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Nintendo DS News is a News and downloads site for All Nintendo Handhelds and Consoles including the Gameboy, NES, N64, Snes, Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, NDS, 3DS, GBA and Snes, We have all the latest emulators, hack, homebrew, commercial games and all the downloads on this site, the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
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April 18th, 2007, 18:34 Posted By: wraggster
Pre-orders for the upcoming Pokémon® Diamond and Pokémon® Pearl video games for the portable Nintendo DS™ have topped one half million in the United States, and Nintendo is advising fans to brace themselves for the next wave of Poké-mania. Based on the huge pre-sales for Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, Nintendo expects them to be among the top-selling games for all of 2007.
With four days to go until they arrive, more than 533,000 pre-orders have been taken for Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl. Already these games have more than doubled the pre-sale numbers of Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen, which launched in 2004. Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen went on to sell more than 3.4 million combined in North America.
Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl have consistently ranked among the top-selling video game products on Amazon.com, and there are still four days until launch.
Pokémon became a nationwide hit the instant it arrived in the United States in 1998. Now a new wave of Pokémon excitement is on its way, complete with more than 100 new Pokémon characters, the ability for players to battle wirelessly on Nintendo® Wi-Fi Connection and voice-chat abilities, which act like a cell phone but with connection among friends only.
The Official Nintendo Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Player's Guide also will be available at retail on April 22. For more information about the games, visit www.Pokemon-Games.com
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April 18th, 2007, 18:29 Posted By: wraggster
press release:
Eidos Interactive, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, has teamed up with leading digital content provider, Majesco Entertainment to distribute a number of new Majesco titles to European and Australia territories.
The partnership will predominantly focus on Nintendo DSTM and Wii console titles including; Cake ManiaTM, The New York Times Crosswords, MechAssaultTM: Phantom War and Nancy DrewTM: The Deadly Secret of Old World Park for DS and several as yet unannounced Wii console titles.
“There is an obvious synergy between Eidos’ focus on the casual games market and Majesco’s expertise in this field,” said Ian Livingstone, Product Acquisition Director, Eidos. “This is just the start of an exciting relationship with Majesco and furthers our commitment to casual games.”
"This partnership with Eidos provides us with a focus that our mass market games will really benefit from, and is a natural progression in our company’s evolution. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the best professionals in the industry while benefiting from a proven international distribution network,” said Jason Dutton, Managing Director, Majesco Entertainment International.
Eidos will distribute eight of Majesco’s titles by this summer, with more than 15 other titles to follow.
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April 18th, 2007, 18:29 Posted By: wraggster
press release:
Eidos Interactive, one of the world’s leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, has teamed up with leading digital content provider, Majesco Entertainment to distribute a number of new Majesco titles to European and Australia territories.
The partnership will predominantly focus on Nintendo DSTM and Wii console titles including; Cake ManiaTM, The New York Times Crosswords, MechAssaultTM: Phantom War and Nancy DrewTM: The Deadly Secret of Old World Park for DS and several as yet unannounced Wii console titles.
“There is an obvious synergy between Eidos’ focus on the casual games market and Majesco’s expertise in this field,” said Ian Livingstone, Product Acquisition Director, Eidos. “This is just the start of an exciting relationship with Majesco and furthers our commitment to casual games.”
"This partnership with Eidos provides us with a focus that our mass market games will really benefit from, and is a natural progression in our company’s evolution. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the best professionals in the industry while benefiting from a proven international distribution network,” said Jason Dutton, Managing Director, Majesco Entertainment International.
Eidos will distribute eight of Majesco’s titles by this summer, with more than 15 other titles to follow.
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April 18th, 2007, 18:28 Posted By: wraggster
press release:
Enabling race drivers to create their own championship circuits, Codemasters today announces Race Driver: Create & Race, an original title in the exhilarating motorsport series, coming exclusively to Nintendo DS this summer.
Race Driver: Create & Race has been designed from the ground up for Nintendo DS and lets players thrash the most formidable sports cars through closely-fought races on the world’s most prestigious circuits… and then lets players create their very own circuits with a full track construction kit.
