Move over Simple series? A new budget challenger arrives

By Spencer . July 24, 2007 . 4:25pm

Tasuke is entering the ring of generic DS publishing with five games scheduled to come out on August 9. Most of the stuff is Japan-centric, Shogi, Mahjong, Hanafuda (those flowery playing cards). One title stands out Vol. 3 Block Breaker, a touch screen clone of Arkanoid. It’s far from original, but for 1,575 yen ($13) it might be worthwhile.

While there is a steady wave of budget DS software in Japan, this doesn’t exactly exist in North America aside from the fire sales prominently posted up on Cheap Ass Gamer. I wonder if people would shell out $10 for a basic package with plain old chess and checkers as an impulse purchase.

TAGS: Nintendo DS, Simple Series

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5 Responses to “Move over Simple series? A new budget challenger arrives”

Jeff Says:
July 24th, 2007 at 7:24 pm

Is the one you didn’t list (there are five after all) Go or Othello? Because if it’s the latter I’m sold (I LOVE Othello)

Spencer Says:
July 24th, 2007 at 7:34 pm

The last game was called “Reversi”, but it’s Othello.

John H. Says:
July 25th, 2007 at 11:07 am

Othello, Reversi, Clubhouse Games calls it Turncoat, these are all different names for the same game.

Othello was the original version, and is a trademarked name, and seems like it might have been more popular in Japan than in the U.S. Because of the trademark, most people call it Reversi. I have no idea why Clubhouse Games called it Turncoat.

Actually, I read that there’s a couple of annoying bugs in the CG version of Chess, so someone who was really interested in that game might pick up the Chess/Checkers collection because of that. I’m guessing it doesn’t provide online play, though.

Jeff Staple Says:
July 25th, 2007 at 11:57 am

Awesome! Now I’m definitely getting the Reversi title. Me and my mom are the only ones (we know) who are familiar with Othello, but we rarely have the time to play it. I’ll gladly buy this budget title so I can play whenever I want.

@John H.

Yes, it does seem to be more popular in Japan than in the US. I base this solely on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which has Kyon and others quite frequently playing the game after school.

Jeff Staple Says:
July 25th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Oh, just a BTW, I’m the same Jeff who posted the first comment.