Animal Crossing MMOG / DS Flash Card Rumored

Though there are no official announcements at the moment, Next Generation is reporting on two interesting possibilities for the future of Nintendo products. In a report filed yesterday, the site hints that Nintendo may be considering a MMOG version of Animal Crossing , to be released on the Wii console. Also exciting: the possibility of a Flash Card for the DS that would allow classic Nintendo games to be (legally) played on their handheld console. "The uncontrollable homebrew and piracy communities that use the DS rely on similar devices ... this should, in the long term, allow Nintendo to exercise some control over at least the former through the simple step of offering a path to publisher-supported content. Compared to the slightly vague WiiWare proposition, this has the possibility to revolutionise homebrew development - at least in terms of distribution and the possibility of mainstream success - but how far the notoriously controlling Japanese giant will allow that community the creative freedom it requires to flourish will only be seen in practice."

Fantastic

[68030]

An MMOG version of Animal Crossing might be enough reason to convince my wife we need a Wii. I think the outline of the clock is burned into the corner of our television.

Tom Nook Must Die

[SethraLavode]

... The only question is what treasure does he drop, and how soon will he respawn?

Animal Crossing has police for a reason

[tepples]

... The only question is what treasure does [Tom Nook] drop, and how soon will he respawn?

Don't try it. You don't want Copper, Booker, and their clones from every other town on your server to beat you down.

too late?

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

why would I buy a Nintendo branded flash card when I already have an N-card?

Re:

[KDR_11k]

You wouldn't but the 99% of the userbase that doesn't have a flashcard might.

DS homebrew rocks

[spyrochaete]

As a new owner of an R4DS [r4ds.com] micro SD cartridge I'm glad to report that homebrew on the DS is totally wicked. There are productivity apps like e-readers, media players, web browsers, IRC clients, wardriving packet capture utils, and much more. Also, many retro PC games like Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Flashback, Lemmings, SCUMMVM, and lots more have been ported to the DS.

Considering Nintendo's resistance to homebrew I'd be wary of an officially supported solution. I think your best bet is to go with a third party solution. This would enable you to play homebrew NES, SNES, MAME, and other ROMs using their various emulators. This ought to be legal, DMCA notwithstanding.

Re:

[Big Boss]

The DS can't be flashed without a hardware mod. There are two pads on the board you have to short out to be able to write to the firmware flash chip. Back when flashing was required for running homebrew with the old Slot-2 cards we used to have to put some metal tool in a hole and short those contacts to get the flash to write. Not needed with the slot-1 cards out now though. The new cards use a software hack of some kind.

Re:

[trytoguess]

The DS doesn't update it's firmware, and last I checked to do so required a person to void their warranty. This lack (probably to make the DS easier to use) is why R4, M3, and others can exist in the first place imo. It's unfortunately also the reason why the DS only supports WEP (homebrew firmware does exist that supports WPA last I checked).

Update: After a google check I notice the DS WPA firmware project no longer exists due to a cease and desist, ah well.

Re:

[millennial]

FYI: The DS does indeed get firmware updates occasionally. Some games update the firmware when they run.

Re:

[TheCRAIGGERS]

I call BS. I've done some homebrew- not a lot, but enough that I read the gbadev forums regularly. I've never read of firmware updates before, and it seems like that would be a pretty huge topic. I've never seen a game tell me it was flashing the firmware, which seems like the sort of thing you would want to warn a user about; we'd hear a ton of pissed parents moaning because their kids turned off their DS while it was flashing otherwise. Third, if they could flash the DS, you would think that they woul

Re:

[millennial]

Call BS all you want, but several of the first batch of DS games had firmware updates on them, primarily designed to block attempts to hack the system. Once we managed to bypass those protections and future-proof the flashing methods, Nintendo pretty much gave up on them, since they never added any features other than tightened security.

Re:

[spyrochaete]

The R4 is what I would call a soft mod - the DS hardware and OS aren't changed, it's just a normally shaped cartridge that takes a standard Micro SD memory stick.

Re:

[tepples]

I bought my R4 at dealextreme. You can start learning about DS homebrew at dev-scene or gbadev.

Re:

[punkrockguy318]

I'm a proud Supercard Lite owner. You speak of a homebrew e-reader; that would be infinitely useful. I've searched and haven't found much. Could you share you links for your nds ereader?

Re:

[spyrochaete]

Here's a link to DSreader which isn't too bad - http://www.dcemu.co.uk/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=68172 [dcemu.co.uk]

To tell you the truth I'm disappointed with all the DS ereaders I've tried because they don't support being held sideways like the Brain Age games. That's almost a dealbreaker for me. However, most support scrolling with the stylus which is quite precise and handy.

Re:

[Idolminds]

You might be interested in dslibris. Takes a little fiddling because it reads xhtml files, but it displays the text sideways like Brain Age. http://rhaleblian.wordpress.com/dslibris-an-ebook-reader-for-the-nintendo-ds/ [wordpress.com]

Re:

[spyrochaete]

If it can display white text on a black background it'll be my dream ereader. Thanks for the link.

