THey would never release the current day's puzzle unless they don't like money. In case you didn't realize, the NYT crossword puzzles are only in the NYT because it SELLS the NYT. Letting someone spend $30 on it and getting the puzzles for life at no extra charge is BAD BAD BAD for the papers. Now, letting them download last week's puzzle after everyone else already has their answers may make more sense. Kinda like online comics being behind the papers.
All you'd have to do is put some advertising in with each crossword. "Todays crossword is brought to you by McDonalds" etc. Or after you've spent 10 minutes without putting in anything "Need some more mental stimulation? Grab a Coke" or whatever.
I mean it's not like it's hard to make crosswords.
There's advertizing in the New York Times, too. It would still be throwing away money.
I could see them doing a paid subscription, though.
I don't understand why the fuck wasn't marketed out of this game.
Sheer fucking brilliance indeed.
Yeah, it's really a shame. This game could have sold really well I think, but it's not going to without any marketing.
You thinking they are advertising it to you. They're not.
This isn't for the kind of people who buy at launch. This will be like Brain training in Japan and Europe. Slow sales that build with word of mouth then a big advertising campaign to push it forward - so people see an add - then see people playing it on the tube. Then it will go crazy.
I don't understand why the fuck wasn't marketed out of this game.
Sheer fucking brilliance indeed.
Yeah, it's really a shame. This game could have sold really well I think, but it's not going to without any marketing.
You thinking they are advertising it to you. They're not.
This isn't for the kind of people who buy at launch. This will be like Brain training in Japan and Europe. Slow sales that build with word of mouth then a big advertising campaign to push it forward - so people see an add - then see people playing it on the tube. Then it will go crazy.
Yeah, that's definitely true, but Brain Training still had a ton of ads on TV and in stores and stuff. I haven't seen ANY for this game.
Turns out that not only is it out, but it's also quite excellent.
The handwriting recognition is terrific and relatively quick (though it keeps thinking my I is an L), and having crosswords on the DS is downright brilliant.
Also: it handily proves that yes, I am an idiot, and that it IS possible for a crossword to rape a human. THROUGH THE PANTS.
Can't say I much understand the rating system, though. I spammed the Hint button for half a Saturday puzzle and got a D-, when I got a D for completing a Thursday puzzle with very few hints. I suspect it has something to do with how it adds time onto your final completion total.
Regardless, I cannot fathom how this was not made to be part of Nintendo's Touch Generation series or somesuch. It's a perfect fit, and if this doesn't get sold in tandem with Brain Age when non-gaming folk pick up a DS, I'll be surprised.
FireWeasel on
AC:CL Wii -- 3824-2125-9336 City: Felinito Me: Nick
I think you guys are over-estimating how popular this game will be. The notion that senior citizens are going to rush out and buy DS lites to do their crosswords on is nice, but look at the math:
Book with anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 crosswords: $10-20 (AUD)
DS Lite with 1,000 NYT Crosswords: Around $250 (AUD)
Assuming you live on a pension or limited retirement funds, which one are you going to buy?
I think you guys are over-estimating how popular this game will be. The notion that senior citizens are going to rush out and buy DS lites to do their crosswords on is nice, but look at the math:
Book with anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 crosswords: $10-20 (AUD)
DS Lite with 1,000 NYT Crosswords: Around $250 (AUD)
Assuming you live on a pension or limited retirement funds, which one are you going to buy?
Hence why I said it stands as a good companion piece with stuff like Brain Age.
Besides, I think this stands to have some decent traction with other demographics. It's got potential.
Popularity, though, is another story. This thing has literally zero marketing.
FireWeasel on
AC:CL Wii -- 3824-2125-9336 City: Felinito Me: Nick
Oh mother of all that is holy, this game is not for me.
I have trouble with the crossword puzzles on the tray paper at McDonald's. I don't think I'll be able to do anything with the NYT crossword puzzle, which is reknowned for being pretty difficult.
As I recall, Saturdays are the hardest, then Sundays, then Fridays, then everything down to Monday, which is the easiest. You can select which day you want to play in the game.
So, how is this game doing? Any info about sales, etc?
I'm curious.
NPD numbers for May come out in a couple weeks, but I really wouldn't expect this to sell well enough for us to hear about it. If it had advertising it would have.
Item procured. A little time spent last night, about four or five words from finishing the 1st puzzle.
It's pretty good. Some points, based on early impressions:
*So far it seems like you're stuck with the kind of goofy puzzle presentation. I would have preferred an option for something standard, black-on-white, with a standard typeface. Instead you get what you see in the pics that've been circulating, a colored field with a goofy handwriting font.
