More Metroid

6:25 elapsed; 19%
The game is still fun.
I had a really fun boss battle today.
I also had a little bit more morphball puzzle action. I can't seem to get the bomb jump down reliably. I dislike how it limits you to 3 bombs.. :[
I also opened an art gallery, I believe by scanning 40% of the items.. cool.

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

$37.88 on sale 'til Saturday at Target
I can't believe a title like this is going this cheap this close to launch... so take advantage of it!
3:06 and 13% in, I'd say for the most part I pretty much agree with some other reviews I've read.. that is to say if you liked the first, you will like this. I like scanning stuff and getting random data on it [especially the humourous bits], and in this game, you can easily see items you have already scanned.
[this post was sent via email yesterday but did not post]

Random DS thoughts/observations

I've had my DS for a few days now. I've got 42 stars in Super Mario 64 DS, and have beat Feel the Magic XY XX on normal difficulty.
Super Mario 64 DS:

• Using the touch screen as a control mechanism on Adventure mode is a pain. Using the D-pad works ok in huge areas where you don't need much control, but can be a pain in areas where more fine control is needed.
• When using the d-pad to walk, and holding down Y to run, I will usually just hold down Y constantly. The only problem with this is, if you have stopped for a minute, and have been holding down Y, as soon as you touch the d-pad, you jet off really fast immediately. This can easily lose you a life if you weren't anticipating it.
• Some of the mini-games are really fun. I love the one where you draw trampolines for Mario to jump off of. Simple?-yes. But it is a perfect example of a cool control mechanism for the DS. It looks like Yoshi's Touch and Go will have more of this cool type of control.
• Super Mushroom... Being big in this game is so cool. Running around flattening enemies, signposts and those logs that stick out of the ground is a blast. 1-up 1-up 1-up

Nintendo DS:

• When the system initially boots up, the "Touch the Touch Screen to continue." message will appear then fade away. This happens a total of 59 times, about once per second. After the 59th time, the system will automatically go to the time/calendar screen. From the time you press the power key to the time the system goes to time/calendar, a little less than 64 seconds elapse. Coincidence?
• As the clock ticks from second to second it generally slows down compared the clock on my computer. About once every 2 minutes, the clock will skip ahead about a second, and appears to re-sync with the computer clock.
• Start the system with a DS Card and GBA Game Pak inserted. If either is removed during the time screen, the DS will freeze. Re-inserting the games does not un-freeze it.
• Removing Super Mario 64 DS during play freezes image on the screen and the system stops responding.
• Removing WarioWare,inc. Mega Microgame$ [AGB] during play freezes the image, the system stops responding, and odd sounds come out of the speakers.
• If you remove an AGB Game Pak after pressing "Start GBA game." and then re-insert it before the Game Boy logo goes away, the game seems to boot normally.
• The clock ticks louder than normal on the 60th second in any given minute.
• The clock chimes on the 60th minute in any given hour. The chime sounds similar to the sound that plays in PictoChat when entering and leaving chat rooms.
  

PictoChat

• You can enter data to transmit wirelessly either via an on-screen keyboard[Keyboard Panel], or a drawing directly on the screen [in the Input Board]. The input board has can hold 5 lines of text. The message that shows up in the Message Display[where it goes after it is transmitted] will resize depending on the size and location of the input. The message box that you send will appear in one of 5 different lengths.
• PictoChat will not allow you to send a blank message, however if you draw a small amount directly under the end of the bar where it displays your nickname, your input will be hidden, and the message will appear blank.
• The Pen set on thick uses a paintbrush that is a square with a side length of 2, on thin it is a square with a side length of one.
• The Eraser set on thick uses a paintbrush that is a square with a side length of 4, on thin it is a square with a side length of one.
• I mentioned earlier that the send messages will be 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 units long. The Message display area seems to be capable of holding from 287-397 lines of message [I have done several tests on this, but it takes so long to do the test that I have not been able to verify results or send different types of messages and see if it makes a difference. I have an idea for a program and a simple computer interface that would allow the computer to do most of the test, but I don't really want to hack my DS up until I can get another one.]. This includes the "PICT:)CHAT" and the "Now entering [Chat Room letter]: [nickname]" messages.

