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Siliconera has listings of the various Touch Generations titles across regions, and some of the differences are interesting. Games like Big Brain Training, Tetris DS, and Nintendogs appear across all territories, but Animal Crossing: Wild World only gets the Touch Generations label in Europe and Japan. Phoenix Wright, which has seen a rather spotty release pattern in the US, despite being somewhat of a cult classic, also makes the list in Europe, but the game is also published by Nintendo in that territory. Electroplankton also makes the list everywhere but the US, but since the US really only saw an online release for the game, this isn’t too shocking. Japan, of course, gets the largest set of Touch Generations titles, but some titles on their list include the DS Training and dictionary software titles. Still, it does seem like out of all the territories, the US got the softest list of Touch Generation games, where the games are truely focused on simpler gameplay.
Read More 
| Siliconera.com
Gallery: Touch Generations Across Regions
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The DS has been getting a lot of media attention recently on major venues such as NPR, thanks in no small part to non-traditional “games” like Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day. But most articles have tended to gloss over how exactly the partnership between Nintendo, a major software developer, and Dr. Ryuta Kawashima, an eminent Japanese brain researcher, came about. Interestingly enough, about 5 years ago Dr. Kawashima was studying the effects of video games on brain development
Kawashima, in need of funding for his research, originally decided to investigate the levels of brain activity in children playing video games expecting to find that his research would be a boon to manufacturers…
Using the most sophisticated technology available, the level of brain activity was measured in hundreds of teenagers playing a Nintendo game and compared to the brain scans of other students doing a simple, repetitive arithmetical exercise. To the surprise of brain-mapping expert Professor Ryuta Kawashima and his team at Tohoku University in Japan, it was found that the computer game only stimulated activity in the parts of the brain associated with vision and movement….
Kawashima (2001):
‘The implications are very serious for an increasingly violent society and these students will be doing more and more bad things if they are playing games and not doing other things like reading aloud or learning arithmetic.’
Instead of suing Kawashima (as most companies would probably do), Nintendo instead offered Kawashima the chance to develop his own game - a move that appears to be paying off!
Read More | The Observer 2001 ‘Computer Games Stunt Teen Brains’
Gallery: The History Behind Brain Age
There Are No Indie Video Games
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Editorial, Features, PC, PlayStation 2,
According to an editorial published by Slate Magazine, there are no “indie” video games, and this is to the detriment of the gaming industry. Certainly, if the thesis were true, this would be a bad thing for gamers; large game publishers are becoming less and less willing to take risks. Looking at the top selling games over the past month shows a number of game titles that are based around previously established intellectual property; it is becoming harder and harder to find a hit game title without a number behind its name. But to say that there are no indie games seems to dismiss the works of a number of independent publishers.
Full discussion after the jump.
Click to continue reading There Are No Indie Video Games
Gallery: There Are No Indie Video Games
Bill Gates Dismisses Wii Controller
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Culture, E3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Bill Gates, speaking recently to MTV.com, was fairly dismissive of the motion-control technology that Nintendo and Sony are introducing in the next generation of consoles. Gates said, “There’s room for innovation here, but moving that controller around — it’s… not mainstream for most games… It’s tough because sometimes you move the controller, and you don’t [mean] to fly into the ground. You just want to put the controller down.” Of course, it is easy to see why this could be confusing to Gates, after all, with all the coverage given to the Wii during E3, there really wasn’t any mention of a “pause” feature. The ability to pause a game has only been included in almost every game to hit the shelves since Microsoft’s original Sidewinder Freestyle controller shipped. Gates would continue, “People aren’t that good at totally standing still.” While it is understandable that Gates might not have seen any of the actual Wii trailers on the Internet, he certainly must have passed by the Nintendo booth; the only people that might have been standing perfectly still would have been those waiting in the multiple-hour line to get a look at what Nintendo has accomplished. Gates mentioned that he leaves the details of running the games division to others, which is a good thing, considering that while he implied that Microsoft had no plans in the near future for a handheld gaming device, he is still stumping for some kind of unwieldy convergence device, “will you carry… a media device and a phone and a gaming device and, say, a tablet device for reading…” So gamers may be waiting for a while for their ideal portable gaming device from Microsoft.
