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On August 12th Nintendo and syn Sophia will release yet another intriguing non-game title into the DS’s rapidly expanding library. “Ganbaru Watshi no Kakei Diary,” or “Doing My Best Family Finance Diary,” is basically a digital check register for your DS. The game allows you to input all of your expenses from food, to clothes, and bills like water and power, rent, etc. and then track your spending with different graphs so you always know where your yen is going. Once you’ve got a month’s worth of spending data, cute 2-dimensional animals try to help you reach lower spending goals for subsequent months, and can even help you decide if borrowing money is the answer with a loan/interest calculator. Finally, the game lets you keep track of credit card and teiki (train pass) payments, and can auto-record your expenses on payment day. A stack of useful features to be sure, but only time will tell if this non-game will become a must-have title. The biggest features I see it lacking? Synchronization with your PC/cell phone and the ability to check your bank balance online.
Be sure to check out Nintendo’s homepage for the title, and also the official Japanese TV commercial