Joystiq

Activision has yet to announce DJ Hero through any official channels. The "rumored" game has been revealed through trademarks, secret sources, and even musicians whose work is included. But because Activision hasn't sent out a true press release, the game continues to be in some kind of limbo between reality and rumor.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick totally spilled the beans to CNBC, saying, "We have this product called DJ Hero coming out later this year which is a turntable that you can actually play competitively, spin discs and mix on." Can we call this first Guitar Hero spinoff "confirmed" yet? Because it's totally happening.

In other news: CNBC's Joe Kernen is basically mystified by Nerf N-Strike. Just like everyone else.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz; image credit: lolololori]

Crave sent a statement to GamePolitics regarding the bizarre audio sample in its Baby Pals DS game that seemed (to at least one parent) to sound like "Islam is the light". Doug Panter, the company's marketing director, confirmed the belief of rational folks: that the company did not slip an endorsement of any religion into its baby game.

The licensed sound file, also found in Fisher-Price's Little Mommy Cuddle 'n Coo, is "a recording of a 5 month old baby babbling non-intelligible phrases," Panter said. "In over 200 hours of testing the product, no recognizable English words or phrases were discernible." He called the similarity between the baby's utterance and seemingly recognizable words "only coincidence as the baby recorded was too young to pronounce these words let alone a whole grammatically correct phrase".

Now, with that out of the way, we look to Crave for an explanation of the Purr Pals box. Kittens in bread? That is deplorable.

Casualgaming.biz asked a who's who of casual games about how they felt the business would get by during the current financial horribleness. As it turns out, the polled companies expect to either weather the crisis or even benefit from it.

A representative for PopCap said "When economic times are tough, the most broadly appealing, cost-effective forms of entertainment tend to not only survive – but thrive." This sentiment was echoed by the CEO of Oberon Media. Nickelodeon's Dave Williams, however, sees problems for companies who "need access to outside capital and high valuations to fund growth and investment and/or haven't reached profitability and need cash to fund existing operations." In other words, companies who rely on others' money to make their games.

Not that we're Industry Analysts, but we fully expect the casual games industry to do well during this recession. It's pretty simple: these companies make video games -- often very enjoyable ones -- that do not cost sixty dollars.

Throughout his life, actor Daniel Radcliffe has suffered from a "mild" form of dyspraxia, a developmental motor control impairment that affects not only physical coordination, but also learning. Radcliffe's dyspraxia is mostly limited to difficulty with small, precise tasks like writing or tying shoes.

He didn't let his handicap stop him from looking enough like Harry Potter to start a successful acting career, and his success in dealing with the dyspraxia may be partially attributable to our old friend video games. "I played a lot of video games as a kid which really helped it," Radcliffe told The Daily Beast. "It basically surfaces as bad coordination." And now Radcliffe's likeness can be seen in Harry Potter games, aiding the coordination of a new generation of kids unlucky enough to be burdened with both dyspraxia and Harry Potter games.

[Via GoNintendo]

EA has revealed the known -- but never officially announced -- sequel to Boom Blox for Wii. According to the press release, EA's Boom Blox Bash Party will be out this spring, featuring 400 new levels and a greater emphasis on multiplayer -- as evidenced by the "Party" in the title. (As well as the "Bash" -- which is a kind of party, we believe.)

"Boom Blox Bash Party is a wild social gaming experience," said Steven Spielberg, who is involved in the new game in whatever nebulous capacity in which he was involved in the first title. "We know families and friends really enjoyed playing the original Boom Blox together, so we designed more explosive multiplayer experiences with Boom Blox Bash Party."

Even more exciting, BBBP now has online integration for its level editor, allowing players to share their destructible Mario sprites with the community at large. EA will offer its own downloadable levels as well.

Last fall, controversy about Fisher-Price's Little Mommy Cuddle 'n Coo doll rocked the local news circuit, when the doll was discovered to utter some kind of gibberish that sounded kind of like "Islam is the Light" if you were listening hard enough for things to be outraged about.

