XL Invasion!

Nintendo let loose 3 main releases in the US today, for which they held a launch event at the Nintendo World Store for. These releases were WarioWare D.I.Y, America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s Get Cooking and the leader of the pack: the latest member of the DS family, the Nintendo DSi XL! Yep, it’s a pretty big day for the Big N! To check out all 3 items, me and my friend Drzgamer (the guy who makes sure this site doesn’t explode in your face) headed downtown to Nintendo World.

We got at the event around 11:40 am, 40 minutes after it started. To my surprise, there wasn’t that many people there for the triple threat launch. Of course I knew it wouldn’t be a Pokemon kind of crowd, but I still expected a little more turn up. However, this might have turned out to be advantageous for my friend Drzgamer! How do you ask? Well he managed to get interviewed by Gary and Allison of Nintendo Week! It’s possible that he may show up in next week’s episode of Nintendo Week talking about WarioWare D.I.Y, so look out for the kid in the Megaman 10 shirt!

Allison, Drz & Gary!

After signing some release forms, we chatted a little bit with Gary & Allison. The hosts of Nintendo Channel’s weekly show really do know their stuff! After the interview, me and Drz decided to check out the new games on the table. Drz went on to try out WarioWare D.I.Y, while I met up with a Nintendo World Store rep and demoed the DSi XL with 2 games.

Nintendo DSi XL Impressions

Huge Dr.Kawashima is Huge

Alright, let’s get this out of the way: the Nintendo DSi XL is HUGE. For someone like me, who plays with his DSlite & DSi constantly, the DSi XL feels so..different. But rest assured, aside from it’s size and 3 preinstalled DSi Shop items, the Nintendo DSi XL is exactly the same as a regular Nintendo DSi. Surprisingly, it isn’t as heavy as one would think it would be.

The bigger screens don’t make games looked stretched out, and in fact I think for some games like the creative WarioWare D.I.Y and text/menu heavy games (like the recently released Infinite Space) are a perfect fit for the enlarged screens of the DSi XL. As Nintendo mentioned before, the bigger screens make it more easier to have friends and family look over you as you play. I gave this a test with Brain Age, the Nintendo World Store rep started up a memory game while I looked over his shoulder and helped him out when he got stuck. The screen size made it no trouble for me to follow along and help the rep get the fastest time possible. The gloss finish is a nice touch as well.

If you ask me, I would say the DSi XL would be a perfect purchase if you are still rocking the original DS model or the DS Lite. But with the recently announced 3DS coming soon, it is ultimately up to you to decide. Now..or later?

America’s Test Kitchen: Let’s get Cooking! Impressions

Done with the Nintendo DSi XL, I decided to check up on Drz, who was definitely hooked on WarioWare D.I.Y! He even pulled out some headphones when he was making the music! I decided to leave him be, and moved on to check out the other DS game that launched today. This was a little weird to play, seeing as I was at a store for Nintendo games and not a kitchen.

However I still gave it a go and dug deep into the software. The first thing I noticed on the top screen was the game’s calendar, which highlighted that today was Wario’s Birthday. Now I don’t know if that’s actually true or if that’s just the DSi’s Username but it’s a neat little thing. What makes it even more neat, is that it offered suggestions for birthday recipes out of it’s catalog. (Over 300 recipes if I’m correct!)

I checked out other holidays, nearest one being Easter, and it did the same. After deciding on some kind of cheddar bread, I moved on to the step up screen where it listed everything I needed, along with pictures. Very helpful for those weirdly named ingredients that seems that one could never find. Continuing to the next screen, it asked me who and how many people will be cooking the dish.

The game saves profiles with little drawn chefs for each one, keeping track of what that person cooked and how much skill that person has in the kitchen. This is a very clever idea, as the game will separate duties according to skill to the right chef to make sure everyone has something they can do. Moving on to preparation, another great thing that the game does is that it reads the instructions to you and takes voice commands, so you don’t even have to touch the system while getting your chef on.

At the end, the mascot chef claps and throws confetti for your culinary masterpiece and similar to Brain Age, makes you place a stamp for cooking on that day and completing that recipe. This may not be a gamer’s game, but if you are interested in learning  how to cook, or learn more recipes for foods you never tasted, America’s Test Kitchen is up your alley.

WarioWare D.I.Y Impressions

Just in case, D.I.Y means Do It Yourself.

Finishing up with America’s Test Kitchen, I checked up on Drz again who finished his game, “99 Coins…” Amazed at how fast he managed to do this and the music he created, I decided to pick up the DS next to him while he checked out some of the game’s 70 included microgames. I clicked on WarioWare Inc. and started the mountain of tutorials with Wario and Penny. These tutorials may be plently, but they are clear and easy to understand. From the art to the music and the AI, the game doesn’t skip a beat, leaving you with the knowledge that the game creators used to make these great microgames.

The interface they used for making games is colorful and very easy to understand. If you do manage to forget what something on the screen does ,(like the frog button) the very helpful ? button is always there to explain everything. My favorite tool of the game has to be the music maker, it’s really simple to use but you can make really fantastic stuff with it if you play around enough. Even AI, which might be the most difficult part of making a game out of all 3 things needed, is made so that it’s simple to see what you’re doing and get it set to however you like.

Aside from making games yourself, you can play the 70 microgames that are already on the game which follow the usual WarioWare inc. crew like Mona and Jimmy T. It seems the more you play the more goodies like music & comics you can unlock. If you feel like customizing a game but don’t want to do all the work, there’s a mode were you pick up games Wario gave up on and add the finishing touches. (Also unlocking various goodes) All in all, it seems there are a few things to do if you don’t want to get into the microgame making business. However, if that’s an issue for you, maybe this isn’t the game for you.

I didn’t get to go online in the store while playing, but I checked out the options that I could. The game connects with others in 3 ways: Nintendo WiFi Connection, local wireless and the Wii. Local wireless should be self-explanatory, while connecting online with the NWC will let you download weekly games from big name developers and friends. The Wii options works by connecting to a WiiWare version of the game (Which should be out by the 29th) where you can play your games on the big screen! The WiiWare game also provides extra storage and games to play, so it’s a essential piece to the DS game.

As I finished up with the game, I peeked over at Drz’s DS to see if he finished fine-tuning his game. He nodded and 99 Coins was finished! Check it out below.

With that, the event was over and the day ends. Meeting the Nintendo Week crew, getting my hands on the Nintendo DSi XL and leaving a microgame in the store for others to enjoy, this was a great day indeed. Please check out the rest of the pictures of the event below. I hoped my impressions helped you in any way! March was sure full of events and launches huh? I’m not certain of what’s going to happen at the center of all things Nintendo (In New York at least!) next month, but if something is going to take place..you can count on me to cover it!