Developer Natsume is best-known for its farming sim franchise, Harvest Moon, but that doesn’t mean they don’t convert other mundane tasks into video games. Released in late April of this year, River King: Mystic Valley is a fishing game for the Nintendo DS that takes all the fun of sitting and waiting in real life and lets you do it in a game as well.
Read more

1 comment

I’m a little late on the uptake with this post. This video hit the internet some time last week, but my recent move to a new apartment kept me from posting this like the good video game blogger I try to be. Bad Kel!

A trailer for the upcoming Castlevania title has been released. The trailer shows some awesome artwork as well as some scenes from the game. I’m a huge fan of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and this new installment of Castlevania looks to be the same mix of side-scrolling action and RPG elements that we’ve come to know and love.

I would also like to go on record by saying that an elevator is my new favorite weapon to destroy giant mutant crabs.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia will be released in the Fall of 2008 for the Nintendo DS.

[via Game|Life]

3 comments

A new trailer for Guitar Hero: On Tour is out, and I have to say that it just plain sucks.

It’s not very well done and it just keeps on going, so it ends up being embarrassing for everyone involved.

I know this isn’t meant to be a serious trailer, but I don’t think it was supposed to be this bad either. They are trying to sell a game, after all. They could have went with the easiest option and just put some almost naked chicks in there somewhere, or they could have followed the Guitar Hero: World Tour approach and just showed people rocking out with a list of features, both of which would have ended up a lot better than some guy picking his DS and some dumbass singing about all the features. Especially when you have the kind of features that Guitar Hero: On Tour has.

Read more

10 comments

Let’s face it, there’s a ton of skins out there for your consoles and electronics that are extremely ugly, bulky, and cliche. I’ve tried several skins in the past, but I was never satisfied with any of them. Then I found a product called GelaSkins. Out of all of the lame skull, flame, and flaming skull designs the market carries, finally, I found something worth checking out.

Read more

3 comments

You can bet that us here at PIÑATATONik won’t leave you high and dry on the latest Viva Piñata news. We’ve told you about the new Xbox 360 adventure, and now feast your eyes on a tiny bit of juicy Viva Piñata DS information after the jump.

Read more

1 comment

Blockbuster is trying pretty hard to make its mark in the gaming retail department, just as many other store chains are trying to do. The company’s Game Rush service wants a piece of the game sale goldmine, which is why Blockbuster will be expanding the service by offering more accessories for consumers.

Starting today, Blockbuster will now carry software, hardware, and accessories for the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo DS systems. In addition to more offerings, the company will also be expanding the variety of games it has available for rent, as well as the number of existing rental copies.

Not only will the company be expanding its variety, but it will also try its best to get the gaming crowd’s attention with exclusive deals and promotions. One example, Blockbuster’s announcement explained a $499 PS3 bundle that included a 40GB system, an HDMI cable, Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray, Transformers: The Game, a Blu-ray DVD remote, and one free Blu-ray or PS3 game rental per week for 12 weeks. Blockbuster definitely wants to compete with GameStop.

Take note that the company hasn’t mentioned the PSP or PC in any of its offerings. Blockbuster hasn’t totally revealed if they’re ditching the two consoles or just not giving them any attention yet.

24 comments

Nintendo had a roundtable in New York yesterday, to speak about Wii Fit, which will be releasing on May 19 in the United States.

The man himself, Shigeru Miyamoto, introduced the game to the press at the roundtable, and after doing a couple of yoga stretches, he discussed the status of the game in Japan and the success he thinks Wii Fit will have in the US. The game has already sold more than 2 million copies in Japan, but Miyamoto wasn’t too optimistic about the US enjoying the game as much, as the two countries have many cultural differences.

According to a Crave blogger on CNET:

“Miyamoto noted that on average, American families are apart more often than those in Japan. A lot of families have parents who have separated or divorced, so it’s tougher to predict the role family will play in the American response to Wii Fit.”

In addition to sales talk, Miyamoto also flirted with the idea that there may be interaction with the Nintendo DS. This left press to believe that there could be a DS calorie counter or fitness tracker.

After being asked what he would be working on next, Miyamoto told the crowd that he will be working on the Wii a bit more. He also showed a desire to make another Pikmin title.

3 comments

SEGA announced today that a demo of their newest Marvel-based game, Iron Man, will be releasing tomorrow on the Xbox Live Marketplace. SEGA has also said that a demo for the PS3 will be coming “soon” to the PlayStation Store. Alongside the announcement, SEGA also released a new trailer for the game (extremely bad music included).

I’m pretty excited to see the release of Iron Man, being a big fan of the comic books and the superhero himself. Of course, the video game will be based on the highly anticipated movie starring Robert Downey Jr., who is also providing the voice of Iron Man in the game.

The game will be releasing on every console that’s currently accepted in today’s society, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS, PC, and mobile, on May 2nd.

