nintendo ds
Cooking Guide (DS)
August 20, 2008
A cooking guide on the Nintendo DS? Why? Can’t you decide what to eat?
In recent years, Nintendo have been real innovators in terms of gaming technology, they’ve obviously had great success with the Wii, but before that came a quieter gaming tech revolution in the form of their latest handheld, the DS.
I’m constantly being surprised by the gaming styles and uses that this flexible gaming platform is being put to use, be it conducting surgery with Trauma Center or in this case utilising the Nintendo DS as an interactive recipe book - Cooking Guide DS!
Continue reading »Taking Handheld Gaming Seriously
August 12, 2008
Zath: Portable handheld gaming is something that I’ve never really got into myself despite being a big fan of various types of gaming, back in the early days I never ended getting a Game Boy - there was always some other expensive gaming hardware to buy, usually PC-related that my money went on. Even to this day I’ve still not embraced portable gaming with either the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, or even with games on mobile phones - perhaps I’m too much of a purist? Anyway, with that in mind, this post is a guest post written by Daniel Johnson who covers a wide variety of gaming commentary on his website; Daniel Primed - if you’ve not already seen it, I’d suggest you taking some time out and read some of his thoughts on gaming - he has a lot of quality content such as How Does it Feel to Play a Video Game?!
The portable gaming space has been continuously growing in size since hitting the mainstream with the Game Boy in 1989 (1990, PAL) and now, in 2008, this market has gained equal footing with the home console market, representing the strongest area in growth in the industry. Despite biding well with a good chunk of the market, portable games still remain an after thought for both developer and media alike.
Continue reading »Trauma Center: Under the Knife
July 17, 2008
I generally like games that are not classed as “normal”, hence I have a Nintendo DS and a Nintendo Wii. So when I saw Trauma Center: Under the Knife at a knock down price I had to pick myself up a copy.
The angle the game comes from is that you are a young doctor fresh out of med school starting work in his first hospital. You then proceed to go to work on progressively more difficult surgical operations. These start easy, clean wound A, drain lump B, remove huge piece of glass imbedded in man’s pumping heart and sew the gaping bloody wound it leaves before he dies from blood loss C.
You know, fairly routine every day stuff. The learning curve is slow to start with and there’s an almost step-by-step walkthrough on how not to kill a man with a piece of surgical equipment. But don’t worry, you will!
Continue reading »Family Gamer: Caption Competitions
July 9, 2008
Zath: The Family Gamer section is having a caption competition! If you’re anything like me you’ll like the chance to walk away a winner with some gaming freebies, so take a look at and see if you can come up with an clever and funny captions - now is the time to prove you should be on the ‘Have I Got News For You’ TV show!
Family Gamer section on Game People have just set up this caption competitions page:
Continue reading »Mario Kart DS
July 6, 2008
Fans of the Mario Kart franchise will not be let down. This is a pixel perfect copy of Mario Kart 64 with some added goodies. The nostalgia of Mario Kart snaking came flooding back when I played this game - it made me want to dig out my N64 and have a blast on Goldeneye.
If you have played any of the Mario Kart games before you will know the score; oversized cartoon characters racing around in strangely undersized vehicles shooting turtle shells at each other and using “magic” mushrooms to boost you about. People who have not played Mario Kart before do not be afraid. It is easy to pick up and play and will keep you busy for hours.
Continue reading »Metroid Prime Hunters
June 15, 2008
A first person shooter on the Nintendo DS? My first thoughts were “Small screens + low graphics x no mouse = shockingly bad game”. I should learn to keep my thoughts to myself. After watching some gameplay of Metroid Prime Hunters, I bought this game to check the graphics were as good as they looked. I was astonished at the quality and smoothness this game displays. The environments are a little claustrophobic but the texturing and environment are rich with detail.
Family Gamer: Dad’s Edition
June 14, 2008
Dads are a tricky subject. Some are loving and inspiring whilst others absent and off hand. Some are communicative and open, whilst others are as hard to fathom as the depths of Loch Ness. Some are in touch with their creativity and at ease with their feminine side, whilst others are purely manly. Although the people I’ve got to know through Family Gamer talk about their dads in different ways, they all seem to agree that they make up a big part of what it is to be a family.
Family Gamer: Play Less
June 11, 2008
Zath: “Here’s a guest post from Paul Govan who will be guest-posting here on Zath! on a regular basis as I’m syndicating some of Game People’s great content. Paul’s got some great thoughts on family gaming and I hope you enjoy reading what he has to say about his experiences of being a gamer.”
I feel like Jerry Maguire today. After many years chasing my tail reviewing whatever game I could lay my hands on I have decided to take a break from the rat race. In the words of the man himself “Let us work less hard to [play] the [games] that we know won’t matter in the long run, and work twice as hard to [play] the ones who will.” So I’ll be here every other week for these Family Gamer articles, trying to get down in words the things that matter to me as a family gamer.
Continue reading »Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
June 7, 2008
My friends laughed when I told them I’d bought Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for my Nintendo DS. “Kiddies game” they said and warned me about a lot of text chat spieled of by Manga looking characters while needing a walkthrough to really advance through the game.
Nintendo DS - Top Games
May 27, 2008
After inheriting a cheap Nintendo DS with “Mr Myagies Brain Breaker” (long story, wont boar you) I set about trying to find myself some cheap games that I actually wanted to play. “Easy task” I thought, “The DS has been out for ages” I said, “cheap second hand stuff will be kicking about everywhere” I told my missus.
How wrong could I have been. Even the dodgy second hand stuff from the dreaded eBay was gonna cost me at least 1 nights beer money. There had to be a solution!? Ok it’s an old solution, but make sure when you do buy a game that it is one of the Nintendo DS’s top games!
Continue reading »