*I haven't found a way to zoom out to see the whole puzzle from a distance. I haven't read the fucking manual yet either. Unless I'm wrong you're basically zoomed in on a section of the puzzle, you can move the view around with L/R or the D Pad. This doesn't really hurt gameplay of course. It would have been nice to be able to see some kind of overview though.
*Gameplay is as such: you're zoomed into a section of the puzzle. You tap on a square and it pulls up the clue on the top screen. Tap again (or maybe double tap?) and the orientation & clue switches. You can tap any part of the word-to-be and get the clue. So far it seems they don't display until you tap a box, I haven't yet found a clue overview or a clue list. The game also has a hint system but... that's cheating. WTF.
*Handwriting recognition is good but slow. You enter in words letter-by letter, once you tap a box a bigger black box appears in the lower right corner. Write the letter in the large box, it pauses then applies what it thinks is the letter, then automatically goes onto the next blank letter in the word. Only recognition hiccups so far I've had: my poorly-defined Ms sometimes turn into Hs, as long as I keep all three legs on the ground it's fine though. It also has trouble with my Ns.
*Gameplay modes: haven't fully explored. There are multiplayer options, I think they're time-attack style. There's a random puzzle mode (randomly selected not randomly generated I'd assume) & a sequential solve the puzzles MTWTF in order mode. I've only tried the MTWTF mode. Haven't finished my first puzzle yet, as noted, so I don't know if it makes you do all the Mondays in a month first as a kind of difficulty progression or if you just do week after week.
*Puzzles seem fairly current. A few of the words had to do with current events of the past year.
So, all in all, a solid purchase. Could have been better but it's definitely not crapware.
edit: I got it at EB, which I was really surprised to see it at. The local best buy wasn't carrying it and the last two times I'd asked at an EB (two separate EBs actually) the responses were a) uhh, we didn't get any preorders so corporate doesn't think it'll sell and isn't sending us any copies then b) uhhh it was in our system now it's not, dunno what happened.
*I haven't found a way to zoom out to see the whole puzzle from a distance. I haven't read the fucking manual yet either. Unless I'm wrong you're basically zoomed in on a section of the puzzle, you can move the view around with L/R or the D Pad. This doesn't really hurt gameplay of course. It would have been nice to be able to see some kind of overview though.
Zoom out with the Y button. Press it twice to see the whole grid at once. I do that and then I use R to cycle through the clues. When you've reached the end of the down or across it goes back to the start of the opposite way, which is nice.
I've been doing puzzle week with one puzzle a day. Today is Sunday. God damn do these get hard at the end of the week.
Zoom out with the Y button. Press it twice to see the whole grid at once. I do that and then I use R to cycle through the clues. When you've reached the end of the down or across it goes back to the start of the opposite way, which is nice.
How do you guys deal with shit you just don't know? Do you tend to look it up, ask someone, what?
Yeah I was about to just order it online, with EB and their stupid 'if no one preorders it it can go to hell' policy. I even checked the online EB stock checker thing, it said 0 copies everywhere but lo the one down the street had a few anyway. Indicating it had just come in.
Maybe it's getting decent online sales and EB decided to cycle some out to stores after all.
If I can't figure something out I look it up. But only after swearing a bunch and staring blankly for a while. God help anyone nearby cause they're getting asked.
Posts
There's advertizing in the New York Times, too. It would still be throwing away money.
I could see them doing a paid subscription, though.
Anyone pick it up? Impressions? Where to buy?
I'll look for it tomorrow when I grab Shadowrun.
Sheer fucking brilliance indeed.
Yeah, it's really a shame. This game could have sold really well I think, but it's not going to without any marketing.
If nothing else, they should be marketing it as close as possible to crossword puzzles in every major newspaper.
I could be VERY wrong here, but I don't think that games in the GBA slot can use any of the Touch Screen features.
You thinking they are advertising it to you. They're not.
This isn't for the kind of people who buy at launch. This will be like Brain training in Japan and Europe. Slow sales that build with word of mouth then a big advertising campaign to push it forward - so people see an add - then see people playing it on the tube. Then it will go crazy.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
DS carts can still read data from Slot 2. See Pokemon.
Dunno if the current game supports that though.
And Lave, you assume that Majesco has enough advertising savvy to do all that.
I assumed it was a nintendo game. Yeah majesco will probably not even advertise it IN the NYT.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
Ah Majesco.
