2 Questions: SP 360 Games & DS packages/or...

First Question: If I wanted to play say, Mass Effect over at a friends house who doesn't have an internet connection, let alone XBL, does my achievments etc. get logged anyway, for it's a Single player game, or is it always pinging XBL to make this happen on the network and etc.? (I would just take my Hard Drive over to his house to play on his unconnected 360.) (and is it dependent on the SP game. I.e. do some 'need' to ping XBL even tho' it's just SP or not).

Second: I looked around and would of swore I saw this topic, but can't find it when I search. So...Is there any good packages for the DS Lite (I take it the only DS sold now)? And what are the top games for it? (include a puzzler such as a Tetris type game). And any other information I might find useful as a first time DS user.

Thanks

I believe you can still earn achievements and they'll be added to your online profile once it connects to XBox Live again (through your XBox).

As for good DS games, that's a whole other can of worms. Personally, my favorite puzzle game on there is Meteos but there are tons of others to keep you busy.

As far as the 360 goes. I'm pretty sure if you're using your own hard drive it will keep track of your points and update the next time you have an internet connection.

Edit: Oh Lobster!

The achievements are definitely stored on your HD, then uploaded when you connect.

For the DS, I'm not sure if there are package deals. Puzzle game wise, I second Meteos. Not quite the same thing, but Picross is sort of a sudoku-like puzzle with no numbers...chew on that. Planet Puzzle League is supposed to be quite good, but I can't speak directly. I think it's a successor/port of older games...Pokemon? Dr. Mario? Puzzle Quest is an RPG where the combat is handled by a Bejeweled-clone puzzle battle (also available on XBLA)!

Of course, there is a version of Tetris, as well.

Other top games for the DS include Mario Kart, Castlevania, New Super Mario Bros., Advance Wars DS (though some argue against it), Puzzle Quest...well, you get the idea. There are a lot of threads on great DS games, including a recent one started by, get this, DSGamer.

Thanks folks for the information. Right! DSGamer had a thread on this. I need to find it.

We've had two threads recently about handheld games, one in particular about multiplayer dungeon hack games on the DS.

Thread 1

Thread 2

As for bundles - they are extremely rare for the DS. It sells like hotcakes regardless of whether it's on sale or not, so there isn't much incentive to charge less. There was a Zelda bundle for Black Friday and maybe Christmas but I don't think that's still going on.

I haven't seen any DS deals recently and I personally wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one. There are some $40 off $200 coupons for Circuit City that say they don't work on consoles, but you maybe be able to get them to work (if you plan to buy $80 worth of other items).

For game recommendations, I really enjoyed Puzzle Quest, although it's pretty much Bejeweled and nothing like Tetris. A number of people seemed to really enjoy Picross DS as well.
Check out Metacritic's DS scores and see what catches your eye.
I don't play many puzzle games, but I'm sure we can come up with suggestions if you give us other genres/games you like to work with.

*Edit* D'oh! How could I forget Clubhouse Games? It's not strictly a puzzle game but it's hard to imagine you couldn't find something to enjoy on it.

Scaphism wrote:

We've had two threads recently about handheld games, one in particular about multiplayer dungeon hack games on the DS.

Thread 1

Thread 2

As for bundles - they are extremely rare for the DS. It sells like hotcakes regardless of whether it's on sale or not, so there isn't much incentive to charge less. There was a Zelda bundle for Black Friday and maybe Christmas but I don't think that's still going on.

I haven't seen any DS deals recently and I personally wouldn't hold my breath waiting for one. There are some $40 off $200 coupons for Circuit City that say they don't work on consoles, but you maybe be able to get them to work (if you plan to buy $80 worth of other items).

For game recommendations, I really enjoyed Puzzle Quest, although it's pretty much Bejeweled and nothing like Tetris. A number of people seemed to really enjoy Picross DS as well.
Check out Metacritic's DS scores and see what catches your eye.
I don't play many puzzle games, but I'm sure we can come up with suggestions if you give us other genres/games you like to work with.

Thanks!

Another Recent Thread

Also: It looks like Anno 1701 is finally going to be released in the US! I usually get reminded of it when looking at these threads and had just started to see how much it would be import it. Looks like a February release.

Don't forget Civilization Revolution on the DS sometime in the spring either! (Though those two are firmly strategy and not puzzle games.)

Scaphism wrote:

Also: It looks like Anno 1701 is finally going to be released in the US! I usually get reminded of it when looking at these threads and had just started to see how much it would be import it. Looks like a February release.

