We're tempering our excitement with a healthy amount of skepticism, but this video would appear to show custom code running on the brand new Nintendo DSi. It comes from Yasusoft, developer of the YSMenu custom DSTT menu. Experimenting with a friend's DSi, he seems to have gotten a "Hello World" message running from somewhere within the DSi's photo channel. GBATemp posters speculate that he is using a hacked TIFF image file to cause a buffer overflow, much like early PSP exploits did.
Our skeptical nature causes us to think that maybe the DSi's photo channel allows for animated images, or, on a more basic level, the video was somehow faked. We shouldn't be that surprised that someone is already running unsigned code! If this is true, it comes just one day after we asked how long it would take.
Yasu claims to be reluctant to release the method out of distaste for the proliferation of flash cards, though he is considering releasing some kind of "custom firmware."
Okay, the DSi has "officially" been out for three days. How long until we get functioning homebrew? At this point, the idea of having a DS and not being able to play AXE and Rinlen is scary and alien, so entrenched has homebrew become in our DS-playing lives. Not to mention the fact that there's a new camera to mess with, and we'd like it in the hands of the really creative people!
We have faith in our amateur developer friends to come up with a solution. We'd like your guess as to how long it will take -- and what form it will take. Do you think our Cyclos and M3 Reals will get new DSi-friendly firmware? Will an SD-based loader appear? Will we have to buy new hardware?
Another reason to keep your current DS if you want a DSi: word is that ten homebrew slot-1 carts have been tested by a member of the Chinese gaming community Hacken.cc on the DSi, and all ten failed. Looks like DSi owners who want to dangle their toes in the homebrew community may be back to the more complicated solutions of old, at least for a while, and it will be some time before we even see FlashMe or other workarounds.
The following carts were tested:
R4DS
EZ Flash V
CycloDS
G6 DS Real
M3 DS Real
Supercard DS One
iTouch DS
FCard
NCard
M3 DS Simply
U2DS
The DSi's official release is tomorrow, so we're crossing our fingers and hoping that, as soon as the system is more widely available, we'll start to see people working toward opening up the new handheld. As for today, we're saddened, but not wholly surprised.
After almost two years of hard slog, Starmen.net's Mother 3 fan translation patch has finally been completed, and will be released at the end of this week ... a whole month ahead of schedule! That's according to the latest blog entry on the project's site, in which team member Mato records that, "Testing's pretty much over now. Some bugs did turn up over the last few days, but they were all minor and quickly remedied. Some really hard-to-spot typos were also found and fixed."
Joyous news indeed, though the patch will require a few other things before it's of any use: namely a slot-2 flashcart, a GBA emulator, and -- cough -- an entirely unauthorized ROM copy of the Japanese game. While we don't condone piracy, a western localization of Mother 3 doesn't exactly look likely at this stage, and we do condone passionate fan projects such as this one. Hit up this FAQ to learn more, and don't forget to check out some beautiful, AnglicizedMother 3screens.
Usually when we think of homebrew, we think of awesome games and tech demos and things like that. Not this, which is brought to us by Steve, who wished to work with his camera out in the real world, but didn't want to drag his bulky laptop around with him everywhere he went. So, he came up with his own solution by hacking a DS to work with his big fancy Canon camera, which allows him to do precise shooting and mess with a whole bunch of other settings. Good job, Steve!
[Via Engadget; thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
One of the benefits to any DS homebrew cart is the sheer number of homebrew games you can pack in to one small space. With the variety of well-crafted homebrew titles out there, from the simplest games (and apps) to the more elaborate, you can find something for nearly any occasion.
The occasion today is Word Find DS, which is just a word search game (albeit it one with amazingly silly, chirpy sound effects). Simple, yes, but very clean, if not complicated, and a little addictive. It's the perfect thing for a little zone-out session, and we can't think of a better way to spend a Monday afternoon. Veg with us.
If you've often daydreamed of running Neo Geo games on your DS, but never thought it'd actually happen because of your technical incompetence, unfounded fears, or bad credit, Racketboy will make your dreams come true with a homebrew guide for loading up NeoDS and playing these expensive arcade releases.
Though the process is a bit more complicated than emulating (non-pirated) games for other systems on the DS, this walkthrough breaks down all the required steps for getting started. Jump past the post break for a video preview of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, King of Fighters 2003, and Metal Slug X will look like on your portable once you get NeoDS running.
Seriously, we thought the only people who could create such sound first-person shooting were Renegade Kid. But, homebrew creator Smea has gone ahead and disproved that notion with the tech demo you see in the video above. With some impressive lighting effects and a custom 3D collisions engine, you can bet we're impressed.
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of Knytt Stories's release for PCs, homebrew programmer rrc2soft has released a video for his DS port prototype of the freeware game. in case you've never had the pleasure of playing the original game, it's a neat 2D platformer from Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren with a heavy emphasis on atmosphere and exploration. instead of graphics and combat.
