Mass Market DS Homebrew Cart Released

Croakyvoice writes "Datel has finally released the Games n Music Homebrew cart for the Nintendo DS, this mass market entry level cart features a 128mb Micro SD card and comes with a 25 game CD of the best of DS homebrew games." Games 'n' Music contains everything you need straight out of the box. It even comes bundled with a 25-game CD, offering some of the best games the DS home brew scene has to offer, as well as a video conversion program."

Royalties?

[Perseid]

I bet Datel didn't make those 25 games themselves. I bet the video converter is just BatchDPG. Why would I buy this when I can get a Supercard?

Re:

[IntellEJent]

Cool, nice story. I'm sure the DS Homebrew Cart will rock. I heard about it years ago, but it seems to have never caught on until now. Great idea, Daltel.

Re:Royalties?

[grumbel]

### Why would I buy this when I can get a Supercard?

This is a thing you buy when you *can't* get a Supercard. You know, not everybody has a credit card, feels good about buying things in some shop in HongKong or has a specialized video game store that actually sells Supercard near his home. Actually getting a Supercard or a similar device is by far the hardest part when one wants to get started with homebrew stuff. This card from Datel on the other side actually has a change to end up in a shop near your, so you can just walk in and buy one, that way it might end up in the hands of people that didn't even know about homebrew before buying it, which a Supercard never would.

Re:

[hansamurai]

Though it still requires a credit card, SuperCardStore [supercardstore.com] ships from the UK to Europe and the US. I've never actually ordered from them myself but have heard pretty good things about their delivery time and service.

Re:

[crazyprogrammer]

I ordered my supercard from www.realhotstuff.com [realhotstuff.com]. They accept money orders, credit cards, and Paypal. They ship from within the US too. I used Paypal when I ordered and recieved my supercard in about a week.

Re:

[BillX]

You can also order them from Natrium42 [natrium42.com](a well-known DS homebrewer and codeveloper of the original PassMe device) in Canada, to (I think!) pretty much anyplace the mail service will deliver. That's how I got mine.

Re:Royalties?

[PopeRatzo]

With increased delivery of games via the internet, I think we're going to see increased efforts to view game devices the same way the telecom industry views cellular phones. That is, they own the hardware and we just lease it from them. Just as we're not now able to buy any device we want and use our cellular service in any way we want, the game industry would love to prevent us from using products like Supercards or the one in this article.

It's one of the reasons I won't use services like Steam. The iTunes/URGE model, which so many of us have come to loathe is just around the corner for the game industry.

As always, though, I've got my money on the hacker-innovators of the world to do to these efforts what they are successfully doing to the rest of the IP gangsters.

I heard an interesting interview on NPR today with a vice-president from some telecom anti-regulatory outfit. Everytime the interviewer (Brooke Gladstone from "On the Media") asked him why we can't get call-timers or non-crippled Bluetooth on our cellular phones, he just kept chanting "Free Market, Free Market, Free Market". He referred to the telecom industry as one of the most competitive of all. I wish people would learn that there is a very dark side to this worship of the "Free Market" and that regulation is often a very very good thing.

I salute the subversive efforts of the people who sell and use the Supercard and the gizmo in TFA. They may not realize just how revolutionary they are or how necessary such efforts will be for consumers. A corner has turned a while ago, and industry can no longer be absolutely viewed as friendly.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Your comment would have merit if it were in any way shape or form based on fact.

The truth is, you can buy an unlocked phone and provided it is compatible with your choice of provider's network protocols, you can get cellular service without a contract and be in complete ownership of the hardware.

It is a common misconception that you MUST sign a contract to get phone service, and that the phone is not owned by you. Cell phone stores don't sell phones, they sell contracts. You can buy the phones without the

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

Just because the industry lets you play in a sandbox it doesn't mean you are anything like in control. Industry arose to serve people, but now we serve the industry.

Re:

[PopeRatzo]

Can you get a call timer on that phone so you can see if your bill bears any relationship to your actual usage? Can you un-lock all the bluetooth capability to transfer files with your PC (I mean without violating a EULA)?

