Observe The Banana

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel (for free) through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo. Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate . After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off.

I will post the new list on this blog as they change. Enjoy!

August 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated August 18, 2008)

Crosswords DS - Crosswords Demo - always available
Brain Age Demo - always available
Brain Age 2 Demo - always available
Flash Focus Demo - always available

Crosswords DS - Wordsearch - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
PICTOIMAGE - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
Air Traffic Chaos - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
Carnival Games - Distribution Ends 08/24/08

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo. Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate . After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off.

I will post the new list on this blog as they change.

Click here for August 2008 list

July 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated July 30, 2008)

Crosswords DS - Crosswords Demo - always available
Brain Age Demo - always available
Brain Age 2 Demo - always available
Flash Focus Demo - always available

Crosswords DS - Wordsearch - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Trauma Center: Under The Knife 2 - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
PICTOIMAGE - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Contra 4 - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Carnival Games - Distribution Ends 08/03/08

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo. Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate . After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off.

I will post the new list on this blog as they change.  July 2008 list is here

June 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated 6/23/08)

Brain Age Demo - always available
Brain Age 2 Demo - always available
Flash Focus Demo - always available
Crosswords DS Demo - always available

Crosswords DS Anagrams Demo - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08
Wall E DS Demo - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08
The Incredible Hulk - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08
Kung Fu Panda DS Demo - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08
Contra 4 - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08
Cake Mania 2 - Distribution Ends: 06/29/08

I have been enjoying playing Lego Star Wars II with my son on the PC. He has a version for his Nintendo DS, but the little screen is hard on my old eyes. If you haven’t seen it, this is actually quite a fun game that lets you play out all the major story line scenes from the Star Wars movies, all as a LEGO minifigure. Whenever the Evil Emperor (Palpatine/Darth Sidious) is in play you hear this periodic evil cackling laugh sound.   The funny thing is for some reason it always reminds me of our current Vice President. Maybe it’s Jon Stewart’s impersonation of him that does it. So now we have taken to just calling him Evil Emperor Cheney in the game.

Please excuse my rather primitive graphics work, didn’t have any decent software tools on this game pc.

Living in a foreign land, in a small apartment without all my usual distractions and entertainments of home, it can take some creativity to fill those long cold, dark nights when the one computer is being used by the one employed person to do work (I already figured out the combination to the bike lock I found by using trial and error) so I was happy when I found a intact Trivial Pursuit game thrown out by a neighbor (woot!) - but when I got it home and opened it I discovered it was in danish (doh!), not even the language of the country I am living in (Iceland). So how do you entertain yourself with a Trivial Pursuit game in a foreign language? Well, I started by making card houses from the cards.

B used the little wedges and circles to invent a cool new game with various rules and moves (like switch, send and forfeit) in which you rearrange the wedges between the holders and a pool to try to get each holder filled with the correct color wedges.

What else….how about a little stop motion animation with the card deck?

I hate to destroy an intact game, even though I did find it in the trash, but maybe in time I will move on to folding or cutting the cards for some interesting craft creation. Maybe one of those chains people made from gum wrappers would be fun….

Any suggestions?