Video: PSP SNES Controller Mod

Foo successfully (and quite masterfully) modded a PSP to function using an SNES controller.

I guess this is what the next-gen handheld will look like when hell freezes over - Sony & Nintendo teaming up! I'm no expert with modding consoles, but I believe this one's pretty hard to top.



Head here for more!

Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades Complete Song List

I was a bit disappointed with Guitar Hero: On Tour's song list, to be honest. But nevertheless, like the good rocker I am, I still enjoyed the game. Two-weeks-or-so from now, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades for the DS is set for release, and everyone's waiting to hear if the songs will improve.

Here's the song list for Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades

• "Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm
• "Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects
• "No Rain" by Blind Melon
• "One Way Or Another" by Blondie
• "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi
• "Rock and Roll Band" by Boston
• "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
• "Free Ride" - Edgar Winter Group
• "The Take Over, The Breaks Over" by Fall Out Boy
• "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters
• "All Right Now" by Free
• "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World
• "Satch Boogie" by Joe Satriani
• "Any Way You Want It" by Journey
• "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz
• "One Step Closer" by Linkin Park
• "La Bamba" by Los Lobos
• "Sweet Home Alabama (live)" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
• "Crushcrushcrush" by Paramore
• "We Are The Champions" by Queen
• "The One I Love" by R.E.M.
• "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar
• "Remedy" by Seether
• "Tarantula" by Smashing Pumpkins
• "Down" by Stone Temple Pilots
• "Volcano Girls" by Veruca Salt
• "Buddy Holly" by Weezer

Glad to see a couple of good ones there. Definitely a notch better than the partial list I got before.

Can't Wait for Ninjatown!!

Oh man, I just can't wait to get my hands on Ninjatown for the DS, which is to be released any minute now. Gotta save up first, though. Meanwhile, here's some Ninjatown goodies including its trailer.

Ninjatown, as you can probably tell by its name, is a town populated by ninjas. But they were invaded by Mr. Demon who, as you can probably tell by his name, wants nothing but to destroy stuff.

Based on early reviews and videos, Ninjatown looks like a promising tower defense game.

Here's Ninjatown's official trailer:

PlayStation Store Now Open, Get Your Media Manager 3.0 Here!

PSP gamers, download and install Media Manager 3.0 now to access the brand new PlayStation Store. Unfortunately, it's only limited to Windows users (too bad Mac guys). After the installation and registration, you can access the PlayStation Store immediately.

With Media Manager 3.0, gamers can back up saved game data, rip music from audio CDs, and manage media files such as pictures and videos. Media Manager is a definite must-have for PSP owners.

Harvest Moon: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar Debut Trailer

Harvest Moon. You gotta love em. Well, with the barrage of Harvest Moon games, who wouldn't? There's something for everyone that would like to try their hand on farming. The upcoming Harvest Moon: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar for the DS is no different, except they've stepped up the multiplayer modes, allowing friends to come visit your farm and lend a helping hoe I mean hand...

Here's the debut Japanese trailer of Harvest Moon: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar.

Kirby Super Star Ultra Up for Grabs!!

Not here silly. Over at dsfanboy DS fanboys are commenting like crazy to win a copy of Kirby Super Star Ultra.

The mechanics are simple, the prize is awesome, so what are you waiting for? I've entered my entry and you can too until the end of Oct 28 ET.

Rune Factory 2 Confirmed on Nov 18

Farmers and monster collectors alike will be happy to hear that Marvelous has recently confirmed the release date of Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the DS. The fantasy-farming game will be made available on November 18, 2008.

I didn't really enjoy the first Rune Factory as much as the other Harvest Moon games, but the addition of monsters and fighting was quite refreshing. The graphics and controls just didn't work for me. Hope this one will do better.

PSP Firmware 5.01 Coming Soon

Just days after the release of PSP's Firmware 5.0, Sony will roll out Firmware 5.01 due to a memory bug that gamers are experiencing. The said bug returns an "insufficient space" error when downloading onto a memory stick. The latest Firmware will be released just to fix this specific problem.

Kudos to Sony for getting on top of this so quick.

GTA Chinatown Wars Hands-On

The guys over at EDGE has been lucky enough to be invited by Rockstar for a hands-on of GTA Chinatown Wars. One word seems to sum up the whole first-impression review: mesmerizing.