A lot of people want that, but the so-called "free market" doesn't offer it. Does that mean it's really a free market? Just in case you're not clear on it, the idea of "free market" as used by the industry shill I referenced means "the market will offer what people want". Something's b

Re:

[toleraen]

Can you get a call timer on that phone so you can see if your bill bears any relationship to your actual usage? Can you un-lock all the bluetooth capability to transfer files with your PC (I mean without violating a EULA)?

Yes, and yes. The phone you use just needs to support it. My crappy free LG 1400i I got from Cingular way back when has a running timer for call durations. The HTC tytn I just picked up has full bluetooth capabilities and thanks to the help of xda devs, I can do damn near anything wi

Re:

[Mr2001]

Sounds like you have a beef with a specific provider (verizon?)./quote.
That's what it sounds like with the Bluetooth complaint, but I've had 5 phones from Verizon and every one has had a call timer. I don't think they sell a single phone without that feature, especially now that their UI is standardized across brands.

Re:

[Mr2001]

Can you get a call timer on that phone so you can see if your bill bears any relationship to your actual usage?

Where are you finding all these phones without call timers? I've never seen one, and I've had five phones from Verizon, the lock-downiest provider of them all.

Re:

[mrchaotica]

I heard an interesting interview on NPR today with a vice-president from some telecom anti-regulatory outfit. Everytime the interviewer (Brooke Gladstone from "On the Media") asked him why we can't get call-timers or non-crippled Bluetooth on our cellular phones, he just kept chanting "Free Market, Free Market, Free Market". He referred to the telecom industry as one of the most competitive of all.

Sounds like the Chewbacca Defense to me. After all, since when was anything about the cellular market even sli

Re:Royalties? - they worry about 'revenue leakage'

[avagee]

I heard the same interview. The guy was very disingenuous - claiming that the phone industry put cameras in phones because people were demanding it - I guess they were also demanding to have to get the photos off the phone via the carrier's 'pay for bandwidth use' system rather than straight to their PC via a cable or bluetooth. My cousin's Sprint phone is totally locked down, he was trying to upload a book from http://www.booksinmyphone.com/ [booksinmyphone.com] but even using some OSS uploader he was unable to install the boo

Re:

[Crysalim]

Many others have already said it, but I will reiterate that www.realhotstuff.com is pretty much the best place to get a Supercard in the US right now. I ordered one and a micro SD card from Amazon.com, and the Supercard arrived in 3 days. It's still 8 days and counting for the micro SD card!

I cannot stress enough my adoration for how Nintendo is taking a "we don't really care" approach to backup devices. I even end up buying games that I really like simply because I want to collect them (I've done thi

Re:

[Deliveranc3]

Open Souce Advocate meets pirate.

Debate, Illegal + Legal is better than just Legal vs Getting arrested sucks and we don't get better stealing.

Conclusion: Homebrew SHOULD be able to compete with legal and getting arrested DOES suck.

Re:

[3on3]

When did they say they made them themselves. I believe they won a homebrew contest.

Re:

[chrish]

I haven't been part of the DS homebrew scene (the adaptor cards have been too expensive or fiddly), so I don't know anything about the hardware.

Why is the Supercard superior?

Which is better for development? I have no intention of using my DS as an MP3 player or for "backups", but I do have a game I'd like to develop there...

Re:

[Perseid]

Well, if this device is going to be sold in US stores it has some sort of anti-backup protection. You say this isn't a problem for you and that's fine. But how can this cart stop you from playing backups without hindering your ability to write your own code? What's the difference between your game and a pirated version of Mario Kart? Code is code. I admit I don't know anything about the protection used on this thing, but why take the chance when a Supercard(or something like it) is completely unencumbered?

Hmm

[Trip Ericson]

Well, here's hoping Slashdot doesn't take down DCEmu today...

I think it's a good start, though I can't say I like all of the Slot 1 solutions yet. They still don't have a way to play games that need GBA mode, which is a bit of a deal breaker for me. The only way to play GB/GBC games on the DS is through a Slot 2 adapter with the Goomba emulator on it. (It's much easier to do that than to carry around my GBA SP with a ton of cartridges.

