Moonshell + DPG = Anime on DS?

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi Ep 12 BTW. :p

I was wondering how Moonshell would work with movies. Moonshell is a homebrew (it comes with the R4, but you can download it for your flashcart if you want) designed to play mostly music, but you can also use it to view images and view DPG videos. Does it work well? Welll....sort of....

First things first, Moonshell has a limitation of not being able to run most video formats. No AVI, No WMV, and certainly no MPEG. So far, I've only seen it able to run DPG formats. And here is where the complications arise:

Converting takes a lot of time. With an AMD Athlon XP 1.8ghz and 1GB RAM, a simple Hare Hare Yukai (remember the TV size full ver dance?), set to the best quality and optimal settings take +/ 20-25 minutes.

The size of the file was only in the end, 4.5MB. But it took THAT long. Not for people with no patience.

Wait, then that first screenshot....

Well, that one took me 45 minutes to 1 hour. But its set to Normal quality. Ultra (best quality) would take more than 1 hour probably. The file size came up to 57MB, roughly 1/3-1/4th of the original file.

Yes, I can STILL see the subtitles :P

As for the quality itself, do not expect anything spectacular. It's only average at best. But for a free player, you can't really complain. If you want something better looking on the DS, you'd be better off going for the Nintendo Play-Yan Micro (review by SWATwolf), which does all these things better.

Thanks for reading :)

Old, but still gold - Ouendan 1 thoughts.

Simple, is it not?

Browsing through my DS games, I had a quick look at this. It's the first ever Ouendan that would end up getting a sequel and a spin-off. Seeing that I had a few minutes to spare, I decided to pop this back into my DS. And man, does it bring back good feelings about it.

The graphics, sound quality...heck..everything was far weaker than what EBA had to offer. So why did I not get rid of this? (No, I'm not selling this, go somewhere else for a second hand Ouendan). I mean, hey, it's a quick way to get a couple of bucks.

One word: "Memories"

"This guy's insane already. Call the men in the white coats"

Whoa, hold it right there. It's true.

This game reminded me of how noob I was. :p

- Tapping the notes the moment it showed up. >_>
- Spinning AND changing direction on the spinners mid way through it <_<>_> <_<>_>

And it also reminded me of
- my first S rank. Loop & Loop on Normal. What? >_>
- the painfully hard song (then of course) of Ready Steady Go (damn you lifebar)
- How awesome this game was (that lead to the purchase of EBA :p)

After playing RSG Insane (yay S rank, boo 5.9 million :( ), I can say that despite the massive shortcomings (lack of replays, bad graphics), it's still a damn good game to play.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish the stage (Shanghai Honey go!) I was playing. Thanks for reading :p

The Great LYN Nintendo DS Meetup July Editon

Hm, it's that time of the year again. It's on:

Date: 21st July (Saturday after this)
Time: 1200-1700hrs.
Location: Hotel Armada PJ (nearby Asia Jaya LRT)

As usual, the FAQ.

1) A hotel?
Yup.

2) Why there and not (location X)?
Because according to THE MAN himself A.K.A Mr. Penman:

For a change, we are going to have something different and more comfortable. We are gonna have a Hi-Tea Buffet LYN Nintendo Gathering, it's RM35++ person at Hotel Armada. Currently, there's a "2+1" promotion going on, i.e. if we can get a group of 3, it'll only cost less than RM30 per person.

And as for payment, again I refer you to THE MAN:

Payment
we'll take the TOTAL amount, then divide by attendance on that day. It'll be great, if we can find a group of 3s, e.g. 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.

3) WTF.
Hey, you are paying for good food here. :) And it's free flow too. You can eat until you can't. So....yeah.

4) But what if I DON'T want to eat?
Think of it as lunch? :) (Tagged: I'll leave this to Mr. Penman to answer, as I've run out of a proper answer >_<)

5) What do you guys do in the outing?
Well...besides eating....

We play Multiplayer games of the following:

a) Mario Kart DS (if possible bring your own carts/R4/whatever)
b) Clubhouse Games
c) Tetris DS
d) Metroid Prime Hunters (in case...just..in case)
e) Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan (note, bring your own carts, as there is no download play)
f) Elite Beat Agents (again, bring your own carts if possible)
g) Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (and yet again, bring your own carts if possible)
h) Bomberman DS
and more :D

Take this time to show off your l33t skillz in the games :)

6) But what if I don't own Mario Kart DS/EBA/Ouendan 2?
Flash cart users have no excuse :p

But if you aren't, then we can accomodate you with download play. :)

7) Erm...my games are...you know la, not the "real" kind, so can I come?
Yes you can. We don't discriminate against "ahem" users. (Original zealots, STFU)

8) I don't have a Nintendo DS but I'm interested. Can I still come?
If you're coming just to meet up, why not? It's an opportunity for fellowship. However, please confirm your attendance HERE. Please do not confirm by leaving a message here!