As with the PC release, Knytt Stories DS looks to be a collection of short adventures starring Juni, an agile character that can learn several abilities, such as a double jumping and wall climbing. Rrc2soft also hopes to eventually allow you to download and play through user-created levels, a feature we've already seen implemented wonderfully in StillAliveDS.
The clip only shows the tutorial level, but expect to see more as development continues!
We didn't even know that we wanted Black Tiger ported to the DS, but now that programmer Alekmaul has revealed that he's working on a homebrew emulator for the Capcom arcade game, we are all over this business like hair on the floor of a barber shop. Really, it's quite disgusting.
Alekmaul hasn't revealed much about the project, except that it's coming this September sporting a 60 fps frame rate, likely without any sound due to technical difficulties implementing the audio. For now, you'll have to settle with the screenshots below!
If this is your first time hearing about the game, Black Tiger was originally released to arcades in 1987 before later being ported to various home computer systems and game compilations for the PSP/PS2/Xbox 360. Designed to be the spiritual successor to Ghosts 'n Goblins, the game stars a barbarian on a quest to slay three dragons.
Promoting the 1.2 update for StillAliveDS (and drumming up votes for his Neoflash homebrew coding competition entry), programmer T4ils put out this trailer for the new version of his 2D Portal remake.
The release piles some impressive additions on top of an already exemplary stack of features; in addition to its polished mechanics, in-game level editor, and online custom game directory, StillAliveDS now features custom campaigns/stories, DS Motion support, online leaderboards, a skinning system for tilesets/sprites, and cool new elements like the wall that reflects your portal gun's shots.
If you haven't downloaded and played it yet, you should! This great game isn't a lie!
Never one to put out a boring release, programmer Multiple: Option joined this summer's Neoflash Coding Competition with a title most pervs won't be able to pass up -- Sexy Blackjack Trainer.
We've featured NSFW card games for the DS before, but this one has two special features that really show the developer's attention to detail:
Controls designed specifically for one-handed play
As you've probably surmised, Sexy Blackjack Trainer teaches you basic strategies and card-counting techniques for 21, rewarding your wins with NSFW pictures.
The game comes in two flavors, each featuring photos from a different adult movie star -- Sunny Leone, who appeared in Star 69: Strap Ons, and Sora Aoi, who you might remember from her 2005 film, Sora Is Your Do-Exactly-As-Told Toy.
Hedging his bets for the coding contest, Multiple: Option also entered a new version of his unique trivia game, Game Trivia Catechism. The update adds two new modes, new chiptune tracks, and, presumably, more questions.
Magnetic Shaving Derby serves as both a homebrew game and a cautionary tale for those of you out there intending to shave your face using nothing but a razor blade and a U-shaped magnet. Razor blades are only good for two things -- slitting your wrists and cutting lines of cocaine -- not shaving.
According to programmer Nyarlu, you score points in MSD for each hair you cut, but you also lose points for cutting yourself or if your beard starts to regrow. Apparently, there are also pimples you can pop to reverse the polarity of your magnet and earn double points, just like in real life.
What really makes this game, however, are the victim's anxious eyes as he watches the blade drag across his cheeks, threatening to draw blood and carve off a chunk of flesh without warning. You can't see it in the screenshot, but his lips, two plump hot dogs pressed against each other, are trembling.
After impressing us with the first ever video of Bob's Game, Robert Pelloni is back with a second piece of footage for his homebrew title. This time it looks and sounds more like a game, in that it shows gameplay. The mission in the video above forms part of the title's tutorial, and sees protagonist Yuu hunting around for batteries for his mother. We're yet to figure out how to complete this quest, but then again we're a bit thick at this kind of thing.
In other news, Robert reveals on his blog that "several publishers have expressed interest" in Bob's Game, including a "large, well-known" company. After half a decade of development, a publishing deal is probably the least Pelloni deserves.
Homebrew development has always been a pursuit with few tangible rewards -- personal satisfaction, a love for the hobby, and/or an eventual desire to enter the industry professionally is what drives most to brew home.
So three cheers for GBATemp.net, which has announced the creation of a Monthly Homebrew Bounty. This is precisely what it sounds like: a monthly prize pool of cash that will be rewarded to the best new (or "significantly updated") DS homebrew game or application. For the opening month of the contest, the prize pot is currently over $600, including donations from readers (who can donate $10 towards the monthly prize for a right to vote), and sites such as NDSS.nl, Dev-fr.org, and Nentindo. Hey, $600 is better than a kick in the teeth. Quite a bit better, actually!
You've still got time to enter for the first month, but we'd advise you hurry -- the deadline is the end of August! Head here to learn more.
_cg_oct22_kjgfdhd_thumbnail.jpg "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars")
