R4 3DS - New Buy 2 Get 1 Free Specials

Yes, I know, it's another update, and this time it's been a while coming, only 2 days since my last post - which I think is fantastic considering that I had taken a bit of a break from blogging for the last 2 months.  But this one was too good for me NOT to share it with you.  I just had to.   I know with all of the gaming in the homebrew scene, the games and applications that come out under the freeware model for the Nintendo 3DS are getting quite a bit more attention, even from big sites like RacketBoy and various others.

Free R4 3DS Cards

Now, you know all about the homebrew games, etc... that everyone keeps talking about.  But you also need to make sure that you're aware that you WILL need an R4 3DS card to be able to use them.  And this my fellow readers is why I am making another post.

I just received a email from the people at www.r43ds.org (where I got my r4 3ds card) and in their newsletter they say that they are doing a Buy 2 Get 1 Free R4 3DS Special.  Great news for anyone that doesn't yet have their own R4 card.  And even better if you have a friend (or two) that you could split this deal with.  Basically, with the buy 2 get 1 free special, you're paying around $15 for each card (the total is like $45.00 for 3 cards) and the thing is, you know you're getting the real deal, and not some fake card that those other sites try to sell you for stupid prices (oh.... and absolutely no support!)

 

I haven't bought a card (I already have 2 of them, one for my DSi and one for my 3DS) but if you're in the market it's a great deal. Even if you end up keeping just one and selling the other 2, you'll get enough for 2 of them to more than cover the cost of all of them.

There's no coupon code to enter or anything.  The 3rd / free card won't show up in your cart when you checkout, but I have a couple of confirmations that they just automatically send you 3 cards once you buy 3 of them.

R4 3DS Has Been Updated To Support 2.1.3 Nintendo 3DS systems.

This is a quick post.  I just posted a short game review of a homebrew game I play, but then realized I had not posted here in some time.  Well, since the r4 3ds was updated to version 2.0.0.

In the last month and a half Nintendo released the 2.1.3 system update.  I didn't update because it offered little in the way of features.  But I know a lot of people updated by sheer accident.  The message to update popped up, and they hit the YES instead of the NO button, and voila - the console was updated to 2.1.3.

This is all well and good, but what ended up happening for a lot of people with R4 3DS cards was that their flash cards stopped working.  Or better said, they were no longer recognized.  This seems to happen every second or third update from Nintendo, so fret not my friends. Your cards are just fine, you just have to get the newest firmware from them.

If you have the r4 and your 3DS is at 2.1.3 and now your card isn't recognized, just go to the official manufacturer site at www.r43ds.org and download the latest version of the firmware kernel for the cards.  Once you install the new firmware, your card will be working again without any issues - just as it did before you accidentally updated your own firmware.

If you have not yet updated, then you shouldn't.  There's nothing new in the 2.1.3 at all.  But to be prepared in case you do, you should also get the latest firmware as well, and install it. That way, even if you choose to update to 2.1.3, you'll still be fine.

I hope this is helpful to some of you out there with this issue.  Let me know in the comments.

R4 DS Homebrew Game: Boring Killer Painter

Ever since I got my hands on my first R4 DS I have been a huge fan of all things homebrew.  This started on my Nintendo DS system, and has carried forward through all the different hand held systems that I have had.  From the Nintendo DS, I moved to the DS Lite.  Once the DSi came out, I sold my DS lite and got the DSi instead.   And now that I have my Nintendo 3DS, my addiction to homebrew gaming and ds homebrew apps has not gotten any better

With my 3DS I use my R4 3DS card, a card that I bought even before I got my new Nintendo 3DS.  And with the number of homebrew games out there, it's a small price to pay (around $20.00) for a card that give me access to hundreds of freeware games that I just would not be able to buy in any store at all.

Yesterday I downloaded a game called Boring Killer.  He he.. WHile the name itself sounds a bit odd, the app is super fun.  It's a painting program that lets me take images that I have taken pictures of on my 3DS, and then I can paint over them using the stylus.  I can add a moustache, paint a hat, whatever I want.  It's not a GAME, but it's a little time waster app - and I know we can all use the occasional time waster, right?

You can take any image stored on your 3DS, and then make your own unique digital art.  It does not have the face mushing or stretching found on the DSI's built in camera application, and to be honest, I prefer this much more anyway.  Just being able to actually paint my own pictures is where it's at :)

You can download it from http://www.gbatemp.net from their download section (and while you're there, grab a couple more games while you're at it).

R4 3DS - New Firmware Update For V2.0.0

As is the norm with game consoles these days, updates to the built in system firmware or operating system are a common thing these days. New features or fixes are something that we all have to get used to - whether we want to or not. In the case of the Nintendo 3DS, I am sure there will be a few updates every year, just based on how it was on the Nintendo DSi I had.  Now, this is all well and good, but if you have and r4 3DS card, you may be in a situation where you're finding that once you update your console, your R4 card is no longer recognized.