Read More | MTV.com
Gallery: Bill Gates Dismisses Wii Controller
It’s no secret that the Animal Crossing series has been a huge success in Japan, but apparently it has also spawned a museum exhibit. Game Watch apparently made a visit to the museum, and Edge Online has a few translated details. The same company hosting the Animal Crossing exhibit also hosted the show for Electroplankton’s launch, and Game Watch has a bunch of photos from the new exhibit. The show includes materials from the game, but also artist’s interpretations of the Animal Crossing world, and a ton of the ubiquitous Japanese capsule toys. Nintendo also has a download station available, where owners of the DS game can download a gift for their town.
Read More | Edge Online
Read More | Game Watch Japan
Gallery: Visit the Animal Crossing Museum
Insane Japanese DS Case Mods
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Mods/Hacks, Nintendo DS,
Insert Credit reports on a contest that Japanese case manufacturer Keysfactory sponsored just a little while back, where staff members were asked to submit their wildest case mods for the Nintendo DS. These “mods” aren’t actually transforming the DS shell, but instead are armor-like kits that snap around the DS, so the user’s console isn’t permanently modified, which is important, given some of the crazy designs they came up with. Many are clearly Gundam-inspired, and others capture that weird mecha-Japan aesthetic. The winning design was actually made available for purchase.
Read More | InsertCredit.com
Gallery: Insane Japanese DS Case Mods
Nintendo DS Still Dominates Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2,
The latest sales data from Japan for the week ending May 14 is in. The PS2 game Jikkyou Powerful Major League, the latest in the popular baseball series, charted in at number one. However, six of the other titles on the top ten list were games for the Nintendo DS. In terms of hardware sales, the DS still dominates in Japan as both the DS Lite and the original DS combining to sell approximately 95,000 units, with the PSP following behind with around 27,000 consoles sold. Things still look grim for the Xbox 360 in Japan, selling 1,355 units, only 30% more than the Gamecube. Tetris DS was the most popular DS title, and it looks like at least on the portable side, Nintendo’s strategies seem to be paying off well.
Read More | Gamasutra.com
Gallery: Nintendo DS Still Dominates Japan
Gears of War Documentary Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, E3, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
For those gamers that missed the show on Friday, or will manage to miss one of the five thousand re-airings of the documentary, Gears of War: The Race to E3, MTV has the show available for streaming online, along with some bonus footage not shown on the air, including some more in-depth footage with Cliff Bleszinksi and Tim Sweeney, and some insights into motion capture and art direction. In some ways, the additional footage is more worthwhile than the documentary aired, but there is some playtest footage where gamers can get glimpses of Gears of War in action.
More after the jump…
Click to continue reading Gears of War Documentary Online
Gallery: Gears of War Documentary Online
Gears of War Special on MTV2
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, E3, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
MTV2 will be airing their mini-documentary featuring Epic Games, and focusing on the preparation work that went led up to their presence at E3 2006. Major Nelson has some of the details on his blog, but the show itself will be airing Friday, May 19th, at 10:00 PM ET/PT. Of course, this will air multiple times over the next couple of weeks, so those who don’t set their TiVo in time will have additional chances, and the future airings are listed on the Major Nelson blog. The marketing guys at Gamerscoreblog have also posted a promo and some pre-release clips on YouTube as well. From the clips, it looks like there is going to be some actual meat to the show, with nary a hobbit to be seen from last year’s MTV Xbox 360 non-event. Hopefully in addition to seeing developers sweat, there will be actual information about the game, but with the focus on the E3 presentation, there may not be a lot there.
Read More | MajorNelson.com
Read More | Gamerscoreblog Preview Clips
Gallery: Gears of War Special on MTV2
A report on Next Generation indicates that Louisiana’s violent game criminalization bill, HR 1381, has passed the State House of Representatives on a vote of 102 - 0. According to the text of the law, selling games to minors in accordance with the following standards:
- The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the video or computer game, taken as a whole, appeals to the minor’s morbid interest in violence.
- The game depicts violence in a manner patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors.
- The game, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.
Penalties for violating this law would include fines from $100 to $2000 dollars, and up to a year in jail. The Entertainment Software Association’s response indicated that they felt that the law would be found unconstitutional under review. The bill will next face review by the Louisiana Senate, before moving on to the Governor. The text of the bill appears to be sufficiently vague that it would most likely not survive under challenge. The bill itself would seem to be basically an attempt to garner votes without enacting an actual law. Still, this follows in a long line of states attempting to ban the sale of violent video games, including Washington, California, Illinois, and Oklahoma.
Read More | Next Generation
Gallery: Louisiana House Passes Game Bill
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