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Crystal Bearers also has a ballroom dancing minigame

by JC Fletcher { Oct 19th 2009 at 4:05PM }

Famitsu revealed two "event" minigames in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. We knew about the vaguely embarrassing pool float minigame, and we've actually seen hints of the other minigame in the trailer: ballroom dancing. This seems to take place in the scene in which Layle steals some guy's tuxedo to sneak into an event, and involves rotating the Wiimote and Nunchuk to simulate dancing movements.

In the E3 demo, the game was full of diverting events like this. A rail shooter segment opened the game, followed by an airship piloting segment. The main enemy-tossing game will be broken up by events like this one, which finally fulfills the promise of Final Fantasy VIII's most famous scene.

TGS 2009: Hands-on: Minna no Sukkiri

by JC Fletcher { Sep 25th 2009 at 11:15PM }

The latest Hot Shots title from Clap Hanz isn't about golf or tennis. Minna no Sukkiri is more Hot Shots ... baseball! And karate! And ... vegetable fighting! And book sorting! And other things that I didn't get to play in my short demo session! Sukkiri (something like Hot Shots: Refresh) is a minigame collection featuring twelve wildly different games. If the four I played are any indication, the descriptions for all of them would include the phrase "and that's it."

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Let's tap on our iPhones to play Let's Tap on our iPhones

by JC Fletcher { Sep 18th 2009 at 11:00PM }

If you've got an iPhone -- and a really secure case to protect it -- you'll be able to play Prope's quirky Wii debut Let's Tap soon. Prope has started releasing individual games from the Wii collection, with the first, Let's Tap: Tap Runner, available on the App Store today for $4. Gem Game will follow on September 25 for .99, with Silent Blocks, Bubble Voyager, and Rhythm Tap coming after that.

In case you don't want to risk tapping your phone right off the table, the games offer a "touch" mode in which you can control them by tapping on the screen, or a "free" mode in which you can tap any part of the phone. Let's watch a trailer after the post break!

[Via GameSetWatch]

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Mario and Sonic in a new trailer, at the Olympic Winter Games

by JC Fletcher { Aug 20th 2009 at 11:50AM }

We thought we had been cured of all vestiges of Sonic fandom -- the last several years having made caring about Sonic games unbearably painful. But then a speed-skating Metal Sonic showed up in this Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games trailer, and we were, however briefly, thrilled.

Other items of interest in this trailer: superfluous Sonic character Silver the Hedgehog getting really into curling, a Bowser/Bowser Jr. team (which confused us a lot when we initially thought it was a paradoxical Bowser/Baby Bowser team), and snowboarding! Which seems to be awfully close to the concept of Sonic Riders. And in the gallery, a few pictures of snowball fights! Is snowball fighting an Olympic sport now? If so, we'll actually pay attention to the TV broadcasts.

Gallery: Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics (GamesCom 2009)

Hudson finally announces Deca Sports on DS

by JC Fletcher { Aug 10th 2009 at 1:45PM }

We first heard rumblings from Hudson about a DS version of the surprisingly popular Deca Sports back in May of last year. Those ... offhand remarks have finally come to fruition, as Hudson has officially announced Deca Sports DS, for release in North America at the same time as every other game ever (Spring 2010). Scans of the Japanese version have also appeared, providing a first look at the handheld sports game.

The DS game includes customizable team designs, multiplayer modes and, most importantly, new sports. The events on this cartridge include golf, ping pong, wall climbing, bobsled, rugby, arm wrestling, clay shooting, cheerleading, and sepak takraw, only one of which we had to look up. (Wall climbing? What is that?)

Will Deca Sports be a hit on DS? Will the kind of inexplicable success of Deca Sports counteract the super-crowded release schedule? It should be interesting to find out.

[Scan via GoNintendo]

Mario and Sonic's winter outing dated for October 16

by David Hinkle { Jul 13th 2009 at 3:00PM }

We may have ragged on the first Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games a lot, but -- as horrible as we thought it was -- it managed to capture the interest (and money) of almost every man, woman, and child in all of the UK. So, Sega is working as fast as it can to get the latest version of its new money-printing machine, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, out to retail, announcing that the game will release this October.

Hot Shots 'Refresh' revealed as a minigame collection

by Randy Nelson { Jul 1st 2009 at 6:00PM }

First teased by developer Clap Hanz a couple days back, IGN reports that the latest casual sporting game in the Hot Shots franchise is actually a collection of 12 disparate minigames. Minna no Sukkiri ("sukirri" is Japanese for "refresh") does feature some sports -- karate, baseball, soccer, boxing, racing -- but only in bite-sized servings. The remaining seven games are ... well, they're odd, comprised of book-organizing, vegetable fighting and vacuuming, to name just a few.

We can see this minigame jumble getting a strong push for PSP Go in the States -- under a completely different name, of course. The Japanese version is slated for release this fall and a demo will be made available on Japan's PlayStation Store this Friday, July 3.

New Tingle game and new Tingle 'game' revealed

by JC Fletcher { Jun 24th 2009 at 10:40AM }

The mysterious Tingle game that Nintendo's been teasing was revealed last night -- when it was released. Dekisugi Tingle Pack is a DSiWare download that is actually not a game, but a set of little tools and apps, all starring Link's "pal."

The included utilities are a fortune-telling program (hence the fortune teller on the website), a calculator, a little dancing Tingle image that dances in front of your photos, a timer, and a coin-flipping minigame.