Though when we get to play games, there will not likely be a spare DS for you, sorry.

9) Confirm your attendance?
Yes. Coz we need to do reservations for the Hi-Tea. And please honor your reservation. Meaning if you say you're coming, you really come. This is serious business.

10) Any preparations if I'm coming?
Charge your DS/DS Lite. Very important. We don't want you to run outta power. Unless you bring your own charger (and find a power outlet) coz most of us don't.

11) I'm staying quite far away, but since most multiplayer games have the Nintendo WiFi Connection, can I use that to communicate with you guys?
Sorry. I doubt the hotel has free WiFi. Therefore, it's not possible.

12) Any rules during multiplayer matches?
No rules. This is just a friendly meeting. However, I advise and stress that NO cheat devices be used in the outing. Don't spoil the fun of others. We are here to have fun, not rake in wins.

(As far as Mario Kart DS is concerned, note that generally we do NOT do snaking matches)

13) What about behaviour? Any rules on that?
Although I've been told that it's okay to behave normally like previous outings, because we are going to do it in a hotel, please do not put yourself in a bad light in front of other hotel guests. I'm not saying you can't scream and what not, but please don't go overboard. You don't want to get yourself banned from that hotel and you sure as hell don't want to offend any guests.

A special message from Reveur : He says that pwetty girls are invited :P

(But if you want to come, go here to confirm your attendance lah)

On a roll~ Kira kira no Pop Star @_@

EDIT: Moved to sub-site. Click here.

Pinky Street Kira Kira Music Hour review

Cute ain't it? The title screen I mean :p

No, I didn't pick this up. My good friend picked it up over the weekend when on holiday in Japan so I figured I'd review it. Even if it isn't technically mine >_> but I put quite a few hours into this (Sorry Ouendan 2 :( )

Pinky Street Kira Kira Music Hour, is as is name says, a music game. However, it's no Ouendan with no real life people singing in this, rather you are playing to the instrumentals. Not that it's a bad thing of course.

Once the game started I entered a name (has input for Japanese and English letters, but I did not test how many characters), the blood type (huh?), the type of music I like to hear (there's a selection, and surprisingly "Anime" and "Para-Para" were among them), and finally your horoscope (the words are in Japanese, but the symbol is obvious enough). I'd have reason to believe that this game was targeted more towards the female audience when.....

You are apparently given a "house" of your own in Kira2 Music Hour.

.....the character model looks so much more female. And by the way, I had NO opportunity to select gender.

From what I understand, the game is free roam, somewhat like Ouendan 2, with several locations with different types of music.

Your world map. Small is it not?

So far I've played several of the world locations and the one I liked was the classical music area (the real name escapes me at the moment). In every area you will be able to go into shops to purchase things. Of course, the main attraction of every area is the "music room".

Stages are laid out in a way that you will most of the time end up taking on a CPU.

"You" chatting with the person you are going up against.

The game is slightly more text heavy unlike Ouendan, so you might (or might not) miss out on a few things. Still, it isn't too difficult to play. Gameplay however, you will have to place your DS sideways ala Brain Age.....

The game allows you time to tilt the DS apparently. Btw, the Hori Play Stand proved useful here.

Let the battle begin!

The gameplay is pretty simple. Your objective is to simply outperform the other CPU (who will randomly screw up). As shown in the picture, there are 3 panels. When lit up, they are:

Top being yellow
Middle being green
Bottom being blue.

As the music plays, the upper part of the touch screen (when flipped of course - I'm referring to the black "box" with the green music note) will show the three colours. You are supposed to tap the correct colour panel when the music note (which bounces) synchs with the panel on the box (ala Ouendan's timer circles). The timing is rather strict, and it will be the difference between getting Rainbow (spot on), Kira2 (close) or Good (off but still hit). As long as your lifebar (blue) overpower your opponent's (green), you win! But be careful. A string of mistakes will sink your bar to the wrong end pretty quickly (my full bar sunk completely to the other end after missing two beats in a row. TWO!!!!), especially painful if you are at the end of a song.

