Metrowerks and Nintendo have signed an agreement and begun distributing a comprehensive tools suite for the creation of innovative, feature-rich games for the handheld Nintendo DS videogame system.
Nintendo has entrusted Metrowerks as a key provider of development tools which enable the creation of games that fully leverage the innovative features of the new Nintendo DS handheld, such as touch-screen input, voice recognition and wireless communication. CodeWarrior Development Studio for Nintendo DS provides developers with a comprehensive, integrated development environment for producing games designed to revolutionize the handheld entertainment market.
The Metrowerks suite includes advanced functionality to help developers fully leverage the device's dual ARM core architecture, including:
- a multi-core, thread-aware debugger that works simultaneously on the ARM 9 and ARM 7 processors
- ARM linker overlays that reduce memory consumption by allowing developers to detect and remove unused code in linked applications
- a command line interface, an easy-to-use graphical user interface and cache viewing capabilities that simplify the development experience
- an ARM compiler fully optimized to work with the Nintendo DS hardware
Yuji Naka, R&D Creative Officer of SEGA said : CodeWarrior Development Studio for Nintendo DS has helped us quickly create prototypes during the early stages of development, and thanks to the detailed grammar check/alarm display functionality, we were able to identify issues at an early stage, significantly reducing the debug time.
Ubisoft's Pascal Lalancette, technical director, was quick to add that the need for specialized development tools for DS is particularly important since the device will attempt to create ...the most sensory-rich experience possible...
Nintendo has already distributed the Metrowerks CodeWarrior kits to more than 100 companies worldwide to help ensure consumers can select from a variety of feature-rich games at launch and throughout the life of the Nintendo DS. The Nintendo DS is scheduled for release in North America and Japan before then end of 2004, and in Europe during the first quarter of 2005.
