I hope role playing game developers are getting their hands on a copy of the Nintendo DS game Scribblenauts. Although Scribblenauts is a puzzle game, role-playing games could probably learn a thing or two from this quirky ingenious little game. You are faced with many different levels that contain very simple tasks you must satisfy in any way you can think of. That’s an understatement!

The gist of the game is basically whatever you item wish for you get. Say your playing a level where you had to get a cat out of the tree. What will you wish for, a ladder?… a rope?… a water gun? That’s one the wonderful thing about Scribblenauts, you can solve puzzles thousands of ways. The items that appear are functional as well. So if you did wish for a water gun you can equip it and squirt water. Once you succeeded in the task at hand you complete the level. A very nice feature in the game is if you complete a level 3 times in a row, without wishing for the same item you twice you get a gold star. This is by far the most addictive part of the game if you ask me. It’s hard not to play the game and not stir up some laughs.

I tried luring the cat with a humuhumunukunukuapua a, and what do you know, one appeared and it worked! Yes the game seems to recognize the most bazaar words you can think of. On one level I wished for a stealth bomber so I could fly up and pick a flower on a ledge. Being a database person myself, I imagine they had developers take a dictionary and create every single noun in the book. However, you are restricted from entering pronouns, suggestive or vulgar words, alcoholic related words, and copywritten or trademark words. Other than that the fun in the game is up to your creative thinking.

If you visit the Japanese site for Square-Enix, there is a countdown timer for a remarkably familiar game to the RPG community. Given the URL, I’m certain it’s what we all think it is. If your computer has sound you can hear the familiar clock ticking. It’s for the DS. I can only hope it’s a sequel. However if it’s a 3D remake, I’m in.

I mentioned in one of my previous postings how I liked the soundtrack to The World Ends With You. I know this genre isn’t for everyone, but I love the sounds of Japanese Pop and Electronica music. The music is available for purchase on iTunes but I thought I’d give you a listen. This genre matches the Anime look and feel of the game. Hard to believe this much music was made for a DS game. This kind of thing is expected for the PSP. It’s a first for the Nintendo DS to have a soundtrack like this one. ‘Calling’ is probably my favorite. When your fighting battles and hearing this music, it really gets you energized. You’ll need that since you’ll be controlling two characters at the same time; one on each screen.

These songs includes works from Takeharu Ishimoto, Makiko Noda, Leah, SAWA, WAKAKO, Ayuko Tanaka, Hanaeryca, and JYONGRI. The actual soundtrack contains about 36 tracks.

Shibuya Shopping Center, Tokyo, Japan

Big things definitely come in small packages. I’ve never had so much to say about a little DS cartridge.

When Nintendo first announced the DS, their intentions were to give developers the tools to go beyond current video game ideas. Although many gamers like myself love the idea of porting over, real-time strategy (RTS) games, puzzle games, and other traditional uses of a stylus-based interface, Nintendo was more interested in ideas that had nothing to do with any game currently in the market. In my opinion, The World Ends With You (WEWY) is exactly one of those games. Calling this it a role playing game (RPG) is quite misleading. When I first began to play it I almost hated it cause I was so confused on what’s going on. The truth is, it’s it’s own genre. (more…)

Originally to be released the same time Wii Ware came to the US, the Nintendo Channel arrived earlier. From this channel you’ll be able to watch game videos, view newly and upcoming released games, and best of all Nintendo DS Demo Downloads. So far you can download demos wirelessly to your DS for Brain Age 2, Flash Focus, Crosswords DS, Jam Sessions, Disney Friends, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, Cooking Mama 2 and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword.

Another nice feature is a game recommendation system. You’ll be able to rate games and it applies your answers to the demographics you provide in a short survey. This data is used to provide recommendations made by people that play the games. The system only uses data that shows that you have played the game for at least an hour. Finally, game ranking scores made my millions of gamers (not just one single person such as, me deciding that GTA IV should be a 9, oops I mean 10, *snickers). Nintendo put together a very nice video about the channel here.

 My Word Coach falls in that category of DS games that have many gamers arguing they are not games and do not sound enjoyable. Some believe these games are a blatant† aberration†: an anattempt to gain a quick buck. I believe this form of entertainment† is referred to as Edutainment. Argue the semantics† as much as you wish, but I’m finding My Word Coach an exhilarating† experience! The game is filled with mini-games designed to increase the size of your lexicon†. The game implies that this form of lexical† enhancement is sure to improve your relationship. Who would have thought a few years back, a simple game could increase the size of your lexicon! (more…)

Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS is a spin off of the PlayStation 2 (PS2) Final Fantasy XII (FFXII) game. Square-Enix totally went back to the drawing board on this one. The end result is pretty damn good. Forget all the turn-based mechanics you normally see in Final Fantasy Titles. Similar to Final Fantasy XII for the PS2, The game is real-time. However, this game resembles more of a traditional real-time strategy. Each member of your party is called a group leader. For each group leader, you can summon monsters to fight with them, or espers. Each leader and esper falls under one of three categories, melee, range, or flying. Like most strategy games, one category bests the other. Here we have, melee beats range, range beats flying, flying beats melee. You can mix and match your groups for more advance strategies. (more…)