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DS releases for the week of April 28th

Here we are, still working through titles from last week, and they go and release more games. It's just not fair!

Oh, wait. No, we want them to keep doing that, don't we? Now if only we had more money, things would be just perfect! This week, the U.S. sees the most releases, but unless you're into exercise/training games (like this blogger, who is stoked over Let's Yoga), it's probably not the best week ever. Patience, for they will release yet more games soon.
  • Brain Voyage
  • Iron Man
  • Let's Pilates!
  • Let's Yoga!
  • Toy Shop
Stretch past the break to see what's in stock for the rest of the world's major markets.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 21st


Just as we were getting lulled by the weeks of slow releases and were convinced we had time to whittle away at that ever-increasing backlog of DS games, a week of awesome bursts out of nowhere. Between Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and The World Ends With You, we expect a lot of gamers to be pretty busy in the coming days.
  • Dream Pinball 3D
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness
  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time
  • River King: Mystic Valley
  • The World Ends With You
Hit the jump to see what's out in the rest of the major markets. Hint: it's quite a list.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 14th

This week sees a return to U.S. gamers getting actual games (huzzah!), and the disturbing trend of games being released in Europe continues. Games released before they hit the U.S., even. Clearly, the end of the world is upon us. We expect a rash of heart attacks in the EU gamer contingent any time now. If you're still alive by the end of the week, let us know how you feel about The World Ends With You.
  • AMF Bowling Pinbusters!
  • Cory in the House
  • High School Musical 2: Work This Out!
  • Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All Stars
  • Rondo of Swords
  • Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys!

Continued →

Wii Warm Up: Mario Kart vs. Wii Fit

If all the recent rumors are to be believed, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit will be releasing awfully close to one another. Of course, that alone is reason to think that at least one of those dates will change (and our money's on Mario Kart), but in the event that they come out within a few weeks of one another, will you just suffer and be broke ... or will you choose? If you must choose, which one wins?

April NPD: Let us show you our dominance

Someone (and everyone they know) must really be all about the Pokemans, because the Pokémon powerhouse rolled over everything else last month. Though Diamond and Pearl were released at the end of April, they still managed to move a staggering number of units to take the top spot by a wide margin over ... Super Paper Mario. And everybody's extra Wiimote (aka Wii Play) took the fourth spot over both Guitar Hero II titles.

Honestly, it was not pretty. We're almost a little ashamed, but what can you do when you're just this awesome? Oh, hey, and it looks like everyone picked up a new DS Lite in celebration, because the little handheld money machine dominated hardware sales as well.

It was a good month to be Nintendo. The numbers themselves are tucked away after the jump, but you already know the story: the big N is officially the juggernaut of the moment.

Continued →

Japanese hardware sales, Apr. 23 - 29: Double feature edition



Due to the holiday week in Japan, the sales numbers were a little slow, but now they're here ... and so, without further ado, we present the following commercial script.

[AUDIO ]
It's called the DS, or the handheld system that dared to put two screens of uncensored, hardcore action into the hands of gamers.

[VIDEO]
EXTREME CLOSE-UP ON BOTTOM SCREEN. PULL BACK TO SHOW ENTIRE DS.]

[AUDIO]
Iwata and Miyamoto are back, only this time, they're back to back with dual screens that will tear you in two.

[VIDEO]
CUT TO CARTOON MIYAMOTO AND IWATA PORTRAIT.

Continued →

Japanese hardware sales, Apr. 23 - 29: Double feature edition



Due to the holiday week in Japan, the sales numbers were a little slow, but now they're here ... and so, without further ado, we present the following commercial script.

[AUDIO ]
It's called the DS, or the handheld system that dared to put two screens of uncensored, hardcore action into the hands of gamers.

[VIDEO]
EXTREME CLOSE-UP ON BOTTOM SCREEN. PULL BACK TO SHOW ENTIRE DS.]

[AUDIO]
Iwata and Miyamoto are back, only this time, they're back to back with dual screens that will tear you in two.

[VIDEO]
CUT TO CARTOON MIYAMOTO AND IWATA PORTRAIT.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 30th

This week is apparently the official week for movie tie-ins, because that's all we have coming out for our beloved DS here in the States. This week, Europe and Australia are the places to be, when it comes to games, and how often do you guys get to say that? Don't worry -- tomorrow, some delay will be announced for you guys, and it'll be back to business as usual.

We don't poke fun at you. We're commiserating. Luckily, this week there are games slated to hit PAL regions that are worth the wait, particularly in Australia.

