Nintendo Offers Flipnote Studio DSi for Free

If you've ever wanted to create your own cartoons or animated movies, then head over to the Nintendo DSi Shop, as Flipnote Studio launches on 14th August in Europe on Nintendo DSiWare - and is downloadable for free!

Do you remember seeing old-fashioned flip-pads when you were a child? You draw a sequence of images, one per page. Flicking through the pages at speed creates the illusion of movement - which is exactly how cartoons are made today.

Flipnote Studio is an application which allows you to create these animations on your Nintendo DSi! Of course, you could use it just as an electronic notepad, allowing you to quickly save handwritten and even vocal memos - but why stop there? Get your creative juices flowing - Flipnote Studio is the perfect virtual animation studio where you can create short animated sketches called Flipnotes. These can then be shared online via a special service accessible with the Nintendo DSi: Flipnote Hatena.

Using the Flipnote Hatena with Nintendo Wi-Fi connection, you are free to trade, grade and save animations from all Flipnote Studio users. It is even possible to continue a Flipnote created by another user. User-created Flipnotes can also be watched, evaluated and commented on devices such as a PC via the Nintendo DSi: Flipnote Hatena website. (http://flipnote.hatena.com/)

One single Flipnote animation can have hundreds of frames, meaning there is plenty of scope to get creative - but the software remains beautifully simple to use and no technical knowledge is required in order to create an animation.