Speaking of ROMs

[gmezero]

Why the hell hasn't someone unwrapped the format used on the NES, TG-16, Genesis ROMs and figured out how to encode your own ROMs to run on the Wii?

Re:

[mzs]

Because if you compare my copy of SMB to yours they are not equal and in fact are encrypted.

Re:

[muridae]

The mythical "they" haven't even cracked the save game encryption on the Wii yet. The goal seems to be, "Crack saved game format so we can make fake saved games. Pass modded save game to various games till a buffer vulnerability is found. Use that vulnerability to get access to the firmware of the Wii."

From the looks of it, the downloaded stuff is encrypted like the saved games, then encrypted again to pair it with the particular Wii account that downloaded it. Look in the /. archive for last month, there w

Re:

[KDR_11k]

I think they're mostly worried about any hack allowing the system to run warez, that homebrew gets blocked is a coincidence.

Re:

[Zencyde]

I own an EZ Flash V along with the 3-in-1. I'm intrigued by this wardriving application. Any hints as to where to find it?

DS Wifi Lib Test

[tepples]

DS Wifi Lib Test [akkit.org] lets you probe for 802.11b access points.

Re:

[Zencyde]

Thanks a lot man! This makes my day. :D Of course, I will be using this for solely legitimate purposes!!!

Re:

[spyrochaete]

I haven't tried it yet but the program I was referring to is DSBlue [qj.net].

Re:

[Phisbut]

As a new owner of an R4DS micro SD cartridge I'm glad to report that homebrew on the DS is totally wicked.

May I ask where and how you bought it? I've been browsing their website [r4ds.com] and can't find how to buy. Their "Where to buy" page gives me a nice empty list on all 6 continents.

Re:

[spyrochaete]

I got it from Gamersection in Quebec. I placed the order on a Friday and received the part the following Monday (though I'm in Toronto which is quite nearby). I see the price has dropped $4 since I bought it last month!

http://www.gamersection.ca/product_info.php?products_id=372 [gamersection.ca]

The R4 comes with a MicroSD USB coupler, a mini CDROM with the firmware (very easy to install, but the web has the new version 1.11), and a nifty little keychain that holds 2 DS games.

All I needed in addition to the R4 was

Re:

[Phisbut]

Wow, Thanks. I expect having to import this from China or Hong Kong, but having it shipped from Montreal (to Montreal!) is pretty amazing.

Re:

[Yvan256]

Thanks, just ordered the R4 Revolution DS v2 along with a 1GB Kingston microSD from GamerSection.

Can't wait to see all the crazy apps people have been making... is there PDF viewers? Or at least picture viewers, I could export PDF pages to PNG or something with my Mac mini.

How about MOD/S3M/XM players?

That Wi-Fi sniffer program looks like a nice tool to carry around, especially if there's a basic browser available. I do own Opera DS but it'll be fun to see other options.

Re:

[spyrochaete]

If it's not too late you might consider getting a bigger memory stick as I'm displeased with the inadequacy of my 2GB card. :)

I haven't checked into MOD players yet but I did find a very attractive MOD tracker called Nitrotracker. It's quite functional though it doesn't support effects yet. You'd do well to check out which has some (but not much) demoscene love for the DS. The "Flower Demo" is pretty attractive. [pouet.net]

Don't Forget DSLinux!

[SonnyJimATC]

Linux on the DS is actually getting slightly useful if you have a Slot-2 card with GBA RAM on it. You get a wireless webserver, ftpd, telnetd, openvpn/ssh/telnet clients, a mature web browser (links) and I even managed to get clam-av running on it. It is suffering from a lack of developers recently though. http://www.dslinux.org/ [dslinux.org]

Re:

[spyrochaete]

You can turn your DS into an FTP server? That's wild! I'm gonna try this out an see if I can get Apache serving a web page!

Re:

[SonnyJimATC]

I'm just compiling a new build now and I might suicidally post the link to my DS running boa (web server) just to see how many hits it can take before it blows up.

Re:

[spyrochaete]

Do it!!

Flash Carts are at least "tolerated" if not legal

[webmaster404]

I have a flash cart and guess where I bought it... Wal-Mart here in the US. It was a Datel branded "Max Media Player" and it had a NoPass-like device to put in Slot-1 and a Compact Flash card reader on the bottom, its not the greatest for homebrew as it doesn't contain any extra RAM, but I have a NES and SNES emulator working fine on it, along with a few homebrew games, I don't believe commercial games will run on it though, but recently I saw a Datel product "Games and Movies" that was another flash cart-like device. So they aren't as hard to come by as Nintendo makes you think they are.

NES emulation

[Reason58]

I would just like to point out that you can fit a copy of every single NES game from every country on Earth on a 256MB flash device. It's going to be pretty damned insulting when they try and pull $5 per game or something similar.

