Over a year on from its launch, the DSiWare store is now starting to look like a decent-sized collection of downloadable titles – more so than it’s PSP counterpart, PSN.
However, as the number of DSiWare titles increases, it’s becoming harder and harder to navigate the store so, to give you a helping hand, ButtonMash has compiled the best five for your downloading pleasure.
AND…WE’RE BACK!
At ButtonMash we’re hungry for brand-spanking new games and May is set to be an exciting month with the release of a clutch of high profile and intriguing games which are set to leave us with a month of sore thumbs.
Yes, I know – this is kinda old now, but as the blog is new I thought the game needed a special shout out for its fantastic style, immersive gameplay and great use of anime/manga story elements.
The World Ends With You – or for the Japanese title, It’s a Wonderful Life (すばらしきこのせかい) – is an action-RPG set in modern-day Tokyo released for DS back in 2007/2008 by Square Enix.
From the image and video at top and bottom of this blog post, you can see how it’s art style is very much influenced by manga, with cutscenes played out like you are reading an actual manga strip as the story unfolds. It’s all very involving and an absolute joy to play.
Story-wise, it takes a few story elements from manga such as Bleach – with Soul Reaper and Hollow-like characters filling out the game’s cast. Also like Bleach’s Ichigo, the main character Neku sports strawberry-blond hair and receives assignments via text messages sent to his mobile.
The game’s soundtrack is also ace – very unmistakably Japanese, composed and produced by Takeharu Ishimoto. The game’s music encompasses many genres, combining rock,hip hop, and electronica, designed to fit the various moods of Shibuya, where the game is set.
Overall, a great game and well worth a buy, especially since it is now so cheap at £4.98 from Game (very limited stocks, so hurry). ★
So far, Nintendo’s trusty DS handheld has changed, changed, changed and changed again, but hasn’t really evolved as a platform since its release in 2004.
Today, Nintendo announced via a press release on its website that the first full platform upgrade, the 3DS, will allegedly feature 3D-native screens (no need for those beautiful red-and-teal glasses), two digital cameras, a motion detector and have backward compatibility for Nintendo DS and DSi games. The full details of the new handheld will be confirmed at E3 this Summer.
Nintendo describes the portable as allowing games to be “enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses”. According to Nintendo, the product will go on sale between April 2010 and March 2011 – our guess is that the Japanese release will be way ahead of the international launch, with Japan receiving the handheld late April, followed by US/EU probably by Christmas this year.
Below is the official statement from the Big N:
Nintendo Co., Ltd.(Minami-ward of Kyoto-city, President Satoru Iwata) will launch “Nintendo 3D S”(temp) during the fiscal year ending March 2011, on which games can be enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses.
“Nintendo 3DS”(temp) is going to be the new portable game machine to succeed “Nintendo DS series”, whose cumulative consolidated sales from Nintendo amounted to 125million units as of the end of December 2009, and will include backward compatibility so that the software for Nintendo DS series, including the ones for Nintendo DSi, can also be enjoyed.
We are planning to announce additional details at E3 show, which is scheduled to be held from June 15, 2010 at Los Angeles in the U.S.
Stay tuned for updates 
Final Fantasy VIII – my personal favourite in the series – originally released for PlayStation is now available to download for PlayStation 3 and PSP system from PSN, priced £7.99 and sized at 1.7Gb.
Though it received high critical acclaim at its original release, including a 10/10 review from Official PlayStation Magazine, the game has (rightly or wrongly) always lived in the shadow of its predecessor, Final Fantasy VII.
We posted a few weeks back about the upcoming PSP game Dead or Alive Paradise, exploring some of the dodgier aspects of the pervy title. Today, regulatory board ESRB has finally given us their take on the game:
Wonder what our favourite action-RPG looked like during its infancy in Miyamoto’s notebooks? Well Nintendo has given us a good look, courtesy of president Satoru Iwata.
The historic sketches below include a world map, some pixel sketches and even a design outline. Amazingly, Iwata tells us that Miyamoto and Tezuka – the original LoZ designers – drew this all in one sitting.
Today we received what is arguably one of the most entertaining press releases we’ve received since we started this blog, in the form of the announcement of Dead or Alive: Paradise. *
Tecmo announced last night that Dead or Alive will be hitting the PSP with the vague launch date of “this Spring” and (directly from the press release) will feature all the Dead or Alive ‘lovelies.’
Rockstar Games and Apple took us all by surprise today by releasing GTA: Chinatown Wars to the wild without any warning this morning.
Following on the footsteps of its DS and PSP siblings, the iPhone version adds a few new features including Independence Radio, a station allowing players to create custom iTunes playlists in-game; increased resolution graphics; Multi Touch user interface controls and “adjusted” difficulty levels.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is available for $9.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore. For more information, log onto www.rockstargames.com/chinatownwars.
