Here are some pics from Legacy Interactive’s upcoming high-intensity, live-action, medical simulation game for Nintendo DS called Emergency Room: Real Life Rescues. The game is slated for a Q1 2009 release and will be rated E for Everyone.

Remember the arcade classic none as OutRun? An ex-colleague of mine once boasted that she played so much OutRun during her youth that she can beat any of us with one hand tied to her back and with one eye closed. Well, she didn’t actually carry out her boast, but proceeded to beat us anyways with both hands on the steering wheel and eyes with open.

Ferrari Challenge (NDS) – A Review

It’s just too bad that Ferrari Challenge for the Nintendo DS isn’t really a spiritual successor for Outrun, and although it boasts technical driving skills and being an “official Ferrari game”, it feels a little lost as players can actually perform Mario Kart-like shennanigans.

Using a 100 metre gravel trap as a short cut to gain a substantial lead.. check! Overtly simple drafting..check! Checking opponents without damage modelling…check! Crashing without damage modelling…check!

It’s just too bad..again

It’s just too bad that while tutorial, even though not as comprehensive as the one you would find in a GT game, makes you think that you are onto something special as it makes you work real hard on not screwing up, the rest of the game is like…meh. Poor Enzo will be rolling in his grave knowing his name has been whored out to games like Ferrari Challenge.

I can only think of two groups of people interested in this game, pirates and Ferrari-philes. For the latter group, you can get this game at Play-Asia. Click here for more details.

Looks like the on-going Games Convention Asia 2008 in Singapore is having its fair share of announcements:

1. MTV Games, Harmonix and EA to ship Rock Band in Singapore
2. EA Announces iPhone Game Lineup in Asia
3. EA Showcases Best Ever Product Line Up For Consumers at Games Convention Asia 2008.

MTV Games, Harmonix and EA to ship Rock Band in Singapore

Singapore – 18th September, 2008 – Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that Rock Band will be available in Singapore for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system beginning September 25th, 2008.

Rock Band is an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music. The game challenges players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune, mastering lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals. With more master recordings than any other music game, Rock Band features some of the world’s biggest rock artists and spans every genre of rock ranging from alternative and classic rock to heavy metal and punk.

Rock Band also features an unprecedented library of 200 songs available for purchase and download for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and PLAYSTATION 3 system. In the near future, all new Rock Band downloadable content will be available on a weekly basis. For a complete list of Rock Band songs available for purchase to date, please go to http://www.rockband.com/dlc

Since its North American release in 2007, Rock Band has garnered more than 40 awards including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007 and three awards at The 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack.

For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.

Developed by Harmonix, MTV Games is the publisher of Rock Band. EA is the exclusive distribution and marketing partner for Rock Band.

EA Announces iPhone Game Lineup in Asia

Singapore – September 18, 2008 – EA Mobile™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:ERTS), announced today at the Games Convention Asia its first wave of titles on the Apple App Store for Asia Pacific. Players will now be able to enjoy three popular EA games, EA™ Sudoku, Tetris®, and Spore™ Origins – a native version of Spore, on their iPhone™ and iPod® touch.

The unique capabilities of the iPhone and iPod touch offer a new mobile gaming experience through the use of their touch screens, multiple sensors, and high definition graphics. For the first time, the device itself actually becomes an essential part of the game, enhancing game playability like never before.

“EA Mobile is thrilled to be developing games for mobile products as truly revolutionary as the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Mike McCabe, Regional GM of EA Mobile Asia. “The innovative capabilities of these devices create a unique gaming experience for the diverse Asian audience that is very exciting and different from other platforms.”

EA Mobile games for the iPhone and iPod touch will be available as they roll out across Asia from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

EA Sudoku
The iPhone and iPod touch become part of the game as players tap and shake their way through 10,000 Sudoku grids with five difficulty levels. Players use the easy, straightforward touch controls to tap Regular Grid mode, or enter their favorite magazine or Internet puzzle in Newspaper mode.

