11.24.05
ElectroPlankton DS
Official site translation again, but with damn good reason – this is genius! You will need Flash though, to enter the site and view its contents.
In this watery world within your DS, 10 unique ’species’ of plankton reacts in their own various ways to your touch, voice and other noise…. so says the introduction. At the top of the window, there are six little bubbles (categories) – left to right: What kind of software?; Plankton; When played; Who made it?; Exhibition; and Extras. Trust me, this is one site that is worthy of much exploration.
In the sub-category Plankton, it introduces us to the ten types (left to right again): Tracy, Hanenbow, Luminaria, Sun Larva (ok, the site says Sun-Animalcule, but that’s what it can be translated into), Rec-Rec, Nanocarp, Light-Ring (site calls it Lumiloop), MarineSnow, Wirebug (acc. to site Beatnes), and Volvoice. Click on the bottom right hand box that has セツメイ written over it, to receive an illustrated description of what it does (it’s fairly self-explanatory). The different sounds/reactions of these plankton can be heard from the next section where people have tried it out.
The guy who made this is called Toshio Iwai, a media artist in his mid-30s. Seems as if he’s done a few collaborations with Miyazaki (of Spirited Away fame) too. In the movie at the bottom of the page, he says that although this ‘game’ doesn’t have a goal as such, it’s one way of getting people familiarised with creativity, in a fun way. His inspiration it seems was the joy he initially felt at playing the old Mario games.
In the Extras section, you are treated to four types of wallpaper you can have (click to download), and TV adverts of each of the planktons. The site also gives you tips: a) you can jam by linking 2 DS’s together and b) use rulers and other implements to draw better lines/curves.
As Iwai says, enjoy it. You don’t have to be an expert in the Japanese language to understand.