I myself have an M3 Adapter with a Passcard 3, which does the same thing that this does except it requires both a Slot 1 and Slot 2 cartridge. It takes standard SD cards but sticks out of my DS Lite a lot, though I'm probably going to get myself an M3 Lite soon which will require Micro SD, just like the one in the story does.

I will say, though, that this is a great way to show people what the DS is capable of doing. I use DS AIM fairly frequently, and DS2Key is great for war driving. MSN users will like BeUP, and there's all sorts of other applications for it, such as text writers, calculators (TI-85 emulator), and so on. Moonshell is an excellent audio player. That's not even mentioning all of the wonderful homebrew games, most of which I haven't played with much. Among my favorite are DSudoku, a clone of Text Twist, A Touch of War, and there's a Civ-like game whose name slips my mind at the moment. All are completely free and run well.

I hope that this particular release further encourages the DS homebrew community.

Re:

[aliquis]

Uhm, doesn't atleast one of them work for GBA games to? I don't remember which one thought, I guess the M3 simply doesn't.

SuperCard and M3

[tepples]

Uhm, doesn't atleast one of them work for GBA games to? I don't remember which one thought, I guess the M3 simply doesn't.

SuperCard CF, SuperCard SD, SuperCard miniSD, and SuperCard Lite work for GBA homebrew. (SuperCard Rumble does not work in GBA mode, and SuperCard DS One is for DS homebrew only.) CycloDS is a rebadged SuperCard. All "M3 Perfect" cards work for GBA homebrew. (M3 Pro has reduced features, and M3 DS Simply is for DS homebrew only.) The original GBA Movie Player [pocketheaven.com] works for GBA homebrew developed to run in multiboot mode [pocketheaven.com], such as most of my own projects [pineight.com].

Re:

[Jesterboy]

Sorry to bother you, but it seems like you are knowledgeable about DS homebrew, and I've been dying to ask this question of someone. The question is pretty simple: what card would you recommend for DS homebrew? I want to get started programming some small games and programs for the DS, but I find the sheer number of cards available to be dizzying.

In addition to running homebrew apps, I was hoping to run DS Linux, ScummVM, maybe some emulators, and possibly use it as a media player as well. Again, sorry t

Re:

[torpor]

Get a Supercard Lite. It'll let you run DSLinux and all homebrew (as well as quite a few .nds files) reliably and with no fuss .. it has 32megs of RAM onboard as well as the SD card (Lite == MicroSD) and for me its been the greatest bit of gear investment I've made in a long time. A Passkey, Supercard Lite+1 Gig Micro SD rig + PALib [palib.com] == the coolest programming target I've experienced in a long time ..

Re:

[fbjon]

A slot 1-only cart will never be able to play GBA games, you need a slot 2 cart as well for that. The GBA emulation stuff inside the DS can only read from the GBA slot, obviously. The only way would be to rewrite a GBA emulator for the DS, which the DS is too slow for, and is ultimately pointless.

Re:

[poot_rootbeer]

A slot 1-only cart will never be able to play GBA games

I'd never say never about that.

When the DS hardware is in GBA mode, it's using the slower of the DS's two processors, and at only half the available clockspeed. It's possible--not necessarily practical, but possible--that a reasonably playable GBA emulator could be implemented in software allowing GBA titles to be run from Slot-1.

But since actual hardware compatibility is available for the cost of a Slot-2 card, I don't think we'll see much hobbyist ef

Re:

[doctormetal]

I myself have an M3 Adapter with a Passcard 3, which does the same thing that this does except it requires both a Slot 1 and Slot 2 cartridge. It takes standard SD cards but sticks out of my DS Lite a lot, though I'm probably going to get myself an M3 Lite soon which will require Micro SD, just like the one in the story does.

I own a passcard 3 with an m3 perfect. I also bought a M3 simply.
This datel thing looks exactly the same as the simply. Even the packaging is the same. Only the color is different.
The o

Re:

[blackicye]

The R4 (Revolution DS) and the M3 Simply have been proven to be the same thing,
originating from the same factory. (www.maxconsole.net)

Its possibly the best DS homebrew flashcard on the market right now. The only
thing differentiating the two is a single bridge, I've converted my R4 into an M3 and back just
to check it out. My only gripe is it uses the more expensive MicroSD / Transflash memory stick
format.

