Kotaku: stylus

The Many Shapes of Stylus To Come

Brian Crecente — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:40:00 MDT

Tired of your boring old DS stylus? Is the Transformer's stylus a bit too much? Maybe you should look into a custom stylus from Shapeways.

The company has a service that lets people customize a number of pre-designed styluses, including ones shaped like a Wii remote, a Pokemon and Link's shield, by selecting the material and any image or text you wanted added to them. The result is an unwieldy and slightly over-priced stylus.

While I don't get the draw of such things, there clearly is one. The styli run for $10 to $30 a pop.

Stylus Creator [Shapeways]

Some Disgaea DS Details revealed

fdemarco — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:20:00 MDT

The folks at CrispyGamer got a chance to corner NIS America's PR Manager Jack Niida to talk a bit about the much anticipated release of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on the DS. It's a short interview, but there is some interesting information in there including some talk of the game appearing on other consoles. Since the game will probably mostly be purchased by fans of the franchise, the obvious question would be, what's new?

The main feature of Disgaea DS is the multi-player mode. Fans that are tired of the original can still get a kick out of this game by destroying their buddy's Laharl and Etna...

The intuitive stylus controls and dual screen is a huge plus, but there are newly added features and characters from our past titles, so there is still a lot of oomph left in this game.

Niida goes on to mention that this version of the game will include everything from the PSP version plus extra content. For Digaea fans this should prove to quite interesting news.

Disgaea DS Interview [CrispyGamer]

Where Did The Neat DS Drawing Games Go?

Mark Wilson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:40:58 MST

MTV Multiplayer asks a pretty good question to Nintendo DS developers: where the hell did all those neat sketching games go? You know what they mean, games that required drawing to play, games like Pac-Pix or Kirby Canvas Curse. After interviewing various people in the industry, Vicarious Visions CEO Karthik Bala gave the story straight (you know that company as the developer behind many Activision franchises on the platform):

Most [DS] developers lack budgets and the development time necessary to be ambitious with their designs.

But allow us to play devil's advocate for a moment and argue that the DS is great in part because the stylus allows for simplistic UIs that require little work to program and less of a learning curve to grasp.

The Case Of The Missing DS Drawing Games [MTVMultiplayer]

The Feather Stylus Arrives

fdemarco — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:00:00 MST

I was pleased as punch to receive a little package from Nintendo in my mailbox yesterday with my feather stylus. My Nintendo members who registered their copies of Phantom Hourglass were treated to this free prize from the Big N. I still say Japan gets all the best swag, but this is pretty sweet and will add one more to my ever growing stylus collection. I can hardly wait to whip this one out on the subway and touch it thoughtfully to my lip, looking like a modern day Oscar Wilde as I attempt to solve the latest New York Times crossword puzzle on my DS.

Nintendo Giving Away Phantom Hourglass Feather Styli

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:40:39 MDT

Feel ever so slightly disconnected from Link when using a dull, stock Nintendo DS stylus? Friend, we have a deal for you. Simply buy a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, register it at Nintendo.com, burn through a quick online survey and a mere 4 to 6 weeks later, you'll be tapping touchscreens to your heart's content with this lovely little feather pen stylus.

Sorry, Canada, you're going to have to wait a little longer for yours, but you can still partake. The rest of you? Out of luck.

Nintendo wants to hear your thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass [Nintendo - thanks, Tim!]

Ninja Gaiden: The Best Damn Swag on the Planet

Brian Crecente — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:00:02 MDT

The Tecmo press party enticed us with the promise of maid waitresses in a pirate-themed bar, but made us happy by slapping these amazing DS styluses in our hands as we walked out the door.

And the Ninja Gaiden stylus doesn't just look cool, it's also serious deadly. Check, for instance, the "usage notice" on the back of the pack:

This stylus tool is only to be used for touching screens.
Do not pole or swing this stylus tool when near other people.
Do not use this stylus tool if the tip is broken or becomes dirty.
Do no over-stretch the strap.
Please close tightly after using this stylus tool.

I am so ignoring every one of those rules, well except for the dirty one.

A DIY Touch Pen Holder Regular People Can Make

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:00:27 MDT

Some aren't happy with the standard DS Lite stylus. Me, I like it just fine. But that's just me! Maybe you'd rather buy a stylus holder. Or better yet, maybe you'd rather make your own. Blogger Sal Cangeloso did just that, creating a Touch Pen holder out of a Pilot pen. According to him:

My version is actually a stock DS Lite stylus cut down to the right size and placed in a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto pen. I also put in a little bit of rubber from the grip from an old pen so that the stylus tip has a little bit of give. It ended up taking about 5 minutes to put together and it was free, which is always nice. I used an old stylus which, as any DS Lite user knows, starts to fall out of the holder when the little stopper ridge wears out. The extra size makes the stylus a lot more comfortable and the added width helps as well.