Where did you find this info and where can I pre-order! EBgames shows it as coming out for the Wii in March but no information about the DS version is available.

EvilDead wrote:
Scaphism wrote:

Also: It looks like Anno 1701 is finally going to be released in the US! I usually get reminded of it when looking at these threads and had just started to see how much it would be import it. Looks like a February release.

Where did you find this info and where can I pre-order! EBgames shows it as coming out for the Wii in March but no information about the DS version is available.

Nintendo just announced their release list for the first half of the year. See the other thread I put up today for a full list.

Donan wrote:

First Question: If I wanted to play say, Mass Effect over at a friends house who doesn't have an internet connection, let alone XBL, does my achievments etc. get logged anyway, for it's a Single player game, or is it always pinging XBL to make this happen on the network and etc.? (I would just take my Hard Drive over to his house to play on his unconnected 360.)

As others have said, the achievements will be counted once you're back online.

I actually have my XBL profile on a memory card instead of the HD. This lets me easily switch back and forth between my two 360s (sometimes the wife wants the couch and big TV to play on :D), and it's also easy to throw a savegame onto my card and take it somewhere, instead of taking my whole damn hard drive.

*Legion* wrote:

As others have said, the achievements will be counted once you're back online.

I actually have my XBL profile on a memory card instead of the HD. This lets me easily switch back and forth between my two 360s (sometimes the wife wants the couch and big TV to play on :D), and it's also easy to throw a savegame onto my card and take it somewhere, instead of taking my whole damn hard drive.

I need to do this but I find it difficult to justify paying 50 bucks for 512MB. They aren't even cheap on eBay. What happened to generic memory cards this generation?

EvilDead wrote:

I need to do this but I find it difficult to justify paying 50 bucks for 512MB. They aren't even cheap on eBay. What happened to generic memory cards this generation?

I just bought a little 64MB card, holds my profile fine and a couple of save games. I still use my HD for save games first, and only move one over to the memory card if I'm going to be playing on a different 360.

EvilDead wrote:

I need to do this but I find it difficult to justify paying 50 bucks for 512MB. They aren't even cheap on eBay. What happened to generic memory cards this generation?

They're on the Wii.

Scaphism wrote:

Another Recent Thread

Also: It looks like Anno 1701 is finally going to be released in the US! I usually get reminded of it when looking at these threads and had just started to see how much it would be import it. Looks like a February release.

Don't forget Civilization Revolution on the DS sometime in the spring either! (Though those two are firmly strategy and not puzzle games.)

There's also the new Advance Wars, which may or may not be your cup of tea. The single player campaign plays more like a Puzzle than anything...

As for bundles, I've seen a few Clubhouse Games bundles at places like Sam's Club and Costco. If you have a membership, it might be a decent place to look.

*Legion* wrote:
Donan wrote:

First Question: If I wanted to play say, Mass Effect over at a friends house who doesn't have an internet connection, let alone XBL, does my achievments etc. get logged anyway, for it's a Single player game, or is it always pinging XBL to make this happen on the network and etc.? (I would just take my Hard Drive over to his house to play on his unconnected 360.)

As others have said, the achievements will be counted once you're back online.

I actually have my XBL profile on a memory card instead of the HD. This lets me easily switch back and forth between my two 360s (sometimes the wife wants the couch and big TV to play on :D), and it's also easy to throw a savegame onto my card and take it somewhere, instead of taking my whole damn hard drive.

This makes a whole lot sense. I shall do this. Supposedly it is an easy thing to do (I'll go look at XBL for instructions). When you do this, your just taking a 'copy' of your XBL profile, not actually taking it off the HD completely, right?

I second this method. 'Move' your gamertag onto a memory card. Keep your savegame on it also if you are going to carry it to a friends house to play ME

Otherwise if you are going back and forth between 2 360's units , you'd end up recovering your gamertag from LIVE to each 360, each time you switch. Once it is recovered to one console, the one previously recovered on the other console is invalidated. (hence you end up recovering it each time you switch units...)

The memory card with your gamertag on it is key for being able to seamlessly play on different 360s.

Donan wrote:

This makes a whole lot sense. I shall do this. Supposedly it is an easy thing to do (I'll go look at XBL for instructions). When you do this, your just taking a 'copy' of your XBL profile, not actually taking it off the HD completely, right?

I think it's actually moving it. They don't want it in two places, as you shouldn't be logging in simultaneously from two machines.