Electroplankton

The Nintendo DS has been the perfect system for me. It has the best handheld games on the market (Mario Kart DS, Metroid Pinball, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrows), an innovative dual-screen, touch-screen interface which has created some unique gameplay and the ability to see maps and options in one full screen while playing on the other full screen. The built-in wi-fi connects flawlessly to the network at home promoting a lot of racing with Mario Kart racers worldwide. This has enough to keep anyone satisfied, and it has..the DS is the fastest selling console ever in Japan. DS sales have already topped 10 million worldwide, 4 million in the US, and I'm not even going to touch the whole Nintendogs thing.

The great news is all of this is just a prelude to the coolest thing you can do with your Nintendo DS, Electroplankton. It's so cool, you can't even go down to Toys R Us and get it. Concerned with the lack of appeal to a broad US market, Nintendo chose to release it online and through a specialty-store deal with KB Toys in limited quantities. This is because it's not a game, rather an art project.

Electroplankton is an interactive electronic art piece by Toshio Iwai. Inspired by the toys of his youth: a microscope, a tape recorder, a synthesizer and an NES, Iwai has created a virtual world of creatures that you can touch and direct in various patterns or by changing the environment around them to generate music. You can even sample your voice in via the mic and it will be played back to various beats.

As you spend more time with your DS and Electroplankton it becomes a futuristic musical instrument. Part drum machine, part sequencer where changing aspects of the virtual world in front of you (like hitting drum pads or twisting knobs, traditionally) alters the patterns and sounds you produce.

This art project is more about the moment you are in. You cannot save your creations on the game directly. Though I'll probably try a line out into a recording device or computer shortly. The sounds are amazing and combined with audio production software, DS/Electroplankton will soon provide the elements to some new audio tracks at my studio.

Buy: Nintendo DS, Electroplankton (Amazon.com)

Tags: nintendo, music, video games, art