[Now Listening To| John Legend]

An ElectroPlankton Mini-Site has opened. Not much there yet, but you can find some wallpapers on the very last ‘bubble.’ The site has some very chill ambient water noise and if you press ‘top’ you can push the little bubbles around and they all make different noises.

UPDATE: Actually, the site does have videos on it. Third Bubble. In Firefox I couldnt see the that the videos were loading, but if you give them a bit they will start.

ElectroPlankton Mini-Site (IE)

Direct link to the Flash file (Firefox)

[GirlfriendNow Playing| Wario Ware - DS]

Here is an example of good box art localization. It seems like it would have been pretty hard to mess this up, but trust me, we should be thankful. Come inside to see both versions:

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[Now Playing| Minish Cap - DS]

In the world of Mr. Driller everything is cute and pastel…and there is always a giant corckscrew drill falling on your head!

There has been a version of Mr. Driller for just about every game console out there. However, American gamers have missed out on the best ones. The Gamecube version, Mr Driller Drill Land, is widely considered to be the very best game in the series. Of course, its only available in Japan. Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits for the DS is available here, but guess what? We got shafted on some of the best content.

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[Now Preodering| Yoshi Touch! & Go]

The first screen shots and some more info has surfaced on ElectroPlankton. The game, which will ship in just over a month, seems to resemble Seaman more than Band Brothers. In the game you will use the touch screen and the mic to influence the plankton. Im not sure what they can or will do, but its almost like virtual sea monkeys.

The graphics are nice and stylized and this sounds like it could be pretty cool. However, Im not sure if there is an actual game here, or just a little virtual pet to play with. I hope it at least has some goals and objectives.

Plankton Scan

Head over to Gamespot for a little more info:

Gamespot Page

[Now Playing| Metroid Prime 2 - GC]

Just a roundup of some DS news that has been floating around. A few new games have been announced:

Electro Plankton - published by Nintendo (Apparently this has to do with 10 different kinds of plankton that each play different sounds. Headphones are included in the package.)

Here is an old project from the guy that is responsible for Plankton. Looks like he has been into tactile gaming for awhile, so the DS seems like a natural fit. I think he was also responsible for Sim Tunes.

Music Insects

Two other new games announced are

- Mini R/C Racing - developed by InterActive Vision
- Franklin - developed by Neko (The people behind two other DS games, Cocoto Kart Racer and the strategy game Dust & Shadows)

Here are couple of screens of the new Space Invaders game for the DS:

Space Invader Screens

Atarti has released a few movies of Retro Atari Classics:

Atari Retro Classics Videos

Here is a Puyo Pop DS trailer:

PuyoPop Trailer

And because I know my brother loves pinball, here are some shots of Pac-Man Pinball for the GBA:

Pac-Man Pinball Screens

[Now Art Directing| Modular Homes]

Wow, this movie looks awesome. I saw the trailer and was blown away. The character designs are SWEET! And the animation looks delicious! Put Shark Tale behind you and check out this awesome looking movie from Dreamworks.

Yahoo! Movie Page

There is also a game coming out. Looks ok, but nothing special. The movie is where its at! Simply beautiful.

Game Footage

[Now Art Directing| Modular Homes]

Some new info on Bomberman DS has come to light. This game looks pretty good and the idea of having twice the screen space for levels is what is really gonna sell me on the DS version. The game will also have single cart download play for up to eight players. Sweet multiplayer madness.

10 areas, 100 stages, Boss at the end of each stage

Touch screen is used to choose items

VS mode has three options:
- Normal mode
- Crown Mode (See who can get the crown first)
- Panel Mode (Paint a certain number of tiles with your bombs before time runs out)

Also, take a look at this scan from the latest Nintendo Power. Can you control the game via voice commands?

Bomberman Scan

[Now Art Directing| Modular Homes]

Famitsu has reviewed Meteos and PacPix and given both awesome scores! Pac-Pix recieved a 33/40, proving its not just a cool looking tech demo. Meteos though, has totally blown everyone away. It recieved a 38/40.

Reviewers and DS users alike are prasing this game. So far its looking like the DS is the portable of choice for people who want awesome puzzle games. Even the slick looking Lummies for the PSP cant stand up the Meteos. Touching is defintely good.

Meteos Site

Follow the link if you want to see the Famitsu Scans:

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[Now Playing| Mario 64 Mini-Games - DS]

At least thats what Spong is claiming. This is a rumor I can believe. Not that Im in any way guaranteeing anything. Whispers and hints of big things have been heard around the net and if Nintendo was going to strike a blow to Sony, now would be the time.

Supposedly, some info will come when Iwata speaks at the GDC on March 10th. However, it would be a pretty forced action since the conference has nothing to do with upcoming Nintendo products.

Anyway, follow the link to see the text from Spongs article (which, by the way has been pulled since then…so either it was totally false or they got a little too close).

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[Now Working On| Purell Ads]

And here is another cool DS commercial! This one is for Need For Speed Underground. The game footage looks pretty good too. I just love these DS ads!

NFSU DS Commercial

[Now Playing| Minish Cap - DS]

Nintendo has announced that there will be three versions of DS pet simulator, Nintendogs. Each version will contain five different types of dogs. Gotta collect em all!

Apparently people with different versions of the game will be able to hook up and have their little pups interact. Also, the dogs will continue to ‘live’ while your DS is off. So…will my virtual dog ever need to be put down?

These are just so cute. When are they going to release a cat version (as Im more of a cat person) and what would they call it? Nintendocats?

Nintendogs Mini-Site Index

Nintendogs Wallpapers

[Now Playing| Minish Cap - DS]

Nintendo has finally released pictures of different colored DS. Im guessing we will probably get slightly different colors in the US. The pastels wont go over as well here.

Nintendo of Japan Link

[Now Working On| ‘Old School Hardcore’]

And I thought March was going to be a good month here in the US. Check out the release list for Japan:

10th: Pac-Pix (Namco)
10th: Meteos (Bandai)
17th: Harvest Moon (Marvelous)
24th: Kirby (Nintendo)
24th: Masquerade Lullaby (Genki)
24th: Egg Monster Hero (Squeenix)
24th: Space Invaders (Taito)
31st: Yakuman (Nintendo)

Thats an impressive list! Every single one of those games looks sweet and is a potential buy for me, once they make it over here.

I found a bit on info on the Masquerade game, which I had not heard of until now. It appears to be a murder mystery point-and-click game. Check out the link for some videos:

Cubed3 Media Page

[Now Playing| Minish Cap - DS]

Nintendo opened its teaser site for Touch! Kirby, which ships at the end of the month in Japan. This game looks really cool and entertaining. Reminds me a bit of Uniracers (which I love btw).

Now, give me that pink stylus!

Touch! Kirby Mini-Site

[Now Playing| Minish Cap - DS]

Awesome. This crafty person has combined two of my all-time favorite things; Nintendo and Legos.

I wish I still had some Legos.

F-Zero Legos

source: Ruckdog from Nintendorks