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There's no denying it: our wallets and purses are in for an absolute beating this Christmas, with quality DS titles coming thick and fast. So what better way could there be to save your pennies for Contra 4 or any of the DS' other forthcoming delights than with this Mario Coin Block Bank?
This charming piece of merchandise, constructed entirely from Perler Beads and contact cement, was whipped up by Etsy user lostmitten, who's charging $12 for the coolest coin bank in town. Oh sure, it's $2 less for the same block sans coin slot, but slots don't grow on trees, people. Sheesh.
A new trailer for Mario Party DShas hit the intertrons and where it lacks in length, it more than makes up for in content. The trailer gives us a glimpse at everything we would want to see, from navigating the game board to a look at some of the different minigames that make up the title. Clearly, this is going to be a Mario Party to remember.
We were just discussing difficult DS games the other day-- here comes one that will make Trauma Center look like Relaxing Center.Mainichi Shinbun Headlines is a nightmare in a DS cartridge.
Basically, it's a training game based on trying to read a Japanese newspaper. The main game involves trivia whose answers come from the 135-year-long archives of the Shimbun. We don't think you have to scour the entire thing; rather, you're presented with the appropriate issue, but still. Look at that newspaper page. Is that not daunting?
Sure, it's made for people who natively read Japanese, but we (want to) believe it would be hard for them too. Those little pages are undecipherable mishmashes of kanji.
What you see below may look like a long list, but we'd like to show you the short form. Are you ready?
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations
Because, really, what else do you need? In fact, we feel a little sorry for every other game released this week (except for those Imagine titles, frankly), because they may get lost in the mad rush of gamers vying to get their hands on the continuing adventures of our favorite Ace Attorney.
There are some things releasing this week in Japan that may interest the importers among you as well -- check 'em out with the rest of the major market releases after the jump.
Chessmaster: The Art of Learning
EA Playground
Ed, Edd & Eddy: Scam of the Century
Front Mission
Hannah Montana: Music Jam
Imagine Animal Doctor
Imagine Babyz
Imagine Fashion Designer
Imagine Master Chef
Mega Man ZX Advent
Naruto: Path of the Ninja
Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations
We were eating some Reese's Pieces the other day, and they were, you know ... okay, but we couldn't help thinking that they were missing something integral to the candy-eating experience. We couldn't quite decide what that was, but now we know: a tiny kite. With Pokémoncharacters on it. It's so obvious now!
Unfortunately, this package no doubt includes, instead of Reese's Pieces, those tiny Smartie-esque things that are in all Japanese candy toy packages. But the little Pokémon Diamond and Pearl kites are pretty cool for when you need an emergency kite. Which is all the time, right?Next time you come upon a pleasant breeze, you can hold your tiny kite aloft, yell "Kite! I choose you!" and then carefully unroll the string as it possibly floats into the air.
When we're not crafting totally elaborate and stylish cases on our own, we spend a lot of time checking out retail options for both protection and adding a touch of style to our DS. Today, we stumbled upon retailer Pacific Design, which offers an array of unique cases and pouches for your DS Lite that somewhat resemble a kit that Nyko put out on the market back in July.
The difference here is that these cases don't feature the charger and extra styli that the Nyko pack features. These cases, though, feature extra zippered compartments, a carrying strap and compartments for storing games.
Two months ago we told you that there were rumors of another Castlevaniatitle coming to the DS. After performing countless ritual sacrifices, we're happy to report that the series will definitely be returning to Nintendo's popular handheld.
Koji Igarashi, the producer of the Castlevania series, recently revealed this little tidbit to Wired's Game|Life. Igarashi stated, "First, we're doing another Nintendo DS version. There hasn't been an official announcement, but we're doing it."
Well, that's about as official as an unofficial announcement can get, so you can take your grains of salt elsewhere. We may have been expecting Castlevania's return to the DS, but we're relieved to hear it nonetheless.
We'd love to say it's because the game looks great (it does!) Unfortunately, the cause for our dizziness is the continued use of the "flying DS" style of trailer, in which all efforts to look at the action on the screen are rebuffed by the constant movement of the DS.
The effect is only mildly annoying, and it can't prevent all viewing of new Insecticide footage. The trailer focuses on one of the game's action stages, with Chrys Liszt chasing after a suspect through a circuitous level full of precision jumps and rail-thin platforms.
Insecticide is due out January 8th, and we're giving it some serious thought.
GoNintendo's "inside guy" is usually spot-on with his scouted information on upcoming Download Station games, but keep in mind that this tally is anything but official. According to the mole's report, this Version 7 update to the in-store wireless stations will feature a total of twelve game demos and five videos, all of which you can see after the post break.
Playable demos for Contra 4 and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword top the gossip, promising to bring run-n-gun shootin' and ninja-of-the-night flippin' to our handhelds soon. Once this update hits, we are going to be on these two titles like gravy on mashed potatoes. Who knows, we might even eat some mashed potatoes with gravy while we play the demo. These are crazy times we live in.
You know, we never thought about this ourselves, but the ratio of people to DSes in Japan is pretty amazing. With an estimated 127,433,494 people living in Japan and 18.11 million units sold in the country, it comes to about 1 DS unit for every 7 people. If you want to go by a different figure, VGChartz has the handheld selling 19.72 million in the area, bringing that figure down to 6.4.
When you break the numbers down to something more personal like this, it really makes the weight of the sales figures that much more significant, wouldn't you agree?
Nintendo's Chinese operation, iQue, has released some very cool Game Boy Advance SP systems that may make you rethink your need for an SP and your impression of the Chinese gaming market, where you can apparently get very cool systems that aren'thilarious knockoffs.
While it's possible these are old, we have a suspicion that the Year of the Dog system is recent as of this year, at least. There's also a two-tone Mario edition, and a very cool dragon system that uses the black/red case design from the Boktai GBA. Some of these are available online at amazingly high prices, so we're stuck playing games on our stupid DS Lites.
We always love to keep track of what you're playing -- that's why we ask you every week. But it's nice to know what you're buying, also, since purchases speak volumes about what's really going on ... and sales numbers are less exciting than reader comments! So tell us: what was the last DS game you bought, and what do you plan to buy next?
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.
Considering that you've put up with the dozens of posts we've published for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin so far, we're sure you'll forgive us for revisiting War Worlds again so soon with this column. This week, Promotional Consideration examines the print ad Nintendo rolled out in 2003 for Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. Position your units, end your turn, and peek past the break for more text.
Posted Oct 21st 2007 1:30PM by JC Fletcher Filed under: News
If you've been considering picking up 5th Cell's great Drawn to Life, you might want to think about grabbing one from Best Buy. It's on sale right now for $19.99, as reported in their weekly circular. That's a great price for an original 2D platformer! Although if you weren't planning on buying it, your expenditures for the next few months have probably been very carefully planned out.
Also of interest: they've got Spectrobes for $14.99. If you're in a more Disney/ Pokemon/ whatever-else-Spectrobes-is mood.
Lest you forget, we thought we'd offer a nudge in the direction of our latest contest -- enter now to pick up a copy of Luminous Arc and Heroes of Mana. One lucky winner will get both games! Remember, you can only enter once per day, but you have a few more opportunities before Tuesday night rolls around. Leave a comment here to get your name in the hat.
GoNintendo's "inside guy" is usually spot-on with his scouted information on upcoming 
We always love to keep track of what you're playing -- that's why we 