And this is exactly the reason why you always want to make sure you have the latest update for your r4 3DS card (or any other flash card for that matter) too.  Firmware updates by manufacturers are usually released within a few hours to a couple of days after the consoles get updated.  And what I have always suggested to friends and family is that they simply don't upgrade their 3DS system, or DSi system version until they know that there is also a firmware update for their card as well.  This is common sense of course, as it is with windows updates or mac updates too.  But you would be surprised at just how many people jump right on the band wagon and update without thinking about the effect it will have on their current hardware.

The R4 3DS thankfully has also been updated now, with firmware version (conveniently) of v2.0.0 and if you HAVE updated your Nintendo 3DS, this will have you back up and running with your r4 card immediately.  For those of you that held off the updating of your Nintendo, you can now update and know that your homebrew and freeware games will be working right away, once you've updated your r4 card firmware too.

I get my firmware updates at www.modchipstore.com because that's where I bought my card, and I want to be sure I am getting the right firmware from their downloads section.  If you have an original card, you can get yours from there too - but if you have a clone card, you may be out of luck.

Iphone 4 Unlock - The Gevey Turbo Sim Does The Trick

I plan on this blog being mostly about Nintendo 3DS and Homebrew games and apps for use with the R4 3DS and R4 DS Card, but being an iphone 4 owner myself, I wanted to touch on this little Gevey unlock sim.  While I am on a contract and with AT&T, I know a lot of people want to get their hands on an iPhone 4, new or second hand, but don't want to sign up for term contracts, maybe they want to use it as a prepaid phone, or you're locked into a contract already, on a different carrier, and want some iPhone 4 goodness.  That's where the Gevey Iphone 4 Unlock comes into play. 

The Gevey unlock sim is an interpolator.  It sits between your actual sim card and your iphone 4, and magically unlocks your iphone.  The people behind it have made sure that it works with the iPhone 4 on all the latest iOS versions and the basebands that are not able to be unlocked using any software unlock.  What I like about the gevey sim is the fact that I don't have to jailbreak my iphone 4 to be able to use it.  I never jailbroke my iphone 3GS (didn't personally see the need - I'm not knocking jailbreaking, just isn't for me), and I haven't yet done so on my iPhone 4 either. 

And with the newest iOS version, a jailbreak is possible, but an unlock is not, so the motivation for a Jailbreak goes away instantly (I know a lot of people that jailbreak ONLY to be able to unlock their phones), and that is what the appeal of the Gevey sim is.  You don't need to jailbreak your phone, or use any type of custom firmware with it.  Just your stock Apple iPhone 4, and this sim card will get you up an running no matter who your cell provider is.  Definitely worth a look.  See below for the supported iOS versions and basebands.

Firmware 4.1 (baseband 02.10.04) Firmware 4.2.1 (baseband 03.10.01) Firmware 4.3(baseband 04.10.01)

The 3DS R4 Card And Homebrew On Your Nintendo 3DS

I haven't ever really had a blog before, but I figured I should start one and start writing about some of my cool video game adventures with my Nintendo DSi, and now with my shiny new Nintendo 3DS system.  I have been using the 3ds r4 for my 3ds console for the last 2 weeks and have fallen in love with the little flash card.

There haven't been nearly enough launch titles for the 3DS, and the ones that are out, with te exception of a couple of games - are mediocre at best.  So I was pretty stoken when I found out about the 3ds r4 and how it would let me download lost of free games for my 3ds system.  I am NOT talking about illegal games or 3ds roms or anything of the sort.  What I am talking about is freeware games for the 3ds.... yes... they are really out there, and easier to get than even thanks to the internet and I presume cheap web hosting, where pretty much anyone can put up a site.  This site is one example of the ease with which you can have yourself online in no time.

The r4 card is a homebrew and multi media player, that will enable your 3DS to load freeware games and applications that you can get from sites like the http://www.ndshb.com and numerous others.  In my first post, I wanted to mention 2 games I just downloaded and have been playing for the last couple of weeks.

First up is a game I used to love on my Amiga PC back in the 90's.  It was (and still is :) ) called Rick Dangerous.  It was a side scrolling platform game with a whole lot of comical jabs at the Indiana Jones franchise.  While the short chubby Rick was no Harrison Ford, the character was an almost exact (albeit miniature) replica of Indy.  Doing his very best to get away from the evil bad zooloo people who have nothing else but dinner on their mind - and Rick is meant to be the main course, as well as his friends - who you have to save throught the levels.  It's a super fun game and I highly recommend it to any platform game lover.  It's platform gaming in its purest form.

DSQuake is the second game that I have really enjoyed.  I used to be a major Quake addict on the PC when it was first released.  In fact my love for first person shooters developed as a result of Quake.  The fact that I can actually play it on my Nintendo 3DS system is akin to magic for me.  Don't let my bad camera skills fool you, the game looks crisp and clear, but my digital camera is not at all the high end model.  Quake needs little introduction.  If you played FPS games on your PC anytime during 1990 - 2011 then you've probably played Quake, Quake Arena and Quake 2 and 3.  All of the different versions adding more to a game that was fanastic on the very first day of the release of the original.

You can get both of these games from http://www.ndshb.com - they are free to download and play, though I should mention that in the case of Quake, you'll have to have he original, either in demo form / shareware or the full games, which you'll copy over to the micro SD card that comes with the 3DS R4.