Re:

[thesameguy]

It's not how big the games are, it's what you do with them.

Re:

[Reason58]

Every NES game ever made weighs in at 255MB with nothing more than standard zip compression.

Re:

[EggyToast]

And since only 5% of those are worth playing...

Re:

[Bozzio]

I'm interested in where you get this information. I have a feeling you have an incomplete game list.

Re:

[Malevolyn]

You're absolutely correct. My collection is 870 megs, brought down from almost 2 gigs. I'd say that's a bit bigger than 256 megs.

Re:

[GlitchCog]

Bill Gate's checking account number and PIN can probably fit on a 3.5 inch floppy disk, but I bet it's worth an awful lot despite its tiny size.

Re:

[KDR_11k]

He downloads them to have fun, he buys them for profit. Completely independent actions.

Wii crossing

[tyrantking31]

They're still trying to figure out what type of game animal crossing should be on the Wii? That is seriously dis-heartening.

But would it be ACPG or ACWW?

[tepples]

They're still trying to figure out what type of game animal crossing should be on the Wii?

Of course they are. Half the people on AXA forums [megadoomer.com] think Animal Crossing Population Growing (for Nintendo GameCube) is better. The other half think Animal Crossing Wild World (for Nintendo DS) is better.

How easiest and cheapest to get Colors!?

[Just Some Guy]

After finding it in a Slashdot comment, I really want to play with the Colors! painting program [collectingsmiles.com]. What's the quickest way to get that up and running, assuming that I know absolutely nothing about DS homebrew?

Re:

[arodland]

Colors uses DLDI, so it's slightly more involved than some other apps, but briefly: Get some sort of flash cart (I've used the M3 DS Simply), get a microSD card if necessary, format the card if necessary, follow the instructions that came with the cart for files that need to be copied to the flash, download Colors and a DLDI patcher, run the Colors NDS file through the DLDI patcher, copy the output file to the flash, put the card in the cart (if necessary), put the cart in the DS, turn it on, select your ap

Re:

[Von Helmet]

The R4s and M3s and the like haven't always included automatic DLDI patching. Sure, if the GGP buys a new R4/M3/Cyclo, then he'll be fine, but the GP is trying to cater to a wider audience.

Re:

[TheCRAIGGERS]

Wrong. DLDI patching is needed for EVERY homebrew that uses DLDI (which are most of the new ones, thankfully.) Just because some might offer an R4 already-patched download doesn't mean that the R4 is some magical card that plays everything without the driver patched in.

Re:

[TXGB324]

No, you're wrong. Newer version of the firmware for both the R4 and the M3 (and presumably other flash carts) will auto-DLDI patch homebrew apps that you run on them.

Re:

[TheCRAIGGERS]

Well, it's still being patched, even if it's automatically. Can we both be right? ;-)

Re:

[Just Some Guy]

download Colors and a DLDI patcher, run the Colors NDS file through the DLDI patcher

I'm asking here for the benefit of everyone else who's scratching their heads at this question:

What is DLDI, why do I need to patch something with it, and why can't the people who are distributing the software put "dldipatch foo" in their Makefile as the last step in compilation so that everyone else doesn't have to do it?

Re:

[arodland]

As I understand it,
1) It's a layer for accessing FAT filesystems
2) The patcher is acting essentially as a linker, patching in the correct code for whichever sort of device you have
3) This is necessary because there isn't any code to do dynamic linking onboard the DS (and a dynamic loader, if written, would probably be a serious waste of memory)

MMORPG or Animal Crossing: Visitors

[WillAffleckUW]

One wonders if this is just a chrome PR spin on the original plans to have Animal Crossing on the Wii have an online component that allows you to visit your friend's villages, or is it more of an attempt to allow multiple players to all take trains to the next town so they can whap the locals with their nets?

The main question - are we talking true MMORPG or are we talking multi-instance MMO where each time I visit your village it's a virtual copy, so that I can't jack your fruit (the stuff is always nailed down, even though you can turn it on or off)?

Re:Timetravel

[TheCRAIGGERS]

Time traveling is is pretty much cheating, and like all forms of cheating, the 'fun' wears off pretty quickly for most people. I wouldn't exactly call 'lack of being able to cheat' a flaw in the MMO idea.

Friend Codes & patching

[crafton]

I hope they do drop the friend code system and allow people to interact freely online. The biggest problem is though, will they continue support for the game once it has been released? I reckon once a few exploits have been found it will just ruin the game for everybody. Nintendo need to allow their games to be patched.

Rumored?

[Lordnerdzrool]

Rumored? Where? It can only be a rumor if it has actually been talked about. I am curious as to if this was actually "rumored" or if it was blind "speculation" or even ignorant "wishful thinking."

Starting with Animal Crossing, what on earth would make Nintendo change its position on online gaming so much as to make it a MMO of any kind? They barely let you play with people at random over the Internet. The only times they do, they usually remove anything that could establish communication between users who d