Category Archives: Nintendo DS
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
In 2003, Nintendo launched the sailing adventure The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for Nintendo Game Cube. The game was a great success, but its cartoonish cel-shaded art direction, humor-filled script, and ocean-centric game play was a great departure from previous Zelda games. Though the entry in the franchise received some fallout from fans [...]
Trace Memory
Developer Cing made its Nintendo DS debut with this game in 2005. Previously, Cing had only made games for PlayStation 2 and mobile phones. Despite being rookies with the unique Nintendo hardware, Cing stepped up masterfully to create an engaging mystery novel which set the format for its successors. Trace Memory puts you in the [...]
Brain Age 2
The Nintendo DS has become the stepping stone for educational and self-improvement games to make the transition from web toys and diet books into console video games. This game, the follow up to the original Brain Age, continues what we called dubbed the “personal narrative.” This self-created story is one which exists for any reader [...]
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Tagged Nintendo DS, personal narrative, video games
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Mario Kart DS
Since its inception in the early 1990′s, the Mario Kart franchise has been one of Nintendo’s most popular second-tier intellectual properties. All related titles have been successes for the company, and all are considered robust and entertaining. In the latest entry, Mario Kart DS, Nintendo capitalizes on the successes of both the previous Mario Kart [...]
New Super Mario Bros.
In their book, Remediation: Understanding New Media, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin discuss how media formats replace one another as time and technology push forward. Sometimes they work hand in hand, remaining relevant because of one deficiency or another. We still read books because there is no way to communicate the amount of depth [...]
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Tagged mario, Nintendo DS, remediation, video games
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Pokemon Diamond & Pearl
The world of Pokémon constitutes one of the largest multimedia franchises in history. The series, created by Satoshi Tajiri, spans numerous video games, comic books (manga), animated series (anime), films, and merchandising. It has become a mainstay for Nintendo’s popular handheld platforms, having its inaugural run on the Game Boy. The Pokémon series raises a [...]
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Hotel Dusk is more than just a game. It is billed by its creators as a mystery novel that you interact with. More than that, it is near to the epitome of the interactive narrative. The story comes to one of several possible outcomes, some which are considered “good” and some which are considered a [...]
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Tagged cing, glbt, mystery, Nintendo DS, video games
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Final Fantasy III
Dualism is a common theme in adventure and fantasy literature. It is often used by authors to quickly set up an uncomplicated dichotomy between two opposing forces. Most examples are merely some variation on good vs. evil. This classic pairing left to its own devices is often vague and unappealing. Characters that are “evil” are [...]
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Tagged dualism, final fantasy, Nintendo DS, remediation, video games
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Star Fox Command
Blending genres is common in television and film. There are romantic comedies and legal dramas and dramadies to name a few. The realm of interactive fiction (video games) has also had it’s fair share of genre defying and genre blending games, but mostly this goes without the kind of notice taken with television and film. [...]
Tetris DS
Non-narrative games present the player with a series of choices. These choices can lead them to success, like solving a confused situation as in Freecell or maintaining a certain status quo as in Tetris. They can also lead to a state of failure, where the game becomes interrupted by an impassable situation. This finality in [...]
