DS Picto Chat E3 2004 Preshow Impressions

One of the most interesting pieces of software on display for the Nintendo DS was Nintendo's own DS Picto Chat, a communication program that lets you exchange messages as well as share pictures via the unit's wireless connection.

The upper screen will display incoming messages and images. You can actually send text messages as well as images that you draw. The lower touch screen will display a soft keyboard and an open "graffiti"- style area where you can choose to draw images to send to a friend. The setup should actually be pretty familiar to anyone who has used a Palm handheld or a Pocket PC, as many of the program's features are similar. The program will actually support communication between up to 16 different DS units, with each person's messages being displayed in their own window with a unique tag for each.

The visuals for the program are pretty sparse, and everything uses a clean interface that is pretty bare bones. The various chat windows in the upper screen will offer some flashes of color and each conversation window will have its own hue. All told, DS Picto Chat looks like it'll be a unique program that shows off the chat functionality of the DS. While the features may not be anything special on their own, there seems to be potential for something greater if some of the functionality we've seen could be incorporated into a game. Look for more on DS Picto Chat from the E3 show floor and in the coming months.