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The Nintendo DS was a landmark handheld console. In hindsight Nintendo looks prophetic with its adoption of a touchscreen in the years just before the idea of the smartphone takes hold in the public consciousness. This touchscreen allowed many gameplay ideas that were once slow and clunky to become much smoother. Point and click adventure games are mostly known from the PC market, but there have been some ports and original point and clicks on older consoles and handhelds. The DS with its touchscreen allowed point and click adventure games to be played in the palm of everybody's hand, and there was an explosion of them. One of the early prominent developers of DS point and click adventures was the Japanese developer Cing. In 2005 they released Another Code: Two Memories, which was renamed Trace Memory for North America. In 2007 the company released Hotel Dusk: Room 215, both of these titles did quite well for the small developer. However, Cing was not able to keep this momentum rolling and went defunct in 2010.
Hotel Dusk was the first of a two part series, with its sequel being Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. Both games released on the DS, and Last Window was also Cing's final game before going bankrupt. Nintendo published all these DS titles, but part of Cing's problems may have been the seemingly random release regions of their games. Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk released in Japan, North America, and Europe and achieved some success. Last Window and Trace Memory's sequel, Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories for the Wii, only released in Japan and Europe. Last Window released too late in Cing's life to likely come to North America, they were already dying when the game was releasing. What was strange about Hotel Dusk was that its first release region was in North America. So what made Hotel Dusk so special that many adventure game fans had to have it and play it? What gave it the crossover appeal to give it that little extra push?
Continue reading Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Welcome to the third, and final, in my series retrospective on the Pokemon franchise. This final entry will cover the Advance Generation of the Pokemon series, which spanned even games on the Gameboy Advance, four on the GameCube, and three on the Nintendo DS. The Advance Generation was a sort of reboot for the franchise, when Ruby and Sapphire were originally released for the GBA, they were not connected in any way to the previous games in the series. The stories weren't connected like the first two generation games were, the new region, Hoenn, was in a completely different part of the Pokemon world, with no connection to either Kanto or Johto, and while Ruby and Sapphire contained data for all of the Pokemon from the previous games, a vast majority of them were unobtainable within the games themselves, without the use of a cheating device, and the games featured no way to connect to any of the previous releases. Some fans felt this lack of connection to the previous games was a step in the wrong direction and questioned whether or not Nitendo truely knew what they wanted to do with the franchise, little did we know that Nintendo did have something in mind, but we'd have to wait some time to see what it was...
Continue reading Gaming in Retrospect: Pokemon Generation III
Here's the post that makes the weekly release list look like child's play. The black friday deals! For those of you in Euroland or where ever and don't know what Black Friday is, it is the day after Thanksgiving here in the US in which all the stores try to get people to come in and buy stuff for Christmas by offering insane deals. Of course, many stores entice gamers to come in and get stuff, so here's what's being offered this year. Before I get into it, I want to give props to cheapassgamer.com, bfads.net, and blackfriday.info for all the information found in this post.
Please note that the deals in bold are the ones I recommend most of all.
To get started, choose a store below to see what they have to offer.
External Link: Amazon.com deals from Cheap Ass Gamer
Best Buy
Circuit City
Costco
Game Crazy
GameStop
KB Toys
K-Mart
Meijer
Sam's Club
Target
Toys R Us
Wal-Mart
Continue reading 2008 Black Friday Deals
Antimind is one of the original founders of RF Generation. Love homebrew? Why not read more, and check out her shrine to DS homebrew.
Nintendo's DS is awesome. The problem is the overflow of crap commercial games. The DS is capable of (and deserves) far better material. Enter homebrew games and applications.
How does video game trivia sound? Good? Awesome! It's available on DS. Wish you could play PC first-person shooters on the go? You can do that too. How about having a portable classic game library? Check! You can also play hundreds of otherwise unheard of games. Everything from puzzle collections to RTS with wifi play and leaderboards.
Want to play Japanese games in English? You can do that too thanks to homebrew. You can also turn your DS into a feature packed PDA. Want to read comics on the go? How about chatting on IRC? Done and done!
Check out my Homebrew Guide for the previously mentioned goodness and more. I've even included a Homebrew For Idiots guide. What are you waiting for? Unlock your DS's potential today!
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Kotaku posted it as rumor, a juicy juicy rumor to come out of Jump Magazine. Now, a tipster sends in a link to the Game Countdown Page. Holy, holy shit. Did I mention Holy Shit? I know I am the Site Director, but damn, it's real. It's real. Pop the Champagne, we've been waiting for a trip back to the Chrono Trigger Universe for a while. Can you blame us? It's been a long time. and we've missed you, Chrono.
Countdown Site [Square Enix, thanks Kevin!]
 Well, the holidays are nearly upon us. Family will be coming in to town, the eggnog will be flowing, and there will hopefully be some games under the tree for all of us. With all the stress of the holidays, what better way to unwind (or take out your frustrations) than will a few fighting games!
Our featured game this week is a newer title (for the US at least) on the Nintendo DS, Bleach: The Blades of Fate. Our reviewer, Shimra, had pretty much nothing but praises for this game. It sounds like a title that you can easily get some life out of. No matter if you're a fan of the cartoon series, this will be a great game to play. Give it a shot!
The featured image is for Guilty Gear X2 on the Sony Playstation 2. Not many fighting games are as fast paced, well executed, and downright fun as this one. Although a fairly pricey title in the recent months, it still sells for less than when it was originally released. If you can, pick up a copy of this game.