But don't get upset about the secret Tingle project being a 500-point non-game and not a real game, because the latest issue of Famitsu reveals another Tingle DS game, this time more in the style of Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. The new game, called Irobuki Tingle no Ai no Balloon Trip (Color-changing Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love) features the green-suited adventurer searching for, yes, love. The teaser site offers a fake news report, a fake dating show, and some Flipnote Studio Tingle animations, all in celebration of this new game.

Gallery: Dekisugi Tingle Pack (DSiWare)

[Dekisugi Tingle Pack screens via GAME Watch]

Wii Sports Resort: Video clip marathon

by JC Fletcher { Jun 22nd 2009 at 3:15PM }

Wii Sports Resort has a lot more content than its predecessor. For example, the aerobatics portion doesn't just include the skydiving segment that begins the game -- you can also fly the plane. Similarly, there are multiple aquatic vehicles you can operate -- canoes, wakeboards, and a few different jet-ski-based activities. Each of the twelve base sports contains a few gameplay variations.

After the break, you can see the airplane game and more for yourself, in a series of nine gameplay videos captured by GameVideos. We're glad you'll finally be able to see the surprisingly strenuous canoeing portion in action.

Gallery: Wii Sports Resort

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Wonderful! 505 Games announces Cooking Mama 3 for DS

by JC Fletcher { Jun 1st 2009 at 4:30PM }

We may have known it was coming, but now we have a nice, official press release announcing Cooking Mama 3 for DS. 505 Games said that it will release the latest in Cooking Mama Ltd.'s surprisingly popular culinary minigame series "in time for Christmas."

The new game will feature "over 80 recipes, 200 mini-games, four player multiplayer," and "two totally new game modes." "What Dish Can You Make" mode lets you and Mama create a new recipe from two recipes you choose. "Let's Go Shopping" gives you a shopping list to buy, with confusing signs and irritating store employees trying to hinder you!

Majesco hasn't officially announced a US release date for Cooking Mama 3, but we expect a fall or holiday release here as well. It's basically Majesco's biggest title of the year!

Let's Tap very carefully around these Silent Blocks

by JC Fletcher { May 22nd 2009 at 1:45PM }

The latest weekly installment of Sega's Let's Tap trailer series, visible after the break, highlights the "Silent Blocks" mode, which basically forces us to unlearn one of the most basic tenets of Jenga: stop hitting the table, you jerk. Normally, jostling the play surface would bring about a quick and rage-filled end to any "stack of blocks" game, but in Let's Tap it's how you play.

In the insane world of Let's Tap (a world where you play video games by not touching controllers), you'd be a jerk for refusing to tap on the table.

Gallery: Let's Tap

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Wii Sports Resort features ... golf and table tennis?

by JC Fletcher { May 18th 2009 at 1:00PM }

Nintendo of Japan's new commercials for the Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort use some very slick high-speed camera footage to illustrate the realistic motions used in, among other things, table tennis and golf. New in-game footage found in the commercial reveals that two of Resort's new minigames will be retreads of things seen in previous titles -- table tennis was covered in Wii Play, and golf, of course, appeared in the original Wii Sports.

Nintendo must be very confident that MotionPlus improves these games significantly. We still don't know how many games will be included in Resort, but if two of them are going to be encore presentations, there had better be a lot of games. We totally understand Nintendo wanting to take a second crack at table tennis, we must admit, because Wii Play's version is not where it's at.

Gallery: Wii Sports Resort

[Via N-Europe]

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Activision shamelessly announces 'Science Papa'

by JC Fletcher { May 14th 2009 at 12:00PM }

Activision came up with a great new idea for a Wii/DS game. It's a bunch of short minigames, right, but each minigame is a component of the process of creating something. Like, say, steps in a recipe. In this particular game, you will perform scientific experiments "from a wide variety of sciences."

Science Papa features "over 30 different experiments," during which players will manipulate lab equipment like Bunsen burners, mix chemicals, and perform other stylus/Wiimote-based activities in order to "prove their scientific worth against a crazy cast of rival scientists in intense competitions."

Here's where it gets really brilliant: while you're doing these experiments, or following these "recipes," if you will, you'll be guided by a cute, cartoon-style helper. A sort of parental figure. We're surprised that nobody else has come up with this winning formula yet!

Gallery: Science Papa (Wii)

Gallery: Science Papa (DS)

Let's Tap to the finish line

by JC Fletcher { May 8th 2009 at 5:00PM }

With this trailer, Sega has managed to pull our attention away from the "Rhythm Tap" mode in Let's Tap just long enough to notice one of the other games. The "Tap Runner" mode here is unusual, and not just because you play it by slapping a flat surface. There really aren't that many side-scrolling platformer racing games these days, outside of this, Sonic Rivals and -- kind of -- Metro-Cross. And Metro-Cross is hardly from "these days."

Let's Tap's multiplayer racing looks like it could be enjoyable even if played by holding stuff. Like everything else in this game, the appeal is merely magnified by the novelty of being able to play without any stuff to hold.

Gallery: Let's Tap

Sega's 'Wacky World of Sports' for Wii includes Extreme Ironing

by JC Fletcher { Apr 29th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Activision picked the wrong day to announce a Wii sports minigame collection, because Sega just outclassed it. Compare the list of sports in Activision's Big League Sports: Summer with Sega's new Wacky World of Sports:

Big League Sports: tennis, beach volleyball, golf, soccer, baseball and football.
Wacky World of Sports: furniture racing, card boxing, log cutting, Fierljeppen, mud sliding, tuna tossing, cheese rolling, extreme ironing, and two more.

One of the characters is also some kind of Naruto parody, but we don't know whether to mark that as a plus or minus. Wacky World of Sports will be out in the regular world in "late 2009."