While developing games, it is incredibly difficult to ensure that the touch screen functionality is utilized well in the game. On top of that, the game has to be engaging; boast of a replay value — a factor which signifies the number of times the game is likely to be played again; provide fun and even thrill sometimes.

Kirby Canvas Curse brings some genuine creativity and includes all of the factors that have been mentioned above. An amazing replay value, engaging, creative and real fun game play has made it pretty famous. Japan even sees a few commercials on TV.

Hand held experts Mojodo have this to say about the Kirby Canvas Curse’s game specifics:

“….The stylus is used to “paint” a rainbow path, which the pink puffball then follows. Draw ramps to make Kirby jump, loops to increase his speed, etc. The game has a huge amount of underappreciated replay value, to boot. Every level has three hidden medals to collect, and can also be completed in one of two challenge modes: time trial and paint trial. The latter tasks gamers with getting through a level while using the stylus as little as possible, and is our favorite. A great value….”

It has even been highly recommended for the DS lite newbies since it also makes for a great introduction to the huge popularity of the DS lite.

This Game — developed for the DS lite — is based on a popular game show featured on TV and surprisingly, the entire game is based on ‘picking your odds’ and dealing with numbers between 1 to 25.

According to Wikipedia :

“The general game play of Deal or No Deal involves a contestant, a host/presenter, a banker, and a set of numbered briefcases (or boxes), each containing a different value. The values themselves are known at the start of the game, but which case contains what value is unknown. At the start of the game, the contestant picks a case that they hope is one of the most valuable. During the rest of the game, the contestant selects the rest of the cases one at a time for rejection and removal from play.
The amount inside each selection is immediately revealed; by process of elimination, the amount revealed cannot be inside the player’s chosen case. After a preset number of cases have been opened, the banker offers the contestant an amount of money and/or prizes to quit the game, the offer based roughly on the amounts remaining in play and the contestant’s demeanor. The player then answers the titular question:
• “Deal”, accepting the offer presented and ending the game, or
• “No Deal”, permanently rejecting the offer and continuing to open cases
The process of removing cases and receiving offers continues until the player accepts an offer to quit, or until all offers have been rejected and all unselected cases revealed, the player then winning the value inside the case initially selected. If a player takes a deal, the game is typically continued to see how much the player could have won if they had remained in the game.”

However, putting this on the DS lite isn’t doing much of a justice to the game (there wasn’t any justice to talk about in the first place) although the phone based versions were considerably good with the ability of going home with virtual money and not having to worry about ruining the TV experience for millions of watchers by ‘giving in’ before the bitter end.

Should you buy it? If you get a good price — deal; if not, No deal.

Your DS lite features a touch screen and there are few games that really ensure that you use that to your advantage when playing — trauma center: Under the knife is arguably one of the best in this department. The Plot consists of a young surgeon who performs some operations on his patients. Although the operations might be simple in the beginning, they complexity would up-scale with time, so much so that you might want to give up on those levels of profound gaming.

According to modojo.com

“It’s such a perfect illustration of “the DS difference” that it belongs in every DS owner’s library, regardless of challenge. Stylus control makes the surgeries fun, fast, and frantic. It’s a perfect example of a unique game play experience that simply can’t be gotten elsewhere “

You heard of the rumors doing the rounds after the chief of Enterbrain, Hirokazy Hamamura made a statement recently about the possibility of a new Nintendo DS lite that is going to be revealed.

However, there was a firm denial from the Nintendo camp about it and has specifically stated that there wouldn’t be any such thing happening.

According to the sources:

“We cannot comment on the specifics of what will be announced at E3, but at the very least there won’t be anything like what Mr. Hamamura suggested, so would like to clearly deny this. We’re having a hard time understanding what kind of evidence [Mr. Hamamura] had for saying this,” said Nintendo Japan’s head of PR in a press statement.”

