BAMF

I’m so very happy that I picked up an R4 for my Nintendo DS. Not only do I get to test out all of the potentially shitty games before I waste any money on them, I also get to enjoy the fruits of the homebrew community’s massive labors. For instance, the latest innovation to hit the dual screen, Colors! (their exclamation point, not mine.)

Colors! is a painting app for the DS, but with the amazingly fantastic addition of pressure sensitivity, which affects the opacity and brush size as you sketch along. Bongweasel gave it a shot this morning and informed me that it is a must-have for anyone with the ability to play it. You get the basic Photoshop-style tools, and the awesome ability to repeat the actual drawing process as a short movie. The images are 512×384, which isn’t huge but definitely big enough to keep me sketching. They’re even working on adding DS-to-DS cooperative painting capability, which would be kind of neat if I knew anybody who could draw with a DS. Maybe if you set it up over wifi (which I’ve always been too lazy to do) it could be a nifty feature.

I’m going to load this up as soon as I get home, as I’ll need something to distract myself on the flight to Portland for my friend’s wedding. Have a look-see at the gallery, there are some fairly impressive sketches in there considering the medium. And if you’re interested in how they accomplished the pressure sensetivity, head on over to this thread and try to wrap your brain around what they have to say.

I’m currently looking forward to loading a bunch of homebrew apps onto my DS, as I was profoundly oblivious towards the subject prior to today. I mean I knew that they’d successfully ported the SCUMM engine and a lot of other emulators onto it, but how about Warcraft Tower Defense, DSQuake, and a whole slew of other possibilities? I’m particularly interested in seeing how reading comics and books works on the DS, as that could really make my bathroom breaks at work a lot more entertaining.

If any of you have suggestions, comment away. I’ll be posting a full rundown of my thoughts on anything I try out this weekend.

Sweet Jesus in a birch bark canoe, is the Rare team bringing Goldeneye and Perfect Dark to Xbox Live Arcade?

Talking with very reliable sources, and seeing evidence ourselves, Xbox Evolved believes that Microsoft, Rareware, MGM Studios (studio that makes the James Bond 007 movies) and Activision (holds the license for James Bond 007 titles right now) have come to an agreement to bring the Rareware developed Goldeneye 007 out to Xbox Live Arcade shortly before the new game developed by Activision is released.

The title will feature updated graphics, and of course an all-new Xbox Live multiplayer. Not only that, but we have found evidence that Rareware is planning on releasing even more of their back catalog onto Xbox Live Arcade, specifically, Perfect Dark and the original Banjo-Kazooie. Expect more on at least Goldeneye 007 later this year.

I don’t think my wang is going to soften all day. It’s just going to sit there like a bad Viagra statistic, thinking about sweet online multiplayer, Perfect Dark bots and that kickass heat-sensor gun that lets you shoot through walls. God how I’ve missed square-faced multiplayer excellence, and I pray that the Rare team does an excellent (and swift) job of bringing it to XBLA.

I’m told that Microsoft’s Xbox Live service has been particular shitty since Christmas. I wouldn’t know, since my 360 decided to rip my heart out and shit a red ring of death all over it, but once it comes back from it’s magical journey to Redmond I’ll be sure to enjoy Microsoft’s apology for the sluggish service that I didn’t experience. Apparently they’re going to give us all a free XBLA game, to be announced at a later date.

At the same time we would like to offer a token of our appreciation to all of you in celebration of record success for the service. And as a thank you for your loyalty during this holiday period, we will be offering all of our Xbox LIVE members around the world access to a full Xbox LIVE Arcade game that will be available to download free of charge. In the coming weeks we will be sharing the specific details of this offer with you.

I still have at least a week before the Xbox comes back, so I’ll definitely be enjoying the newly released demo of the Starcraft DS homebrew. True, the French did make it, but the French published the original too so it sort of cancels out. Here’s a direct link to the ROM, ready to be loaded up into the Flashcart of your choosing.

And finally, for the Portal enthusiast in all of us, Valve has released some new shirts and hoodies that are downright sexy. Maybe once they sell a few bajillion of these they can get back to making some more fucking Weighted Companion Cube toys.