TOYS Mario Trading Cards - Import Preorder

NCS Preorder Synopsis
«©NCSX» Like other forms of craftsmanship such as furniture-making and artistic endeavors, the design and creation of videogames is/was an evolutionary process. Cavemen art consisted of stick figures and coarse geometric shapes. Compare that to a Degas. The one with the ballerinas dubbed "Petit Rats." When Nintendo started their trade in videogames, their designs were limited by the hardware of the day. In the case of the original Super Mario Bros game on the Famicom, the graphics were blocky, chunky, and the pixels were visible. Pixel-images are called dot-graphics nowadays and they're the design standard for a pack of playing cards which is shipping from Nintendo in July.

Along with the dot-graphics playing cards design, Nintendo is also releasing a version which features "Standard" animation artwork of the Mario cast of characters. The third deck of cards sports "Neo" CG renditions of the Mario crew which are polished and modern. Despite the gloss of the third variant, we think there's going to be a surfeit of love for the original dot-graphics design since that's classic styling. Preorders for the playing cards are welcome to ship in late July 2010 at US$12.90 per pack.

PS3 3D Dot Game Heroes - Import Preorder

NCS Preorder Synopsis
«©NCSX» A few years ago, Banpresto produced a whole line of toys and trinkets based on dot-designs featuring old school Nintendo characters. Tomy also released a series of toys dubbed ".s" or "Dots" where pegs were punched into boards to create dot-graphic designs of retro-game characters. Dots were big and we're guessing they're making a comeback once again later this year in From Software's 3D Dot Game Heroes.

Touted as a conventional RPG with an unconventional graphical style, From Software uses uniform component cubes to create every character and object in the game world for a striking visual impact. Most game designers generally try to make their characters appear somewhat lifelike and smooth with no hint of the frames and pixels that make up the hero or heroine. From Software goes the other way and makes sure that pixels and blocks are clearly evident in the game. Preorders are welcome to ship on November 5, 2009 at JPY6800 or US$72.90 from NCS.