On Normal mode, you may also have to slide on the panels if needed. If the panel lits up AND also has a >>>>>> or a <<<<<<<, you will need to slide on the panel according to the direction as well (tapping won't count). You will also sometimes have to slide down on all three panels.

Overall, I say this game is pretty nice. It's no Ouendan, but it's still a pretty solid DS game. The gameplay is a bit too simple, but nevertheless it's still pretty addictive. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to play somemore before I return this :(

You can pick up the game from Play-Asia here.

Deal or No Deal?

Does anyone watch that show? It's on NTV7 (Malaysia) on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm, in Mandarin. I think in the US NBC shows it (in English obviously). Basically the premise of the game is this. After being the one selected from the contestants, the contestant has to pick a case (from about 20 over cases) for the contestant to keep (for the duration of the show obviously). Then, the contestant has to choose from the remainder of the cases to open, revealing the sum of cash to be "deleted" off the score-board. The main aim here on this portion of the game is to have the lower sums removed from the board (e.g RM0.10 [yes THAT low is in the game too]. And here's why:

After a number of cases are removed, the "Banker" will call, offering a sum of money to the contestant to purchase the briefcase he/she earlier chose (the very first one), in which either the contestant can either choose to "Deal" or "No Deal". The amount the banker offers will be based on the contestant's performance - Do well by getting rid of the lower amounts and the amount offered will be high, do bad by getting rid of the higher ones and the offer will be lower. Regardless, if Deal, the case will be sold to the banker for that sum of money, if no Deal, the contestant has to open more cases to delete more values.

And then the banker calls again, with a higher/lower value to offer for the case (dependant on performance) and the option to Deal or no Deal comes up again. If "No Deal", the contestant has to open more cases. The banker calls more often towards the end of the game where there are only few cases left to open (usually by then it's pretty clear whether the Deal or No Deal option is better).

Once the contestants chooses "Deal", the contestant has to answer a further question - failing in which the contestants will take home only 20% of the amount offered by the bank (though I don't think this is in the US version of Deal or No Deal...). And at the end of the game, the value of the very first case chosen by the contestant will be revealed (to show if it was a "good deal" or a "bad deal" - It'll really suck if the contestant sold off the briefcase containing RM100,000 for a lower amount the banker offered LOL).

Anyway the game is based on luck as you don't know what cases hold which amount (and they are not preset obviously), by all means you could have Lady Luck with you and open up all the low amounts forcing the bank to offer you absurd amounts of cash for whatever value it is inside the case or in most cases, have luck turn against you and you are stuck with lower values (and in turn, lower banker offer). It's still fun to watch as a TV show.

If you want to play this online, NBC (US) has a flash version of it on their site here. Of course this is just for fun and you won't get real money from it.

What I don't understand is what drove the idiots named Golden Star Software (whatever company this is) to release a DS game based on this game show when you can play the flash version for free. And to top it all off, there's no reason to buy it anyway - There is nothing to do but open cases and reject / accept the banker's offer. Fun to watch as a viewer, fun to play as a REAL LIFE contestant where you win real money.

But in a game where I probably will get a "CONGRATULATIONS YOU WIN US$(insert amount here)" at the end of the game and then get booted back to the title screen? At least Who Wants to be a Millionaire has a point to be released on the PC/PS because it tests your knowledge. But this? LOL. I pity the idiots who buy it.

Speaking of which....Ouendan 2's EBA mode.

Woot Chieftain's gonna cheer on a kid! Woot woot!

'Case anyone doesn't know yet, between 28 June to 11 July, there will be an event for Ouendan 2. (page in Japanese - Announced here) Apparently, if you go to a DS Download Station in Japan (YES JAPAN ONLY stop asking whether will it be in your local game store in the US/Malaysia/wherever) you can download the Agents and the Cat to your DS.

"HOLD IT! Then how the hell did you get it so fast?"
Here's the deal. I don't like getting screwed out of things that could have easily been an unlockable. And it's not like Japan is right next door or anything like that. No, I do not have wads of cash that I can fly to Japan within the next few days. Anyway, it is probably understandable that importers like me do not get such luck with Japan only specials and Nintendo of Japan doesn't recognise imports, but for something like this that they practically KNOW will have loads of people importing (EBA came coz of Ouendan being mass-imported by us non Japanese) I'm not really too pleased.

Google's lousy Japanese -> English translation. Want a better one? I'll do it for you. Only available on 28 June to 11 July in JAPAN DS DOWNLOAD STATION. Not in Japan? F*** you.