Out of all the gaming crafts we've ever posted and all the the gaming crafts I've ever seen, this is something I could actually see myself making. Brian Ashcraft

Best DS Stylus [arghyle, Thanks Torokun!]

DS Stylus Shoot Out

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 25 May 2007 06:00:03 MDT

With all those Japanese styluses going around, how do you know which one is best? You don't! (Well, maybe you do. Who knows?) CheapyD from CheapAssGamer gives a run down of several different DS styluses. Very informative, and like Cheapy, I'm a bee man myself. Brian Ashcraft

Cheapy Reviews [TechEBlog]

DS Headset In Hand

Brian Crecente — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 13:40:50 MDT

I received this nice little surprise from Nintendo today: Professor Rowan's Briefcase. Inside a delicious collection of Pokemon goodies. The box included copies of Pokemon Pearl and Pokemon Diamond as well as the two free pre-order styli and the very swanky Nintendo DS headset.

I haven't had a chance to dig into the games, but I can say the headset feels awfully comfortable and the wire connecting the headset to the DS Lite seems plenty long enough.

I promised to give this Pokemon a try and I will, and will post back once I do. Brian Crecente

The Pokemon Stylus

Brian Crecente — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:00:08 MDT

Nintendo just sent me this big fold-out fact sheet for Pokemon Diamond and Peal. It's mostly stuff we already know, like that it will let you use WiFi to battle, voice chat with friends via VoIP and feature new 3D environments. The one thing I hadn't seen before were pictures of the free stylus you receive if you order either game. Kinda dorky, but if you're a fan of the franchise I'm sure this will make you faint. Brian Crecente

I'll Be Wrapped Around Your Finger

kotaku.com — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 18:40:00 MDT

IGN has a review of an odd little entry into the Nintendo DS accessories market: the Comfort Stylus. This stylus is bigger than your standard DS pointer, but the really remarkable thing is that it's flexible, allowing you to grip it like a pen, wrap it around your finger, or turn it into a little pony, depending on the game and your private needs. Seems a little gimmicky, but the IGN folks have actually tried it out, and they love it so much one wonders why they don't simply marry it.

The Comfort Stylus [IGN]

The Worst DS Stylus Ever

Michael McWhertor — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:00:28 MST

I saw this on the Gaming-Age Forums but wanted to wait until the kids had gone to bed before posting this atrocity. This Mew stylus is really packing some serious heat. Please don't let this be a licensed product, Nintendo! Full shot over at Chris Kohler's Wired blog, Game|Life.

Amazing New Pokemon DS Stylus [Game|Life]

Odd DS Stylus Holder

Brian Crecente — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:07:26 MST

Kotaku reader Kat sends word of a freaky new DS stylus being sold over on Toys N Joys. The Touch Screen Pen looks is a teardrop-shaped keychain with a hole in the big end. The whole thing pops open so you can slip your DS stylus in it. The keychain also has a mini DS figurine attached to it. I'm not quite sure how you're supposed to use this thing, but it seems pretty cool.

Access DS. It's the second from the bottom [Toys N Joys]

OK, We'll Extend the Mario Kart DS Contest

lsmith — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 20:04:11 MST

No, it's not because tips@kotaku.com is flooded with procrastinators wanting comment access so they can post their Friend Code in our Mario Kart DS contest. So, there. We're extending the deadline on getting us your Friend Code via commenting to Wednesday, November 30. The real reason we're doing it is because of the slow-ass British ship times. We want our friends across the pond to participate too. Enter your friend code over here to enter.

Win A Mario Kart Stylus

Brian Crecente — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:10:24 MST

Nintendo has been kind enough to donate five swank Mario Kart DS styluseseseses to our little Friend Code drawing. Make sure you hop over to the original post, linked at the bottom, to enter your friend code. You have until NEXT Friday to drop the code and get a chance to win one of the styli.

Win Nintendo Schwag With Your Friend Code [Kotaku]

Win Nintendo Schwag with Your DS Friend Code

Brian Crecente — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:45:52 MST

Mario Kart DS is officially live today. If you end up buying the game come post your friend code in our comments and you'll be entered to win some bits of cool Nintendo shwag. I'll update you when I figure out what exectly I'll be giving away, but it'll be cool dammit, it'll be cool.

I'll be holding the random drawing Saturday morning so drop the code by midnight Friday. Let us know if you need commenting privileges. To kick things off here's my and Luke's friend codes. Luke, btw, sucks ass at this game.

Codes after the jump:

Crecente: 107433 372586
Luke: 493980 083139

Ps. We promise not to do anything with your codes, other than use them to practice winning. :)