3DS Initial Impressions

The Nintendo 3DS was launched a few days ago and, despite a severely waning interest in anything Nintendo, I picked up two units and a few launch games. Despite record pre-sales and a very hip gimmick, I personally know very few people who actually bit on the $249 price tag. I won’t get too deep into the specs or advertised features but for those of you on the fence, I’d like to share a few hands-on observations of the newest entry in the still-not-a-GameBoy line of Nintendo handhelds.

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Review – Monster Tale

DreamRift rewards fans of their previous sleeper hit, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, with a room-crawling*, beat’em up, platforming adventure in Monster Tale.

* Since I’ve called a personal moratorium on the awful term “Metroidvania“, I’m going to define that type of game as a room-crawler.

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Review – Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem

Nintendo released the 4^th installment in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series over the Holiday 2010 season and I have been pretty much sitting on this game the whole time. After owning the game for a couple of months, I dusted off my DSi XL and took the plastic of Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem. The Lemmings-like puzzle game was one of my favorites at the Nintendo booth from E3 2010. I had a really good time with the game, but is it for you?

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Review – Pokémon Black

To call me a fan of the Pokémon franchise would be an understatement.  While I’ve never caught ‘em all, I’ve definitely played ‘em all (the games, not the adorable little Pocket Monsters themselves), and am still a huge fan of the biggest thing to come out of Japan since sumo wrestlers.

(I was going to go with a much less tasteful joke there, but given that it hasn’t even been two weeks since large parts of Japan were left in waste, I opted not to.  Probably a wise decision.)

Anyway, Pokémon: Black Review: I CHOOSE YOU!

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Review – Pokémon White

Thirteen years and over fifty games later, I finally decided to stop avoiding the juggernaut that is the Pokémon franchise and gave the perennial card-fighting RPG a shot with Pokémon White.

Don’t forget to check out Molly’s poképro perspective with her review of Pokémon Black!

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Pata-Pata-Pata-Boner

With a perfect combination of addicting rhythm and psuedo-RTS elements, Patapon is one of the more unique and lovable series on the PSP. Much to my delight, the series has done well enough to warrant a third entry in the franchise, and it’s coming stateside next month!

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How Is Sony Off the Hook (White Sense)?

Sony recently announced its successor to the PlayStation Portable, the NGP. The device itself looks off the hook (black sense), but one thing stood out that bothered me. Kaz Hirai himself stated that every NGP title released would be available on both physical media and on the PlayStation Network Store. But wait, wasn’t Sony’s last portable system one that required downloadable games off PSN, saw meager availability, and full on dismissal on new games from even the biggest publishers?

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