It’s not every day a major gaming company releases a game that’s also serious interactive art and a unique way of creating music. But that’s exactly what Nintendo of America is doing today, bringing the strange and beautiful music art game ElectroPlankton to the US. (See Nintendo’s game page, press release.)
The game is the work of talented interactive artist Toshio Iwai. There are nods to his past artistic work, which has involved reactive musical insects that produce compositions and pianos that are operated with waterfalls of video images. What Iwai has done with Nintendo, though, is pretty revolutionary: he’s made a leading portable game system the ultimate installation, so you can bring his art home.
CDM is working on an exclusive interview and hands-on coverage (once I get my copy), but for those of you American Nintendo DS fans rushing out to pick this up today, here’s our past coverage.
DS + ElectroPlankton for Music: More Details, Hacking Mic
How to Start a Nintendo DS ElecktroPlankton Band
Performing Live with Nintendo DS and ElectroPlankton
By the way, can anyone figure out when (or if) this is coming out in Europe and the rest of the world? (Of course, you can easily import the game, even from Japan, since there’s virtually no text.)
not coincidentally, my plans to purchase a nintendo ds are coinciding with the release of electroplankton (in the u.s.). now just to decide if i wanna go for a used ds or splurge and get an new pink ds imported from japan. 😕
This is on my list and I hope to have a copy by the end of the month. 🙂
I will be re-investing in a ds shortly. Everything I've read about this makes it sound pretty much must have (as well as mario kart ds 😉 )
. . . soon to be posting ElectroPlankton music mixes and Mario Kart friend codes. 🙂
(cue Days of Thunder music, Yoshi power sliding)
Peter
I'd happily use Electroplankton as a tool for geeky effects and more in my music, but having imported the Japanese version from Hongkong I couldn't yet figure out anything about possible copyright issues. Does anybody here know if you're free to publish your EP-creations?