Using the Nintendo DS stylus, the game’s track editor lets players select and place race track elements, such as hairpin corners, long straights and chicanes, to design unique circuits. Once all the pieces are placed to perfection, players can take to their track and experience exactly what it’s like in aggressive multiple car races.
In addition to the track editor, the game features 32 real-world circuits – from Silverstone and the Nurburgring to Bathurst – and 25 officially licensed race cars, including the Koenig GT, the AMG Mercedes C Klasse DTM, and the Chevrolet Silverado Truck.
Making use of the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi connection capabilities, players can challenge others to races on the game’s official tracks as well as the circuits of their creation. Race Driver: Create & Race also enables up to four players to go head-to-head in races gamesharing from only one cartridge. Further championships and cars can be unlocked from the World Tour Mode and then raced in realtime online and ad hoc multiplayer modes.
Prepare to get creative with chicanes and more as Race Driver: Create & Race charges out of the pits exclusively for the Nintendo DS this summer. Check out what’s under the hood at www.codemasters.com/createandrace.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:34 Posted By: wraggster
You've read about the first ten minutes of the game, have undoubtedly seen countless videos, and now it's time to get into the real meat of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Our weekend was filled with battles and adventure (after all, we want to be the very best, like no one ever was) and as we're now more than 15 hours into the DS sequel we've got plenty to share.
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl follow the adventures of an unnamed soon-to-be champion (that's you) as he/she trek through the land of Sinnoh. It's a new world with new species, but for Pokemon veterans it's going to look very similar to any of the other locals from previous games. The goal is to capture as many pocket monsters as you can, raising them to do friendly-but-deadly battle with other Pokemon, and collect badges from Pokemon Gyms across the lands. Along the way you'll battle rivals, thwart the plans of the new "Team Galactic", and capture and raise your army of critters in hopes of becoming the greatest Pokemon master the world has ever seen. Epic, huh?
From the get-go, Diamond and Pearl play out very similar to their predecessors. You'll select a name for yourself and your rival, eventually select a starter Pokemon (through a crazy series of events this time), and be on your way through the world of Sinnoh. Per usual a player can carry up to six Pokemon with them as a team, and all other Pokemon captured will be blasted to a storage computer for later use. Any monster that battles gains experience, and can eventually learn new techniques and evolve into stronger Pokemon.
Full Article
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April 18th, 2007, 03:31 Posted By: wraggster
via ign
Remember House of the Dead? Eidos will be unleashing its own take on that classic lightgun shooter with a completely independent, but certainly hugely inspired production called Touch the Dead. We got a chance to romp through the zombie-infested halls on the Nintendo DS today, and pun intended...we had a blast.
Touch the Dead has been in the works for well over a year at Nintendo DS development house Dream On Studio, originally titled "Dead & Furious." The project's been picked up by Eidos for a May release, and team's done a pretty decent job emulating the fun of an on-rails lightgun shooter using nothing but the touch screen and stylus.
The game begins with a comic book cutscene showing you, the lead character, thrown in prison. As you mull over your time, you're awoken by a loud sound -- the door of your jail cell swings open. Of course, you want to know why...and so begins the start of Touch the Dead. Without a weapon you don't have much to do but look around, luckily a pistol with infinite ammunition's been conveniently tossed on the floor in one of the rooms.
Touch the Dead automatically moves you through the corridors of the prison -- all you have to worry about are the seemingly endless number of zombies that are wandering your way to get their taste of fresh prisoner blood. A simple tap-tap-tap on the screen will fire your weapon to that specific location, and headshots seem to be the best way of taking out the undead. Unfortunately, while having a bottomless bag of bullets is certainly handy, you'll still have to reload after emptying your barrel. Dragging a new clip from one side of the screen to the other is a simple task, but it requires a quick swipe to do it, and that's precious time away from keeping the zombies back.
