Master Chief is back in his tiniest adventure yet - this time on the Nintendo DS platform in the form of a homebrew game. No, no; it's not the "Halo DS" that Matt Casamassina was talking about before. Homebrew developer cobradragon1020 delivers the latest homebrew game starring the indomitable Spartan warrior from the Halo series with Halo ds. To find out more about this interesting homebrew game, check out our full article on it after the jump.

Download: Halo ds wip 2

The eighth iteration of the Nintendo Voice Chat has just been released. The show discussed quite a number of games such as Electronic Arts' Boom Blox and Sega's Iron Man for the DS (also available on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC, and Playstation Portable) as well as a few of the storage issues on the Wii. To find out more, check out the full article.

Download: Nintendo Voice Chat Ep.8

IGN Editor Matt Casamassina is a troubled man. To quote his latest blog entry: "My Halo DS blog has haunted me since I posted it because many people were skeptical of my claims. I wouldn't make something like that up, of course, but that hardly silenced any of my critics."

Now with Halo 3 fever creeping over the Cortana network that is the XBL community, Matt has finally proven to everyone the existence of a Halo DS. Yes, he does maintain that it was real. But see, the important thing to note here is that it will never see the light of day on retail. It was never officially released, and will never be officially released. The copy that IGN got was simply a tech demo.

Matt says that big names were involved in developing this kick-ass demo (which he previously mentioned played a lot like Metroid Prime: Hunters). The graphics are actually very good for a DS game, and really - to quote Matt again - "prove that Halo DS wasn't a garage project by a two-man team."

To get the full deal (and evidence) from Matt himself, check the videos behind the Full Article link below.

The rumor mill is hot on the Halo DS project after Matt Casamassina testified about the existence of Halo on Nintendo's handheld, and IGN promised to talk about a demo they were able to get their hands on. Website Siliconera was able to get some clarification from Bungie's Brian Gerard and Frank O’Connor regarding the matter.

Straight from Bungie's community guy himself, "...there has never been an officially funded or sanctioned development of any sort of DS Halo game."

Before that, Bungie.net's content monkey Frank O'Connor did state that "we got pitched for it several times."That said, it's "very likely that somebody at some point in time created a prototype."

Halo on handhelds is possible, but O'Connor doesn't think an FPS would be a good idea given the hardware limitations. A scrolling shoot 'em up or some other form Master Chief can appear in is more feasible for the DS, he said.

Here's another fun thought from the interview: Ninja Gaiden's Ryu Hayabusa could actually appear in Halo's universe. "I'm not going to say you're going to see Ryu in Halo, but I would say that our relationship with Itagaki is alive and well," O'Connor replied when asked about Ryu making a cameo appearance.

For the full transcript, click on the Read link below.

The Halo DS project may have been nothing but vaporware - canceled and left deep within the inner crevices of Cortana's fiber optic network - however, IGN promises to reveal more details about the demo they played earlier this year.

As GameStooge points out, in a recent IGN podcast (06-15-07), editor Matt Casamassina once again brought up the subject of Halo DS. It's just a very quick comment, but right around the 38:00 mark of the podcast, Casamassina says that Halo DS is:

a real game… It was a Halo on DS! And it never made it to the light of day, for whatever reason. That reason was most likely Microsoft or Nintendo...

But a lot of people just don't believe that. We're gonna lay down some ownage next week or soon afterward by showing you guys that that is a real game. You guys are about to be owned - all you nay-sayers.

Some may have thought that IGN being able to play a build/demo of the game was just a hoax. Now, maybe we can actually confirm that.

Next week isn't all that far off anyways. It's already the weekend, so we've only a few days left to really find out. "Finish the fight," or so says Halo 3. Finish the rumor, more like. That's what we want right now. If you want to hear the podcast for yourself though, click the Read link below. Remember, the Halo DS comment was somewhere around the 38:00 mark.

*Halo DS (Deathly Spartans) fan art by Icarus_Flight from vgboxart.com.

IGN's editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina recently had the chance to talk to MySims producer Tim LeTourneau about the upcoming Wii and DS title from Electronic Arts.

Of course, one of the first few things that get asked about next gen videogames revolves around multiplayer capabilities. Casamassina had earlier revealed that while EA wouldn't confirm it right away, the MySims developers are indeed exploring an online component for the video game.