Tap Pen or Pencil to access the annotated keyboard and enter their selection or record options. Take advantage of helpful features including Error Checking, Hint and Candidate Numbers Auto-Fill. An in-game timer keeps the pressure on, while Stats Tracking records the number of grids solved and total time played. The high resolution, smooth animation of the iPhone delivers spectacular Japanese-themed animations. With
Sudoku on the iPhone and iPod touch, the solution is at players’ fingertips.

Tetris
Tetris on the iPhone and iPod touch brings a new player experience to the ever-popular puzzle game. The touch screen allows players to pinch, drag, tap, and shake to clear rows and rack up points in a whole new way.

With 15 different levels, this version of Tetris challenges every level of player – from the most novice to the experienced pro. High end music and sound effects combine with cool design and custom animated backgrounds to further heighten game play. Tetris for the iPhone and iPod touch features two different play modes – Marathon Mode and the all new Magic Mode, a unique touch screen implementation designed for Tetris on the iPhone.

EA Showcases Best Ever Product Line Up For Consumers at Games Convention Asia 2008

Singapore – September 18, 2008 – After an award winning showcase of titles at E3 in Los Angeles in July and Games Convention in Leipzig last month, Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced its product line up at Games Convention Asia. EA will demonstrate the innovation and creativity of its portfolio for seasoned gamers and newcomers alike, as it leads the way with great interactive entertainment offerings for broad consumer tastes this year.

On show at the Games Convention Asia are Asia’s best selling franchises and consumer favorites like FIFA 09, NBA LIVE 09, Need For Speed™, The Sims™ and a wide range of casual and family titles for Nintendo platforms including LITTLEST PET SHOP™, Nerf “N-Strike”™ and MONOPOLY®, brand new IP like SimAnimals™, Mirror’s Edge™, Dead Space™, Battleforge™, Spore™, the new MMORPG Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™, mid-session games EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 and NBA STREET Online, and EA Partner titles Crysis Warhead® from Crytek and most notably, Rock Band™ – the long anticipated award-winning title from MTV Games/Harmonix that will make its Asia premiere at the event. Featuring some of the world’s biggest rock artists, this massively popular title Rock Band will be available first in Singapore.

Action on the small screen isn’t letting up either. EA Mobile™, also announced today that Spore™ Origins will be coming soon on Nokia’s N-Gage platform. The game takes full advantage of the NGage functionality whilst allowing players to manouvere their way through a world made of primordial ooze. Spore™ Origins will sit alongside other EA titles already launched on N-Gage, such as Tetris®, The Sims 2™ Pets and EA SPORTS™ FIFA 08.

“We are proud to be unveiling EA’s biggest line up ever for Asia Pacific here at GCA where we have the best games in sports, action, casual, horror, simulation, and online,” said Jon Niermann, President of EA Asia Pacific. “We are bringing in more new games to market this year as the audience for interactive entertainment expands in Asia with equally formidable titles both in package goods and online titles. GCA is a great platform to showcase these offerings for the broad range of people that love to play them.”

The full range of EA titles on display for consumers at the show floor:
• EA SPORTS™ FIFA 09
• NBA LIVE 09
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 09
• FaceBreaker®
• Celebrity Sports Showdown
• EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2
• Warhammer Online®: Age of Reckoning™
• Battlefield Heroes™
• Command and ConquerTM Red Alert™ 3
• Dead Space™
• Need For Speed™: Undercover
• Rock Band™
• Mirror’s Edge™
• Crysis Warhead®
• The Lord Of the Rings: Conquest™
• Spore™
• The Sims™ 2 Apartment Life
• MySims™ PC
• MySims™ Kingdom
• LITTLEST PET SHOP
• MONOPOLY
• NERF “N-Strike”
• EA Mobile titles: SPORE™ Origins, Tetris, Sudoku, The Sims™ 2 Pets, FIFA 08

Titles for media behind closed door sessions include:
• The Sims™ 3
• SimAnimals™
• Battleforge™

The Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Collector’s Edition will also be available at the booth and those who have pre-ordered the packs, the first 500 stand a chance to receive a set of 3 Limited Edition Warhammer Online Collector’s Posters.