Later in the game you'll upgrade not just your weapons, but the ability to reload those weapons much more quickly. The D-pad is used to switch from one weapon to another, but you'll need to earn these guns before you can switch over to them.
Touch the Dead is a simple design that's not entirely original, but we were having a great time popping zombies in the heads with our revolver. The visuals might not be on par with, say, Resident Evil, but the game moves at a pretty rapid clip and allows for more than a half dozen zombies to stumble after you in one cluster. Shoot a zombie in the head and their heads can pop off with a nice blast of red blood -- it's clear that the game will earn an M rating when it hits store shelves.
We didn't get a chance to experience the game's two player cooperative mode, but Touch the Dead will support the local wireless feature of the Nintendo DS so that players can work together to wipe out the zombie threat.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:29 Posted By: wraggster
via ign
Arthur Suydam isn't a name familiar to most gamers. But comic-book fans know Suydam for his recent work on Marvel Zombies. Suydam's twisted undead versions of classic Marvel covers became a huge hit over the past year. Now the talented painter is taking aim at the world of videogames. Suydam has created the cover to Secret Stash Games' newest DS title, Touch of the Dead.
"Arthur has inspired zombie lovers around the world -- his stylized work captures the true essence of the zombie and who they were before they became the undead," said Kevin Gill, Senior Marketing Manager for Eidos North America. "We couldn't be more excited to have such a renowned artist contributing to Touch the Dead. For the first time, a game's box art will be as collectable and exciting as the game itself."
"Art that truly captures the spirit of its subject is my passion and Eidos presented me with a great opportunity to create art for a whole new audience," said Suydam. "It is immensely exciting to find a way to bring art and technology together and to be a part of that. Touch the Dead is the perfect game for me -- zombies are what I do best!"
Touch the Dead arrives in stores later this spring.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:20 Posted By: wraggster
New version of DS Game Maker released:
Okay the BETA has been and gone, now it is version 1.0.
Changes:
* Image transparency (Magenta is replaced with transparent).
* Makes sure you don't use image sizes that don't compile in properly.
* Sprites can snap to grid.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:17 Posted By: wraggster
schlegel11 has updated his fart simulator for the DS using a much newer version of paslib which fixes multiple problems.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:13 Posted By: wraggster
Aurelio has updated the Operating system for the DS:
Finally I have released the version 0,2 of my DsOS.
innovationes are not many but in these last times they have been engaged with the school therefore have not gone a lot ahead with the progetto.Però in order to make to see that I was still alive and that I was continuing the plan.
Here the innovationes:
Added the possibility to use an own song like sveglia.Per making it you enough to put rows called sveglia.raw in a called folder dsos that it must be found in the root.Per to convert the rows in raw used Switch that you can unload free of charge from here
Reduced the space occupied from the dsos from the program in fact I have reduced give approximately 1MB only 194KB.
PS:nella converisone of the song set up mono to 8bit and 11025Khz.
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April 18th, 2007, 03:09 Posted By: wraggster
Chishm has made an update to Nitro Hax the action replay clone for the DS:
Version 0.82 is now available from the usual place (see first post in topic). Hopefully supports Animal Crossing now. If you are using an XML file from Datel, it should interpret the master code correctly (thanks to kenobi for help decoding it).
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April 18th, 2007, 03:05 Posted By: wraggster
Constellations DS is a program making it possible to visualize the constellations and stars of the night sky. The goal is double:
- To help to locate the constellations present, outside by a beautiful night.
- To give a reference of simple, practical and portable pointing with the astronomers amateurs (who use a portable computer most of the time, not very practical and rather fragile).
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April 18th, 2007, 03:00 Posted By: wraggster
via dsfanboy
Final Fantasy XIII will be an odd beast, containing a primary entry (currently an exclusive for the PS3) and several spin-off titles, a la Final Fantasy VII; the collection as a whole will be entitled Fabula Nova Crystallis. However, only two spin-offs had been announced: Final Fantasy XIII Versus, also for the PS3, and Final Fantasy XIII Agito, available for mobile phones. These were apparently the only planned titles until the above (beside?) picture surfaced, clearly showing at least three more unknown entries in the series.