So there was only one way of getting them of course - The great Action Replay DS *woohoo*

Before I proceed, I will provide a disclaimer: I will NOT be held responsible if your Ouendan 2 save gets corrupt or anything like that. Please note that the codes below are NOT created by me. I am only providing it here for you, the reader's convenience. If you do not want to take risks with your savefile, I recommend you DO NOT proceed.

Here's the codes, courtesy of someone over at 2ch.

Game ID (you need this for your AR to recognise the game)
AO2J-B9A91626

EBA Mode
220D7397 00000001

I see no need for the (m) code seeing that I got it to work on BOTH the original cartridge and the ROM on the R4 without it.

With the code on, on the difficulty select screen there should be a button of the EBA emblem - That's to activate the EBA mode. You WILL need to trigger the game to save to keep the mode. (Beat a high score or go to options, hit the top-middle button, enter and exit)

But hey, I don't want to use an AR to get them! Is there really no other way?
There has been no way so far in game to unlock them. Definitely not by points (I'm already past the last rank by some distance). So unless you happen to be Japan, and you don't want to use an AR, you're screwed out of them.

And before anyone screams of using the AR as a matter of gaining an advantage in the EBA mode, let me remind you AR-haters that this does NOT affect gameplay whatsoever. All this mode does as explained by Nintendo is to replace the skins of the Ouendan with the EBA. That's it. It is only for decoration (though it looks cool to see Chieftain do the Ouendan cheering :p).

Keep in mind - If you choose to reset your game (as in delete data), your EBA mode is gone.

In which I Ouendan 2'd the day away.

And so I played Ouendan 2 as usual, trying to secure better S ranks. Then I did Music Hour on Insane-Hidden. The try came out....

259 300s, 1 100

Oh yes, that 1 100 is sticking out like a sore thumb. So I spent the next hour trying to all 300 the thing, finally doing it at last! (after X amount of tries - I didn't count)



ALL 300 Music Hour. Take that you stupid game!

And then came Countdown. Doing it on Insane-Hidden as well...and then history repeated itself.

168 300s, 1 100

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Oh and by the way, I didn't manage to get all 300 on this one....first section is so hard to get the timing right *sob*)

[EDIT: I got Glamorous Sky in Hard-Hidden ALL 300'd right after this post. HAH! Take that you stupid game!)

Glamorous Sky ALL 300 with EBA's Chieftain! Take that!

The LYN NDS Gathering - A mini review.

Before I begin, here's a log from the LYN forums outing thread.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time : 1030hrs - 2000hrs;
Date : Saturday, 23th June 2007;
Battleground : Food Court, 10th Floor, outside IMAX Cinema, Berjaya Time Square;
Status: SUCCESSFUL!

Attendance
01) Mudmaniac
02) Mudmaniac's friend
03) Phoenix_Cypher_K1
04) Corez
05) Pr1me_Minister
06) Yuki Ijuin


Games played:
Mario Kart DS
- Round 1 (Mudmaniac, Corez, Yuki Ijuin - DL play)
- Round 2 (Mudmaniac, Corez, Yuki Ijuin, Mudmaniac's friend, Phoenix_Cypher_K1 - DL play)
- Round 3 (all - DL play)
- Round 4 (Pr1me_Minister, Corez, Yuki Ijuin, Phoenix_Cypher_K1)

Tetris DS
- Round 1 - (Corez, Mudmaniac, Mudmaniac's Friend, Phoenix_Cypher_K1)
- Round 2 - (Corez, Mudmaniac) <--- this was interesting tongue.gif
- Round 3 - (all)

Elite Beat Agents
- Round 1 - Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin (DL play 2 vs 1 tongue.gif)
- Round 2 - Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin/Pr1me_Minister (DL play 2 vs 2)

Ouendan 2
- Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin/Pr1me_Minister (DL play 2 vs 2)

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (trade)
Phoenix_Cypher_K1, Pr1me_Minister (thank you for the Togekiss and Articuno tongue.gif hope you enjoy the Latis)
---------------end report------------------------------------------------

Well, I went there at around 11.40am (was busy uploading vids to Youtube coz the GameFAQs forumers were asking for some Ouendan 2 EBA mode vids - hence the lateness - and said vids are also uploaded to my subsite, check the sidebar). When I reached, I could not find them, till I saw them over at the seats outside IMAX. Mudmaniac and friend, Yuki and Corez were already there. Pr1me Minister arrived last, and there were no more arrivals after that.

