Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Even if you've already moved on to a shiny new 3DS, there's no reason to miss out on the best Nintendo DS games of 2011, especially since you can play all of these games on a DS or 3DS...

One of the most well-known game developers in Japan, Yuji Horii created Dragon Quest all the way back in 1986, and has been in charge of the series ever since. With each new entry and rerelease selling millions of copies, it’s one of the most popular game franchises in the world, even if DQ’s international success is a fraction of its popularity in its native Japan. We got a rare chance to sit down with Horii at the Nintendo offices on the eve of the long-awaited US release of Dragon Quest VI. He, along with Yuu Miyake (Dragon Quest series executive producer) and Noriyoshi Fujimoto (Dragon Quest VI producer), answered our questions about the renowned series...

There's something about misguided attempts to amuse children that bring with them a unique streak of terror, and nowhere is that more apparent than with the noble clown. Intended to be a harmless jester with a painted face and a slapstick approach to life, the image of the clown has instead become associated with creeping dread and paranoid mistrust.

Videogame developers have tapped into this instinctive fear of clowns, and that's why the realm of interactive entertainment is chock full of nightmarish harlequins that haunt our dreams and ravage our days. You’ve probably been sleeping far too well lately, so why not keep yourself awake with thoughts of some of gaming's scariest clowns? Go on, they won't bite... except for the biting ones...

It's Wednesday! It's just after 1pm GMT! It's time for a new episode of TalkRadar UK!!!1! Ahem.

Cundy, Dave M, Justin and Nathan make up the team to deliver this week's show as they blast through subjects such as...

- The news!: Where we discuss, amongst other things, the inclusion of Hollywood star, Gary Oldman's appearance in CoD: Black Ops in which, surprisingly, Meiks actually does some research for once.

- Appreciation Section!: Justin loves a game that nobody can remember, nevermind played. Nothing unusual there then. Ho, ho.. <sigh>

- Question of the Week!: Barking out your answers to the question... Have you ever bought a game based on the fancy packaging?

- And lots lots more

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Games are no stranger to wild crossover events. From Smash Bros to Marvel vs Capcom, we’ve seen some of the industry’s biggest names go head-to-head for years now. But as games become increasingly expensive to produce and market, publishers are always on the lookout for the “sure thing,” something that’ll appeal to a wide audience right out of the gate. What better bet than more crossovers between existing, surefire hits?

Street Fighter x Tekken is just the latest. There will be more mashups coming, and there’s no doubt some of them will mix up series we’ve been dying to see together for years. So, in the wake of SF x T, what once-improbable crossovers could developers be conjuring up next?

So, Dragon Quest. Big in Japan, eh? That’s what they say. Or rather, that’s what their figures say. Shifting an eye-watering 2.3 million copies in its first week on sale, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is undoubtedly a big financial cheese. Figures don’t capture the magic, however. Leave numbers to do the talking and they tell a sanitized tale. Emphasizing chart positions and share prices, they certainly don’t mention the Dragon Quest cafe where gamers gather to scarf on culinary effigies of their favorite monsters.

No, to tell the true story of Dragon Quest, you have to live Dragon Quest. And so it was that we came to walk the streets of Tokyo. Our mission: spend four days in the heart of Questing territory to assess the true impact of Dragon Quest IX. And, ideally, politely eat everything put in front of us without pulling an ‘I’m going to be sick’ face.

Armed with a DS, a fistful of yen and not a word of Japanese known, we had four days to get to the heart of Quest-mania…

It's the dog days of summer gentlemen, and the game pickings are slim. Even so, CheatPlanet has you covered on all the recent releases you've been tearing into. Gorgeous monochrome platform puzzler Limbo? Covered. Dragon Quest IX? Check. Red Dead Redemption? You're kidding right? 

It's that time of week when you're subjected to the fresh ramblings of the GamesRadar UK crew. Doing the honours on this show are Dave H, Cundy and Nathan covering the last seven days of news tid-bits, office goings-on and answering your questions. Amongst the forced Cockney accents, sex voices and innuendos, of course.

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Greetings! The time has come for your weekly dose of TalkRadar UK, so open wide your hungry ears. This week's team features Mr Cundy, Mr Towell and Mr Irvine - all of whom feel sufficiently qualified to talk things they have almost no information on. Like China.

More after the jump or...

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Ever wondered what a slime tastes like? Over two hundred people got to find out the answer as they lined up on 48th Street for Nintendo's Dragon Quest IX launch party this past Saturday.  They also got free Dragon Quest t-shirts, posters, and most importantly, the chance to buy Square Enix's new DS game a day early.

Here's what you missed - tons of pics from the event inside.