What better way to play fighting games than with a great arcade stick?! Our featured hardware is the Hori Fighting Stick SS for the Sega Saturn. I used to own one of these, and let me tell you, their claim of using "GENUINE ARCADE PARTS" is exactly what they mean. From the odd color of the buttons to the feel of each button and the joystick, this is as close as you will get with a fighting stick to the arcade.
The featured collection belongs to Moriya Hanzo. The first thing that appealed to me was the Sony Playstation RPG collection he has. Then I say his other PS1 image. Look at all those great fighting games! Some of the biggest fighting games in history are in his collection! I bet he could strike up a great coversation with you about fighting games.
Well, that's it folks. Another week, another few days closer to the holidays. I do want to wish all of you out there a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, and a Happy New Year. Please be safe this season and game on! Oh...and keep it tuned to RFG on channel 3!
 Now live on Japanese Wiis, the new "Everyone's Nintendo Channel" is a way of telling Wii owners about new software. A complete software listing, trailers, and demos will be available for games seeing an imminent release and those that are already on the market.
Searching for a title seems much like our own database as you can sort results by hardware, manufacturer, genre, or title. One of the caveats of the system is that you can provide feedback of games you have already tried out and it will recommend others based on your interests and the recommendations of others. Like the "Everyone Votes Channel" it might not take off right away because it has to collect information before it becomes fully active. The results are scheduled for release by the end of December.
The big winner of all the features is undoubtably the downloadable demos for the DS. Now you can try out all those demos from the comfort of home instead of embracing shame while you publicly display your infatuation with your DS Lite at the local mall.
At the moment there is no news as to when the rest of the world will be receiving this application, but it is nice to know it is out there.
Source: Nintendo of Japan
UPDATE
GameTrailers.com now has a video of the new channel in action. Expect to see some trailers (TVCM), Miyamoto-san trying to sell Wii Fit, and the DS demo downloads. View it after the break.
Continue reading Everyone's Nintendo Channel arrives in Japan. Wii don't get it, yet.
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Posted on Sep 24th 2007 at 07:52:38 PM by ( Mezmoron) Posted under Site News, Amplitude, Elite Beat Agents, PS3 Bluetooth Headset, Tretiy, Playstation 2, PS2, Playstation 3, PS3, Nintendo DS, NDS |
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This week we are taking a look at the Music and Rhythm genre. Our featured game for the week is Amplitude for the Playstation 2. This is a very unique game that has a ton of replay value. You are basically a DJ that takes the layers of songs (Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, etc.) and puts them together to make the track. It is a fast paced game that relys on your musical ear and rhythm.
The image that we are featuring is from the Nintendo DS game, Elite Beat Agents. This is undoubtedly one of the best Nintendo DS games to date. It is basically like DDR in your hands! Don't believe me? Try it!
Our featured hardware is the Playstation 3 Bluetooth headset. This little product retails for a modest $49.99 and will also work with any cell phone out there that is Bluetooth compatible. This is obviously used for online communications. Now sure, your current bluetooth headset will work with the PS3, but the red and black colors really set this one apart.
The collection that we are featuring is from Tretiy. Now, he may have a small collection, but he has goals, which I like. Take a look at his collection page to see what he has in mind for the future. I think it's great that he has found a home here!
Well, that's it folks. Until next week, keep it tuned in to channel 3 here at RFG!
 Capcom has premiered the English language trailer of the fourth installment in its wildly popular Gyakuten Saiban series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. There is no slated North American release date, but this trailer makes me hopeful for one, as it was already released in Japan earlier this year.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is the first game in which Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey are not the lead characters. Replacing them are Apollo Justice (a guy with two tall spikes in his hair that seem to always stay in place, gotta love anime physics), and "Mysterious Magician" Trucy.
Also, a reminder for all you Phoenix Wright fans, the third installment in the series, Trials and Tribulations, hits Nintendo DS here in America on October 23rd. I know I'll be the first one to buy it.
Continue reading OBJECTION! Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trailer From TGS 07
 Nintendo has finally added some downloadable content to its DS puzzler, Picross DS. The puzzle packs, released for free over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, are a collection of 20 puzzles split up into two packs. Both of the packs are comprised of puzzles from Nintendo's only other Picross game that has come out in North America, Mario's Picross for the original Game Boy. The puzzles can be downloaded for free by going to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the main menu of Picross DS, selecting Community, and Classic Puzzles.
I am an extreme Picross DS addict, and I have been waiting for at least three weeks for Nintendo to upload some puzzles. I haven't completed every puzzle that is included with the game yet, but it is nice to know that I have 20 more puzzles waiting for me when I am done.
If you haven't picked up Picross DS yet, then shame on you. It's one of the greatest puzzle games to ever grace Nintendo's little dual screen portable, and it will only cost you $20 new. If you have it already or do get it in the future, add me as a friend and let me know your friend code, so we can exchange puzzles and play each other online! My friend code can be found on my collection profile page.
 Someone on YouTube has uploaded the intro to the new Zelda game on DS. The game is released in Japan tomorrow and in the USA sometime later on this year. Honestly, I can't wait to get it because Zelda is one of my favorite game series, and I love the return to Wind Waker style graphics. Hopefully the game won't be disappointing like Twilight Princess. Yes, I went there. Twilight Princess was kind of mundane and stuck to the Zelda formula too much in my book. Okami did a far better job of being a "Zelda" game than Twilight Princess did.
Don't take this to mean that I didn't like Twilight Princess, because I did enjoy it. It's one of my top 10 games of last year. However, Okami just beat it in dang near every aspect.
Anyways, here's the intro. Enjoy!
[youtube=425,340]Ot5cdC9bAMM[/youtube]
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