The GTA game for the DS is complete with pedestrians, civilians, day/night cycles, and you can rotate the view 360 degrees. One downside, though, is the control system, since a majority of people grew up playing GTA with analog sticks.

Head here to read the full article.

PSP-3000 Not Doing So Well, Sold 140k

The sales number of The PSP-3000, or PSP Brite, is looking a bit dim in Japan. It sold 141,270 in its first four days (Oct. 16-19), trailing behind PSP Slim's intial numbers by around 100,000 units.

There's been reports of bugs and issues about the system's performance. Can this be the reason for the low numbers?

Via psphyper

DS Releases This Week

Nintendo DS gamers will have to add a load of games to their backlogs this week, with the likes of Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, and Tornado set for release. Also, there's a lot, and I mean A LOT of games being released this week, and most are at the awesome level. What to play first, huh? I have the following in mind:

• Backyard Football 2009
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
• The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
• Master of the Monster Lair
• Mechanic Master
• The Naked Brothers Band: The Video Game
• Pass the Pigs
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
• SpongeBob Squarepants: Nicktoons Globs of Doom
• Tornado
• TouchMaster 2
• Transformers: Animated

Mother 3: What the Hell Is It??!

The handheld gaming community, especially GBA fanboys, are all buzzing about Mother 3 and the recent release of its English translation by die hard fans. This would make one wonder - What the HELL is Mother 3?

The Mother series are RPG games, with knights and magicians aside. Instead, it has a modern day setting, with enemies ranging from aliens to evil hippies. Mother 3, as the name implies, is the third game from the Mother series. The first game was released in 1989 for the Famicom, and was followed in 1995 for the Super NES with a US title of EarthBound. After 12 years of development, Mother 3 was released in Japan for the Game Boy Advanced. No English version followed, leaving fans of the series in state of wanting.

You can download the Mother 3 fan translation here, with instructions on how to make it work.

Win Lock's Quest DS

Lock's Quest is an awesome game. And what's more awesome is if we can play it on a modded DS ala Lock's Quest style!

THQ Australia is giving away a modded DS Lite plus a bunch more goodies. The grand prize winner will take home:

• Modded Lock's Quest Nintendo DS Lite console worth $800
• $2500 Bunnings Warehouse voucher
• A giant sized adjustable spanner/wrench set worth $109
• A voltaic solar-powered backpack worth $299.95
• The Great Castle Search by Jane Bingham
• The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden
  

Head over here for more details and to join.

The Anatomy of a PSP Brite

You wanna see the insides of a PSP Brite? I do, but I don't have the money to buy me a PSP Brite and just mangle it to bits and pieces. Luckily the guys over at PC Watch do!!

 I know next to nothing (well, actually nothing) reading Japanese, but the images are enough to make me go oh-and-ah. Poor PSP Brite :(

Via PC Watch

Macross Ace Frontier Top Japan Charts

SURPRISE!!! Out of nowhere comes Macross Ace Frontier for the PSP, claiming the top spot on game charts beating the likes of Pokemon Platinum and Rhythm Tengoku Gold. It has been a while since a PSP game dominated Japanese charts. As long as a handheld game is number one, I'm happy :)

1. Macross Ace Frontier (PSP)
2. Pokemon Platinum (DS)
3. Rhythm Tengoku Gold (DS)
4. Dynasty Warriors 6 Special (PS2)
5. Super Robot Wars Z (PS2)
6. Wii Fit (Wii)
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii)
8. Powerful Major League 3 (PS2)
9. Dragonball DS (DS)
10. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (DS)

Again: Eye of Providence

Adventure and mystery game fans will surely enjoy this upcoming game from Hotel Dusk creators, Cing. Again: Eye of Providence put you in the shoes of FBI special agent John Weaver as he investigates a string of murder called "Providence Murders." John has the ability to see the past, therefore aiding him in his quest.

Much similarity is seen between Again and Hotel Dusk. Both games are played "book" style on the DS. The graphics, controls, and interaction is somewhat similar too. But the selling point of adventure and mystery games like these is the story. And judging by Hotel Dusk, I'm pretty sure Again: Eye of Providence would do well.

Sony Now Has Playstation's YouTube Channel

Finally, the guys over at Sony has decided they must make use of this new technology the kids are all raving about... YouTube. Sony now has its very own channel on YouTube, featuring trailers and in-game videos of PS3 and PSP games. Neat. Welcome to the internets Sony.