Yeah, that's definitely true, but Brain Training still had a ton of ads on TV and in stores and stuff. I haven't seen ANY for this game.
Hmm. After running a quick search online, I can't seem to find it available in Canada, for some reason.
DAMMIT.
The handwriting recognition is terrific and relatively quick (though it keeps thinking my I is an L), and having crosswords on the DS is downright brilliant.
Also: it handily proves that yes, I am an idiot, and that it IS possible for a crossword to rape a human. THROUGH THE PANTS.
Can't say I much understand the rating system, though. I spammed the Hint button for half a Saturday puzzle and got a D-, when I got a D for completing a Thursday puzzle with very few hints. I suspect it has something to do with how it adds time onto your final completion total.
Regardless, I cannot fathom how this was not made to be part of Nintendo's Touch Generation series or somesuch. It's a perfect fit, and if this doesn't get sold in tandem with Brain Age when non-gaming folk pick up a DS, I'll be surprised.
It's still comin'
Baba. A word to live by when it comes to crosswords.
Book with anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 crosswords: $10-20 (AUD)
DS Lite with 1,000 NYT Crosswords: Around $250 (AUD)
Assuming you live on a pension or limited retirement funds, which one are you going to buy?
Hence why I said it stands as a good companion piece with stuff like Brain Age.
Besides, I think this stands to have some decent traction with other demographics. It's got potential.
Popularity, though, is another story. This thing has literally zero marketing.
I have trouble with the crossword puzzles on the tray paper at McDonald's. I don't think I'll be able to do anything with the NYT crossword puzzle, which is reknowned for being pretty difficult.
Then started on the next days and got 3 questions answered...total. They're swingy.
I'm curious.
NPD numbers for May come out in a couple weeks, but I really wouldn't expect this to sell well enough for us to hear about it. If it had advertising it would have.
It's pretty good. Some points, based on early impressions:
*So far it seems like you're stuck with the kind of goofy puzzle presentation. I would have preferred an option for something standard, black-on-white, with a standard typeface. Instead you get what you see in the pics that've been circulating, a colored field with a goofy handwriting font.
*I haven't found a way to zoom out to see the whole puzzle from a distance. I haven't read the fucking manual yet either. Unless I'm wrong you're basically zoomed in on a section of the puzzle, you can move the view around with L/R or the D Pad. This doesn't really hurt gameplay of course. It would have been nice to be able to see some kind of overview though.
*Gameplay is as such: you're zoomed into a section of the puzzle. You tap on a square and it pulls up the clue on the top screen. Tap again (or maybe double tap?) and the orientation & clue switches. You can tap any part of the word-to-be and get the clue. So far it seems they don't display until you tap a box, I haven't yet found a clue overview or a clue list. The game also has a hint system but... that's cheating. WTF.
*Handwriting recognition is good but slow. You enter in words letter-by letter, once you tap a box a bigger black box appears in the lower right corner. Write the letter in the large box, it pauses then applies what it thinks is the letter, then automatically goes onto the next blank letter in the word. Only recognition hiccups so far I've had: my poorly-defined Ms sometimes turn into Hs, as long as I keep all three legs on the ground it's fine though. It also has trouble with my Ns.
*Gameplay modes: haven't fully explored. There are multiplayer options, I think they're time-attack style. There's a random puzzle mode (randomly selected not randomly generated I'd assume) & a sequential solve the puzzles MTWTF in order mode. I've only tried the MTWTF mode. Haven't finished my first puzzle yet, as noted, so I don't know if it makes you do all the Mondays in a month first as a kind of difficulty progression or if you just do week after week.
*Puzzles seem fairly current. A few of the words had to do with current events of the past year.
So, all in all, a solid purchase. Could have been better but it's definitely not crapware.
edit: I got it at EB, which I was really surprised to see it at. The local best buy wasn't carrying it and the last two times I'd asked at an EB (two separate EBs actually) the responses were a) uhh, we didn't get any preorders so corporate doesn't think it'll sell and isn't sending us any copies then b) uhhh it was in our system now it's not, dunno what happened.
I've been doing puzzle week with one puzzle a day. Today is Sunday. God damn do these get hard at the end of the week.
How do you guys deal with shit you just don't know? Do you tend to look it up, ask someone, what?
All of the EB's near me had one copy only on release day. I picked it up right then because I knew it was going to be hard to find.
Maybe it's getting decent online sales and EB decided to cycle some out to stores after all.
If I can't figure something out I look it up. But only after swearing a bunch and staring blankly for a while. God help anyone nearby cause they're getting asked.