Technofranki's blog

This Weekly Special at Play-Asia.com is Midnight Club: Los Angeles for Xbox 360 at US$ 18.90. The offer ends Tuesday Septermber 15, 2009 Hong Kong time. The game will work on Asian (NTSC-J) and European (PAL) Xbox 360 consoles.

About the game, taken from Play-Asia.com:

The best way to see Los Angeles is at 245mph.

Race at breakneck speeds through the streets of modern-day L.A. recreated in stunning detail. Drive the hottest range of real-world tuners, muscle cars, exotics and superbikes on the streets today. Customize your vehicle with the best after-market performance parts and custom kits. Illegal street racing with no track, no load times, no rules: Welcome to the Midnight Club.

You can read a review about the game on IGN.com or watch their vidoe-review below.

Play-Asia.com now have 20% discount on all in-stock items when using a Visa card. The deal runs until September 6, 2009.

Here his the press release (or some of it anyway):

Play-Asia’s summer deals are so sweet they even attract bees. Drop your ice-cream, we are opening up our flower gardens, with incredible bargains blossoming everywhere. No matter if you look for consoles, video games, CDs, DVDs or toys, surely you will feel like a bee in a flower field – hard to decide where to fly first.

In partnership with VISA, from now until September 6th, all in-stock items except those that have been released during the last 30 days, are discounted by 20%. Please be reminded that this is a VISA exclusive promotion, only valid for orders paid with your VISA card directly at Play-Asia.com. Make sure to watch out for the 20% off discount logo on the final payment page.

So go badger the bank or latch onto a friend who has a VISA card if you don’t have one already! All products eligible for the discount will be marked with a VISA icon. The icon will remain on the product page for as long as the item is in stock. Some products are restocked steadily so the icon comes back every once in a while, others have limited availability and might not get restocked.

This weekly special at Play-Asia.com is Juushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers for Nintendo DS at only US$ 9.90. It looks like the game only will work on a DS and not a DSi, since it have a swiping-device pluged into the GBA-slot. The game is in Japanese too, so that limits it even further. The offer ends on August 4th, 2009.

Here is the description of the game taken from Play-Asia.com:

Think battle card games are over in this digital age? Think again.

Beast Battlers, the ultimate card action game is here. Slip the magic reader into the Nintendo DS and have it turn your 2D beast into breathing monster in your console. You don’t have to take the beasts as they are, upgrade their power and other attributes through a power-up card. The bigger the deck you have, the better an edge you have over your opponents.

Each package comes with a pack of 40 cards and a battlefield card. Be sure to get to know other beast battlers to play in different battle fields and keep an eye out on booster packs for the better beast warriors.

Please bear in mind however, that the game does not work on Nintendo DSi as there was no slot on the new console for the magic reader.

Here is the Japanese trailer for the game.

This weeks special at Play-Asia.com is Kung Fu Panda for Xbox 360. It will cost you US$ 19.90 and the game is region free (that means import friendly for you and me).

Quote from Play-Asia.com:

Based on the DreamWorks Animation high-octane martial arts movie Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda (the game) takes you on an action-packed adventure through the movie and beyond. Battle against Tai Lung and his minions, navigate awesome environments, and overcome dangerous obstacles on your quest to become the legendary Dragon Warrior.

• Defeat formidable bosses like Tai Lung and enemies like the Great Gorilla
• Perfect your kung fu skills as you play Po, Shifu, and the Furious Five, each with specialized fighting styles
• Travel through thirteen legendary levels including epic movie locations like the opulent Jade Palace
• Play with your friends to defeat hordes of enemies or challenge them to head-to-head combat in multiple battle arenas

This weeks offer at Play-Asia.com is LEGO Indiana Jones for Xbox 360 for only US$ 14.90 + shipping. The offer ends on December 2nd, 2008. This is the Asian version with English text, and the game is region free.

I’ve already have the game and like it. I can recommand it. A great Indy adventure.

Here is the quote from Play-Asia:

LEGO® Indiana Jones™: The Original Adventures takes the fun and creative construction of LEGO and combines it with the wits, daring, and non-stop action from the Indiana Jones cinematic adventures that enthralled audiences everywhere.

With a tongue-in-cheek take on these original adventures, LEGO Indiana Jones follows Dr. Jones’ escapades through the jungles of South America to the mountaintops of India. Build, battle, and brawl your way through your favorite moments, from Indy’s entanglements with snakes to his dashing boulder run.

• Re-live his epic adventures in a humorous LEGO world based on the original trilogy of movies
• Journey from the jungles of South America to the snowy mountaintops of India
• Use Indy’s signature weapon to capture and disarm enemies, swing across gaps, activate levers, and interact with a world of LEGO objects and puzzles
• Choose from over 60 playable characters, each with a variety of unique abilities

I always wanted to learn some Japanese and have bought some books. And I’ve seen that there have been released several My Coach titles from Ubisoft, but not in Japanese until now. The “game” have only been released in US so far, so I quess I will import it.

Here is a rundown of the title, taken from Amazon.com:

Explore Japan as each point of interest opens up your vocabulary

• Lesson plans take place within interesting locations ranging from Tokyo to the country side
• Useful information for first time Japanese speakers planning to visit the country
• The world map is identical to the Japanese map and the locations of the country

Learn to pronounce sounds unique to Japanese by comparing your voice to a native speaker

• Voice recording and playback feature of the DS allows the player to compare his or her accent to a native Japanese speaker
• Ability to listen and compare phrases not just words but also phrases as well

Develop your calligraphy skills as you trace over animations showing the proper way to write in Japanese

• Write Japanese characters using the DS stylus and touch screen
• Stroke order and comparison ability allows players to properly write hiragana / katakana / kanji

Participate in mini-games that will test your grasp of the structured lessons featured in the game

• 12 mini-games reinforce lesson plans and the ability to write in Japanese
• Variety of mini games ranging from whack-a-mole, word search, bridge builder, and kanji writing

Use the built in reference tool to look up useful words and phrases

• Japanese Dictionary and phrasebook with over 12,000 Japanese words and hundreds of useful phrases
• Strong reference points and serves as an independent tool from the game that’s very practical and useful 

My Japanese Coach is available from Amazon.com (ships only to US) and Play-Asia.com (ship Worldwide).

Well, there goes my hope of importing Nintendo DSi. DSi software will be region locked, you will still be able to play DS games (they are region free). A Nintendo spokesperson told CVG (Computer & Video Games) that:

DSi software (software that is only compatible with DSi) is region locked, eg: European DSi software can only be played on European DSi consoles.

DSi is region locked because DSi embeds net communication functionality within itself and we are intending to provide net services specifically tailored for each region. Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent.

I was hoping the DSi would be region free. So there’s goes the chance to import cheap DSi titles.