Today the incompatibility of all the current Nintendo DS-compatible flashcarts can be forgotten by people interested in running homebrew applications on the Nintendo DSi. Acekard has announced the Acekard 2i flash cart that is compatible with Nintendo's latest portable gaming console, the Nintendo DSi, as well as with the current Nintendo DS (in case you need a flash cart that can work with both devices).

In case you're wondering what homebrew means and what a flash cart is and why you'd be interested in such a thing, here's a quick explanation: Homebrew applications are unofficial applications built by coders, hackers, and tinkerers who want to add functionality to a device and have fun doing so. There are vibrant homebrew communities for the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, and Apple's iPhone, just to name a few. Flash carts are small little cartridges that fit in the same slot where you would normally insert your Nintendo DS-compatible games, but these carts have a slot for a removable flash card, usually a MicroSD card, that you can insert into the flash cart. Using this removable MicroSD card, you can transfer homebrew files that you download on your computer to the card, then insert the card into the flash cart, and insert the flash cart into your Nintendo DS or Nintendo DSi, and then when you start up the DS/DSi the Acekard 2i makes the console think that the information on the MicroSD card is actually a regular gaming cartridge so that the console can run programs on the MicroSD card.

If you've never explored the world of homebrew applications before, the Nintendo DS is one of the best consoles out there to experiment with it, as there is no need to modify the core system in any way that could damage the device in order to run the code. All you need is to purchase a flash cart, like the Acekard 2i, and a MicroSD card. If you decide to give it a try with your DS, Obsessable recommends you try out Colors! for the Nintendo DS. It's a very powerful paint program that turns the DS's pressure sensitive screen into the equivalent of a very small, portable digital sketchbook. Below, you'll find a video showing a painting done on a DS using Colors! as an example of just how powerful and interesting homebrew applications can be.

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