Square-Enix knows how unbelievably profitable the DS is, and recently released review scores of FFXII: Revenant Wings will ensure solid sales in Japan. Personally, we find it hard to believe that one of these titles won't be coming to the DS, and heck, who knows ... there might even be a Wii title in there too.
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April 18th, 2007, 02:55 Posted By: wraggster
DWedit has posted a new version of the GBC emulator for the GBA/DS:
New build...
Major changes since the last build is that plenty of code got rewritten. Many off-by-one-scanline graphical errors were corrected. Since so much code was rewritten, may possibly be buggy.
* Adjusted timing code, Many off-by-one scanline errors were fixed. Notably in Zelda oracles, Super Mario Land, Dragon Warrior 3, etc.
* Rewrote scanline-buffer code. Properly supports split windows, fixes Oracle of Ages intro, Donkey Kong, etc. Faster too. Also fixed bugs where window was displayed one scanline too far down.
* Double Speed = Timers now doubles length of vblank period when the GBC uses double speed. Fixes glitches in Balloon Fight GB.
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April 18th, 2007, 02:46 Posted By: wraggster
Krullo has released a new version of the Nes Emulator for the Gamecube/Wii
Heres whats new
April 15th 2007
* Directory support when loading from SD card. Thanks JLF65!
* Uses the februari release of libOGC.
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April 18th, 2007, 02:34 Posted By: wraggster
via games digest
Both Wii and PS3 have web browsers, but it's fair to say that internetweb surfing is very much a secondary feature for both. It's all about the games really, with a side-order of Blu-ray goodness in PS3's case. However, Web 2.0 will be a factor in both, for example Sony's upcoming Home virtual world, and Nintendo's connected News Channel and Forecast Channel.
Nevertheless, it's fair to assume that a decent chunk of Wii and PS3 owners will use the consoles for at least some regular web surfing too. So how do the respective browsers compare when faced with 15 of the most popular Web 2.0 sites? I tested them out on the likes of MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and Last.fm to see how they performed.
Each site gets a mark out of 2. 0 points means it didn't work properly. 1 point means it worked partially, and 2 points means it worked well. Note, this is as much a test of how well the websites are designed as of the console browsers. Read on to find out which console scored higher.
1. eBay (www.ebay.com)
The world's top auctions website works like a dream on both Wii and PS3, allowing you to sign in, browse for items, and splash your life savings on as many crap porcelain guinea pig ornaments as you like. Neither console has any problems. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
2. Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk)
I'm starting with easy ones here: Amazon is mainly text with a few pics, just like eBay. Neither Wii nor PS3 has any problems coping with the site. And before you scoff that console gamers don't read books, there's a huge selection of games and hardware available too. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
3. MySpace (www.myspace.com)
How will the world's largest social networking site fare on the next-gen consoles? On the profile-editing and messaging side, it's absolutely fine. But a big part of MySpace is its band profiles, where you can listen to tunes. Wii can handle the embedded players, but PS3 can't. On both consoles, video is no-go. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 1 point.
4. Bebo (www.bebo.com)
Another social networking site with music and video content, and arguably one that The Cool Kids rate more than MySpace these days. Once again, you can do all the profile-editing and friend-adding you want on both consoles, but this time the embedded tunes work on both too. However, videos won't play on either. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
5. Facebook (www.facebook.com)
This is purely about social networking, and the site is picking up a head of steam now non-students can sign up. With less of a focus on music and video, it's handled with ease on both consoles, with all the features surviving intact. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
6. YouTube (www.youtube.com)
How will Google's super-popular video-sharing site fare on games consoles? Not half bad, actually. Both Wii and PS3 can search, browse and most importantly play the site's videos. Wii point blank refuses to let you upload your own videos though, while PS3 does, but only if they're in a format that it recognises. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
7. Flickr (www.flickr.com)
What about photo-sharing? Wii is fine for browsing other people's photos, as well as your own photo stream. You can't upload new pics though, which is a pain. PS3 can also handle the browsing, but more importantly, it can upload photos too. The scoring is slightly different here, as I'd argue uploading is more important for using Flickr than it is for YouTube. Wii: 1 point. PS3: 2 points.