Dissidia Special Ed PSP

The guys over at PSP Fanboy were lucky enough to get up close with a Dissidia PSP. White and shiny, the special edition PSP features Cosmos and Chaos embosed at either end. Nice.

The Another World: Video and Spellbooks

When I first heard of Ninokuni: The Another World, I knew it was gonna be a good game. But after seeing this trailer, I've adjusted its "goodness" level to AWESOME.


Studio Ghibli is definitely present in this game, as the animation and almost everything about it suggests. Also, each game comes with a spellbook, similar to what our hero is carrying around. This spellbook contains, well, spells to be used throughout the game.

 Thanks to joystiq for the video and gamekyo for the pics.

Monster Hunter Unite Coming to the US

The week that Monster Hunter Portbale 2nd G was released in Japan, PSP sales went through the roof. On its first day alone it sold 670,000 copies! No doubt Japanese loves monster hunting. But US gamers has little love for Monster Hunter games, as its titles are not doing as great.

Come Spring 2009. Monster Hunter will test US soils again as Monster Hunter Freedom Unite makes it way. Will it help the PSP overtake DS sales the same way it did in Japan?

TGS Best Games

The good guys over at edge created a list of games that impressed them most at the recent Tokyo Game Show. Not surprisingly, a bunch of them were handheld games; 4 for the DS and 3 for the PSP. Just goes to show that handhelds can compete with their big brothers.

Here's the summary of the whole list:

20. 7th Dragon - Sega, DS
19. Infinite Space - Sega, DS
18. Dissidia: Final Fantasy - Square-Enix, PSP
17. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Square-Enix, PSP
16. Chrono Trigger DS - Square-Enix, DS
15. White Knight Chronicles - Level-5 / Sony Computer Entertainment, PlayStation3
14. Phantasy Star Zero - Sega, DS
13. Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes - Capcom, PSP
12. Sonic Unleashed - Sega, Wii / 360 / PS3
11. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm - Namco-Bandai, PlayStation 3
10. Let's Tap - Prope / Sega, Wii
9. Street Fighter IV - Capcom, PS3 / 360
8. The Last Remnant - Square-Enix, Xbox 360
7. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - Square-Enix, Xbox 360
6. Ninja Blade - From Software, Xbox 360
5. Bleach Versus Crusade - Treasure / Sega, Wii
4. King of Fighters 12 - SNK, Arcade
3. Monster Hunter 3 - Capcom, Wii
2. Ryu ga Gotoku (Yakuza) 3 - Sega, PS3
1. Biohazard 5 - Capcom, 360 / PS3

Flower Sun and Rain Coming to North America in 2009

One of my most awaited games is finally coming in 2009 to the DS, in the form of Flower Sun and Rain. I've never played the PS2 version, but I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Developed by Suda 51 (No More Heroes, Contact, Killer 7), Flower Sun and Rain is finally coming to North America in 2009. But not before it comes to Europe, though, this coming November.

Flower Sun and Rain is an adventure game that revolves around Sumio Mondo as he relives the same day over and over again.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy Just Keeps on Getting Better

The much awaited PSP title, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, is keeping FFFans everywhere at the edge of their seats. Just recently, it was confirmed that Bartz and Exdeath will be joining the list of characters in this "dramatic progressive action" game.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy, to put in simple terms, is a fighting game. The difference is you get to customize your character and the playing field is in three dimensions. Players will be able to play using the who's who of the Final Fantasy franchise. Here's a list of known playable characters.

From FF
Warrior of Light
Garland

From FF2
Firion
Emperor

From FF3
Onion Knight
Cloud of Darkness

From FF4
Cecil Harvey
Golbez

From FF5
Bartz Klauser
Exdeath

From FF6
Kefka Palazzo

From FF7
Sephiroth

From FF8
Squall Leonhart
Ultimecia

From FF9
Zidane Tribal
Kuja

From FFX
Tidus
Jecht

No DSi Import 4 You, Kind Sir

As mentioned on several gaming blogs, the new Nintendo DSi is region locked. That means European software will only work on European DSi's. If you import a DSi from Japan, you would only be able to use Japanese software, rendering it pretty much useless when US games come pouring in.

So lo, our dreams of importing a DSi is gone. If you're still itching for a DSi, then go ahead. Expect to buy a US version, though.

Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades Launch

If you enjoyed the torture your hands endured while playing Guitar Hero: On Tour, then you'll be ecstatic to hear that Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades is set to be launched on November 16.