The games were fun. Pr1me and I definitely enjoyed switching leads on top of the MKDS leaderboard at least a dozen times while Corez did enjoy his moment of fun on top for 2 rounds. Tetris, no contest, again, Corez won most of the matches. I pulled a win tho :p. Then EBA and Ouendan 2 gaming sessions, were pretty limited (download play), but it was still fun (I'm not used to playing Normal mode tho)

The meeting effectively ended at 5, but Yuki, Corez, Pr1me and me stayed back for dinner (Yuki having the worst Yong Tau Foo ever), and had single player fun (Yuki finished Nanostray !_!, Corez playing The Anthem on EBA till...his battery packs ran out, and Pr1me actually playing Ouendan 2 despite having a busted touch screen, I played Ouendan 1 in the meantime, while pulling off another (crap) 9999999 on SSAY Insane-Hidden on Ouendan 2 when I did get to play it.

At 8pm, Corez and Yuki went off, while me and Pr1me went off to Starbucks, as he wanted to surf on his Ninty DS browser (while I took the advantage to eat cake + Mocca Frap :p), before we both took the train home.

As for the outing, as per report it was a success. However, Times Square is starting to be a cursed place for outings for low turnouts. I'm beginning to think about NOT suggesting Times Square in future.

Ouendan 2 vids (previously shown on blog)

Click here. I archived it onto a seperate site now.

LYN Nintendo DS June Meetup

[Bumped up once]

We interrupt the regular scheduled programming for a special news bulletin :D


It's the official LowYat.Net Nintendo DS Gathering June Edition. It's on this Saturday the 23rd.

Click HERE to go to the discussion thread over at LYN forums :D

As usual the FAQ in case ANYONE missed it.

1) Where in Times Square? SO BIG LA!
10th floor food court, same as IMAX. Take the lift at the far left end (Borders side)

2) Why there and not (location X)?
It's always good to know that Times Square is massively crowded on weekends EXCEPT for the upper levels. (Because except for IMAX, it is deserted). And lo and behold the food court is located at the upper levels.

3) What do you guys do in the outing?
Play Multiplayer games such as Mario Kart DS, Clubhouse Games, Tetris DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Ouendan/EBA/Ouendan 2 and more. Take this time to show off your l33t skillz. No cheating pls -_-

4) I'm not a LowYat.Net member? Can I still come?
Of course. The more the merrier. Of course, sign up later for post-outing discussions! :p

5) Erm...my games are...you know la, not the "real" kind, so can I come?
Yes you can. We don't discriminate against "ahem" users. (Original zealots, STFU)

6) I don't have a Nintendo DS but I'm interested. Can I still come?
Well, it might be a problem to find a spare DS/DS Lite for you, unless you plan to just come as an observer. I *might* bring the spare I had, but due to technical issues with it (Hint:R button) I might not.

7) Any preparations if I'm coming?
Charge your DS/DS Lite. Very important. We don't want you to run outta power. Unless you bring your own charger (and find a power outlet) coz most of us don't.

8) Why the meeting end time is so uncertain?
This depends on location, and the outing goers' free time. We all can't sit inside some place till night right? (Actually some can :D)

9) I'm staying quite far away, but since most multiplayer games have the Nintendo WiFi Connection, can I use that to communicate with you guys?
I'll shorten last month's FAQ answer: No because of battery consumption issues, and there is no WiFi at the location anyway.

10) Any rules during multiplayer matches?
No rules. This is just a friendly meeting. However, I advise and stress that NO cheat devices be used in the outing. Don't spoil the fun of others. We are here to have fun, not rake in wins.

(As far as Mario Kart DS is concerned, ask first if it's a snaking match or not)

11) What about behaviour? Any rules on that?
No. But I'd advise NOT to get over your head. We don't want to get kicked out of the place.

12) Why is the banner PINK?!
According to the creator, it is effective at warding off certain...things.

13) You make it sound like a ghost story.
-_- No.

Oh, and Reveur says that pwetty girls are invited :P

A tale of three DS'es (Part 2) - The White and Pink Partnership.

(My first NDSL. Awwwww....:p)

Yup, thats the box. The US version. It didn't have a strap so I curi from my phat DS (I had it at the time so meh :p). Also the edges are pretty dirty (no way to clean it AFAIK unless I rip off that plasticky cover thing). The DSL's pretty good. :P

Opened up....

(That's Shirosaki Rin cheering by the way. :D Go!)

Now, one thing I didn't like about the White DSL was the fact that it collected stains fast. (You can probably spot them on the pic...) I didn't really notice them until Pr1me_Minister told me about it some 4-5 months after owning it (Yes I'm pretty oblivious to the stains). The D-pad, and the buttons (except one...) works fine till now, as so does the touch screen. (The alignment is very slightly off in the center but everywhere else, it's fine and dandy :D)

And when I put it up Flat....