The EA booth will also be conducting Rock Band competitions at the booth and on the main stage (4-8pm on Friday and Saturday), as well as game tournaments and demo’s running throughout the 3 days at the Games Convention Asia.

The Games Convention Asia runs from September 18-20, 2008, 11am -8pm at the Suntec International Exhibition Convention Center Singapore. The EA booth is located in Hall 404, Booth R103.

Trauma Center DS is cool, but you know what would be cooler? Trauma Center DS with bears, and all sorts of other wild animals. Come this November, Legacy Interactive will be releasing Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals for the Nintendo DS.

From the Press Release:

A breakthrough title on the Nintendo DS, Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals is a new simulation game set in an urban zoo where you test your skills as an animal doctor. Designed to fully utilize the DS capabilities, the game incorporates the latest in gaming technology, including micro games for each medical tool, 30 different photorealistic animals, and beautifully rendered environments.

Here’s a video of the gameplay:

Additional Information:

Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals is rated E 10+ and will have an MSPR of $29.99.

Just a quick update. The Force Unleashed on the Nintendo DS feels rather.. forced. Jerky animation, really ugly graphics and a control scheme that feels like a tack-on, it is not worth anyones time. Go grab a good book and read instead.

Curious about Nintendo’s official flashkart, the DS Vision for the Nintendo DS? Well, Nine Over Ten 9/10 has a treat for you today as the flashkart arrived in my mail box along with a Pokemon movie!

I made the order for the two items on the 10th of September and they arrived today (16th September) with the free shipping option from Play-Asia. That’s actually pretty fast as it normally takes 8-10 working days for an order to reach my place. Total cost of the order: USD 48.90.

Let’s start with the DSVision. This official Nintendo DS flashkart is made by AM3 and is designed to allow users to play movies, view comics, etc, on the Nintendo DS.

Like the R4, this flashkart is actually an adapter that reads off a microSD memory card which you can slot in via the side of the flashkart (notice the notice in the picture above?)

You can purchase the DSVision Starter Kit which comes with the adapter and a 512 mb microSD card (presumably filled with stuff), but in my case, I purchased only the adapter. So what content I’m going to run on this flashkart? That’s where the Pokemon movie comes into play.

Maboroshi no Pokemon Rugia Bakutan (DSVision) looks like any other Nintendo DS game, packaging wise, but the contents inside the box might suprise you.

Yup, it’s actually a Pokemon movie stored within a 512mb microSD card meant to use in conjunction with the DSVision adapter. So, what happens when you put both together?

Here’s a video I’ve taken:

Dad has been to Japan several times and has experienced a number of things over there, amongst them an earthquake and expensive sashimi. One thing that he always mentions (besides the earthquake) would be the speed limit on Japanese roads.

Unlike the speed limit on Malaysian roads which can range from 70km/h to 90 km/h, the Japanese would have to contend with a sedentary and sleep inducing range of 40km/h to 60km/h, with the exception of highways, of course.

Busses and Trains

Now, you can actually experience of driving within this kind of limits on your Nintendo DS with the release of Norimono Oukoku DS: You! Unten Shichai na You! The game takes a feature found in Grand Theft Auto games, which is making money by jacking a taxi, picking up passengers and dropping them at their desired location, to greater heights, minus the criminal aspect.

Norimono Oukoku will have you driving buses, trams, cranes, ambulances, police cars and even more. The objective of the game is pretty simple. The game provides you with a vehicle, you drive the vehicle around town in a GTA-III-ish fashion in a 3D town (complete with other vehicles on the road and sparse pedestrian population which you won’t be able to run over) and complete missions to gain points.

