[4cr Guest Columnist - Nick Rumas]

Though I’ve owned a Nintendo DS since launch, I’m still puzzled when I look at the little gadget. Despite the fact that I play it all the time, it doesn’t feel as familiar as it should, somehow. This isn’t because there is anything lacking on the part of the device or its games. Rather, I think it’s the inherent quirkiness, the newness of it all that still has me a bit dazed.

When you heard that Nintendo’s next portable system would feature two screens, a concept come up with by none other than the notorious Hiroshi Yamauchi, what was the first thing that crossed your mind? I can still vividly remember my response: ‘Um…okay…?’ The icing on the cake was a hilarious ‘concept’ drawing by Matt Casamassina on Ign the day the news hit. In short, the announcement didn’t do much to improve Nintendo’s public image. As we all know, however, the company ended up delivering a hit against the odds, even without a decent launch lineup. Let’s turn back the hands of time for a moment and try to figure out just what made the quirky portable such a success.

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Take a look at this awesome Batman Begins trailer

Torrent Link

Here are a few more Batman Begins links:

Official Move Site

Official Game Site

Sigma Star Saga is one of my most anticipated GBA games of the year. Blending genres of RPG and horizontal shooter, the game looks very cool. And its not that far off, as its scheduled for a July release. Ign has put up part two of the SSS developer diary.

One of the interesting features he talks about is how the flying missions are triggered. Instead of being set of as their own levels, they are actually the fighting aspect of the game. When a random battle occurs in the overworld you are warped into your ship to fight it out in the shooter levels. I dont know about you, but if executed well, I think this could be awesome.

Sigma Star Saga Developer Diary - Part 2

[Gaming reaches critical mass]

Another one of those E3’s have come and gone… the ‘important’ ones, the ones where it is expected that all the major players of the industry will reveal which direction they will pursue for the next five years. Although it may sound cliché, this is a period of vital importance for the videogame industry. Sure… every year it’s the same deal, gaming has gotten bigger and bigger, bigger than movies, siphoning the coveted 18-34 year old demographics away from their primetime TV shows, and making itself known as an industry. This time it’s different.

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4cr reader Dave found this awesome site which compiles SNES ending screenshots. There are a ton of entries and you can help out and contribute your own if you have some that arent there.

Especially good for those hard to beat games that you never finished.

SNES Endings Site

Submitter: Dave

Ubisoft changed the date of Bomberman DS back to June 2005, I guess they did a typo of some sort, or there was a mix up somewhere.

You can check the official site here.

You can also check out a preview of the game here:

1up Bomberman DS preview

Submitter: MrNull

[Now Wishing My Friend Let Me Borrow| Wario Ware Twisted! - DS]

Nintendo has finally given a Japanese website to their latest addition to the Advance Wars series. It’s got quite a few new screens, and the flash page is adorable. Take a look for yourself!

Famicom Wars DS Site

[Amen. Preach it my friend.]

Videogames are big business. We like to make that point clear when talking about games. The fact that entertainment software generates a lot of money helps us justify our interest and even our play.

We see plenty of reporting and regurgitation of marketing hype. And we could subsist on an endless diet of wild speculation. But we rarely get the kind of business analysis that we need.

Buzzcut Article

I was thinking about Nintendo’s next system and the idea of wireless game sharing came to mind. If the DS can do it… why wouldn’t the Revolution be able to?

I don’t know if its technologically feasible… but the way I see it it can work like this:

Your Revolution is connected to the Internet via WiFi, and you’ve put you zipcode into it… the Revolution knows where it is. This way, the Revolution can sense other consoles in the immediate area (maybe 10, 20 miles… to keep down latency) and if they are playing a game (Say… Smash Bros Rev.) you can download a limited version of the game to play against them… or download a ‘demo’ from them. It’d be like DS gaming sharing on a larger level. You’d be able to meet up with people that actually live around you, because they’d be ’sharing’ their games with you and you with them.

This would also serve a technological purpose, as I think the closer you are to a server… the faster it will be tranfered. If it can’t be done with actual Revolution software because of the technology… why not allow it with the older games?

Any other feasible ideas you guys got about the Revolution that we haven’t heard? I’m interested in seeing what other people can come up with thats actually feasible.

[Ironically Now Playing| Wind Waker - GC]

Remember this game? Wiki is a MMORPG being made in Korea. The game gained some notoriety when it ‘borrowed’ the look of Nintendo’s own Zelda: Wind Waker. This is what we have after some lawsuits. A new logo and some slightly different character designs.

You can find some pictures and videos on their site if you are interested:

Wiki Site

source: Insert Credit

Wow! There have been over 300 clones of the original Famicom, or NES for westerners. Hawanja.com has compiled a listing of them with pictures of each. Pretty cool. Im still holding out for the Generation Nex.

Famicom Clones Site

source: Joystiq

Ubisoft updated their Bomberman DS website. The release date has changed to October 2005. Maybe they will implement the online play in it? I sure hope so.

UPDATE: Or, maybe it was just a typo and the release date really is in June.

You can check the official site here.

Check out some of these great Photoshop jobs. My fav has to be the wooden Xbox. I would buy that as a suitcase.

Worth 1000 Contest

Kotaku found some cool NES watches from the 80’s. I think I had the Donkey Kong one…either that or I played on once. Good for a little fun, but no replacement for a Game Boy.

Retro Watches

source: Kotaku

Just a quick roundup of some news:

- Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube has sold 1,230,000 units worldwide!

- Fifa 2006 is rumored to be heading to the DS. We already know that Winning Eleven is coming, possibly with Wifi.

- Check some new art from the DS game Deep Labyrinth here.

- The second entry in the article The Truth About Nintendo can be found here.

- Tak: Juju Challenge for the DS will be a fully 3d adventure. Check out a video here.