LeTourneau also confirmed this, although he declined to reveal specifics about their online strategy for MySims. Letourneau did say that they recognize Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection as a "great feature of the Wii" and that they "definitely want to take full advantage of all the capabilities of the system."

Judging from LeTourneau's answers on whether or not the title will be more focused on single-player gameplay, it seems that the online capabilities of MySims is more centered around "sharing". "It's more about sharing what you've done," said LeTourneau. "Showing people. Saying, 'Check out what I've done. Look at this.'"

DS and Wii connectivity also appears to be a no go at this point. According to LeTourneau, the dev team for MySims will be "taking full advantage of the DS platform and how it differs from Wii. We haven't really talked about the connectivity between the DS and Wii at this point in time."

For the full interview, click on the Via link below. You might also want to check out the new screenshots from the game below.

   

More screenshots after the jump!

Ever since MySims became, well, MySims (it was simply called The Sims for Wii before), people have been asking if the game will have an online component. In the recent days, we've been hearing that the Wii will be invading online territory when the next wave of titles come out, and so the topic about the simulation game came up once more.

IGN Editor-in-Chief Matt Casamassina mentioned that he recently had a discussion with Electronic Arts (EA) about the matter. According to him, EA wouldn't confirm it right away but admitted that game's developers are indeed exploring an online component for the video game.

Quite interestingly, one reader commented that he/she saw a MySims display box up over at EB Games sporting the WiFi network symbol. Casamassina commented that this only strengthens the belief that the video game will have that feature. The editor added that Pokemon Battle Revolution will be kicking off very soon alongside other titles.

On a slightly off-topic note, one reader asked if a WWE game is headed for the Wii. Casamassina unfortunately had no information on this whatsoever but remarked that THQ usually makes wrestling project announcements during WrestleMania.

Dennis of Halo Informer calls BS on Matt Casamassina's claim over at IGN that he was able to play Halo on the DS.

His reasons? First, the post date. January 4th? Turn 1/4 around and it becomes 4/1, or April 1st. We don't have to explain the significance of that. Second, if the game was actually in development, they wouldn't have any thoughts about releasing the story at the time they were playing it. Dennis says that it would've been one of the biggest stories of the year, and it would be foolish to let it pass. Lastly, the mock-up was fake. Dennis notes that there should be at least one camera in IGN's offices.

Dennis speculates that if this wasn't a flat out prank, it may have been a test to see how much people actually want to see Halo on the DS. He also notes that Matt Casamassina is on vacation, a scenario that he implies we've seen before.

IGN editor Matt Casamassina writes that there was once a time when some smart publisher came up with a bright idea. Said publisher then contacted Microsoft and got the odd project started. A lot of egos were involved, and because of issues that the editor claims he cannot detail, the project was canceled.

What was the project? Halo for the Nintendo DS.

He says he knows this because he was able to get the back-story, and he was able to get a chance to play a build of Halo DS himself.

How does the game play? The IGN editor claims that is a lot like Metroid Prime Hunters but with a Halo aesthetic. He says that it is all too sad that the "too good of an idea" ended up canceled. Would you play Halo on the DS? More importantly If you were involved in its making somehow, would you have allowed the cancellation to occur?

Now there are a lot of videos out there. We can't possibly do justice to them all. And since we're so close to the Wii launch, any Nintendo top 10 list would naturally be heavily biased towards Wii vids.

Two old-school Ninty vids

To get us into a Nintendo mood, let's look at Nintendo in popular culture. This first video is by far one of the best in this list. Martin Leung, aka the Video Game Pianist aka VGP aka The Blindfolded Pianist became famous (on the Internet and in real life) because of this video. This 10-minute medley will make you wee in your pants - especially when Mario's running out of time and has to run really fast to get to the flag!


Redefined, a group from the University of Wisconsin sings theme songs (while acting out scenes) of Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, and, featuring a right-handed Link, Legend of Zelda.

Never mind if the SNES port of Mortal Kombat was one of the worst ports of the game (gray blood - what were they thinking?! - that looked like the fighters were sweating grease... and no uppercut countering of air attacks?!), because it was also one of the best (graphics and sound outstripped those of competitors at that time, in our humble but very perfect and very correct opinion). Trust us, we have some very old people here who remember the 1980s and 1990s with clarity.

See the other eight videos (plus the bonus 11th video - think "Zelda pornography" and other happy thoughts) after the jump. Click on the Full Article link below!