Nintendo’s denial would appear to have like hurling a bucket of cold water at hamamura’s prediction, but the prediction is not bad after all, given the fact that the DS lite so popular

Sometimes game developers make games that just don’t fit the bill. It would have been great to declare that Paint for DS lite would have been an amazing addition to the pool of games for DS lite, but somehow, we were not able to place this anywhere.

Totally, clueless as to whom the game targets — the kids? The teenagers? Adults? Surprisingly, It claims to be for teenagers and adults but I don’t think it will fit the bill there.

The game consists of a considerably good paint engine and allows one to render almost real time painting, using realistic brushes and all, but it still doesn’t fetch you the real feeling of getting dirty swabbing paint all over your body and making a mess out of everything. That feeling of being able to look at your working painting and think; of being able to think, brood and then execute — none of that. A simple touchpad with a nifty gaming device isn’t going to take that painter bug away from me and if paint by DS wants to take this old art rendering practice electronic, it isn’t doing a very impressive job.

The Game consists of little mini-games — simple, trite and unoriginal — even though the painting engine is more powerful than what the games show you. You could unlock some more paintings as you execute the ones available, but the point is lost, isn’t it? Why would I want to use DS lite to paint? I would want it to excite me? Pump my adrenaline up — not make me think about colors!

The game has been designed well and did have something going for them if it wasn’t for the fact that it isn’t really a game - it’s more like a self-indulgent pastime. If you are really into art, you would be surprised at what the DS can do, but other wise, don’t bother. There is some music too, if you wanted it and you could still try it, perhaps if you got it for free or for a grab-me-now price.

There are chances that you might have purchased a DS lite that wasn’t intended for use in your country? What? Did we hear you screaming? You don’t have to panic, but then, the statement still holds its ground. All the units produced have clear demarcations made by the manufacturer or its subsidiaries which states clearly as to where it ought to be sold – be in the European Union or the UK or elsewhere and there is a reason for it.

Probability of the DS lite you are about to purchase or the one you already purchased not belonging to the area it was intended to be sold is high, and if it is – you will have to pay heed.

The demarcations exist because different countries have different demarcations for electricity usage and have different voltage and current specifications for all consumer electric devices or charging devices.

More specifically, you have to be aware that the battery of the Nintendo DS Lite handheld should only be recharged by using a thoroughly tested, safe charger meant for use in the relevant country.

Your substitute charges that are passed off original or are tinkered with the labels to be passed off with the aim to make do without the actual one might save you some money or might make you pay for the ignorance.

Substitute chargers are not subject to Nintendo’s strict testing and quality control procedures. It won’t make the charger dangerous, but it does mean that it will not have been subject to safety checks by Nintendo. Please bear in mind that Nintendo’s manufacturer warranty will not cover any damages caused by or in connection with chargers manufactured by third parties.

According to huliq.com:

“Official Nintendo DS Lite chargers designed for use in the European Economic Area are grey in colour, and bear all of the following markings:
The ‘Nintendo’ logo embossed on the side of both the main plug, and the smaller plug;
The ‘CE’ mark on the back of the main plug; The crossed out ‘wheeled bin’ symbol also on the back of the main plug.”

When you buy your Nintendo DS Lite abroad and then want to use it in your home country or when you travel and want to use your Nintendo DS Lite system abroad, always make sure you use a charger that is in compliance with all the local applicable laws and regulations.

Nintendo company website itself provides a lot of information covering this ground and if you find anything suspicious with your buy or if you are concerned about the veracity, safety of the product, you could contact the customer directly or perhaps speak to the retailer to sort out the problem – whatever you do, don’t just brush it off.

Remember the BMW Convertible series? — The actual Automobile series. The thing about it was that the design was like love-it or hate-it types. Diary Girl developed by Konami is like that too — actually, it doesn’t even look like a game. Konami must have done a painstaking analysis on this one before launching the game. It would have thought of what a young girl probably in her teens would be thinking. It looks like a PDA more than a game and reeks of the girly pink color– this might put off some people(who aren’t girls, although girls who don’t like pink aren’t a problem. But do they exist?)