I myself am not looking forward to another Guitar Hero for the DS. Primarily because my hands are not made for the Guitar Hero grip. Also, the song list of Guitar Hero: On Tour was mediocre at best. Seeing the first 10 songs on On Tour Decades soured my guitar hero-ing fantasy even more.

"Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects
"crushcrushcrush" by Paramore
"The Take Over, The Break's Over" from Fall Out Boy
"The Pretender" from Foo Fighters
"Tarantula" by Smashing Pumpkins
"One Step Closer" by Linkin Park
"Remedy" by Seether
"The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World
"Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness

Sony: DS is for Kids

Sony just ripped DS fans a new one, with the latest interview of John Koller, Sony's director of hardware marketing courtesy of gizmodo.

John politely suggested that the new Nintendo DSi's improvements from its predecessor is "moderate". Although, he (pretty much) admitted that the DS Lite is kicking PSP ass.

Nintendo has kind of a history of these [moderate] kinds of updates, and even with DS Lite, there was a lot of discussion, "Is that enough?" And they seemed to do pretty well there.

Oh, and he also mentioned that the DS's user base is "under 12." I wonder what percentage of the 77.54 million DS units sold were "under 12"?

Star Ocean to Hit Europe this October 24

This coming October 24 Star Ocean: First Departure will be arriving in European PSPs, three days after its North American release date.

The Star Ocean series is one of my favorites. Mainly because the first time I played it it was well.. different. The cooking for one, is quite new to me. And the battle system is far from RPGs that I've played before.

DSi - Good News; DSi to Hit North America in 2009 - Bad News

The all-so-fortunate Japanese gamers will get their hands on the new Nintendo DSi this coming November while their American counterparts stare at the pretty pictures of the DSi at the internets. But not to worry, DSi will come to North American shores soon, right? Wrong.

The DSi will be released in North America in 2009. Well into 2009. I'm betting some Japanese guy would be rich selling DSi's on ebay.

PSP Tops Japan Charts!!

In the first half of 2008, that is. Most of you might notice the decline of PSP sales for the past few weeks. But that doesn't take the crown from the PSP, with just around 200,000 units ahead of the DS.

In the following weeks the PSP Brite and DSi will meet head on, as the new era of handheld gaming ushers. Let's hope they give it all their best to please us, gamers!

New DS, DSi Announced!!

Mark November 1 in your calendars boys and girls. For that is the day the new Nintendo DS will be released!! In Japan anyway...

Nintendo finally announced the rumored new DS, the Nintendo DSi. I know I was slightly hesitant about the new DS on my previous post, but after seeing the images and improvements, I'm willing to give it a chance :)

Here are just some of the new features of the DSi:

12% slimmer than DS Lite.
Comes with two cameras, 0.3 MP for the external and a VGA sitting beside the mic.
Music playback function.
Both the top and bottom screens are now 3.25 inches.
Comes with built-in Nintendo DS Browser.
Will allow game downloads via DSWare.
Matte colors used, black and white.
Retails at around $179.

Head over DSi's official site for more pics.

Via DSFanboy

Sony: Mystery TGS Games

Sony will announce a handful of new games at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. Aside from the impressive list they released, 14 additional games will be revealed, three of which will be for the PSP.

Here's the list of PSP Games that Sony will feature at TGS:

Ape Quest (SCEI)
Bleach: Soul Carnival (SCEI)
Dissidia Final Fantasy (Square Enix)
Dynasty Warriors: Multi Raid (Koei)
The Idolmaster SP (Bandai Namco)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (Square Enix)
LocoRoco 2 (SCEI)
Mainichi Issho Portable (SCEI)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam (Bandai Namco)
Orochi Warriors: Second Coming of the Devil King (Koei)
Patapon 2 (SCEI)
Secret Agent Clank (SCEI)
Sengoku Basara: Battle Heroes (Capcom)
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 (Bandai Namco)
Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida 2 (SCEI)

Moon DS New Trailer

A brand new trailer of sci-fi-horror-shooter Moon. This game is made by Renegade Kid, the guys behind Dementium: The Ward so we're pretty sure it will be one hell of a scare.



The video is alright, not much action but the scenes looks good. There's a part where you have to driver a Moon-ATV of sorts. I hope they don't mess that up since every game in the DS that has cars in it looks like poo (except for Mario Kart DS, of course).