Datel brings homebrew to DS

Datel's announced a pair of Nintendo DS peripherals capable of running homebrew software applications.

The MAX Media Launcher is designed specifically to do this, costs £12.99, and allows you to store homebrew data on a variety of compatible flash cards including M3 and NEO types.

The more expensive MAX Media Player, priced £129.99, goes further. It supports homebrew, but really as a footnote to extensive media playback - as well as viewing JPEGs through a built-in browser application, it will play back MP3 audio and even movies.

Both are due out in late April, available through retail and Codejunkies.com, and Datel says both are compatible with the new DS Lite as well as the old one.

MAX Media Player is a two-part peripheral - the player itself is a simple DS game card that goes in the DS game slot, allowing you to browse a 4GB hard disk that slots into the GBA cartridge slot and hugs the back of the unit as you can see in the photo. The hard disk will draw power directly from the DS.

MAX Media Player also includes a USB 2.0 cable allowing you to transfer data from your PC, as well as a Media Manager PC application for handling these transfers; Media Manager will also convert movies to a format the Player can understand and resize images to fit the DS screen.

Meanwhile, Datel's also got a third peripheral on the way. Called Communicator Headset, it effectively harnesses the microphone and speakers in a headset format, which Datel reckons will be more appropriate for comms in games like Metroid Prime: Hunters, which allows you to chat with other players in the game lobby. Communicator Headset will retail for £9.99.

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