(Baby BANG BANG BANG! XDXDXD)

No, despite mine being the "famous White US DS Lite that cracks", mine didn't so I put it up flat. That's a relief. (Actually, it's pretty cosmetic anyway). And pardon the picture, I'm not too good with the digital camera (just got it back after a long while :) )

So, this DS Lite was pretty fine. Until the R button got stuck and became 50% responsive. (Probably due to MKDS :( ). I already sold off the phat DS at this point of time, and since the R button was pretty important, I figured that it's time to pick up the Pink.....

(Box shot with the Pink DS Lite)

(Tsukasa Hiiragi desu~! Balsamic vinegar FTW!)

This one I bought from Gamers Hideout (no not the subforum in LYN, the shop over at Cineleisure). Recommended by SWATwolf actually. For quite a nice sum, this pink was all mine. And yes, I was criticised left and right for picking pink of all things.

And no, the casing and all are bought later. :p

(The Pink DSL when opened. And yeaaa....99999. Walking the dog everyday helps. Woohoo!)

This DSL served me quite well. It's all fine except for the touchscreen. It's...off. Well, not that bad actually. The left and right of the touch screen are perfectly fine, but.....

(OMG nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!)

......the center is off (not by much). And attribute it to Ouendan all you want, but considering that I've been abusing the White DSL even longer, I'm pretty surprised.

Not that it really hurts, since I'm still playing Ouendan on it despite the White one having a better touch screen. And it doesn't seem to affect me at all O_o

But anyway, these two DS Lites have been such a partnership. I use the Pink one more than the White, but the White one still has its uses. *coughR4cough*. In any case,

(All my DS stuff. Oh, and don't bother looking for the R4, it's not there)

(Oh, and if you haven't noticed the subliminal messaging, buy Ouendan and Ouendan 2 :D)

Nintendo DS FTW. :D

A tale of three DS'es (Part 1) - The DS Phat and the beginning.

I joined the NDS community rather late. May 2006 late (Hey that's a year and a month ago! :p). All this while before I had the DS I had only my faithful GBA SP (Silver, sold off). But anyways, my friend in a way influenced me to the way of the NDS.

At the time, I didn't think that the Big Mac DS would be so much big of a difference to the DS Lite (note: I am not all that bright back then -_-), but anyway the DS suited me more, so for a nice sum from a shop at Sunway Pyramid, I picked up the phat DS. Silver it was and it was the Asian version (from Maxsuck/Sucksoft/Maxsoft, whatever you want to call it, any one is fine). I then picked up Advance Wars Dual Strike (first ever DS game I had woohoo!) over at Mission World at MV.

Of course, then I picked up Mario Kart DS (from the same shop) a week later. [And it turned out to be the only game I had that lived through my several rounds of selling DS games] The phat DS was a fine piece of hardware I had at the time, and certainly it was 580 well spent I might add. Fun with friends w/MKDS? Oh yes.

But then by end of June, the shortcomings of the phat finally overran me.

1) Bulky. When it is open, it feels comfy. But when it's closed, it's....not so compact as I think it would be. (And for one, I always put my handhelds in my pocket, I can attest to that)
2) Battery Life is not enough :( (P/s - This time last year, I had time to burn. Obviously, I can no longer say the same now)
3) Weak backlighting. It made the GBA SP frontlight look good. (No offence...but I feel so)

So come July, despite being barely two months into its life, I decided to pick up another NDS - This time, I decided to get a DS Lite. A white one, US version (which currently serves me to this day). And it is well worth it.

*End of Part 1*

Note: I am not bashing the phat DS - I just feel it's just a bad purchase on my behalf. If you feel the phat DS is more godly than the DS Lite that's all fine and dandy because I have friends who think that and I respect that. However, I will delete flaming comments on sight. Keep them to yourself.

Note2: And no, I do NOT have pics of my Silver Phat DS because I sold it off to a friend (I'll make mention of this in future updates). I'll make sure there'll be some pics in the next one though.

Gyakuten Saiban 3 preordered.

Preordered Gyakuten Saiban 3 yesterday, along with Steven (SWATwolf)'s copy.

(Yes, obviously there is 2, and yes I used FedEx. The PA coupon that came with Ouendan 2 was of great use. Kakakaka)

I have played the previous two games and it was such a good experience that I decided to pick the third game up. It's definitely worth the money (its already on Best Price too :p). The game arrives on August 23.