On the shelves this week in the U.S.:
  • Shrek the Third
  • Spider-Man 3
For the rest of the world, check after the jump.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 23rd

As you may have heard, there's some serious Pokémon action this week, and the sheer magnitude of that spotlight has somewhat dwarfed everything else -- but fear not, there are other games for those who aren't Poké-fans. Note that we're not promising they're good ... we're just saying that they are, in fact, games. We're curious how SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters turns out, definitely, since we've heard mixed reports.
  • Classic Action: Devilish
  • Pokemon Diamond
  • Pokemon Pearl
  • SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS
Check after the jump to see what's out this week in the rest of the world. Japanese-speaking importers, take note: there is some serious hotness releasing in Japan this week, along with 367 other games.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 16th

For gamers in the U.S., tax time has passed, and that means that some of you are just about ready to relax with a shiny new game. If that's the case, we sure hope you like word and number puzzles, because that's the dominant theme this week.

US releases
  • Classic Action: Devilish
  • The New York Times Crosswords
  • Sudokuro
  • Toon-Doku
For the rest of the world, hit the jump.

Continued →

DS releases for the week of April 2nd

What a week! At this rate, we could almost use a DS drought, just to give us time to save up some cash! But we shouldn't complain, since our counterparts in the UK and Australia aren't having much of a week as far as releases go. Isn't that always the way of it? One week, we get a ton of games and they get none, and the next week it's reversed. The only thing we can ever count on is that Japan is going to debut a veritable truckload of new titles. No matter what's going in the rest of the world, the Japanese must have their new DS games.

US releases

  • Cake Mania
  • Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
  • Honeycomb Beat
  • Konami Classics: Arcade Hits

Continued →

APD alert: Wii Helm


ThinkGeek is apparently offering a brilliant new product: the Wii Helm. Besides the +7 charisma you'll obviously receive, the Wii Helm allows one to strap in a Wiimote to the top of a sleek, shiny helmet to free up both hands for other endeavors. The demo video shows a daring pioneer in her quest to utilize head motions to conquer Wii Sports.

Yes, it's a joke, and a clever one at that. But upon watching the video, we here at the Fanboy could only think of a glorious future, in which the official Night at the Roxbury game features realistic head-bobbing for super-mega-funtime. Truly amazing.

Another "joke" at ThinkGeek involves this tie, which we thought was horribly cruel, because it is awesome in every single way. However, torrents of furious E-mails (nineteen of which were ours) have forced ThinkGeek to actually start manufacturing the product in the near future. Viva la 8-bit!

[Thanks to Dustin, Alex, and Liqwid!]

Wii Warm Up: On the new VC features


So, not sure if you guys noticed, but overnight Nintendo updated the Virtual Console, adding something that a lot of us have been clamoring for: realistic glitches. We personally were a little turned off by the eerie perfection of the VC, and we're glad Nintendo addressed our concern by adding random graphical errors and occasional blinking screens. It's a much more authentic experience if we have to turn the console on and off a bunch of times, and clean it out with alcohol before playing.

This should go very nicely with the announced wireless NES Max. We've got ours preordered! What about you all?

DS Daily: Welcome, new DS owners!


We're sure that a lot of you are just getting back from stores, where you picked up your $19.99 Konami's Best Edition DS Lites. We're glad Konami solved that DS shortage, and at such a budget price! Welcome, new DS Fanboys, to the fold.

We thought it was a little presumptuous of Konami to label the whole system as "Konami's Best", but we must admit, a lot of Konami's best work has been on the system-- two Castlevanias, Lunar Knights, etc. We can accept that.

So what do you think about your new systems? And are any of you existing DS owners getting one at the budget price?

Pre-April Fools warning: Trust no one

As you wander unsuspecting into your weekend, don't forget that the craziest game news day outside of E3 (well, maybe not anymore) is coming up. That's right, Sunday is April Fools Day, the one day a year where newsmakers and gamemakers everywhere stop making unintentional jokes and try to intentionally make up the most ludicrously believable fake stories that they can.

From BurgerCraft to real 1up mushrooms to cheat site shutdowns, no topic is safe. Heck, in the case of magazines, the actual joke can come in early March. Here are few tips to keep your coming weekend fool free.
  • If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: We'd all love for Nintendo to suddenly give everyone who clicks a link a free Wii, but face it, it doesn't seem too likely.
  • Sourcing is important: If a blockbuster April 1 story comes from unnamed sources or a mysteriously dead web site, remain skeptical. The least they could do is forge some documentation for their joke; make them work for it.
  • It's Sunday: Big gaming news never comes out on Sunday. Then again, don't be surprised if some sites wait till Monday to spring their foolishness this year.
  • Sega is not re-entering the hardware business. Nintendo is not leaving it: Actually, this is good advice to remember year round.
  • Your favorite classic Sega franchise from yesteryear is not going to suddenly reappear as a Wii-exclusive title: Oh, wait....
  • When in doubt, don't believe it: If the story pops up again in a week, you're probably in the clear.

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