It's difficult to run out of games to play on the Nintendo DS, and that may actually be a bad thing. According to Game Republic head honcho Yoshiki Okamoto who's been in the industry since the world even saw Street Fighter, the Atari crash might be right around the corner. Head over to the full article for details.

You read that right, folks. Tecmo has confirmed that it's reviving the arcade classic, and promised to bring it in its full 2D glory on the Nintendo DS with a slew of new features. Learn all about Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff at the full article.

Developer Cortes48 is announcing that the Balloon Fight DS homebrew game has been updated to version 1.2. This build will carry several bug fixes, among its other updates. More details are available in the full article.


Download: Balloon Fight DS v1.2

Fans of homebrew casual gaming on the go may fancy Balloon Fight DS, Cortes48's mini-game for the DS based on the NES Classic, Balloon Fight. It's supposed to be a compendium of mini-games, but the first release only has one game at the moment. Interested? Then do check out the changelog for more information.

Download: Balloon Fight DS

 After horrendous attempts of going 3D and using all sorts of gimmicks to beat the dead horse, Konami has finally given justice to its original arcade classic. Developer WayForward Technologies took Contra 4 back to its grandfathers, and created a game for the Nintendo DS with all the elements that got us hooked with Contra's first coming. We played it, died a few hundred times, but ultimately conquered and here's our review.

If you've got the guts to know more about the hardest and manliest games of late, press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, go to the full article.

Old school gamers should keep silent for a moment to mourn the loss of our dearly beloved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System consoles, which have brought many happy moments in our video gaming career.

Nintendo has announced that it will be officially dropping all hardware repair support for the two of its most celebrated consoles of all time. Ken Toyoda, Nintendo Japan's spokesperson, has finally commented on reports a few weeks back that the company will be ceasing to offer hardware support for its Famicom and Super Famicom (the Japanese equivalent to the NES and SNES) consoles.

Check out the rest of the article right after the jump!

During the days that side-scrollers were all the rage, nobody can deny that the name Contra was one of the most memorable. Now, after nearly 10 years since it was first released on the NES, Konami delivers the latest in one of the longest running run-and-gun shooters with Contra 4.

In a two-part video we have from IGN, you can see what the opening stage of the newest iteration to the series will look like. From the way things look so far, the developers from WayForward Technologies took a lot of time to capture the essence of the original game.

Anyone who's played any of the previous Contra games will recognize the music, the aliens with overgrown backpacks and, of course, our somersaulting commandos with their big guns. Aside from the nostalgic references to its predecessors, Contra 4 has a few new features thrown into the mix to keep everyone interested.

While the video only shows the the single player mode of the first stage, the team here at QJ.NET can't wait to try out the ad hoc co-op mode the game is promised to sport. Contra 4 is scheduled to be released this November 13 exclusively for the Nintendo DS. In the meantime, check out the two videos we have on the game.

You can check out the second part of the video right after the jump!

There's a new The Legend of Zelda-themed DS mod up for grabs in Ebay, and its just in time for the recent US release of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Do take note that the bidding is taking place in Australia, however, and that bets are placed in Australian dollars.

This DS mod sports a nice, cool white-and-blue color scheme, topped off with Link's sword and shield emblem. We couldn't help but feel that green or gold should have sufficed, but this blue motif is still nifty in its own right. Another cool feature is that green LEDs are placed underneath the shield, giving the shield a nice, ethereal glow everytime the DS is turned on. This nice effect just about puts this DS mod in the same category of coolness as the NES Controller and Koopa mods.

The highest bid as of this writing is AU$ 285 (about US$ 255). 15% of the bets will be donated to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity, giving the winning bidder a feeling of doing something good in the world, along with the purchase.

Interested in bidding? Check out the Read link for more pictures and details on how to bid!

Admit it, playing as a pansy would suck even if it was the best video game ever made. That isn't to say having some random well-built guy with a deep voice on screen is enough to make a game fun. In fact, we've seen so many pitiful attempts of trying to make "cool" characters that it's not even funny anymore.

Fortunately, there's a handful of really manly video game dudes out there that aren't just made of testosterone and big muscles - they also have the history, personality, and attitude to be considered men among men. In this list are the most epic piles of manly turned video game characters. Are you man enough to take it?


10. Ryo Hazuki - Being manly doesn't mean you have to be some barbaric dude with an axe and a loud voice. As they say, the deep waters are more silent. Ryo Hazuki sounds and acts like your typical quiet guy, but fans of Shenmue know what lies beneath. He's not a womanizer or a jock. In fact, he ditched his cute lover, plays with kittens, and drives forklifts. What makes him so manly, then?

Even while facing potentially the strongest organized crime group in China, Ryo is deadset on facing Chiyoumen's leader, Lan Di, to avenge his father. Just like a man with strong convictions, this guy fresh out of high school has left worldy matters behind to do whatever it takes just to get closer to the fiend that killed his dad.

Click on for the rest of list, in which we ooze machismo and hose the decks down with testosterone. RAWR!

Aside from Mario, Nintendo wouldn't be the gaming giant it is today without hype from its other famous characters.

Case in point, Link from The Legend of Zelda series. Eiji Aonuma, long-time producer of the Zelda series describes how the newest incarnation of Link's adventure on the Nintendo DS, The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, is akin to the original Legend of Zelda game that first came out on the NES.

Aonuma reminisces on the aspects that first drew gamers into the series in making The Phantom Hourglass. Also, he relates how the game setting itself became an unintentional sequel to the story of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game on the Nintendo GameCube.

However, The Phantom Hourglass still has many unique aspects that make it different from the others in its series. Aside from the inherent stylus control, the game also incorporates a head-to-head multiplayer mode which pits one player Link against another who controls three Phantoms in a sort of "capture the flag" game.

Aonuma ends this interview saying that he aspires to create his own series aside from the Zelda projects. Seeing his already impressive credentials, it would be interesting to see what kind of games Aonuma would make if he were given free rein.

Anyway, take a look at the video interview of Eiji Aonuma as he talks about his latest Zelda platformer on the Nintendo DS.

Check out the video interview of Eiji Aonuma right after the jump!