You can preorder Gyakuten Saiban 3 here. Or if you are willing to wait for Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations (comes out a month later), you can also preorder it here.

Yes!

This one above is Hard + Hidden SSAY (Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobunda ze). Actual score: 10636410. Did it last night.

If that Cheerleaders+Hidden SSAY took me 3 hours, this one took me at least 12 hours (on seperate days, not one sitting). Quite simply, on Cheerleader difficulty, the cue to hit them is when the markers start to disappear. On Hard, it is 1 second AFTER it disappears (I'm practically tapping on an invisible marker- aka NOTHING). I thank the white line which served as guidance(and I don't think have served me any purpose before :D). This is definitely harder than the Cheerleader one (in Hidden) even though it has less markers.

Of course, the pink Touch Pen Attachment I bought(click here to go to Host Play for review) was a major help. ALL HAIL! :D :D

Elite Beat Agents Review

Elite Beat Agents. The US counterpart to Ouendan. How does it fare?

EBA plays like Ouendan. If you've played Ouendan you will feel right at home. You tap along to the beat, slide to the phrase markers and spin (ala touch screen destroyer style) the spinners, usually towards the end of the song.

What sets EBA and Ouendan apart are the characters. Instead of the male cheerleaders you see in Ouendan, you now have MIB-ish agents dancing to the beat. One thing I noticed that unlike Ouendan (BOTH 1 and 2), this one seems to have original dance moves for each song. Yes, you get to see the agents do the YMCA during the song. A rather nice effect. One notable absentee from this game is the combo flames, but I think they were removed due to the theme of the game.

The song selection was made in line for all ages. Classic songs such as September from Earth, Wind and Fire to Jumpin' Jack Flash from the Rolling Stones to recent songs such as La La, Survivor and Sk8tr Boi are present in this game. Is the song selection justified? Yes to some, no to some. Some have great beats to tap to while others are horrendous just playing to it. It's immensely difficult to keep the beat to for certain songs because the song itself sounds weird.

Feature wise, it is a step up of Ouendan 1 with the introduction of replay saves where you can save one replay per song. It is also compatible with the Rumble Pak (although I personally don't find much use for it). You can also skip the intros at the start of the song (but not the end; a feature later implemented in Ouendan 2).]]

Is it a recommended buy? Definitely. It will and has appealed to many, and even if you do not like the song itself, the gameplay will blow you away. I myself didn't like many songs because they were a chore to play to begin with but I grew to like them soon enough.

You can purchase Elite Beat Agents from Play-Asia here.

Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi Review

Lately if you've been up to the news, the DS has been used for learning purposes in Japan. Great isn't it? Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi is just that, a learning game. Is it good?

For those not in the know, Lucky Star is a rather popular anime now in Japan. Hit up your favourite Japanese anime torrent index to find out. (No I will not provide links, but I'm sure Uncle Google glady will). The game in my opinion doesn't really live up to the hype generated from the anime. As a matter of fact I don't think this game really relates to the anime judging from the different voiceovers in game compared to the anime. (Perhaps to the drama CD - Lucky Star had two different seiyuus for each character)

The game itself is pretty easy to jump into actually. There are three main sections in the game. The first one is a fairly basic Mathematics battle between you and the CPU where the premise is rather simple: If you get it correct, you deplete the enemy life bar and vice versa. Getting it wrong will hurt yourself. (Although I am fairly sure the CPU NEVER gets it wrong). You are actually given roughly 2-3 seconds to answer before the CPU answers. But here's something I did not like. It's pretty easy to answer questions like 8 x 9 or 32 - 14. But what if you are hit with a question like.... 234 / 9? Yes, for some odd reason, questions like this show up and while it is challenging, I don't quite like the sudden spike in question "difficulty" when you are blazing through most of the easy questions.

The second section is based on kanji. I can only fairly assume it has something to do with basic Japanese knowledge, though due to my lack of Kanji knowledge, I cannot verify on this. Perhaps someone would like to fill me in on this?

The third section is a simple Japanese-English test. The format of battle is the same as the Mathematics, except this time, it's more of a "fill in the blanks" thing. Basically, the screen will show you the Japanese sentence, as well as part of the English translated sentence. The main purpose is for you to translate the red parts of the Japanese sentence to English. Most of the answers are fairly hilarious (Konata would probably be the one be designing these tests IMO LOL)

Story mode is fairly straightforward and revolves around all three of these "tests". I highly doubt there is much of a story involved if at all. As far as multiplayer is concerned, you can choose to go on local wireless or Nintendo WiFi Connection for a head-to-head battle for the three above tests. Not too fun, but...it is nice to be able to challenge someone far away with things like this I suppose.

