Things I Love... About the 3DS

In the time-honoured tradition of Gala Darling's Things I Love Thursday, here is a selection of things about the 3DS that make me smile:

• Having my own puppy. Sure, Nintendogs has been around for years, so there's nothing really new in this incarnation apart from the cats, who don't seem to do much. But there's something very satisfying about looking after this little fella, who I have named Pablo. This game appeals to both my cutesy girly side and my hardcore gamer side, as after all, it's all about providing the best love, care and attention to allow you to unlock new dogs, right? Besides, it's fun to dress him in an Elvis wig and make him do tricks. You can't do that with a real dog. (Or at least, it's a moral grey area.)
• The reintroduction of hand-held gaming into my life. Some time ago, my DS used to go with me everywhere. Any bit of down time would be filled with gaming. Then slowly, I began to leave it at home more and more, and began to buy newspapers, and when I got my iPhone, spend more and more time on Twitter and Facebook. I don't know about you, but have YOU read a newspaper recently? DEPRESSING! Why not spend that time in a more fun and positive way thrashing some high score on Super Monkey Ball, raising some Pokemon or tending my pup? (Disclaimer: I still read the news, just not as much. That shit's important, yo.)
• Better connections to my friends. The full internet capacity of the 3DS is not yet up and running, but already I can see when my friends are online and what games they're playing. The main reason for this is that there is just one friend code per machine now, rather than one for each seperate game. (Original DS games still use the old system, as far as I can work out!) Streetpass, the feature that allows for interactions between two 3DS machines that are in sleep mode (in pockets, handbags etc) also looks like an exciting new feature, although I've only used it in the built in Mii games so far - I've not passed anyone else playing Nintendogs! (*sob!*)

Other features and things that I enjoy include:

♥ Being able to turn the 3D OFF. ♥

♥ Not having to demonstrate the machine using only Face Raiders anymore ♥

♥ Having an activity log, to indulge my geeky statistics-loving side. ♥

♥ Looking forward to the games that DIDN'T make it out in time for launch. ♥

♥ My friend Mike's goofy-looking Mii. ♥

♥ The fact that my hair matched my machine (for a few days at least!) ♥

♥ Taking it back to the old school with Super Monkey Ball - PROPER screaming fits at my machine as I fall repeatedly off the edges.♥

Have you bought a 3DS? What's your favourite thing about it? Tell me in the comments!

[3DS] Frustration is...

My 3DS is sat at work with my copy of Nintendogs (French Bulldog) all ready to be taken home and loved to bits, but I'm not allowed to take it home till Friday! The settings are all customised, my Mii is set up and it's all ready to go.

Two days left...

REVIEW: Pokemon Black (DS) - Part One



Oshawott. My starter Pokemon. Cute!



Firstly, a disclaimer. I am only seven hours into Pokemon Black. For some games, this might provide a full spectrum of everything the game has to offer (Bulletstorm being one of the most recent offenders, so I've heard) but just to put things into perspective, my Pokemon Pearl cartridge has clocked up around 350 hours, my Platinum about 100, my Diamond never really got past 20, but I did play it through twice to harvest the Legendaries and my SoulSilver clocked up around 40 hours but in my defence, I had started my chemistry degree by this point and that 40 hours might possibly have been better spent reading the last book in my second year course, Mechanism and Synthesis. Vital stuff. Still on my to-do list. One of my dear friends managed to put over a THOUSAND hours into one cart, with a few other Poke-freaks not far behind. (You know who you are!)

However, it's not all academic doom and gloom. Anyone who claims that Pokemon is a kids game is a) sorely mistaken, b) unable to grasp the complex statistics that underlie the gameplay, c) a chav, or d) all of the above. Yes, kids, Pokemon is at heart a MATHS game. Even at the most basic level of understanding, more powerful pokemon (with the bigger numbers) have a tendancy to be stronger than weaker pokemon (with the smaller numbers) before factoring in the multipliers for effectiveness. If I were so inclined to have children, I would INSIST that they play Pokemon. Me and Dad would be the harshest gym leaders they'd ever encountered. And by god they'd LEARN.

All of this makes me sound a little psychotic, so let's get to the nitty gritty. 150ish new pokemon, and this time, none of the old ones seem to be available in the first half of the game! This is a good thing, as everything is NEW and EXCITING. The starter Pokemon consist of a fire pig, a water otter and some kind of grass snake, who looks sort of like a smug weasel at the same time. So far, all my friends seem to have chosen Tepig, the fire pig. I'm not sure what this says about my friends, or the fact that I chose Oshawott, the water otter. Gameplay seems fairly quick to get into, the story is laid out quickly and easily, and it's then up to you to get into that long grass and seeking out Pokemon. After the first gym, multiplayer is opened up, although I haven't experiemented much with that yet.

So far, a worthy sequel. This review is entitled Part One for a reason - I'll get back to you in a hundred hours or so!

Scoring: 5/5 - Not even Fallout is this addictive. I may actually require medication at some point. If you're talking to me, and I've got my face buried in my DS, please don't think I'm being rude. I need help. Please help me.