Critically acclaimed Benoït Sokal of Syberia and Paradise infamy is bringing a new series of adventures simultaneously to the PC and DS. Sokal’s studio White Birds have announced Sinking Island, in which 40-something PI Jack Norm tries to solve the murder of a billionaire hotel-owner before the island it sits on sinks under the weight of its enourmous Art Deco bulk. Apparently he has 3 days of game-time to find the culprit, and there will be evidence in the lower levels of the hotel that will be lost to the player once they have sunk below water. Sounds cool? Sokal’s ideas usually do. Now if only he could write… (I shouldn’t give the guy too much crap: I’ve never played his games in their original French; only ever in English translation.)

Gaming site Adventure Gamers have been barracking for the DS to cause a renaissance of Adventure games since the release of Another Code. Sokal represents the first heavyweight in the genre to make the move. Will others such as Ron Gilbert and Jane Jensen (both known for shifting to lower-fi games) follow suit? Anyway, here’s the mock-up White Birds have provdided of what it might look like:

Let’s hope he gets as inventive as Cing were, and includes things like blowing on the microphone to clear dust away.

Just bought/played/finished Another Code: Two Memories, from unknown Japanese developer Cing, known in other territories as Trace Memory. Being something of a closet Adventure gamer (I’m still in the closet!), I just had to have this when I saw it was coming out. Its pretty manga aesthetic (and I say manga and not anime because most of the pretty images are stills) and cosy gameplay make for some enjoyable playing.

The majority of gameplay is from a top-down (yet 3D-rendered) view, and you drag protagonist Ashley through the woods and rooms of Blood Edward Island with the stylus: not as annoying as it sounds. Puzzles see the view switch to 1st person, and it is usually at this point that this view comes up on the touch screen and you can affect the object with the stylus – or microphone depending on the puzzle (the one puzzle where you blow the dust off an old painting is bizarrely satisfying).

The majority of the game takes place in a dilapidated mansion that was the scene of death and jealousy, in the company of a young boy’s ghost. All of this should spell out “haunted”, but take the creepiness out of a haunted house, and you’ll end up with something like the Edwards’ mansion here. There’s probably about 6 hours of relaxed gameplay here (provided you don’t get stuck on the obligatory illogical adventure game puzzle), and replay value is added (so I’ve been told) with the unlocking of an easter egg after the credits and added content upon recommencement of the game. I’d recommend anyone buy it, if it didn’t cost $69.95. As such, I will only recommend it to anyone who likes Adventure games or manga. This last category should include everyone anyway.

Got the new pink DS on the day it was released! It was packaged with the Nintendogs of one’s choice: Chihuahua and Friends, Lab and Friends, and Dachshund und Freunds (just kidding). All the other dogs can be unlocked theoretically. Some require luck in finding certain items, most require winning lots of money in competitions.

I got Lab and Friends but the nice guy at EB threw in the cover of the demo Chihuahua because the (real) dog on it is sooo cute.

It’s only early days now, but I’ve taught my Elliott how to sit, lie down, shake, wave (like shake only higher up), play dead, roll over, play (shakes his bum – so cute!), jump and back flip (get it to jump when it’s sitting). It doesn’t have the most advanced voice recognition so if anything has an “a” in it, it thinks it’s saying “shake”. Apparently the trick is to use two or three words for your tricks but I’m not that creative. When your pet does actually respond correctly, it is strangely rewarding. And patting the little fellow, surprisingly, doesn’t get boring. It is so apparently happy and responsive (if you pat it enough, you can get little imaginary bones that the dog will eat) that it so hits the soft spot like a real animal.

On the first weekend home with my Nintendogs I also had to look after a real life Golden Retriever puppy. She ended up have a severe allergic reaction to an insect bite and had to be driven to the emergency vet at midnight which ended up costing more than the DS. Even before that incident, I was wanting her to go home so I could play with my Nintendog.