8. Vox (www.vox.com)
Six Apart's blogging cum social-networking service is slick and easy to use on PC, but what about on consoles? It works on Wii, but isn't totally comfortable to use, due to some weird on-screen formatting. It's not fun on PS3 either, being sluggish and not letting you upload photos with your posts. Wii: 1 points. PS3: 1 point.
9. Gmail (www.gmail.com)
On both consoles, Gmail has an irritating habit of filling the text-entry box with the entire email you're replying to, and making you scroll back through it to reply. Apparently you can turn this off within Gmail, but that's not ideal if you're also using it on a PC or Mac. Otherwise, though, it works well – and is fine if you're just checking emails. Wii: 1 point. PS3: 1 point.
10. Twitter (www.twitter.com)
The Hot New Thing in Web 2.0 circles, Twitter is about 'micro-blogging' – short 140-character summaries of what you're up to. The site itself is stripped-down and simple, so it works marvellously on both consoles. Plus, if you don't have a wireless keyboard hooked up, the shorter messages are less painful to tap in on the on-screen keyboards than full blog posts. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 2 points.
11. Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)
Web-based RSS aggregator, which is one of the best ways to monitor news feeds on a computer. On Wii, it works perfectly. On PS3, it doesn't work at all, not allowing you to open your feeds. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 0 points.
12. Digg (www.digg.com)
Excellent tech news community, although it's expanded to other subjects too. It works very well on the Wii, although for understandable reasons (no copy'n'paste) it's tricksy to submit your own stories for others to Digg. On PS3, it works, but the formatting is well and truly screwed up on-screen, making it a bit of a headache to view. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 1 point.
13. del.icio.us (www.del.icio.us)
Social bookmarking site, where you can save your favourite links, tag them, and view other people's. However, on both Wii and PS3, you're restricted to just the latter, although you can save other people's links as your own. Wii: 1 point. PS3: 1 point.
14. Google Maps (maps.google.co.uk)
Google's very own mapping service works like a dream on the Wii, letting you search for locations, then view maps or satellite overhead photos. However, it inexplicably doesn't work at all on PS3, with dodgy formatting and broken search facilities – which after all, is how you actually find places. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 0 points.
15. Last.fm (www.last.fm)
Finally, how does this innovative personalised streaming music service shape up on Nintendo and Sony's consoles? I didn't expect it to work, yet on Wii it works smoothly, pumping your personal radio streams out of your telly or attached speakers. On PS3, it does work, but the experience of using the site is less smooth, including some snags signing in. Wii: 2 points. PS3: 1 point.
CONCLUSION: Wii 26 - 20 PS3
Victory goes to Opera's Wii browser, hurt by the fact that two sites (Bloglines and Google Maps) didn't work at all on the PS3 browser. However, it's worth stressing that PS3's ability to upload photos and (possibly) video gives it an advantage if you're big on this user-generated content lark. Also, these findings could easily change as various sites get a redesign, either for the better (they're configured to autodetect a console and adapt accordingly) or for the worse (they use new plug-ins that aren't supported by the consoles).
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April 18th, 2007, 02:18 Posted By: wraggster
New from Play Asia
features
Sudoku Gameplay - Zendoku incorporates martial arts themes and colorful symbols in an innovative twist to the massive puzzle craze sweeping the globe.
Fun Battle Action - Utilizing the Nintendo DS stylus and microphone, defend yourself from and reflect enemy attacks. Blow away obstacles, spin vault handles, block punches and much more!
Engaging Characters - Challenge diverse and colorful characters from Ninjas, Karate Masters, Samurais and more, each with unique storylines and special abilities.
Game-Sharing Function – Multiple players can compete in wireless mode, even if only one player has a game cartridge inserted!