I would not be at all surprised if this datel offering is actually the same thing, the
oem manufacturer se

Re:

[B1ackDragon]

Many of the applications being written for the DS are really quite awesome. I have to say though, it's kind of rough because I own a new DSLite, and many of the wifi-aware homebrew apps don't work with it because they haven't been compiled against the more recent wifi drivers. (Newer DS Lites have an updated wifi chipset or something.) On the other hand, development is quite active, so (I hope) it shouldn't be just too long before most things are working. (I did attempt to compile one app against the new li

Re:

[BillX]

It takes standard SD cards but sticks out of my DS Lite a lot, though I'm probably going to get myself an M3 Lite soon which will require Micro SD, just like the one in the story does.

The sticking-out is mildly annoying, but as I've found out, in geek/technical circles having a translucent piece of circuitry sticking out the bottom of your DS is a great conversation starter.

Re:

[Trip Ericson]

It's actually very uncomfortable for me. After a while using it with the M3 sticking out, my fingers begin to hurt whereas they do not with smaller cartridges in it.

Though I do understand where you're coming from with that.

not going to happen

[RiffRafff]

"I think it's a good start, though I can't say I like all of the Slot 1 solutions yet. They still don't have a way to play games that need GBA mode, which is a bit of a deal breaker for me."

I don't believe you'll ever see GBA stuff running from Slot 1. It is my understanding that it's a physical architecture problem; the Slot 1 stuff simply cannot access the GBA bus.

See this section of the DSLinux Wiki "About Slot 1 Devices and RAM." It's obviously concerned with DSLinux and not GBA access, but the restri

Re:

[Trip Ericson]

I've heard that before, but I'd like to see some kind of hybrid solution to come about in the future.

Perhaps have a Slot 1 card with the memory in it, and then have an additional Slot 2 card that has an extra 32MB of RAM in it as well as rumble and a tilt sensor (basically, a combination of three existing products) that can do the reverse of a Passcard 3 and allow the GBA games to be read from the Slot 1 card.

I don't know whether or not it's technically possible, but I can say that I would buy such a produc

Re:

[Wind_Walker]

I own an R4 (clone of the M3 Lite) and have been using it about a month now. I can't say enough about it. Clean interface, readily available Micro SD cards, and haven't had a lockup yet (that wasn't my fault). It can also act like a boot loader for a GBA Flash cart which it sounds like you're thinking of doing. It's really great, and now I don't have to make tough choices about which games to take along on a long business trip with me - they're all right there on my 1 GB Micro SD card.

Re:

[Solokron]

You are using some out-dated hardware. I suggest you take a look at the M3 Simply. It is Slot-1. Takes MicroSD, comes with a MicroSD USB adapter for loading games to the MicroSD, and has built in pass-key with no slot2 requirements whatsoever. I have a 1GB card and it has played every DS game I have tried. http://www.modchipstore.com/M3-DS-Simply-Slot-1-so lution-homebrew-backups-microsd-16418.html [modchipstore.com] http://www.modchipman.com/m3-simply-ds-slot-p-1546 .html [modchipman.com]

Enlighten me please

[hansamurai]

But does it come with a 25 game CD of the best DS homebrew games?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Taco has out done himself by posting a dupe within a single post.

Re:

[Alsee]

But does it come with a 25 game CD of the best DS homebrew games?

Oh, I'm sorry I'm sorry.... was that already asked already asked?

-

Homebrew, apply directly to the DS

[tepples]

Homebrew, apply directly to the DS. Homebrew, apply directly to the DS. Homebrew, apply directly to the DS.

Re:

[Paradise Pete]

Straying completely off-topic here, but the most amazing thing about that ridiculous Head-On commercial is that they never actually make any claim as to what the product does! It's a bullet-proof scam.

Re:

[Alsee]

they never actually make any claim as to what the product does

And the really sad part is that probably 95% of the population are oblivious to that fact.

