Homebrew DS Games Turn Wireless Signals into Game Levels, Sounds

Dec. 11 2:09 PM by Lynxara

So I've ragged on the R4 Supercard before as basically a conduit for pure piracy, and that's true most of the time. Of course, that's not always true. The r4 can be used to run an astonishing variety of perfectly legal homebrew applications that explore what the DS can do.

If you have an R4, you can download and play two fun little games that play around with the DS's ability to read wireless signals, Wardive and sniff_jazzbox. Best played while moving through an area with lots of different wireless networks broadcasting, both games translate the conflicting real-world signals into in-game objects. Wardive uses it to generate levels in a simple shooter (that is still undoubtedly better than Nanostray), while sniff_jazzbox generates chiptune-style music.

Instructions for installing and running the programs on your r4 supercards are on the project homepages linked above. It's also worth reading the project descriptions if you're a game design nerd, since they suggest some interesting features that pro developers could work into DS titles if they chose to do so.

Comments

You must be registered and logged in to leave comments.

If you are already have a login with GamePro.com, Gamerhelp.com, Games.net or GameProFamily.com, then use that login!