The first time I saw Brain Age, it was at the IT Show 2006 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. Brain Age was the game featured with Nintendo’s DS Lite, and wow did it rock then.

Here’s the curious thing: Brain Age is played with the DS on its side. So the touch-screen would be on your right, and the actual screen on the left.

And something interesting about me? I’m left-handed.

The great thing about Brain Age is that it’s nice enough to look out for southpaws and offer to rotate the DS the other way around. But of course, during the IT Show, we didn’t know that. All we had access to was Quick Play, after all. So I was writing numbers with my right hand, which isn’t all that hard a task, given Brain Age’s excellent handwriting recognition.

Here’s the thing I’ve been doing for the past month or so. I’ve been playing 押忍!闘え!応援団 [Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan], which is the ultimate music game for the DS and my all-time favourite… and something for everyone. With my right hand.

Timing and rhythm, it’s not easy playing games with your non-dominant hand. In fact, it almost makes you seem retarded, since your other hand is usually slower. So yes, it’s like training your other hand, you know.

I’d love to hear stories of others using their non-dominant hands to play games. Do share them if you have any.

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So many people wanted Koei to make a Gitaroo Man sequel instead of more and more seemingly similar sequels of Dynasty Warriors.

Well, you guys have got your wish. Koei’s coming out with Gitaroo Man Live for the PlayStation Portable! Brand new music and two-player versus and cooperative modes!

Let’s hope they manage to find a way to stick Flying To My Heart, which arguably has to be one of the better Gitaroo Man songs, in there. Heck, an unlockable extra would rock.

Definitely a must-buy game judging from the great gameplay of the original Gitaroo Man alone.

In other news, my favourite game, Katamari Damacy, is still quite pretty much alive and kicking. Even after the closure of the official Japanese website, we have the website on Namco, which features a Katamari cosplay competition!

And talking about really crazy, we have We Love Katamari speed runs. I may be hardcore about the games, but I doubt I can memorize positions and optimize a path for speed.

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Here’s something really cool derived from the Star Wars universe – a video animation incorporating plenty of retro stuff.

Have a pair of 3D glasses handy for an enhanced viewing experience (it’s fine without them as well) and watch out for cameo appearances by Street Fighter and Pokemon characters. Those cracked me up real good.

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I’m sure most of you have watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children already, but for those who haven’t, or are just woefully ignorant of release dates…

The English version releases on April 25th!

Here’s something on the English voice actors of the dub.

Hands up those of you who think that this will be the one and only release of Advent Children on DVD though… We all know how the movie industry works, after all. There’s going to be a Super Duper Limited Edition Collector’s Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Deluxe Boxset coming out soon.

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The future is here!!!

“Researchers run WarCraft on a giant DiamondTouch table-top-touch-panel-screen.”

Another demo vid, this one catering more towards geeky scientific types.

WARCRAFT III ON NINTENDO REVOLUTION ZOMG YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!

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Alright, so I’m a little late in the fad. I’ve only gotten The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion today, and short of looking at the introduction, haven’t touched the game at all.

Yesterday I was asked whether I knew what Oblivion was about, and short of playing through The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, I didn’t. It’s been ages since Morrowind, and that game wasn’t even great in my opinion.

But there has to be something about all the hype. The vast, sprawling worlds maybe, or the endless customization of the character. Or some elaborate storyline that I have yet to know.

Whether I want to fork out an additional 200 Microsoft Points, which works out to err… $4.40 in Singapore dollars, for horse armour (which should be in the game, and not something we pay for) is another thing altogether.

Here’s something for Oblivion lovers out there – an equipment database. But you should already know of something like this if you’ve been playing it all this while.

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Every year on that faithful day, I’ll get tricked some way or another. And then I’ll not realize it was an April Fools’ joke until someone tells me. And I get disappointed.

So for all of you, the following links are all not true, unless the reverse psychology doesn’t work and it turns out to be an innocent, true-blue announcement that just happened to fall on that day or a couple of days before (as many would set to make the joke appear more believable).

For starters, here’s something from one of the most popular game sites these days, GameSpot. Heh, a round-up of the top ten Final Fantasy games of all time… without any of the main games except Final Fantasy VIII in it.

An amusing and fairly realistic read, for sure. Until you start wondering where Final Fantasy VII or V or VI or XI are. There was another piece on the World of StarCraft, but I couldn’t find it. So duh, no links.

From the Blizzard side, we have your new Alliance race for World of WarCraft. Just like the Two-Headed Ogres last year, Blizzard introduces elements of gameplay that would be really creative if implemented, but alas, are just for the day.

But there’s the patch notes for version 1.11 for the World of WarCraft enthusiasts. Funny, but what’s all that about Mac users? Bleh.

I wouldn’t mind opening a BurgerCraft franchise in Singapore. A true gamers’ cafe, that’s what it will be.

Here’s something about Sony cancelling the PlayStation 3. O-M-F-G, you say. It even comes with a realistic (sans anti-phishing browsers) press release.

Talking about the PlayStation 3, here’s something to counter the above. Yes, Grand Theft Auto: Chicago. Imagine doing all your erm… playing on the streets of Chicago!

Moving on to the other high-definition next-generation console, don’t we all wish Microsoft would start slashing prices? Now, imagine if they dropped it by US$100. I’m sure more people would snatch up the consoles and make it sell out even more than it already has.

Heh, I wouldn’t mind them discontinuing the Core System. I don’t even see those green boxes in stores. Neither would I mind them producing a backwards compatibility kit so that I can play my games using the wireless controller and in high-definition.

Now if only there was a Barbie game for the 360 to attract the young girls.

It seems like the 360′s the talk of the town, so much so that a Nintendo DS fansite is converting to a 360 fansite. Aww, what a pity. It’s amusing, but there are plenty of new games that have been released for the Nintendo DS. Whatever is that admin saying?

Like for example, New Super Mario Bros. Which, according to this site, is only compatible with the DS Lite. Uh, what? I’m going to get my DS Lite sooner or later, so this doesn’t worry me.

Or the much awaited Zelda game for the DS. If the stuff in this interview were true, the Zelda game would be pretty extreme.

nPlay? Are we going to get yet another letter to mock now, after the “i”? Heh.

I still haven’t touched Pikmin, so I can’t tell how news of Pikmin 3 would affect anyone but hardcore Pikmin fans. News for the couple of you who like this game, anyway.

Moving on to the much-neglected handheld of Nintendo these days, here’s a crossover game for it. Yep, it’s Mega Man Solid X: Gun of The Mavericks for the Game Boy Advance. The screenshots look pretty solid, but gameplay wise… Nobody can tell.

More random stuff? Would Sonic Team ever name one of their future games Sonic X-Treme or anything similar? That name is just so blah.

And something that caught me by surprise and made me giggle inside… A review of Duke Nukem Forever!!! There’s actually something concrete about the game that has been in development since… since… 1997!

To end this, here’s something along the lines of Google Romance (yes, I know it’s not something gaming-related, but they’re taking over the world anyway) – a match-up (literally) service for Command & Conquer. Perfect for the lonely gamer… although they should really interview these two game-shop owners I know who did meet on Command & Conquer. Kudos to those who know who those two are.

To everyone out there, have a great April, and stay real.

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