I'd probably be a multi-millionaire if I were slightly more cynical and evil:
Magic Sand, put it in your pockets! Magic Sand, put it in your pockets! Magic Sand, put it in your pockets!

-

Re:

[Paradise Pete]

Magic Sand, put it in your pockets! Magic Sand, put it in your pockets! Magic Sand, put it in your pockets!

I'm not sure why, but you've got me chuckling here :-)

And oh yeah, so you don't forget, call before midnight tonight.

Re:Enlighten me please

[Minwee]

No, but it does come with not only a 25 game CD of the best DS homebrew games, but also 25 of the best homebrew DS games on a CD.

From the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.

[Anonymous Coward]

Did anyone mention that this comes with a 25 game CD yet?

Re:

[slim-t]

What are you saying, that it comes with a 25 game CD?

Typical..

[Elentari]

I bought a DS-Xtreme device (http://www.ds-x.com/cgi-bin/dsx/engine.pl?page=h o me) just a few weeks ago, and had never heard of this one.

The "Games 'N' Music" cart looks interesting, though it's hardly an innovation, and these kinds of things have been available for a while now. I haven't heard of homebrew applications being bundled with any other ones, though, and that could be an interesting feature - though I do wonder by what kind of process they select the "best".

I also wonder about the ethical (pe

Re:

[fbjon]

There are no legal or ethical issues to wonder about: the stuff was released under an open license. If some developer doesn't like that, he should release as closed shareware, instead of open source/freeware.

Don't buy a DS-Xtreme

[edwdig]

Just a little advice... there's a DS flash cart called the DS-Xtreme. I bought one, and it worked great for about a month or two. After that it started freezing up randomly. I left a message on their support site, and after about two and a half weeks they replied with a new firmware update to try. Loading it completely hosed the unit. 9 times out of 10 the DS doesn't recognize the card at all. On the rare occasions that it does recognize the card, attempting to use it freezes the DS instantly.

The problems look to be rather common. It seems like the manufacturing plant slightly tweaks each batch, causing unexpected problems each time.

The DS-X is also $125 for a 512 MB cart. This Datel product is $40, so it's looking pretty good to me right now.

Re:

[aliquis]

What about warranty?

The M3 simply is $45, add whatever microsd, preferably 2GB or so.

Not that M3 products are perfect either but atleast they are well known and proved =P

Re:

[edwdig]

What good is a warranty if the company won't respond to you?

Re:

[zippthorne]

It depends on the way in which the product is defective, and the product itself. If you buy a cheap flashlight and it burns out after five minutes the company isn't legally liable unless they state a guarantee.

OTOH, if you have a swing set and it falls apart killing a toddler, you can bet that company would be liable regardless of their stated guarantees.

I'm not sure how the "Bag O'" line is affected however. Their products are clearly labeled and precisely what they claim to be. i.e. Bag O' Glass or Bag

Re:

[FreakyGeeky]

I have a "batch two" DS-X and liked it so much I bought a "batch four" unit for my wife. Both have been flawless. It sounds like you gave up after the last firmware update. I can't imagine that Aphex or Guru left you with a bricked unit. Besides, most problems people have with 1.10 are because they didn't follow the instructions.

You say these problems are "rather common." What leads you to that conclusion? Yes, there was a change at the plant once. That caused the infamous "qkin" problem that was f

Re:

[fbjon]

Mine is working without problems. Have you contacted support again? Looking at your forum post and the bug tracker, I can't find your issue there at all...

Re:

[edwdig]

Support marked my issue as private. I listed the issue number anyway in case an admin was reading.

Re:

[wildstoo]

I got my DS-X about a month ago, so I don't know what "batch" it's from but I'd guess it's recent. Both before and after the firmware upgrade it has been fine. I've used it almost every day.

I did have one problem where the FAT managed to get corrupted. The problem seemed to be related to DSOrganise, since it was only after using DSO that the problem occurred. After formatting (and not installing DSO again, I don't use it anyway) it's been ok, although I do now backup the contents of the cart from time to ti

One question:

[Ant P.]

Did the homebrew writers get a fair deal when Datel took their work and sold it at a profit?

