I have been following this blog for the last two days (that’s about as long as it’s been around) and I figured I would post the link for it here:
http://blogs.ign.com/Renegade_Jools 

For anyone who doesn’t know, Moon (also known as Project M) is a DS game in development by Renegade Kid, the guys who made Dementium.  These guys really know how to push the little system and I am always looking forward to their work.

Up so far, is an explanation of the game, and a level map update.  Take a look!

News from Kotaku: 

Parappa creator, Masaya Matsuura is back explaining his statement a while back about the DS bubble bursting in Japan.

He explains that games with non-gaming content are struggling with low numbers. For example, the second Brain Training game did not sell as well as the first. He also goes on to say that the situation for the Wii is much more difficult, because it seems that third parties get no support in Japan.

Well, that seems like the situation here too. For some reason, Nintendo fans just don’t seem to be giving the third parties any love. It’s OK Ubisoft, I own a few of your games on the Wii and the DS.

Still, this is all coming from the guy who sticks to one genre. I loved the original Parappa, but it was just as simple as many of the games he is talking about now. There was not a whole lot of content, it was just a fun game.

Check out the real article here: Masaya Matsuura talks DS and Wii 

From Penny Arcade 

I haven’t had a chance to play the game yet.  I will when I can afford it.

News from Kotaku:

Brian Farrell, president and CEO of THQ, recently said in a conference call that ‘Drawn To Life” would be coming to the Wii. It was such a success for the DS, selling hundreds of thousands worldwide, that they want to bring it to the Wii. Aside from that, no real details on the game.

Article Here: Drawn to Life Wii

News From Gamepolitics:

According to the BBC the DS game Brain Training (known as Brain Age here in the states) is clearly discriminating against certain U.K. Accents. In what is probably one of the most ridiculous reports I have heard of in a long time, the BBC program ‘Watchdog‘, devoted 5 minutes to this segment.

In a quote from the original article one complaint says, “I don’t know what’s wrong with the way I say ‘blue’. I can say it as many different ways that I could try and it just really wouldn’t pick it up.”

So let me get this straight. A Nintendo DS and a $20 dollar piece of software is discriminating against you? Maybe you didn’t know about some of the limitations of speech recognition software on something with the limitations of the DS. It will have it’s flaws.

This must also explain why they have to wait so long for games over there.

Remember when must Windows Vista discriminated against an American accent? Vista Oops

Read full article here: DS Discrimination

Old Favorite Now on the DS

Hell yeah…

The original badass shooter is back in full 2D glory. On two screens! It seems ol’ skool gaming is where it’s at right now, and this game takes us there.

So here’s the down low. Lance and Bill are back, along with two other dudes named Mad Dog and Scorpion (actually, Lance and Bill’s NES names) and that douchebag Red Falcon is once again starting crap with the people of Earth. The game takes place 2 years after the alien wars and truly feels like a sequel.

What can I say about this game, its freakin’ sweet. Much better than any of those other sad excuses for Contra games we have been getting in the past years (Legacy of War or Neo Contra anyone?). The game has gone back to its 2 dimensional roots and it’s damn fun. From the second you turn it on and hear that familiar Contra intro and the sounds of your guns firing you know that this game was made by a group of people who loved the game just as much as we did.

This game is HARD. Even on easy, this game is hard. The development team knew this and made it obvious in their manual. The enemies are abundant and so are the death screams. Cool little bonus though, if you play the game on hard you get to hear the original music and the weapons actually change slightly to be more like they were in the original game. That is actually a really cool thing, some of the functions actually change on hard mode, such as a button that lets you ditch your weapon.

I have to say that this is some of the best use of the Dual Screen I have seen in a DS game. It is pretty fresh to see a game that doesn’t rely on the touch screen at all, as far as I know, but I may be missing something. Enemies come at you from both screens and it makes for overall a much bigger playing field than we have had in any previous Contra games. To get you up to some of the higher places that are often times on the top screen you get a kick ass Bionic Commando style grappling hook, the only downside is it only shoots up and you cant use it as a weapon too. They also added in a function that actually lets you shoot in place, so you can more easily shoot enemies around you.

If you are an original Contra gamer all the classic weapons are there, and you will probably still avoid the crappy “F”. You will race towards the “S” and the “M” they are all still there in those flying do-a-mabobs. They even have the cool exploding bridges and the damn turrets on the rock sides.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still a few surprises from Konami in this game (I totally did not expect the first boss to do that). And I have yet to play multiplayer, because the one really bad thing is you need two game cards to play two players. Not too much of a problem, but it’s hard to find another DS owner with the exact same game.

Since this was a Christmas present, I got it for free (THANKS LISA! I LOVE YOU). Would I pay 30 bucks for it? HELLZ YEAH!

Oh, and one more thing. The Konami code, it’s still in the game. Like I said though, Konami did add a few surprises, you will have to figure that one out for yourself…I did.