Homebrew coder coincoin has released the first version of NdsMiiMaker, a homebrew app that allows you to create your own Mii on your Nintendo DS.


Download: NdsMiiMaker v0.1

What does the Nintendo have to offer in the area of user-generated content? Miis? That's it, I think. This situation may change soon, however. Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime has recently said that user-generated content is the future of interactive entertainment, and so Nintendo's gonna hop right onto that bandwagon.

We all know that there is an option on the Wii's Mii Channel to connect it to the DS. What we didn't know is that it's been lying asleep in the Wii's Mii Channel firmware right from the very start! See this cool discovery after the jump.

Lots of good things are surfacing for the Nintendo DS, with downloadable content from Professor Layton and the Curious Village being the most recent. There's another one in the form of DGamer, an instant messaging service for Disney's Nintendo DS games. It's jampacked with features, some mimicking the Wii's Mii system as well as Xbox 360's Achievements. More details and screenshots in the full article!

One NeoGAF Forum member got hold of a poster containing info regarding the presents Club Nintendo Platinum members will be receiving this coming holiday. Club Nintendo, for those not in the know, is the official club established by Nintendo exclusively for Japanese fans.

Membership is acquired through purchasing and registering video games published by the company. Previous rewards given away include Wiimote with TV remote functionality. See this year's rewards via the "read more" link below.

With all the hype generated by the discovery of remote play (this time, for games and not just media) between the PSP and PS3, there's bound to be rumors of other consoles having similar functions. Here's one such rumor: connectivity between the DS and Wii through the Mii Channel.

The video below is very short, and doesn't show anything much aside from the Wii trying to connect to a DS. Strangely enough, not much was shown to prove that the connection between the two devices are successful.

However, if it ever turns out to be true, then it'll be a very interesting function indeed. Stay tuned for more updates!

 

It's time for another DS entry to the NeoFlash Spring Coding Competition 07, and as you can tell by previous entries, coding competitions do produce some good end products, and NDS Sports is no different. This homebrew game from Davgav is a "tribute" to Wii Sports, and currently includes two of the sports included in the Wii game: Bowling and Tennis.

Of course, we don't have the benefit of a Wiimote adaptor when playing on Nintendo's portable console, but Davgav has tried his best to emulate the movements using the touch screen. A little word of advice from us: it works a lot better if you use the stylus and not your finger which seems to be something commonly-used by narrow-fingered DS gamers nowadays. Here's how to play:

Tennis

• Use the touchscreen.
• If you move the pen slowly you move the racket.
• If you want to swing the racket move it faster or click in the screen.
• Your Mii will move automatic to the ball, so swing in time.
• You have to do three full points to win.

Bowling

• Use the touchscreen.
• First grab the ball touching the touchscreen whit the pen.
• Then move it to the top screen to launch it.
• When it says how much pins get down you can launch the ball.

Stay tuned to QJ as we'll have all the latest on the Neoflash Coding Competition 07 as it comes in.

Download: NDS Sports

We love our Miis sometimes as much as we love ourselves. And it's gotten über successful that it's been said that Miis and Mii-centric Wii channels are going to replace My Space. We can do so much with them, after all. But did you know that Miis started out as a DS concept? Quoting from a previous story done by QJ.net, "Miyamoto said that the Mii concept has been around for a long time now, but they haven't turned it into much of anything."

And as it turns out, the concept has been around for a long time right on the DS. The Japanese Nintendo site even had an interview with the developers of the Miis on the DS. They posted some pictures, and this is how Miis will look like on the DS:

  

We think that would be cool, actually. It's a pretty good idea too, knowing as how the DS is quite mobile: it means you can access your Mii everywhere you go. But the Wii was where the Miis hit it off. Well, maybe we could hope for more Mii-accessing powers on the DS.

As this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC) begins to wind down to its last days, two of the most-awaited keynote speeches have finally been made. First was Sony's Phil Harrison who happily revealed to the public that the rumored Playstation Home certainly does exist. Next up, we have Shigeru Miyamoto who brings us news on Super Mario Galaxy, the importance of a wife-o-meter, and the core values which all game designers must keep close to heart at all times.

Among the things that he mentioned in his speech is the promise that "You'll be able to play Super Mario Galaxy this year." Also, because of the popularity of Miis, Miyamoto is "working on a new Mii channel," and that this new channel will allow people from all over the world to get together and "compare the Miis they created in a popularity contest."

Some of the other things that he discussed were the precepts and motivations that have been keeping Nintendo going in this generation. First off, Miyamoto mentioned that one of the best things that he has ever witnessed was his wife happily playing video games for the first time. According to him, this was a major event since his wife can be considered an "average" non-gamer. Therefore, he believed that if he can create games that can catch the attention of people who are like his wife, then he'll know that he was doing things right:

Maybe if we could get these people and turn them into game players we could expand the user base. When I eventually showed (Nintendogs) to my wife, she finally started to look at video games in a different way. And then came Brain Age, this is the game that turned her into a true gamer. This is a big event in my house.

He also noted that he also comes home to find his wife voting on the Everybody Votes Channel, as well as playing Wii Sports and making Wiis. Miyamoto beamed, "I think this is something that is very lucky for me. She is learning to create things. I think this is her first step to game design." He also added, "After all if we can convert my wife, we can convert anyone."

Miyamoto also delivered a strong message to members of the industry, reminding everyone that the human touch should still remain front and foremost in their goals whenever they sit down to design a game.

We must reach out to not only those who don't understand video games, but those who fear it. Wouldn't it be great if we could get them to play games too? We are humans, and our job is to entertain humans and to do that we must always remember the human touch.

Amen to that. Viva Miyamoto!

Back in the day when the world was simple, gamers were pretty happy with what they played coming from the big publishers. All they had to do was buy a console, select a few initial games to play through, and when they finally get sick of their titles, they wait a few months until the developers release a new game and then pray real hard that they end up liking it.

That was the scenario in the last few generations of console gaming. Not until the 32-bit age was over did we see the first semblances of games created by gamers themselves on console platforms. Obviously, not a lot of people had the desire or know-how to create their own game cartridges, and even if they did, there was no internet to serve as the stage where they can rant and rave about their genius.

Gaming is a business. As a matter of fact, it's one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world and it grows as we speak. The production of games has always been based on studies where companies try to dig real deep in the hearts of target markets and try everything to appease the creative hunger of their patrons to ultimately get the market to buy the games that they put out.

In the documentary "The Architects of Cool" it was revealed that multinational brands, including game development outfits actually have entire departments who monitor, consult and analyze "cool kids." These are kids who are leaders in their peer groups and have the highest propensity to set trends because of their reputations. By basing their next product models on ideas of these trend-setters, they increase the chances that what they release will be the next big thing. (Though the concept behind fat plumbers in red jump suits fighting spiky reptiles may not have been a product of this method.)

Given the fact that cheerleaders and jocks have secretly been getting their way all along even with the games we play, the question now rises - what about the geek's ideas? Do they matter at all? Does anyone care what the fat kid thinks about Mortal Kombat? Fifteen years ago, the answer was no.

The full article awaits after the jump!