Gamertell

The DS homebrew Twitter application has just received an update. DSTwitter v1.1 allows users without a cell phone or computer nearby to keep up with what their Twitter friends are up to and keep their Twitter friends appraised of their actions.

DSTwitter seems fairly easy to use. Of course you need a Twitter account to use it. Once you’ve made one, you’ll need to make sure your DS’s Wi-Fi is set up. (This means getting out one of your Wi-Fi games like Animal Crossing.) Once that’s done, you create a DSTwitter configuration file that has your account information and the DSTwitter program onto your flashcard. That’s it! Now you should be able to Twitter away on your DS. 

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Since Nintendo has been lax in providing a portable version of its legendary fighting game Smash Brothers, fans are taking the matter in their own hands. A German man known as Fuzzy is working on Super Smash Bros Rumble. The first demo of the game was released July 1, 2008 and is 873kb.

The YouTube video of Super Smash Bros Rumble gameplay gives an idea of how the demo of the game works. A user boots up the game, chooses the single player Solo mode and then begins fighting as Mario against another Mario. Everything looks very polished and the characters look good so far. The menu screen also shows a Wi-Fi button, indicating that future updates of the game may include either local Wi-Fi or maybe even Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support.

Click through to watch the YouTube video of the demo…

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Fans of shooting games and DS homebrew should start rejoicing right around now. They should probably start thanking Asbjørn Djupdal, Morten Hartmann and Kyrre Glette as well, since efforts from the three created Retrorocket. Djupdal and Hartmann were inspired by Thrust (Atari 2600) and TurboRaketti II (Amiga), and decided that those games belonged on the DS, so they set to work on a pretty homebrew application.

Retrorocket offers more than some commercial games. All of the Thrust levels and TurboRaketti II maps are available for play. Plus there is a RTS strategy mode where you can enhance your shop by collecting items and multiplayer collection games. Multiplayer games can even carried out over local WiFi as well. Also Glette assisted the duo by programming in map autogeneration. 

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Title: Anguna: Warriors of Virtue v0.94
Price: Free ($10~15 on a cartridge)
System(s): Gameboy Advance
Release Date: July 9, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Game by Nathan Tolbert, art by Chris Hildenbrand
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: It’s a free, well-executed action RPG for a system which is no longer receiving commercial releases
Cons: There are no towns to visit and only five dungeons to explore.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down, 75/100, C, ** 1/2 out of 5

Anguna: Warriors of Virtue is a Legend of Zelda style RPG that simply offers an enjoyable, dungeon crawling experience. Some amazing homebrew GBA games exist on the internet and Anguna is one of them. It may not have all of the features of a full-fledged action RPG, but Nathan Tolbert has put together an extraordinary game that deserves a play-through. 

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Title: StillAliveDS version 1.0
Price: Free
System(s): DS
Release Date: May 30, 2008
Publisher (Developer): T4ils (T4ils)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: Entertaining, easy to see and there’s a map editor
Cons: Requires a DS flashcart for play on the DS
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; *** out of 5

StillAliveDS is one of the best homebrew DS games you’ll find online. I’d even go so far as to say that it shames some commercial releases (ex. Myst DS). It may not be an perfect portable adaptation of Portal, but it is certainly an engaging puzzle game in its own right. T4ils has created an amazing homebrew game, and I can’t wait to see what improvements come in later versions.

Click through for the full review…

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Back in the day, video games were primarily homebrew creations, programmed by a single person who just wanted to share a bit of fun. Now it can literally take years to create a video game from scratch an involve a staff that reads like feature film credits.

In a throwback to those early days of gaming, students at Ohio University were challenged to develop their own amateur video game in less than 24 hours. Yep, one whole sleepless day to create a video game - not compete in a video game - based on the theme “nature and technology.” The challenge, dubbed the Ohio Game Jam, took place on March 31, 2007, had 17 competitors that made up six teams from three schools.

All the teams completed a game before the deadline, with a little time to spare for testing. The winning game, I Can’t Breathe, was completed in two hours. Three games tied for second place: Brows of the Martian Landscape, Zomborgs and Hydroponic Hyperbole. The games were created using either GameMaker, C++ or Flash.

The best part: You can download all the completed computer games as PC (Windows and Mac) executable files at the Ohio Game Jam web site.

Here’re a few interesting stats listed on the site about the competition on the site:

• Total number of participants: 19
• Number of development groups: 6
• Number of working games created: 7
• Number of groups that failed to produce a game: 0
• Pizzas consumed: 12
• Caffeine consumed: Too much to measure!

Read [The Post] Download [Ohio Game Jam]