AudioBlogger

Hi. DS launch was today.
Here is the link to an MP3
of me talking about DS/launch/etc.

Hopefully I will post more tomorrow...

Launch Time

Well, if all goes according to plan, I will
be in line waiting for my DS within 12 hours.

I am going on a trip tomorrow after I pick up my
DS, so my plan is to post audioblog impressions
of games.. and maybe some text and pictures
later in the evening.

Good luck to everyone trying to get a DS!

Happiness

I just got a phone call.
The caller ID read:
ELECTRONICS BOU
Could it be?
[answers the phone]

EB lady:
May I speak to Jarrod?

me:
This is he.

EB lady:
Hi. I'm just calling to tell you that you will be able to pick up
your DS Nintendo Dual Screen system on Sunday.

me:
Awesome. Thank you. Good bye.

DS items at Nintendo's online store

I always like to browse through the parts and accessories that Nintendo sells through its online store. You can often buy game cases and other interesting official Nintendo parts that you can't buy elsewhere.
They recently updated the site to include Nintendo DS items.

AC Adapter, $15.00
Battery (Available Early/Mid December), $15.00
Battery Cover Kit (Available week of 12/06), $1.00
Game Card Case(s) , 1/$1; 5/$4, 10/$7
Screen Cover, $3.95
Stylus (Set of 3) (Available week of 11/22), $4.95
Wrist Strap, $3.95

The "Screen Cover" item is a replacement screen and tool for the top screen only.

See the DS section of store.nintendo.com for yourself.

1st DS hands-on

[written Nov 13 2004:]
Well, I went into my local Best Buy today hoping to see a DS demo unit, and I did. At first there were these girls standing in front of the thing just talking... I very anxiously stood there and waited for them to leave and then I pounced. The DS. It was on in PictoChat, but I wanted to run it through its paces so I pressed the power button once, and then again to turn it back on.

There is a cool little boot up sequence, and then [depending on how it's set] you go into a menu where you can choose to play a DS game, a GBA game, change settings or use PictoChat.

Settings:
I looked at all the settings. I changed the username from "DS" .. which I assume is the default, to "DS rulz :)"

PictoChat:
It's not much fun with only 1 person, but I did learn a few things I didn't already know. For one thing, when you load it up, It gives you the choice to enter one of 4 chat rooms, A, B, C, or D. It tells you how many users are already in each room in the form of "0/16". I guess that this means that a total of 64 PictoChatters can all be PictoChatting in the same area.
---
I knew that you could type messages or draw, but I had wondered exactly how this works. When you first start typing, I believe it starts the letters at the top left of the window, as you would imagine. But, you can also *drag* a letter or character from the keyboard into the chat window! After you do this, and additional letters you type will be typed behind the dragged letter... very cool.
If you hit the X icon at the upper right corner of the touch screen, it takes you back to the chat room selection screen.

Metroid Prime: First Hunt
Ok, so I booted up the demo and played a little. The control setting was on the default, I believe this is..
D-pad:forward, reverse, strafe left, strafe right
A,B,X,Y:look up, look down, look left, look right
not sure of others.. one is jump and one is shoot..
This control method was kinda a pain for me.. you have to use
ABXY to aim and shoot at everything.. doesn't flow very well.
I got out of the game and back into the menu screen.
---
I changed the control scheme to the one I believe that got so much bad press at E3..
D-pad:[same]forward, reverse, strafe left, strafe right
A,B,X,Y:[not sure which is which]morph ball[toggle], missile[toggle]
L:jump
Tap screen:shoot current weapon
Tap and drag:mouselook-type navigation
I loved this control method.
There is an aiming reticule on the screen, so for a while I tried to target the reticule on the enemies and then shoot, but I realized the enemies were not dying... that is because you do not have to aim. If an enemy is on-screen, you merely tap it and even though you are not squarely aimed at it, the enemy gets shot.
You can move around a lot faster in this mode.
---
Also, I was kind of a doubter when it came to the idea of having a second screen with a map, but let me tell you.. it is cool. In a lot of FPSs, I get lost when I first start playing. In this though you can just glance back at the map momentarily and gauge your position.
Less than a week until launch...