Kuroshitsuji DS Game

Destructoid reports that the wonderful anime, Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) is going to get it's own DS game.

Square Enix owns the rights to the show, so I have high hopes that it will be very cool, not that it will ever be released anywhere outside of Japan. However, I can always keep a dim hope of playing dish washing minigames.

Read the entire article here.

Link Drop - Atlus Compels Me to Game edition

Gaming... I still do it! I swear! It's just in smaller doses these days - as seen by my focus on casual games on the Wii and DS games I can take with me.

Well I caved in today and put a fiver down on Izuna 2. I will allegedly get a mini poster upon pickup. Atlus really sold me on the new tag system and the crapton of playable characters added. Well done Atlus, you win this round.

Speaking of Atlus, they sent me a wonderful email announcing Persona 4. Oh snap! Enjoy this video as much as I did.

in other gaming news:

The Wii gets a fighting game! And it's Castlevania! Neat!
source: Kotaku

Japan gets a D. Gray Man video game. Meanwhile I turn tints and shades of green with jealousy. Gah I hope this show takes hold in the US like Naruto and Bleach did. It utterly deserves to.
source: insert credit

Kotaku uncovers the Samba De Amigo maraca attachments for the Wii-mote. Cha cha CHA!

Cool website, nice design - Girls Don't Game

Spend more time online, but maybe a little less money. Yet another MMO is released on the masses - Dream of Mirror Online.

Found a great wii-friendly radio station called Finetune. Check it out, it's good times.

Izuna 2 - Do Want

I have no idea what it is about this dungeon crawler that I liked so much in the first version, but I really want to pick up Izuna 2. Harsh tease with the 'wandering merchants' in the dungeon. (see Wandering Vendor comic)

Here are a couple promo vids for the game. I know it looks like a GBA game, but something about it is just really addictive.

Official Site Here.

Izuna Trailer


Izuna / Matsumoto Tag Move

Link Drop - Firefox Download Day edition

Hello hello all. We all doing our geek duty and downloading Firefox 3? I don't know why I joined the bandwagon, perhaps my loathing of IE and Safari. /shrug.

Anyway, enjoy some links on your new browser (or your old one, you technophobe! XP)

comics:

DevilDoll found a wonderful visualization of D&D character classes, as displayed by super heroes.
source(s): Devil Doll & MightyGodKing

Diamond has dropped their May 08 Sales Charts and Market Reports - Marvel gives DC an ugly beat down. Eeeesh. I suppose this is what DC gets for seemingly going out of their way to not give new readers anywhere to jump on. (no recaps!) source: Newsarama

Not Blog X has a recap of (one of the) Rogue mini series from the 90s. He wasn't fond of this series, but trust me, there were worse.
(aside: this is a really cool blog that I'd like to really dig into. Must add to reader!)

games:
AnimeAlmanac found this link of the Portal song 'Still Alive'... in Japanese.
sources: Anime Almanac's Twitter feed & XBox 360 Fanboy

Found in a GaiaOnline thread: For those that don't know what SNK Boss Syndrome is, consider yourself informed.

anime:
Anime News Network reports that PiQ (the magazine that was supposed to replace Newtype) is already dead at issue 4. That took no time at all.

Summer anime season is started and I'm still watching stuff from 2 seasons back. With any luck, I'll finish up Potemayo pretty soon and pick up some of the summer goodness. Hell, I've only seen the first two episodes of 'last' season's Kamen no Maid Guy.

games:

Kotaku found an amazing and hysterical Flash game called Puzzle Farter. Yes, it's flatulence powered travel. Awesome.

DS Fanboy found a clever little alarm clock based on the Metal Gear Solid character, Otacon.

random amusement:

The Twitter Fail Whale has a groupie. That is good times. Follow her @failwhale.

Geese Howard, Ace Attorney

Variant of the Boot to the Head
(wait for it...)




thanks to Brotha Kyo for the heads up!

Sega Superstars Tennis

Item originally found at dsfanboy.

So, Sega is making a tennis game. Okay, but not earth shattering. The exciting bit is the character lineup that will be playable!

From the press release: SEGA Superstars Tennis has over 15 playable SEGA idols including Sonic the Hedgehog, AiAi from Super Monkeyball fame, Ulala of Space Channel 5 and Amigo from Samba De Amigo. In addition to their own unique attributes, each character will also come equipped with their own superstar tennis skills, putting a whole new spin on each match played!

full press release here

The even better news is that this game will be released on pretty much all of the current and/or last generation systems. (PS2, PS3, XBox 360, Wii, DS) Superstars Tennis drops early next year. (My Wii may end up with a second tennis game!)

Doki Doki...again.

In a report that makes me loathe my fellow otaku more than usual, Danny Choo reports that there will be a sequel to Doki Doki Maho Shinpan. The new game is called Doki Doki Maho Shinpan Duo. More poking girls in their bits & pieces with the stylus.
*sigh*

Misc. Blog Dump!

video:

Japanese Beetle Sumo Tournament also known as irl Mushi King.
via Japan Probe
A day in the life of Japanese Spiderman
via Japan Sugoi

Random / Misc.
Funimation has reduced it's staff by10%. A chunk of which came from animeOnline.
via ANN

I'd be remiss if I didn't post this, being Greeky in the real, non-sorority way.
Greek advertisements for Brain Age. (complete with shmexy nurses?)
Strange, they hate gaming over there. Maybe casual games like Brain Age will change that. (?)