Unlockable Content – Unlock new characters and attacks in Quest mode.
Infinite Puzzles – You'll never run out of puzzles with Zendoku’s infinite puzzle generator!
description
Zendoku is a martial arts-themed, puzzle battling game based on the enormously popular logic game, Sudoku. Experience fun and intuitive puzzle-battle gameplay in numerous single and multiplayer game modes. Challenge and defend yourself against a range of engaging martial arts-themed characters to win battles and advance. With a carefully considered learning curve, entertaining storylines and addictive gameplay, players everywhere will soon master the art of Zendoku.
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April 18th, 2007, 02:13 Posted By: wraggster
News from Play Asia
Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana is a real-time strategy role-playing game for the Nintendo DS. The game takes place 19 years before Seiken Densetsu 3, and features an all new cast of characters, as well as a few returning heroes from Seiken Densetsu 3. Take control of Roger, a skilled sword combatant in the Pendan Kingdom army. Using an air ship as your base, summon monsters to defeat oncoming enemy attackers.
Square-Enix's Seiken Densetsu: Heroes of Mana for Nintendo DS™ is now available at discounted US$ 19.90 only.
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April 18th, 2007, 01:54 Posted By: wraggster
via timesonline
It is fair to say that the Nintendo Wii (pronounced wee) has become the virtual bane of many parents’ lives: it is the computer game that promises to get their children off the couch, or the PlayStation — if only it can be tracked down.
Launched before Christmas, it soon became the most soughtafter gadget in Britain. Yet stores that sold out in December — and there were many — are still out of stock, while the waiting list of impatient and disgruntled junior consumers grows ever longer.
Such is demand for the Wii, which retails at £179, that it is reportedly selling for bids of up to £600 on eBay (admittedly with lots of extra games).
What sets the Wii apart from rival computer games is the way it allows players to mimic the physical aspects of a game such as golf, tennis, boxing or baseball, via a hand-held remote control unit that communicates with a sensor sitting on the television.
With their purchase, gamers get Wii Sports, a package of five games including golf, bowling, tennis, boxing and baseball. A secondary device — which is attached via a cable and mimics a variety of objects from fishing rods to samurai swords — can be bought separately. In all, more than two dozen games are available including Rayman Raving Rabbids, in which players shake the remote control aggressively, and Red Steel, which involves wielding it like a handgun.
Unlike other games that require little more activity than the pressing of thumbs and fingers on a console, Wii players must move, even jump — backwards, forwards, side-wards and up — to get the highest scores.
In many ways it seems a perfect compromise — yes, it’s a computer game but it is also, perhaps, a solution in part to the obesity epidemic. At least, that is what the manufacturers would have a generation of parents anxious about the inactive lifestyles of their children believe.
But many experts are concerned about the marketing of the product. Critics argue that this is calculated to ease the conscience of parents who have neither the time nor the inclination for active play with their children.
And if Nintendo is so concerned about the expansion of waistlines, then perhaps it should plough some of its profits into funding children’s activity schemes or grassroots sport, they suggest.
“They claim that the Wii closely simulates a game such as tennis, so why not give kids a real racket and get them to go outside and play?” says Jo Tuffrey, a personal trainer and former PE teacher based in Berkshire. “The bottom line is that this is still a computer game. It still has a television set as a focus and, in that respect it still promotes a slothful, inactive lifestyle.”
However, the results of a study at Liverpool John Moores University, released in February, provided promising statistics on the Wii’s ability to burn calories. Professor Tim Cable, director of the school of sport and exercise sciences, and his colleagues found that, in theory, regular Wii use could shift 27lb (12.25kg) a year.
It sounds impressive — but closer inspection of the research, which was part-funded by Nintendo’s marketing company, reveals that the figures are based on an average 12.2 hours of “gaming” a week by 13 to 15-year-olds.
The scientists conceded that while the Wii burnt 40 per cent more calories than using a traditional console (ie, while sitting on the sofa), it was “never going to be as effective as getting out and playing sport”.
