Author Profile
James started his career in video games as News Editor on Nintendo Life. Since leaving in 2012 to join Nintendo of Europe, James has risen through the ranks to become NoE's Senior Product PR & Corporate Communications Manager.
News Brits buy 92,000 DSis in launch weekend
Console the fourth fastest-selling in UK history.
Overcoming its reasonably high price tag and lack of launch games, Nintendo's latest handheld has still been leapt upon by gamers and early adopters who hunger for the newest technology available. According to official GameTrack statistics, over 92,000 units were sold in the machine's first three...
News Nintendo confirms "play from SD" feature
Run your Virtual Console games from an SD card!
It's the news all Virtual Console fans have been waiting for - you can now run all your downloaded VC games directly from an SD card instead of clogging up your Wii's limited internal memory! As the library of downloadable WiiWare and Virtual Console™ games continues to grow, Wii owners have asked...
News Eyes on DSi - hands-on report
Earlier today I was fortunate enough to have a little face time with the new DSi, and I came away pretty impressed by Nintendo’s new baby.
The first thing you notice compared to the DS Lite is the DSi’s matte finish, which makes it easier to hide those troublesome fingerprints. Although you could say it looks a little dull compared to the shiny...
Review Sonic and the Black Knight (Wii)
Hardly the stuff of legend.
Describing Sonic’s early career to young gamers is like discussing dinosaurs, it’s been so long since he was the golden boy of video games whose cheeky blue mug was a bringer of joy in the early Nineties. Since then each new game is touted as a “return to form”, with the Wii’s Sonic and the Secret Rings being...
Handheld heaven or a portable pariah?
A few years ago, EA tapped a rich vein of old-school strategy games by revamping Theme Park and Sim City for the DS's touch screens. A few years later, Bullfrog's famed God game has received similar treatment, but is it the second coming or just a slap-headed Samson? The DS's twin screens are a natural fit for...
News Picross Hits the Third Dimension
For those who are about to block... we salute you.
As if the original grid-colouring puzzler Picross weren't tricky enough, Nintendo have just released the sequel Rittai Picross ("Solid Body Picross" - similar to what they call me at the gym) in Japan and it's taken the series firmly into 3D territory for the first time in its near-fifteen...
News Nintendo to force games on DS buyers?
In future, DS Lite consoles will only be available packaged with first-party Nintendo titles, limiting choice for customers
Following on from previous special occasion bundles, Nintendo are now increasing their distribution of DS Lite consoles pre-packaged with software titles, and completely ceasing production of the white and silver models. A...
It’s a blast!
I promise that’s the first and only pun you’ll see in this review - If you’ve played any of the popular Geometry Wars games on Xbox 360, Wii or DS you’ll be perfectly at home when you fire up XG Blast. From its instantly gratifying action and futuristic aesthetic, it borrows from any one of a dozen classic shooters, but does...
News Wii Price Increase to Hit UK?
Nintendo are to increase the price they charge UK retailers for each Wii console by up to £20.
With the Wii still selling like there's no tomorrow, retailers are left with some tough decisions in wake of this announcement from Nintendo. The obvious answer is for retailers to increase the price of each new console by £20, retaining the already slim...
Review Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS)
Use the hoe!
For years, Natsume’s Harvest Moon series has been repeating the same old formula – grow crops, brush cows, get married and live happily ever after. The first DS release was the snappy Harvest Moon DS, which lazily reused graphics from GBA’s Friends of Mineral Town (FoMT) and the town and characters from the Cube’s A Wonderful...
"Whats Mean 247?" Yet more mysterious teasing from Sega!
As Ant predicted, Sega's curious Project Ringo site received an update today, replacing the Flash animation teasing a date with a different Flash animation teasing a different date. Good work Sega! Despite not revealing much, the website throws up lots of mathematical equations to which the...
News Nintendo wants to give you a Valentine's gift
If you have Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City and WiiConnect24, expect a little surprise...
For those of you who picked up Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City on Wii and have been waiting for extra content to beef it up over its DS predecessor, Nintendo are about to wing you a (very small) present with not one but two downloadable presents...
Now you can paint by numbers on DS!
This review has already been delayed twice in the past month; first by Royal Mail taking two weeks to deliver the game, then again by my inability to put the game down long enough to review it. Colour Cross is a new take on the Nintendo favourite puzzler Picross, but with its own pigmented personality. Each puzzle...
Talent borrows, genius steals. The developers of Dinosaur King have IQs in the thousands.
Over the years we’ve seen many companies try to beat the success of Pokemon, each with their own set of cuddly and heavily market researched monsters. Of course, nobody can beat Nintendo at their own game, but that hasn’t stopped Sega trying with Dinosaur...
A work of art, or a real mess?
With the DS’s touch screen and wireless communications, it’s a wonder there’s no Pictionary game available. Lucky for us, here comes Sega to plug the gap with PictoImage, their take on the classic draw-it-guess-it game. The single player mode consists of 300 pictures drawn by people of all ages, from 4 upwards,...
Review Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Wii)
Right on target, or way off the mark?
Konami's flagship Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven in other territories) series really caught the gaming world's attention with its fourth release, a beautifully playable and engrossing take on football. Since then it's become even more popular, and now rivals EA's FIFA brand in the sales stakes. However,...
Review SEGA Superstars Tennis (Wii)
Sega’s next sporting smash hit?
It seems his recent athletic clash with Mario has rubbed off on Sonic: here he is with fifteen friends in a brightly coloured, special move-filled variation on good old lawn tennis, not unlike the plumber’s N64, Game Boy Advance and Gamecube outings, on the surface at least. This isn’t a simple formula rip,...
Let love be your energy in this forgotten Gamecube gem
Initially a game on the ill-fated 64DD add-on, Doshin the Giant puts you in control of the titular yellow fellow, and charges you with the care of an island of tribesmen and women. How you care for them is left entirely up to you. As a friendly sort of god, Doshin is capable of gently raising...
Does it sink or swim?
It might seem an unlikely premise for a game, but Endless Ocean fits perfectly with Nintendo’s “Touch Generations” label by being cerebral as well as entertaining and offering experiences many people dream about: floating among tropical fish in beautiful coral reefs, or bounding through the wide ocean with bottlenose...
