Since the last entry, I…
*Set my DS on mingle after playing “The World Ends With You” for a bit. I heard from Tycho at Penny Arcade that I could catch some good stuff that way.
And now for the first live diary update ever, I will check my DS to see if it grabbed any signals. Drumroll please….
…
…
Wha?? I caught something!
The top screen of my DS states: “You ran into the one who got away.” Apparently, it’s an “alien.” After catching it, my DS lost enough juice that the power light went red. As I set it to do, the DS then stopped mingling.
The mingling idea, similar to “Nintendogs“’s bark mode, is intended to give the player benefits when their DS detects the presence of other DS systems in the wild. Doing so nets players extra points that level up their characters’ powers. If my DS, with the game in it, detects the presence of another DS that also contains “The World Ends With You,” then I get points from the player, who is identified as an “ESP’er.” Interacting with a DS that contains any other game identifies the players as “Civvies.”
I had my DS in my bag all day 29 stories above Times Square. It couldn’t have caught much. How it got an “Alien,” whatever that is, is beyond me. But it gained me 100 points and evolved one of my powers into a whole new power. That’s pretty cool.
Too bad it just about killed my battery. Thankfully I brought my charge cable.
*Also played “Wii Fit” today when Nintendo representatives delivered it to my office. I hope to show the public some ridiculous video of me playing the game on Friday morning.
Next: More “GTA IV” — a big finish?
May 8th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I love this kind of thing for DS games, but outside of industry-related trade shows, I’ve never encountered anyone with a DS (that I know of. As in, I’ve never seen anyone else playing one “in the wild” during my daily travels), let alone a DS engaged in the same roaming-type mode as mine.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:06 am
I’ve taken to leaving my DS in mingle mode overnight rather than shutting it down to get PP that way. I usually get between two and four aliens, and each are worth 100 PP each. Better than a day’s worth of rest right there.
I still have no idea what kind of wireless signal aliens are supposed to be though…
Interestingly enough, ESPers are only worth 50 PP. I would’ve thought they’d be worth more. Maybe the store function is supposed to make up for that. No clue what civvies are worth. I should go bug my roommate to turn on his DS so I can find out.