News from GamePolitics:

According to an anonymous spokesperson for the ELSPA, John Hillier’s quote about 90% of American DS gamers playing pirated software is completely wrong. In fact, the ELSPA doesn’t comment on anything outside of the UK. The article came from ‘The Sunday Post’ who got the information from a website in Singapore:

“The quotes from The Sunday Post were ascribed to his name from another article which originates from a website in Singapore. This, it appears, is where The Sunday Post first found out about the supposed R4 situation and for some reason unknown to John have quoted him on what this article said”

Article Here: 90%?! 

This explains things. Sorry Mr. Hillier.

News from Gamasutra:

In a recent interview with Gamasutra Masaya Matsuura, creator of PaRappa The Rapper, says the the Nintendo DS’ bubble has already burst in Japan.

He calls games like ‘Brain Age’ unique, but says that they only cater to an older more conservative crowd.  I guess he hasn’t played some ‘Elite Beat Agents’ or ‘Phantom Hourglass’  not every game is a brain game.

Full article here: Bursting the DS’ Bubble

What do you think? Discuss it on our forums.  Sign up and let people know.

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.

Hardware:

DSL-126000
PSP-78000
Wii-71000
PS3-41000
PS2-15000
360-5200

Software:

1.Professor Layton 2-308000
2.Wii Fit-254000
3.SD Gundam gene spirits (PS2)-231000
4.DQ4-132000 （734000）
5.BASARA 2 Heroes PS2-94000
6.WE 2008 PS2-89000（395000）
7.Mario Party DS-57000（521000）
8.Mario & Sonic-42000（109000）
9.Yugioh WCS2008 (DS)-39000
10.Super Mario Galaxy-36000（452000）

I’m glad to see the Wii numbers getting higher every week, although they are still not as high as they should be. The DS is continuing its rampage over the world by selling out everywhere.

On the software side of things,  I’m glad to see Wii Fit doing well on its first week. Hopefully that will help the Wii in Japan. I’m also glad to see that people are buying DQ4 for the DS. The more Square support the better. It is a little disappointing to see Mario Party DS doing better then Super Mario Galaxy. Galaxy should be at the top of that list, but whatever. I am starting to dislike the Japanese gaming community more and more as time passes.

These sales estimates come from Famitsu. Click here to see the original post.

Discuss these sales numbers on our quickly growing forums.

Square Enix has confirmed a Spring 2008 European release for ‘The World Ends With You’. Here’s to hoping it comes to the US. It’s lookin’ pretty fricken’ sweet! Then again, what Square game isn’t?

The game takes place in modern day Tokyo. The story so far is Nuku, a 15 year- old boy wakes up in a Tokyo Shopping District with no recollection of how or why he got there. He receives a text message telling him that he has 7 days to live unless he accomplishes certain tasks, then the craziness begins.

A few cool points about this game:

• Vibrant modern-day Tokyo setting
• Hip characters and styles
• Techno and hip hop soundtrack
• Combat system is going to rock, utilizing both screens and the microphone in ways unseen on the DS.

Unfortunately, not a whole lot is available beyond that: Check out the game’s Wikipedia and come discuss it in our forums. You can be sure this game will eventually end up in the states.

My Very First game review, proceed with caution: Last week finally got a chance to pick up ‘Dementium: The Ward’ for the DS. I went into it not knowing a whole lot about the game, and the fact the publishers name was Gamecock only made it that much cooler (Immature? Yeah, but funny nonetheless).

The game starts it a hospital room, and instantly brings back memories of the first Silent Hill. Everything from the Graphics to the overall design of the game scream ‘Silent Hill’ and the visuals are some of the best I have seen on the DS to date. They really pushed our little dual screen machine, and they did it well. I love the dark environment the game provides, and the attention to detail such as random pieces of paper scattered about and  the bloodstains on the walls is often make you forget you are playing a DS game.

The wonderful guys at Renegade Kid have answered my prayers by really pushing the little handheld’s 3D engine. These guys seem fairly new in the industry so it will be interesting to see what they can pump out in the coming years. The game controls with the touch screen, and while at first it may take some getting used to, it really comes in handy for quickly aiming and shooting those horrible deformities you encounter through the game… ahh yes, the monsters (for the most part) are pretty rad (and yes, I said “rad”).

While not up to par with Silent Hill or Doom, you have to admire what they were able to do with these low poly bad boys. Keep in mind, that you are playing a DS game and these guys (as far as I know) are still just establishing themselves in the industry, they have done well given what they have. My only real letdown about this game is that you cannot stock up on items such as ammo (except for what your gun carries) and medicines. I am not sure if this was intentional, or if it was just a limitation of the DS. Then there is the whole motion sickness thing…stupid motion sickness, I can only play the game for about 30 minutes at a time before I feel like I’ve been on the tilt o’ whirl 30 times that night. If you are a fan of survival horror and FPS on the DS, definitely give this Dementium a shot, if not, look elsewhere for an addition to your DS library.