Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Developer: Team Ninja
Publisher: Tecmo
Price: $34.99
Platform: Nintendo DS
Category: Action, Adventure
ESRB: “T” for Teen
Release Date: March 25, 2008

Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword is the first title in the series to appear on the Nintendo DS, and if you think about it, the warning bells should go off in your head. Compound these warning bells with the screeching siren that is the plotline taking place between the game for the original Xbox and the sequel on the 360; most gamers would be pretty wary of playing Team Ninja’s latest foray into one of the most lauded gaming series ever.

I can happily report to you that any feelings of trepidation you may feel when contemplating giving Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword a try is completely unfounded. As a matter of fact, this game made me happy that I actually own a DS – prior to that it has sat on my bookshelf since Phantom Hourglass collecting dust. So, when I received this blessing in the mail, I excitedly recharged the battery and commenced to play.

While fans of the series may notice some of the same characters and locations in Dragon Sword, it merely gives you a since of familiarity instead of receptiveness. The storyline is very interesting as it tells the tale of a time when Dragons and Humans coexisted in harmony until the Dark Dragon decided to take over the world. The dragons that sided with the humans forged a sword from their fangs and bestowed what became known as the Dragon Sword upon them. While the name of the sword may seem a bit unoriginal, it does not matter – they could have called it the “pointy thing made of teeth” and it would still have the same effect because that awesome sword slew the Dark Dragon and restored peace to the land.
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In more Nintendo financial news, the DS has now sold 70.6 million units worldwide and 30.31 million DS units were sold in the 12 months leading up to March 31. That is a lot of DS units in gamers hands. The biggest selling games for the Nintendo DS were Brain Age 1 and 2, Mario Party DS, New Super Mario Bros., Nintendogs, and Phantom Hourglass.

With more and more DS games being announced on what seems like a weekly basis (I am exaggerating of course) million dollar sellers could become the norm for Nintendo.

Thanks: Videogaming247

Nintendo was honored last night at GDC 2008 with a Game Developers Choice Award. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS won the Best Handheld Game of the Year category. The game Developers Choice awards were presented during an annual ceremony the night of Feb. 20, 2008, at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

Nintendo received three nominations this year; Best Game Design and Best Game of the Year for Super Mario Galaxy as well as Best Handheld Game of the Year for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

via Press Release

Nintendo came away from the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards with two statues last night. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Handheld Game of the Year. Super Mario Galaxy took Adventure Game of the Year. The AIAA is part of the 2008 Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain conference in Las Vegas.

Nintendo was nominated for a total of nine awards in eight categories. The statues are a nice addition to the 2.5 million copies of Super Mario Galaxy and more than 1.1 million copies of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass sold.

via Press Release

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has awarded top honors to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, BioShock and Orange Box. Each of the titles won four statues last night at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Call of Duty 4 took Overall Game of the Year.

The Academy also inducted Mike Morhaime, president, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, into the AIAS Hall of Fame and bestowed Ken Kutaragi, former president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

A full list of Awards follows the break.

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The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards, and BioShock is understandably the favorite with having received over 12 nominations, including the coveted “Overall Game of the Year” award. These “peer-based” awards are in recognition of development teams, outstanding products, and talented individuals that have contributed to the overall advancement of the entertainment software industry this year.

“This year’s finalists reflect the commitment game makers have to create compelling, engaging and exciting experiences for the expanding game playing audience,” said AIAS president Joseph Olin. “The 2008 nominees represent the tremendous talent and passion that our members bring to their craft. The Interactive Achievement Awards are dedicated to acknowledging the men and women who create these innovative and excellent games.”

The AIAS awards ceremony will be hosted by Jay Mohr on February 7th at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas during The D.I.C.E. Summit 2008. Here’s wishing all nominees the best of luck, although personally, I will be rooting for BioShock.

The following is a partial list of finalists for the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards from the AIAS. For the complete list, you can view it via the AIAS website :

Overall Game of the Year:

BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy
The Orange Box

Console Game of the Year:

BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Mass Effect
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

Computer Game of the Year:

BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Crysis
The Orange Box
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

MORE AFTER THE BREAK

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A new items has surfaced on one of our favorite websites. Play-Asia currently has Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass gashapon figures for sale and at a great price. There are five different figures and you get one at random. Approximately 15 bucks could get you the full set, but there’s really no telling. If you are looking for a Link, don’t think it will be automatic. For the price, it would be worth dropping as much as $30 to up the odds of getting a set. These are listed as “limited”, so don’t expect them to be on Play-Asia for very long. Play-Asia’s stock of rare items tends to move extremely fast.

Via Destructoid

I don’t really expect Time Magazine to be an expert on videogames (or, as they would argue, “video games”), but if you’re going to publish a list of the top 10 games of the year, you better either know what you’re talking about, or be David Letterman. I’d argue Time’s top 10 list indicates neither of those.

The list, which can be seen here, is a part of Time’s “50 Top 10 Lists of 2007,” which includes things like Top 10 Worst Biz Deals, Top 10 Gadgets, and Top 10 Websites (none of which I had ever even heard of).

The list starts off with Halo 3 as the number one game, and proceeds to mention games like BioShock, The Orange Box, Mario Galaxy and, most curiously to me, Ace Combat 6 and Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

I almost don’t even know where to begin, except to cite a few things: there are no PS3 or PC games on the list (Crysis, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Uncharted and Ratchet all instantly come to mind as better candidates than either Ace Combat or Zelda)… and, well, actually I think that’s enough to raise an eyebrow.

Then again, lists like this are subjective… but doesn’t it make sense to have more than one author collaborate on something like this – especially when it’s for a major publication like Time?

MTV released a top ten list of games from 2007. Surprisingly, Mass Effect is nowhere to be found on the list. Here’s their picks:

It’s definitely interesting that God Of War 2 is making many top ten lists even though it’s a PS2 title. I guess sometimes you don’t need a next gen console to make a great modern game. Although I agree with most of MTV’s picks, I am shocked to see Crackdown on the list and not something like Mass Effect. I realize that many people loved Crackdown, but it was too repetitive for me. To be honest, the only reason I ever purchased Crackdown was to get into the Halo 3 Beta action. After the Halo 3 Beta ended, my time with Crackdown also ended. The game was unique in many ways, but wasn’t what I would call a “great” or “top ten” game.

Via MTV

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is encouraging players to register their games by offering a really nice incentive, a golden feather stylus. GamerDad forum member codespace let Zelda fans in on this golden opportunity.

This little trinket comes completely free soon after you register your game at Nintendo’s site using your account.

Thanks for the tip off GamerDad.