Is it import friendly? Not that much. This game is clearly designed with the Japanese in mind, and as a result, if you are planning to import, you will need a sufficient amount of Japanese knowledge to get through (this is important if you intend to play the Japanese kanji test...).

You can get Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi from Play-Asia here.

That's....cute.

Was busy looking through Play-Asia when I saw this. I'm not sure what other purpose it serves besides being a "diary". And that tamagotchi-like device on the box is cute.

You can buy it from Play-Asia for USD48.90(click here). If any of the readers do pick it up do let me know how it works :)

The LYN Nintendo DS Outing May Edition. And a FAQ to boot.

Figured that I should do some advertising for the outing. Anyways, this Saturday, we'll be having a Nintendo DS outing over at the McDonalds opposite Ikea. The meeting will start at 11am and will end at...well...when it'll end :p

Here's some Q&A :p

1) What do you guys do in the outing?
Play Multiplayer games such as Mario Kart DS, Clubhouse Games, Tetris DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Ouendan/EBA/Ouendan 2 and more. You can also take this time to show off your l33t skillz. Of course, you can also show off your cool DS mods :p

2) I'm not a LowYat.Net member? Can I still come?
Of course. The more the merrier. Of course, sign up later for post-outing discussions! :p

3) Erm...my games are...you know la, not the "real" kind, so can I come?
Yes you can. We don't discriminate against "ahem" users.

4) I don't have a Nintendo DS but I'm interested. Can I still come?
Well, it might be a problem to find a spare DS/DS Lite for you, unless you plan to just come as an observer. Thankfully, yours truly will be bringing a spare DS Lite along on outing day :D In case we have visitors :D

5) Why the meeting end time is so uncertain?
This depends on location, and the outing goers' free time. We all can't sit inside some place till night right?

6) I'm staying quite far away, but since most multiplayer games have the Nintendo WiFi Connection, can I use that to communicate with you guys?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. The battery consumption is very painful so as a result we do not prefer to go on WFC during outings, especially since regular wireless eats into the battery already. Furthermore, I can confirm that McDonalds opposite Ikea DOES NOT have ANY WiFi whatsoever.

7) Any preparations if I'm coming?
Charge your DS/DS Lite. Very important. We don't want you to run outta power. Unless you bring your own charger coz most of us don't.

8) Any rules during multiplayer matches?
No rules. This is just a friendly meeting. However, I advise and stress that NO cheat devices be used in the outing. Don't spoil the fun of others. We are here to have fun, not rake in wins.

(As far as Mario Kart DS is concerned, ask first if it's a snaking match or not)

9) What about behaviour? Any rules on that?
Well...no. But I'd advise NOT to get over your head. We don't want to get kicked out of the place.

10) Can I come over to annoy you people?
If you're that annoying person(s), get a life. And as reveur said over at the tagbox: fags, mofos and idiots are not allowed.:P

Hope to see you guys there on Saturday :D

Finally!

Three and a half hours. A lot of near misses. A lot of WTF moments. But I finally did it.

Here's a little history.

Last Friday, someone over at GameFAQs found out about the hidden timer circle mode. The thing that makes it worth playing was it multiplies your score by x1.5. The very next day, alkaliph (a really great Ouendan player) posted a 9999999 score on Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobunda ze Cheerleader difficulty with the hidden circles option on, proving now it is very possible to max out the score counter. (It is - you can score roughly 7 million++ in Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobunda ze in the regular Cheerleader difficulty provided you never missed, multiply that and you have roughly...10.5 million?)

So having S ranked this song on the regular Cheerleaders, I thought of trying the hidden circle mode. It was a bit of a chore memorizing where are the quick-double, double, quick-triple, and triple taps. There were SO many times that I could have scored better. (To clarify on this, even though the score counter caps at 9999999, the game continues to count your score; this is reflected on your total overall score/rank menu - And I found out my final score was actually 11258610) So many 100s that were 300s in the other (failed) attempts. But in the end, after the final spinner, it was worth it.

I think I just hit a high point in my rhythm gaming life. :)

(Oh by the way, the screenshot was taken with an Emulator - but I did it on my original cart. I just transferred the replay to my R4 and just so happened the emulator uses the same style of sav with the R4. I don't have my digital camera at hand now, so I had to use this)

Now to watch Lucky Star Ep. 7. Been sitting on my HDD for some time now :p