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Nintendo DS as a Portable Sketch Pad using Colors! Homebrew

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 9 2008 3:00 PM

Submitted by punk. Edited By punk.

TAGS: nintendo ds, art, water color, homebrew, nintendo, ds, dual-screen

Mike over at Kotaku writes about an interesting piece of software called Colors!, available on the Nintendo DS (hacked version required). It utilizes the DS� seldom-advertised pressure sensitivity feature. So seldom-advertised that I�ve never head of it, and I�d wager neither have you.

Taking advantage of the touch screen's pressure sensitivity, Colors! uses techniques developed for drawing pads to turn the DS into a portable electronic sketchbook.

Check out some examples of artwork created on the DS at Evil Avatar, which also links to a larger gallery at Brombra.net.

Work by marcobucci

You can Color! this editor amazed (ah-har-har!); I almost want to hack my DS so I can use this software. Quick, Nintendo, release something official for those of us who are too chicken to void our warranty. punk is currently scribbling away at The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

17 Comments

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scylis

Anchorage, AK

November 2004

JAN 09, 2008 05:09 PM

hot damn! this just seals the deal for me: the DS is the best portable game system.

and the boomerang is like a gift from the gods in Phantom Hourglass. I spent hours just fucking with it and nothing else.

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom

June 2004

JAN 09, 2008 05:15 PM

that picture is incredible.. i can hardly believe it. genius.

_Margot_

Santa Monica, CA

December 2007

JAN 09, 2008 05:18 PM

This is fantastic. I really liked Pillow Fight.

Thanks for the links.

MrCrisp

Charleston, SC

August 2004

JAN 09, 2008 05:25 PM

i haven't touched my DS since i purchased it (after i had a hard time finding a copy of hotel dusk, i pretty much forgot i even owned it). if nintendo were to make it easier for third party and independent developers to release apps for it (especially apps like Colors!) i would be more inclined to use it.

formerviking

Denver, PA

May 2006

JAN 09, 2008 06:07 PM

Might I suggest Dragon Quest Monsters : Joker ? Fun game & the graphics are simply amazing for a hand held .

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

JAN 09, 2008 08:05 PM

There are so, so many consoles I need to acquire. It's depressing.

Bill_the_Cat

West Vancouver, BC

May 2005

JAN 09, 2008 08:07 PM

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
There are so, so many consoles I need to acquire. It's depressing.

I know, right?

Gillionaire

Manchester, NH

February 2007

JAN 25, 2008 03:23 PM

I want this feature without having to hack my DS. Drawing dicks in PIcto-Chat is finally starting to get old for me.

formerviking

Denver, PA

May 2006

JAN 25, 2008 04:52 PM

Gillionaire said:
I want this feature without having to hack my DS. Drawing dicks in PIcto-Chat is finally starting to get old for me.

Draw titties instead

Gillionaire

Manchester, NH

February 2007

JAN 25, 2008 05:13 PM

formerviking said:

Gillionaire said:
I want this feature without having to hack my DS. Drawing dicks in PIcto-Chat is finally starting to get old for me.

Draw titties instead

Good point.

Kleio

HOPEFUL

Winona, MN

JAN 25, 2008 05:40 PM

Bill_the_Cat said:

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
There are so, so many consoles I need to acquire. It's depressing.

I know, right?

I, too, feel your pain.

SockPuppet

I'm lost

July 2006

JAN 25, 2008 05:50 PM

Um, how is this News?

Shouldn't it be in Lifestyle?

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN

July 2003

JAN 26, 2008 01:37 AM

Wait....hack one's DS? I didn't realize people even did that.

You can just buy these devices that plug into the DS card slot and run homebrew software. (Or, more commonly, adapt a microSD/microSDHC card for the aforementioned purpose.) I'm not sure they're all that legal - all the retailers I've seen that stock them operate out of Hong Kong or parts thereabout and I've seen listings pulled on eBay and the like. But there's literally nothing remotely complicated about it. No going at the innards of your DS, no running scary software exploits that might permanently corrupt the onboard memory (like on the PSP, which is honestly quite simple to hack almost risk-free, but it *looks* intimidating), nothing like that.

Of course, it's a lot more expensive than hacking the PSP - the cheapest such device I've seen was $25 and that doesn't include the microSD card (which go for $20-30 if you want anything decent-sized.), whereas depending on your firmware a PSP may only require a $5 USB cable.