Re:

[cjdkoh]

find homebrew games make compilation of them give people a way to play them ??? profit! ok, not the best 1,2,3: profit joke out there, but it had to be done

Re:

[cjdkoh]

find homebrew games
make compilation of them
give people a way to play them
???
profit!

ok, not the best 1,2,3: profit joke out there, but it had to be done

Re:

[DarkYoshi]

When you open-source your project and set up no restrictions to distribution, why would you expect to get money when somebody gives it to somebody else?

Re:

[Megane]

Actually, GPL open source does have one restriction to distribution: you must make the source code available, including any changes you made.

Re:

[Aladrin]

From the GPL:

"If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code."

Assuming they did not modify the games (and I doubt they did) and that they downloaded the games pre-compiled (not source, and I assume they did), then they only have to m

Re:

[raindog2]

Assuming they did not modify the games (and I doubt they did) and that they downloaded the games pre-compiled (not source, and I assume they did), then they only have to make known where they downloaded it, so that others may do the same.

Not true. They may have gotten their copy from some web site, but they're performing another distribution by including it on the CD, and according to that same section of the GPL that you quoted, commercial users must either include the source on the same media or includ

Re:

[tepples]

Did the homebrew writers get a fair deal when Datel took their work and sold it at a profit?

Did the author of $RANDOM_LINUX_APP get a fair deal when Mandriva/Linspire/Red Hat took their work and sold it at a profit? If it's free software [gnu.org], like my own GBA homebrew projects [pineight.com], then Datel is just exercising "the freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2)".

Re:

[aliquis]

http://www.devkitpro.org/ [devkitpro.org]

I don't know, google around a little =P

Try devkitARM

[tepples]

Do any of these kits come with and SDK? What are the development tools for the DS like and how can one came by them?

Most homebrew developers use DevkitARM [devkitpro.org]. It's a GCC cross-compiler targeting the DS. The site also carries libgba, libnds, and some example projects.

Are they on par with the tools from Nintendo?

Not yet.

Great News

[QuantumDoja]

This is great news, Games made at http://www.gameweaver.com/ [gameweaver.com] will be able to play on this!!!

M3DS Simply

[laurent420]

I'm very supprised no one has mentioned the m3simply [m3adapter.com] yet. I got mine a few weeks back and it's been awesome. It plays clean NDS roms (unmodified exact copies), runs homebrew, and plays music and movies (needs transcoding) right out of the box. It takes microSD cards and comes with a microSD-usb reader/writer. You can find the microSD chips and the m3simply's online [kicktrading.ca] for about the price of two NDS games - not bad. You can then download [google.ca] all 872 games [emuparadise.org] (and counting). The best part is you can play all the wifi g

Re:

[prelelat]

You do know what you describe here is not homebrew but playing illegal ROM dumps on your DS. I have no problem with that but I do have a problem with people associating homebrew with ROMs. Now if your just joking that's okay but let people know. Most people on slashdot know the difference but someone somewhere else might not.

Re:

[^_^x]

It's an easy mistake to make since unless a game company goes out of its way to kill homebrew (thanks, Nintendo!) the pirate carts and the home devkits are the same thing. I have a flash cartridge for my GBC (Doctor Flash 64m,) and one for my GBA (X-ROM 512MB) that could both play pirated games, but they are also excellent homebrew tools for each - particularly the X-ROM since you can send small code straight to the GBA with the linker and leave the cartridge out of it.

I would have assumed the M3 could do h

Re:

[prelelat]

I'm not 100% sure but I would think it could.

This has been released for MONTHS...recalled even!

[Ichinisan]

Datel released this months ago. I have seen it in my local Best Buy for a couple months at least. No, I am not confusing it with their Action Replay or Max Media products. In fact, this very product was recalled because one of the homebrew titles could show something "inappropriate" (probably pornography). Information about the recall:
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=14541 [maxconsole.net]

Re:This has been released for MONTHS...recalled ev

[Ichinisan]

Looking at the message from Datel as quoted in the MaxConsole post, it looks as if it was previously available only at Best Buy.