Card Fighters DS Recall!

and there was much rejoicing!

Kotaku brings forth the good news of the CFDS recall. Mine is already sealed up and ready to out in the morning mail.

"Users must first register their game with the website, ... Then you fill out an online form, print it, and mail it in along with only the game card, Replacements begin shipping on July 1st on a first-come, first-serve basis."

The recall page is here.

Phoenix Wright comedy skit.

Not made by me, I just appreciate the humor.

as for me...

Traded in Guilty Gear Dust Strikers (ugh, so awful) to put a little credit towards Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales and a used copy of Devil Kings. Haven't played Devil Kings yet (yes I know it's a DW clone) but Chocobo Tales has been fantastic thus far. I haven't gone into any card battles yet, but I need something to tide me over till the Card Fighters DS game finally gets recalled. Here is some Devil Kings footage if you're interested.

DS Opera Browser released...internet proclaims...meh.

Two (yes two) versions of the Nintendo DS web browser have been released in the US. One version works on both systems, and the other on DS Lites only. Why? I haven't the foggiest.
DS Lite is the only version currently available in brick & mortar stores. Phat version is available through Nintendo only.

General consensus is unimpressed. The browser does not support Flash nor Javascript and connection times are very slow. Personally I'd like a copy if only to look up movie times and make blog updating easier. However, I still have the DS "Phat" and I am too lazy/cheap to order it from Nintendo.

Card Fighters DS recall...almost.

Snatched directly from Kotaku, who has inside sources that send them press releases.

We have been informed by Nintendo of America that the manufacturing of the replacement cartridges will be available on June 25th. At that time, SNK will ship the cartridges from Japan to our facility in the US and begin the process of implementing the recall. We should be able to begin providing replacements cartridges the first or second week of July. Information regarding the procedure on returning your defective cartridge to SNK will be posted on our website in the near future.

Exploding Clothes Mahjong

Famitsu has posted new screen shots of Chu~ka na jyanshi tenho painyan Remix. (Completely and utterly not worksafe) After you beat the girls at Mahjong (and I mean beat unmercifully until their clothes tear apart) use your DS stylus to find " evil sesshouseki stone(s)" from their prone forms.
Ecchi? Misogyny? A little of both? Hm...
via Canned Dogs

Recap!

I (finally) picked up a Nintendo Wii! Between that and rl being a pain, I've had a little lapse in my blogging. However, I'm back and it's time for a recap. (in no particular order)

Card Fighters DS recall (soon-ish) Expect a six week wait until an official announcement.
via Kotaku.

Maids vs. Dominatrixes in a soccer battle supreme. It was just a matter of time until boob fallout.
via animeOnline

Agent Aika 'body' pillows. Ew. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. (nsfw!)
via Majoria's News

Japanator's ABC's of J-music "ijk" section - some particularly good selections such as Inagumi Circus Dan, Kishidan, & Yoko Kanno.

and a really funny bit of radio news from The Onion.
Ex Girlfriend Playing Virtua Fighter with someone else now
via the Onion (duh) but found before me by Kotaku

Card Fighters DS is so very...broken

Kotaku breaks my little heart with this one. Card Fighters DS "contains a game-stopping glitch that keeps you from being able to collect all the cards" The entire story is here - but essentially all games released in the US have a glitch that appears in the 2nd playthrough and crashes the game. The worst part is that all the A level and S level cards are after the glitch. Soooo, you'll never get the good cards. Ever. SNK is "looking into it" ...yeah.

Good grief, I hope there is a recall.

Pac Man Vs on DS

Namco Bandai Games announced today that they're bringing yet another Namco Museum to store shelves this summer, this time for the Nintendo DS. However, this one contains the Gamecube multiplayer hit Pac-Man Vs.!

Read it all here via Kotaku

Oh by the way, that ghost image is available as a t-shirt from Club Namco, in case you were wondering.

Ouendan + Nodame = WIN

Nintendo grabbed the liscence to Nodame Cantabile and signs point to another Ouendan type game. I'm going to have to import this when I get some cash. What if I can be the timpani player? Glee!

Osu! Tatakae! Nodame Cantabile!

via ds fanboy

Dirth of DS games?

There is rumbling around the internet that there are fewer quality ds games being released over the summer. (Aside from Pokemon of course). So, I'll make a couple of completely unfounded suggestions on games that look very interesting.

Spectrobes - March 2007
Two heroes embark on a mission to save their galaxy – to do so they must excavate, awaken, train and collect all the Spectrobes they can and battle to defeat the Krawl.
by Disney Interactive
Seems like the next step in Pokemon. Still, I really like the idea of excavation, and using all of the features of the ds. Well, except the microphone. I hate blowing into my ds; it's strange and vaguely creepy.

Puzzle Quest - March 2007
An rpg where the battles are solved with puzzles. Think Culdcept + Columns = Puzzle Quest (hopefully without the awful pacing of Culdcept)
by D3 Publishing

Housewife Superstar - release date tba
The game, though it's just in concept form now, is basically about being the perfect housewife - learning flower arranging, embroidery, dressing up, and various other things, but all a bit tongue in cheek, not taking it seriously.
image & quote via Insert Credit

The character design looks fantastic.

So, the future of the ds isn't so bleak. Kill some time finishing off your plethora of Final Fantasy games for the gba/ds or pick up Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja and you'll have more time to play games and less time to whine about what is or isn't coming down the pipe.