The odd sound sample has been found once again by a concerned parent, this time in Crave's Nintendo DS game Baby Pals, previously known only for being kind of creepy-looking. In a fairly hilarious coincidence, Rachel Jones of Indiana found the offending utterance first in the doll, then later in a copy of Baby Pals she had purchased for her daughter. Baby Pals came out in October 2007, a year before the row about the doll.

"Not just my daughters' toys, but we have a son too," Jones told Terre Haute's WTHI News 10. "Now I feel like I need to listen to all of his little toys to make sure they're not saying it." Check out the news footage after the break, and watch as the virtual baby intones the phrase in question over and over again while being bathed. Of course, the ability of fake babies to exert absolute influence on real children through nonsensical endorsements of religion is well-known. Everybody knows that.

If you listen to what is supposedly the original MP3 (provided by Fisher-Price, link goes straight to .mp3), it sounds much more like nonsense and less like some random attempt at indoctrination. We've contacted Crave to try to find out where it got the sample and hopefully solve this quirky mystery.

[Update: In case you haven't seen our more recent post about this, Crave has issued a response explaining the origin of the sound file.]

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Excellent news, fans of ... various ... services ... being made available through Wii Channels! There's one more item of Channel-related news out today. A trademark found on the European trademark database suggests that Nintendo is looking to take its Digicam Print Channel to Europe (and potentially elsewhere) as the "Photo Print Service Channel".

The Digicam Print Channel, a service offered through a deal with Fujifilm, allows Wii owners to order prints of photos saved to an SD card, create customizable Nintendo-themed photo albums, and even order business cards featuring Nintendo backgrounds and Mii pictures. The business cards are available in Japan as Club Nintendo rewards.

We've been coveting those Mii business cards for a while, though not enough to make our own imitation and just go to Kinko's. Being able to get the genuine article through the Wii would be lovely.

Want a Zapper-type gun shell for your Wiimote but don't want to overpay for what basically amounts to a handle? Well ... you're basically out of luck. But if you want to overpay somewhat less than the usual too-high price, Amazon.com is offering CTA Digital's Wii Magnum Gun, a Perfect Shot ripoff, for $8.99 as their Deal of the Day.

If you're concerned about the quality of this plastic gun shell versus other plastic gun shells, just remember: seriously, it's a piece of plastic, and probably does just as good a job of being that as any other piece of plastic. Don't think our dismissal of their complexity means we don't recommend a gun shell; anything that gets you playing Ghost Squad is a good thing.

While, for the most part, Chrono Trigger on the DS looks just like Chrono Trigger on the SNES, some liberties have been taken to make the use of the new, screenier hardware. I snapped this control scheme diagram from the Chrono Trigger demo station, figuring there may be someone out there interested in how it would play on the DS.

Oh, and I played it. The big revelation here is the touchscreen movement. The touchscreen (which displays an automap of the room you're in) basically acts as a big analog stick: hold the stylus toward the right of the screen and Crono moves right; hold it farther toward the edge and Crono moves faster. Tap, or run into something, to make Crono interact.

It's awesome if you want to have a really hard time performing basic movement operations in Chrono Trigger. But the traditional button controls remain more than adequate. It doesn't really mar the fact that it's OMG CHRONO TRIGGER. And battling on the touchscreen is perfectly fine -- you just touch buttons on a menu.

In other Chrono news, an SE rep told me that the translation (yes, it was the English version!) was new! And according to a statement given to Spencer Yip, the single-screen version just as it appeared on the SNES will be added to the cart before release.

When (and we're talking hypotheticals) you're in a Capcom meeting room and there just happens to be a gigantic replica Bionic Commando arm lying about (with working claw), what else is there to do but put it on and crush Yoon's head? Jem Alexander had to face that tough choice in real life, and he kept a cool enough head to make the smart move.

Apparently, Bionic Commando producer (and voice of Phoenix Wright!) Ben Judd constructed this arm in his spare time ... when not working on Bionic Commando. It's amazing work (even if it doesn't shoot a grappling hook).

It was an unusually eventful week for niche RPG fans, with news from Nippon Ichi of a North American release of of the Rhapsody remake, as well as a brand new game! And, of course, there's still Disgaea. That contrasts with what may be the least niche DS news ever: a new DS Lite color -- bundled with Guitar Hero!

