’ classic 2D, side-scrolling gameplay without feeling contrived or like a needless nostalgia trip. While there’s plenty of old memories referenced in this game, it is most definitely new. More…

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The World Ends With You

The World Ends With You

Most gamers out there would probably agree that the world of role-playing games has been stuck in a specific rut for quite a while. We’re not talking down on games like Fire Emblem and Advance Wars on DS (RPG-like tactical games), or the still-remarkable Final Fantasy series, but rather the hundreds upon hundreds of RPGs out there that don’t dare to be different. More…