Ah, the homebrew crowd. Who else could bring the first web browser on the DS, running on DSLinux no less?
You know, if Nintendo is selling the Revolution SDK for cheap, I really don't see why they don't make a hobbyist SDK for the DS.
tagged: nintendo, homebrew
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Homebrew Web Browser for the DS
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4 comments:
Don't forget that usually consoles and handhelds work on the razor marketing model. They aren't really making much on the machine, they make it on the games.
If they make it easy for hobbyists to make games for handhelds, the next thing you know is you can download a zillion casual games for free and they've cannibalized their game sales. Good for you and me but not so good for Nintendo.
True, all true.
But the market's changing anyway. Homebrews are getting more sophisticated and the Internet is basically a mass storefront (or freefront?) as it is.
I'd hope there could be a compromise where Nintendo could control a downloadable marketplace in exchange for low-end SDK's. Like a combination between XBox Live and GarageGame's business model. Profit instead of prohibit.
Bear in mind that the vast majority of users are too technically illiterate to install anything special on a given platform so right now the availability of Internet stuff for consoles/handhelds doesn't actually affect that many people.
>'d hope there could be a compromise...
You're preaching to the choir on that front. Seems very unlikely though in this case - Nintendo especially has a rep of being very control-freakish over what gets onto their platforms.
Oh, I'm not even about to get some weird hardware or install Linux just yet.
But still, a lot of that is from cart encryption techniques and other such stuff. It might yet be defeated to where someone could burn a DS cart ... or even better just download it to the handheld.
And given the tenacity of some homebrewers, quite likely could. PSP has it worse, where people are getting stuff to run off memory cards and the like.
It's just like the old cat and mouse game of copy protection and piracy. They might be able to stay ahead, they might not. Either way, consumer pays.
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