Re:This has been released for MONTHS...recalled ev

[cbeley]

If anyone is wondering...I forgot the name of it, but there is a game that has random start-up pictures...one of the pictures showed some bare-breasts. ;-)

"Mass Market" Pass-Me? DMCA?

[RiffRafff]

If this is truly a mass market device, I wonder how Datel has out-maneuvered the DMCA, since this thing has to have a Pass-Me or equivalent mechanism for bypassing the DS' RSA code...

Re:

[Abcd1234]

First off, the DMCA applies to circumvention devices for encrypted content. Last I checked, this thing wasn't a decryption device.

Second, this thing doesn't "bypass" the DS startup handshake. It implements it (it was cracked some time ago, as I understand it).

When It Ships With

[MrCanard]

DSLinux (http://www.dslinux.org/wiki/Main_Page) we'll have something really nice to play with.

Re:

[DanTheManMS]

It will still be very limited in use though, as it would still only have 4 MB of RAM without an MMU to work with. Slot-2 cards with additional RAM are much preferred for DSLinux usage.

The homebrew authors diden't get much...

[cbeley]

Some people are asking whether the homebrew games were made by Datel and if not, how were the authors compensated...well, I'm one of the authors of one of the games on that disc, Super Snake DS. Everyone got $180 worth of stinky Datel products...honestly...i'm starting to wish I never gave them permission to include my game, even if it is freely downloadble already.

Though, it's not like anyone gave them full rights to the games, there "contract" over e-mail basicly just allowed them to include the game and that's it, otherwise the original authors can do whatever they want. Though, then again, it's not like I can technically enter into a legally binding contract to begin with, so I guess the little e-mail I sent them means nothing further more.

Though, I'm sure the fact that I wrote a game for the Nintendo DS at the age of 17 that got onto a commerically aviable product that can be purchased at your local Best Buy will look good somewhere...so it's not all bad.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You should have got your parents or legal guardian to handle negotiations for you. Don't forget, kids: you're property!

Re:

[cbeley]

There wasn't much to negotiate. I looked the old e-mail up for you...

A release granting us the rights to distribute your game or app with our products. Note this is only the non-exclusive publication rights copyright remains with you, and you're still perfectly entitled to distribute it online or however you see fit.
Claiming your prize constitutes acceptance of these conditions, but to keep the lawyers happy, could you cut and paste the following text into your reply:
I, [YOUR NAME HERE] hearby grant

Wal-Mart has similar hardware on the shelf

[Dan East]

I noticed our Wal-Mart has a "Max Media Dock" adapter for the DS. It accepts a CF card, and allows you to play MP3s and the like. It is like this one [walmart.com], but accepts CF instead of Memory Stick. According to their web site [codejunkies.com]:
"MAX Media Player is the most exciting product ever released for the Nintendo DS. Combining a pristine app launcher for home brew software and an easy-to-use media MP3 and video player"

The interesting thing is this is right there on the shelf at my local Wal-Mart, when it apparently can be

Re:

[DanTheManMS]

The MMD officially has no support for commercial roms. However, soon after its release, a patcher program was released by an "anonymous" source that lets a few games run off the device. Compatibility sucks though, so no one would knowingly buy the product for that purpose. Interestingly, this patcher program was later modified so that the GBA Movie Player, which is electrically similar, could also run a small selection of DS games.

However, this device is different. While the MMD is a slot-2 device th

Bought one

[jshriverWVU]

A friend and I bought one when they first came out in January. It's a nice device for watching video or listening to music. But the more I look at it, it's not the greatest for homebrew. There isn't a dldi driver available so you can't access the filesystem. This become a big program for homebrew software. DSLinux does run on it nicely as does a lot of homebrew software (assuming it doesnt need filesystem access). I just hope Datel would release a dldi driver or open up the specs a bit so someone can write

the encoder uses ffmpeg

[jshriverWVU]

I noticed after converting the d3v is really just a mpeg stream and nothing special. If you look in the install directory it has ffmpeg :) I ran the converter under wine and you can see the ffmpeg arguments. So you can convert these easily under linux with native ffmpeg.

Old news?!?

[3on3]

I am confused.I saw this at best buy a month ago and I heard they recalled it. Is this the rerelease?