4 comments

The Nintendo DS is obviously geared toward a more casual crowd than its portable competition, the PSP, but that certainly doesn’t mean that hardcore games can’t thrive on the platform. With Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Swords, Team Ninja has taken their franchise on the go, but can a series known for its intense difficulty and precision work on the DS? Keep reading to find out.
Read more

4 comments

IGN today revealed a lot of new info on Guitar Hero: On Tour for the DS, most notably the little hunk of plastic seen above. AS you can see, the little peripheral only has four buttons as opposed to the console version’s five, but I’m sure that won’t keep die-hard GH fans from picking this one up when it’s eventually released. Strumming looks like it’s controlled on the touch screen, and with this setup I wasn’t sure if my right hand would get in the way of the top screen. I checked with my own DS. It didn’t. We’re safe.

Besides, now that I’ll be able to play Guitar Hero outside, I’ll just bring along a guitar case, lay it on the ground, and wait for the money to roll in. Plus I’m sure that the women will be all over me!

6 comments

Well, who would have guessed that the Wii would still be in short supply after all this time? I wouldn’t have thought so, that’s for sure. If you asked me a year and a half ago, I would have put my money on any of the other systems being in short supply. Nevertheless, here we are with the Wii reportedly in low supply for the next six months.

During its investor’s phone call GameStop COO Dan Dematteo was asked by investors if he saw an end to the post holiday shortages that affected the 360 (were those true?), DS (who doesn’t own one?), and Wii (is Nintendo causing these?). He chose to focus on the Wii since it seems that it is the only system that still might be in shortage, saying that supply “won’t meet demand for the next 2 quarters.” That’s a bit of time, huh? I can’t believe Nintendo would be intentionally doing this still, even though I never believed they were in the first place.

Dematteo also commented on the other systems, saying that the 360 and DS were in good supply while the PSP was getting a bit hard to find. As for the PS3, he said they have plenty of those for all the people out there wanting to pick one up when GTA IV releases… which is also coming out for the 360. I guess it could still spur sales.

GameStop CFO David Carlson also had a word to say about some price cuts coming for both the PS3 and 360. The company is predicting a $50 price cut for each system within the next year. With the positive response the 360 had in Europe after their recent price cut, this can’t be that far from the truth. At least for the 360; do you think that Sony can lose even more money on every system they sell?

3 comments

This week of new games isn’t quite a “best week ever” when it comes to content, but we do see the release of three, maybe 4 quality games (in my opinion) that I have been somewhat buzzing to see come out. Click the jump below to be amazed with the content we get this week.
Read more

3 comments

Oh Em Gee guys!!! Did you hear that Agetec, publisher of such games as Cookie and Cream and Magic Pengel, is bringing a game called LOL to the Nintendo DS this May? Like SRSLY? OMG LOL.

Agetec describes the gameplay as:

LOL is played by one of the players making a challenge in writing to the others. The crazier the challenge, the more fun everyone will have. The person who delivered the challenge chooses an appropriate time limit, and everyone has to answer the challenge on their touch screen however they see fit – with words, pictures, or whatever comes to mind. The host reveals the answers, and everyone votes on a winner who will then decide on the challenge for the next round. Always different and a blast to play every time, LOL will, as its name implies, make everyone laugh out loud.

… but it really just looks like Pictochat with Wi-fi play to me.

I think it’s worth mentioning that the game’s motto is “If the game is boring, then you are boring.” I swear I didn’t make that up.

Hit the jump for screens and the full press release.

Read more

6 comments

eNe3, which is an abbreviation of something in another language, has posted the first screen shots of the new Incredible Hulk game coming out for the 360 and the PS3, based on the film of the same name. I’m hoping the movie has nothing to do with its predecessor (Ang Lee just isn’t built for action), but the story will be a different for the video game. While the latest movie, Hulk, was a bit boring and horribly plotted, the latest video game, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Rampage was anything of the sort, allowing you to rampage through cities and destroy at will, all in the name of good of course. Now it looks like Sega is taking a hint and not only basing the new game on the open world gameplay that Ultimate Rampage featured, but taking cues from the comic book as well as the film.

Still, Ultimate Rampage had its flaws. I’m very, very happy to see that these screen shoots look incredibly realistic and while they’re probably doctored to no end, it gives me high hopes that throwing cars and knocking down buildings will be even more fun this time around than ever before. The game is going to feature plenty of destructible environments and an open world recreation of New York city. It’ll be like Spider-Man, except now you can destroy all the buildings instead of swinging from them. This is just a guess, but I doubt it’ll look that good on the Wii, DS and PSP; which it is also slated for.

3 comments

With the rise of the Nintendo DS has been the increased number of point and click games, a genre that in the past could only be found on the PC. The DS’ bottom touch screen make these types of games a no-brainer for the system, but what happens when you take the old school Lucas Arts adventure gameplay, add a dose of platforming, some run-and-gunning, and a film noir detective tale? Insecticide happens, but the real question is, is it worth playing? Find out after the jump.

Read more

3 comments