Author Profile
James started his career in video games as News Editor on Nintendo Life. Since leaving in 2012 to join Nintendo of Europe, James has risen through the ranks to become NoE's Senior Product PR & Corporate Communications Manager.
Review Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver (DS)
Nintendo used "Spare Time Eater"!
(Pokémon history lesson appeared!) A few years after the huge success of Red and Blue, along came Silver and Gold, offering a brand new region and dozens more freaky monsters to catch. Predictably the games were just as successful and even now are fondly remembered by many Pokémon fans – this one included – as...
News Mr Driller to Burrow Into DSiWare
Drill Till you Drop, chums
We love a bit of drilling action here at Nintendo Life – in fact, we recently called Mr Driller Drill Spirits one of our favourite ever ways to pass time on the big white throne. Well, soon you'll be able to get your drill on with no cartridge required, as the previously Japanese-only title Drill Till You Drop for...
News DS Successor To Offer 3D Gaming
No specs required
Our own Sean Aaron has already demonstrated 3D gaming without the need for goofy glasses in the DSiWare title Rittai Kakushie Attakoreda, but now Nintendo is apparently ready to take it a step further with the revelation the next DS, currently titled 3DS, may offer full 3D effects with no accessories required. Coming out of a PDF...
Review Sonic Classic Collection (DS)
Hog roast
In a perfect world, there’s surely only one score we could give the first fully portable collection of the hedgehog’s finest outings: a well-deserved 10/10. SEGA’s handheld equivalent of Super Mario All-Stars, Sonic Classic Collection features the first four Sonic titles along with Knuckles’s appearance in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3,...
News Rathalos Figurine Swoops in on Monster Hunter Preorders
More information on the limited edition, too
If, like us, you're busy counting down the days and stitching up your armour in anticipation of the upcoming Monster Hunter 3 (~Tri), you’ll probably be interested in the announcement of a European preorder incentive in the form of a Rathalos head figurine. Not only that, the final piece of the...
Lights on, nobody's home
There can be no more baffling title on DSiWare than Flashlight, a collection of three different "utilities" for the DS's dual screens: it makes the reams of clocks and calculators look like gaming gold. First up is a flashlight function, that lets you light both screens in a range of colours. If you can think of a...
Review Simply Sudoku (DSiWare)
200 Points + 150 puzzles = 10/10?
Let’s face facts here: anyone after a Sudoku game on DSiWare is likely to have bought one by now, but Engine Software has thrown its hat into the ring with Simply Sudoku, a truly barebones package. There’s three different difficulties with fifty puzzles per difficulty, which even if your maths isn’t good...
News Moonhawk Studios Podcast Available Now
James Newton talks about WiiWare, review controversy and... pigtails?!
Nintendo Life Assistant Editor James Newton appeared on the Moonhawk Studios Presents podcast with Mac Paladin and Adam Dayton yesterday, and shot the breeze about Nintendo's marketing, third-party successes and the potential future of the DS. If you missed the show when it was...
News Call Nintendo Life Live, Tonight!
Full show available to download later
You may still be reeling from the recent double podcast whammy of DS's Fifth Birthday and the start of MAR 10's Mario Month celebrations, but it's not time to throw away your speakers just yet. Tonight at 10pm EST/7pm PST, Nintendo Life's very own Assistant Editor James Newton will be appearing on the Moonhawk...
A winning combination?
God bless the common burglar. Without his sticky-fingered ways, the humble safe may never have been invented to keep important things in and unimportant people out. Sadly it also gave rise to Safecracker, a crime against gaming that has stolen something more important than jewels or money: our time and attention. The story...
Podcast Episode 14 - Mario Month is Here!
MAR10 is GO
Fresh from the huge success of our DS fifth birthday celebrations, there's another swell of features coming your way as we get into the swing of Mario Month, our celebration of March 2010 aka Mar 10. Corbie Dillard and James Newton chew the fat over some choice Mario moments and there's a brief DS reviews round-up too. The episode is...