Have Points, Will Drive

There are a certain number of points to be fulfilled in each level, and once done, you get to drive another vehicle. Before I forget, points are deducted if you get into too many fender benders or by hitting the curb too hard. However, you don’t get the stick for traffic infractions such as driving against traffic, going pass the red light, etc etc (funny eh?).

Touchy Feely

As mentioned earlier, the entire game is in 3D, and even though the graphics are a little wash-out, the game handles itself admirably with decent draw distance and constant frame rate. The game features the touch screen as the main means of driving the vehicle. Accelerating and braking are controlled by the D-pad but the touchscreen has the steering wheel.

The touchscreen also plays host to a number of vehicle specific buttons. If you are driving the ambulance, there are buttons to turn on the siren and to open the vehicle’s back door so that the stretcher (and patient) can be taken out or placed in.

A mini-map and a pager round up the rest of the touch screen’s features. Aiding the mini-map in navigation is an on-screen arrow that points to your next objective, which is triggered by accepting your pager calls.

Driving Limits Revisited

Ah yes, regarding the speed limit. The vehicles in the game seem to have the same rev-limiter, in which they chug along at 71 km/h per hour. The horn is pretty useless in the game; and other vehicles on the road seem undeterred by an ambulance (or police car) with sirens blaring, and won’t move over. I don’t know whether the same thing happens in real life in Japan, but people can die because of that.

The gripe about speed and ignorant AI drivers aside, now I’m driving a police car and nabbing people driving slowly in their fancy sports cars. Hehe.

Lost in Translation?

Norimono Oukoku is pretty playable despite being a true-blue Japanese game. Don’t let the long (and rather talk-ie) intro deter you. I would pretty much like to drive a fire-truck next, if there’s one in the game.

Norimono Oukoku is available at Play-Asia now. Click here for details.

I’ve noted the differences between the box art for Japanese and American versions of games ever since my review of Atari Happy 10 Games (a.ka. Retro Atari Classics) more than one and a half years ago. And time and again I’ve always favoured Japanese box-art with the exception for Konami Arcade Hits

Anyways, I was reading IGN’s review of From The Abyss when I found that the box-art looked rather familiar. Since the review mentioned that game is the English version of a Japanese game released earlier this year for the Nintendo DS, I decided to search for it.

So, here’s the American solution to the dark, evil looking Japanese box art that you see above: add an androgynous looking character in questionable body armour (is he/she wearing nude coloured-pants?) to be front and centre on the cover art.

Anyways, if you need to get this (it did get good scores from IGN), the game is available in Japanese (click here) and androgynous boy on cover version, I mean, English (click here) from Play-Asia.

Here are some imported Nintendo DS (Japanese) games being sold at bargain bin prices, including a classic Namco arcade game remade for the Nintendo DS:

• Puchi Puchi Virus (USD 14.90) Click here for details.
• Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (USD 19.90) Click here for details.
• Bangai-O Spirits (USD 29.90) Click here for details.
• Tales of the Tempest (USD 14.90) Click here for details.
• Picross DS (USD 14.90) Click here for details.
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Fuuketsu no Grimoire (USD 29.90) Click here for details.
• Hokuto no Ken: Hokuto Kamo Denshoumono no Michi (USD 19.90) Click here for details.
• Unou no Tatsujin: Gunbullet Trainer (USD 14.90) Click here for details.

You guys have seen the official PSP Playstation Portable Cradle released by Sony back in April. That thing even comes with a remote! For those of you who haven’t, take a look over here.

That aside, it’s the Nintendo DS Lite’s turn to have a cool looking cradle of sorts. Hori has just released the official Charge Stand for the Nintendo DS Lite. And it looks to be a really pretty desktop ornament. Interested? Click here for further details.

The only downside is that you can’t play at the same time the DS Lite is charging; if you need to do so, you’ll need either the Magnet Stand or the Play Stand for the DS Lite.