We did call it a PDA type thingy, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to the sheer effectiveness or capabilities of a PDA: The maximum length of the text that can be input is probably around 160 characters - -just as much as an SMS message on your phone. The good thing is people will have to learn to be precise and not verbose, but the bad is that it can be extremely frustrating. It is enabled with password access and also has a calendar (the PDA, remember?)

Equipped with goodies like a painting program and the ability to add animated smileys and such like, it is a thing your girl is going to be proud to own. What’s more, it even has the capability of letting users chat using VoIP protocol, which works through the DS Wi-Fi Connection. Imaging your daughter owning a communication medium that lets her communicate using VoIP — now who can boast of that?

Added to all of that — now we would come close to the real gaming part — there are scores of quizzes, games, horoscopes and all trivia that girls usually like and go soft in the knees for — we warned you, you will either love it or hate it.

An amazing buy for your daughter and a thing that can make her get busy and look sophisticated enough to beat some corporate executives even, when it comes to being connected and being “productive”.

Magic has always held human imagination for centuries and be it kids or adults, they won’t look away if a magic trick is being done and if you thought magic is kids stuff, The Harry Potter euphoria would be like a slap on the face.

Using simple, easy to understand language, Magic Made Fun shows how to do a few tricks on the DS screen using the screen displays — mostly card games because they are simplest and work well with the screen display concept. With some good quality graphics and easy operation, it is possible to pick some magic tricks that you could use to impress your friends and family.

However, the number of tricks available is limited and might make the insatiable kinds among you a little disappointed. With only 14 tricks available, it leaves one asking for more. Another irritating thing about is the fact that you got to unlock the other tricks by learning the present ones successfully and as if that wasn’t enough, you got to wait one full day for the rest.

But it does satiate the craving to do a little magic, learn some tricks for young people and is a considerable buy given that they like it so much.

Disney was always known how to be children’s best friend. They really bring out the best of the stuff for kids - -almost as if they knew what the kids really want.

The High School Musical: making the cut is very similar to many a tapping games — the kinds that release a kind of music for each tap. However, this game comes with enough content to keep the kids busy for like, forever. We feel it is a great value for money and the best your money can buy to keep kids “Musical engaged”.

There are about 6 characters that can be dressed up and lot more of these things can be done with them across two primary modes — music and dancing modes. The game also comes with 4 difficulty levels to help instill a learning curve and ensure that there is recognition of progression from the easy to the difficult. A high school musical fan is bound to be pre-occupied with the game forever and is seriously a creatively skewed game.

What’s more you can even create your own High School Music Video, add characters or tinker with their “avatar”. The game is also equipped with a video editing suite with which you can also use the voice commands which can be input through the DS microphone.
Enough content to last for months together and has some great tracks which haven’t been anything ravishing but they would just pass off. A great buy and a must give for your kids, even if the occasion doesn’t warrant it.
Go ahead and grab one for them.

Playing games is nothing if there isn’t any emotion in those games. The games are rather incomplete without this — Brothers in arms gets you just that — a modicum of camaraderie splashed with a lot of energy, action and of course adrenaline pumping action.

Bothers-in- arms is a war game — a classic World War Game and is almost first personish — the weapon firing is done through the shoulder buttons and the weapon aiming is done with the touch screen — for ease, of course. It might not be using the dual screens to the full use as they were intended to but then, the game is so good that this minor flaw can be tolerated.

Sprinkled with thrilling action sequences and aided with a lovely soundtrack and sound effects, the game promises a rocking entertainment. The 3D display gives out a feeling that you did get your money’s worth and the game doesn’t fail to impress you at almost every level — dotted with about 16 missions and spread over 3 legions of war, the game feels like it would never end. The missions are passed through sequentially in a phased manner but that doesn’t stop you from experimenting as you wished throughout the game. It is more like you-chart-my-course-and-play-me-as-you-want.

Equipped with an excellent Multi-player option and game modes would literally spoil you with a never ending gaming. It does come with its flaws but they would seem irrelevant to the kind of love you would feel for the game.