Community

• DS Daily: Keeping it clean
  Wash your hands!
• The DS Life: A different kind of training
  Wash your hands!

Features

• Metareview: Super Dodgeball Brawlers
  Hit or miss?
• Promotional Consideration: The usual suspects
  We think this ad is telling us to buy a DS, but we aren't sure how.

News of Note

• Final Fantasy IV videos bring July a little closer
  We're in the final month before Final Fantasy!
• New Zealand: Nintendo's new red-headed stepchild
  Now there's no excuse not to import.
• Guitar Hero DS bundle is almost perfect
  What a lovely silver/black DS! As long as you've got your hand over part of it.
• Infinite Interactive targets kids with Neopets Puzzle Adventure
  More like Neo-Puzzle Quest!
• Music to our ears: NIS America announces Rhapsody
  Musical, dessert-filled RPG remake!
• Shiren the Wanderer DS 2 no longer a mystery
  Good luck finishing the first one!
• A Witch's Tale casts a spell on us
  Another new announcement from NIS America!

Community

• DS Daily: Forced Stylus
  Is touching always good when it comes to DS games?
• DS Daily: Addicted
  Might as well face it.
• The DS Life: Motherly Love
  At first, it kinda looks like the baby's got a DS for a head.
• Pirate Gaiden: Dragon Sword
  What happens when you pirate a ninja?
• Stare along with us at the limited-edition red DS Lite
  Who knew -- the DS looks good in red too.

Features

• DS Fanboy Review: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2
  Critical analysis, I choose you!
• DS Fanboy Review: The World Ends With You
  The review ends with a very high score.
• DS Fanboy Review: Rondo of Swords
  Atlus's latest soon-to-be-rare strategy game.

News of note

• Nanashi no Game looking more and more like a creepy Hotel Dusk
  Creepy and self-referential!
• Dragon Quest VI already trademarked in U.S.?
  It'll probably be out within the next couple of ... years ...
• Moon footage is out of this world
  Bang! Zoom!
• Windy x Windam: Fighting Game of the Unemployed Ninja
  Izuna? In my fighting game? It's more likely than you think.
• Nintendo Island shows up in Second Life
  What are they doing there? Probably avoiding work like everyone else.

Wideload Games' Hail to the Chimp consistently delivered laughs to its audience of journalists at EIEIO. Being that the event was a large party, it was the perfect venue to try out a party game. The crowd got almost as boisterous during the gameplay sessions as they did later that evening, when the event metamorphosed from a video game press event into a concert.

The "concert" portion of the event was also the first chance I had to talk about the game with Wideload's Senior Producer Jon Krusell. He was kind enough to yell over the din in order to discuss the thought process that led naturally into a party combat game about animal presidential elections, his theories about the lack of comedy in games, and his revolutionary Robot Jox-based political platform.

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As Firefly Studios explained it, most dungeon games put the player in the role of a psychopath who enters a dungeon to slaughter thousands of subterranean creatures and steal their gold. Dungeon Hero is totally different. In Dungeon Hero, your character is -- well, okay, a psychopath who enters a dungeon to slaughter thousands of subterranean creatures and steal their gold. But those subterranean creatures have their own stuff going on, and that jerk hero is neither the shining exemplar of humanity nor some brooding antihero. He's mostly just a big dumb guy who fights a lot. And as such, he is manipulated into becoming the hero of some of the dungeon's inhabitants.

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I'm a big fan of the Super Dodgeball games, and of the Kunio series in general. I played tons of dodgeball on the NES and GBA, and I've been watching the development of the DS game with more than enthusiasm. So when I first heard about the Xbox Live Arcade Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, I was very curious about a non-Technos take on the sport; what would Blazing Lizard do to distinguish their game from what seems like the final word in dodgeball games? Besides filling it full of Internet memes, of course.

Surprisingly, Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball has very little in common with Technos' masterpiece. Aside from the fact that pudgy characters throw balls at each other, the two games play almost totally differently. They might as well represent two totally different sports.

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