News Want Kid Icarus? Hey, Just Ask
Nintendo producer says "yo, speak up"
There's a huge list of classic Nintendo properties crying out for current-gen remakes, but one ever-present feature on the list is Kid Icarus. Absent from Nintendo systems for years, with the exception of a very cool appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pit has been all-but forgotten. You want that to change...
News Top DS Toilet Timewasters
Short spurt gaming at its best
Portable gaming and toilets go hand-in-washed-hand: there’s no better time to get some uninterrupted gaming going than when sat atop the porcelain throne. With the DS turning five years old in Europe today, we're celebrating some of the machine's golden titles: those games that make us wish there was a way to charge...
A modern masterpiece, marred
When the GameBoy Advance launched back in 2002, it landed with a port of Super Mario Bros. 2, not exactly the most fondly-remembered of plumber outings but one that still hit the mark by fitting the platform to a tee. Come 2005, Nintendo hit on the idea of launching the DS with a revamped Super Mario 64, showing off all...
Review Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (DS)
Pocket rocket
Just like the Wii version, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing on DS is up against some stiff competition, but as with its bigger brother manages to carve out a fine racing line for itself. One remarkable aspect of the DS version is how faithful it is to the home console version. All the characters, cups and unlockables are present,...
News Netflix Survey Suggests DS Video Streaming
DSi XL to replace drive-in movies
Wii owners will soon be able to stream video to their machine via Netflix, but what if you want to watch a video in a room that’s not the living room? Well, a new Netflix survey hints at the possibility of the DS being turned into a portable video device in future. Although at the moment the survey is only...
News 5th Hanabi Festival Inbound
Featuring the mighty Castlevania Rondo of Blood!
While we speculated on the return of the Hanabi Festival recently, Nintendo were busy putting the finishing touches to the fifth instalment of their import spectacular, due to launch this Friday. Kicking off with the fantastic Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and taking in IronClad, Milon's S
Over ¥200m owed by Hotel Dusk developer
Gloomy economical times have led to the early check-out of Hotel Dusk developer Cing, who recently filed for bankruptcy having amassed debts of over ¥200m (approximately $2.2m or £1.3m.) Despite releasing several critically-acclaimed titles, including Hotel Dusk follow-up Last Window and the Another Code...
News Rising Star and Spanish Fans Translate Fragile Dreams Together
Publisher and community work together as one
The Wii's upcoming near-apocalyptic adventure Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon is on course for a European release on March 19th, with plenty of intriguing characters and a rather moving script all painstakingly translated from its original Japanese. Naturally such translations are huge, costly...
Review Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (Wii)
Constellation prize
The first hour or so you spend with Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, your brain rejects it, telling you it isn’t Mario Kart enough, or it isn’t Sega enough. You’ll wrestle with the wheel and tell yourself you could be playing Mario Kart Wii instead, but once you learn to go with it you find yourself having a blast...
Review Real Football 2010 (DSiWare)
Slick as a parrot
With last year’s successful Real Football 2009 under its belt, Gameloft has dusted off its downloadable footballing franchise and slapped a new number on the end. Taking the control systems and fast, arcade-style gameplay from its predecessor and polishing it up, RF2010 is at once the definitive football game on DS and a real...
Review Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)
A classic DS mash-up is born
Mixing the heavy plot and masses of dialogue from an RPG with the instant gratification of a puzzle game might seem an odd choice, but Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes pulls it off with aplomb. Reminiscent of classic DS puzzler Meteos, Clash of Heroes offers a stylus-sliding take on the match-three genre. Each puzzle is...
Interviews Sabarasa Software and Save the Turtles
We get answers on the upcoming DSiWare puzzler
Nintendo Life: Firstly tell us a bit about your company Sabarasa Inc. and anything you've done previously that our readers might be aware of. Javier Otaegui, CEO and founder of Sabarasa: Sabarasa is a game developer based on Argentina and Mexico. We’ve been developing games for well over a decade now,...
Podcast Episode 13 - Happy 5th Birthday, DS
Get out the party hats and streamers
In the beginning, there was no DS. Now we've had our little chum for half a decade, as the DS hits its fifth birthday in Europe on March 11th. With that in mind, this is a DS special, looking at some of the memories that make this machine so special to gamers everywhere. Jon Wahlgren tells us about his path to...
