This week, Scott and Mike get spray-tanned, grab coffee at Central Perk, and reference Friends as they chat about the DS.  Mike registers unpaid goods while Scott waves… Google style.  They find out that the DS is on the decline, Canada gets their pricing act together, and Popcap gets hot and downloadable.  More importantly, three viral videos are discussed at length, with important topics like Daft Punk, Phoenix Wright and the Elite Beat Agents, and the darling internet cadets known as Mega64.

Like us?  Love us?  Let us know by emailing us at pictochatpodcast@gmail.com.  Hate us?  Despise us?  Either way, the feeling is mutual.

Download Episode 002

Since you really can’t have enough Mike, Suszek and I team up to talk about the Wii’s older, more experienced brother that has been dominating the game markets ever since it was released. Our main focus of Pictochat, is to have significant listener interaction. We want to know what you want to hear on the show and what games you want us to review. So feel free to drop a comment below, or email us at pictochatpodcast@gmail.com.

Hosting the podcast @ Thebarkman is a temporary fix as we sort out hosting and Feeds. iTunes subscription coming soon!

Download Episode 001

Those that joined in the fun last year are welcome to join again. I’ve capped the league off at 20 entries, and have changed up the scoring a bit to allow for a more exciting season if you didn’t end up with a star line up. We’re playing head to head – which essentially pits you against an opponent for a week. You aren’t so worried with accumulated points over the season, as are you with getting enough points in each category to beat your opponent. More information can be found here

At the end of the fantasy season there will be 4 weeks of playoff acting very much like normal playoffs. Beat your opponent in the most categories to move on. Loose, and you’re out. Winner will receive a WiiWare game of their choice costing me no more than $10. Cause lets face it, I’m poor. (If you’re a developer and want to donate a wiiware game to our cause – email me at Scott@thewiire.com)

Leauge ID: 157889
Password: bellspalsyrules

link: (i think) http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey/register/joinprivateleague_league_select

And remember – keep fit and have fun!

Since a few people have been asking me about this game on twitter, and that I’ve recently realized that twitter probably isn’t such a great place for me to chat and explain the game, I figure I should dust off the ol’ barkman cobwebs and write up a quick review of the game.

The biggest thing that scared me when purchasing the game is that it had a big ol’ warning saying that this game contains content previously released in a DS title – Since I owned said title, I really didn’t want to pay more for the exact same content. To my relief, I haven’t really found much identical content. I mean it is pretty much the exact same game as its cartridge fore father, but all the levels (and even a bit of the mechanic) have changed to bring you more of that mini Mario madness you’ve come to enjoy. Think of it as downloadable content for a game that can stand alone. Sure, its the same game – but it is new content as far as I can tell.

Like I mentioned before, a few game play changes have been made. You can no longer interact with your minis once you’ve set them in motion. No turning around, no stopping, no jumping. So you are best to make sure you have your plan laid out in front of you before you set your mini-troops in motion.

The biggest copy paste job from the DS title has to be the level editor – From as far as I can tell, its identical the cartridge game, which isn’t to say its a bad thing. The convenience of a game being software as apposed to hardware takes 1 less thing to have to lug around. The coolest thing about the level editor in both games is that you can download levels made from people around the world and extend the life of the game – I’ve taken a quick peek at some of these levels and they look rediculously hard. So those out for a challenge, you’re sure to find it here.

All in all, I’m happy with the $8 purchase. Gives me Mario vs. Donkey Kong love without a cartridge, gives me more of what I loved about the DS game, and it still provides me access to the level editor to make all those crazy levels with. Much better than those previous copy paste jobs that have been found on the DSiWare lately. Yes, I’m looking at you clubhouse games (mind you, I still bought it)

As a bonus, and a bit of a trial I whipped together a bit of an impromptu video look at the game. Something I’ve wanted to do for a while, so let me know what you think. (Note – video is in HD however was having a bit of issues uploading it as such to youtube.)