Using the game can also, it appears, have some unhealthy side-effects. As those players who have managed to get hold of it spend more time using the Wii, some are noticing that hours waving the game’s controller around can add up to fairly intense exertion — which results in aches, pains and overuse injuries. They are reporting a host of musculo-skeletal complaints including aching backs, sore shoulders and a condition dubbed “Wii elbow” by The Wall Street Journal.
The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) has recently cautioned that Wii injuries are plentiful and says that precautions against them should be taken. “Any unaccustomed exercise or activity lays you bare to problems that could occur from prolonged periods of active movement.
So treat the Wii like a gym workout — warming up and cooling down thoroughly,” says Tim Hutchful, a BCA spokesman. “It is also important to take frequent breaks, which should be every 15 to 30 minutes for those who don’t exercise regularly.”
Some Wii games have pop-up reminders every 15 minutes advising gamers to take a break. Yet research has shown that children play on their Wiis for up to six hours at a time.
Sammy Margo, a spokeswoman for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, is not surprised at the injury rates linked to the game. “Children think of them as ordinary computer games but they are not,” she says.
“To play a Wii tennis game, for instance, they need to build up a fair amount of speed to hit the virtual ball. They wouldn’t play two hours of conventional tennis, yet they are doing that with this game — and that is bound to result in some injuries.”
Since the Wii’s popularity has risen, so too has the number of websites cataloguing the injuries linked to it. Sites such as wiihaveaprob-lem.com list dozens of difficulties incurred by users, many with accompanying photographs of the damaged body parts. One girl, for instance, suffered a dislocated knee after playing on the Wii in inappropriate footwear.
Collisions are another common hazard. Flailing arms can sometimes inadvertently smack into lamps, furniture and competing players.
On ign.com , a site that reviews video games, one player reports losing her grip and sending the controller flying into a glass lampshade that smashed and cut her hand. Another mistakenly whacked his girlfriend as he played Wii tennis, and also accidentally hit his dog while Wii bowling.
A spokeswoman for Nintendo says that it has received no complaints from gamers about muscle soreness. Indeed, the game was not meant to be an alternative to the gym, she says, and “if people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more”.
Remarkably, Nintendo suggests that while it might be more fun to play the games aerobically by leaping around, it is possible to play without leaving the couch Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, says that parents should limit the time that children play on the Wii and encourage them to play outside. So save £179 and buy a pair of tennis rackets instead.
A Wii warm-up
Tim Hutchful, of the British Chiropractic Association, gives a guide to a preWii warm-up:
1 Shoulder shrug — slowly shrug your shoulders towards your ears. Hold for two to three seconds, then relax. Repeat three times. Because it is easier to relax a muscle after you have tightened it, you will relax the muscles in the shoulder and allow the blood to flow into the arms.
2 Wrist stretch — slowly stretch the wrist backwards, hold for two to three seconds, then slowly stretch it forwards and hold for two to three seconds. Repeat three times. This exercise prevents tightening of the wrists.
3 Make a fist — hold the arm at right angles from the elbow. Make a fist and tense it, and the whole of your arm. Hold for two to three seconds, then relax and let the arm flop to your side. Repeat three times. This will help the blood flow and tone the muscles.
4 Neck muscle stretch — try to make a double chin, to stretch the muscles at the base of the neck. Hold this position for two to three seconds and repeat three times. Always stretch very slowly.
5 Lower back loosen — standing with your feet a shoulder-width apart, slowly circle your hips five revolutions to the right and then five revolutions to your left.
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April 18th, 2007, 01:36 Posted By: wraggster
via kotaku
That's right, some of us are still playing Animal Crossing on the DS (Still?! Why?! Because my town is perfect and it's easier than re-arranging the imaginary furniture on that is making its slow-ass way to Amsterdam), so this hack is right for me and my fellow crossers alley. All you need it some tools left over from the last tenant of your apartment, and voila, it's cheating animals a-go-go. Breaking the thing just might be the result I get, but the instructions are pretty thorough and with pictures. That means it's pretty to look at.
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