Nintendo has licensed a handwriting recognition technology for its DS handheld. Previously, Decuma has only been available for mobile phones and PDAs, allowing busy execs to scribble notes onto the screen and watch in quiet amazement as their hurried gobbledegook is turned into recognisable alphabetic characters. So what does Nintendo want with it?
"As the leading provider of handheld video game systems in the world, Nintendo has a reputation for adopting innovative technologies that improve the user's experience with its products," said Milos Djokovic, chief technical officer and chief operating officer, Zi Corporation, the developer of Decuma. So, once installed on DS (presumably via firmware update) will it be used in word processing or social apps like Pictochat, or can we expect handwriting to form a component of forthcoming games? Actually, Nintendo has already toyed with handwriting recognition in its Japanese title, DS Rakubiki Jiten, a dictionary program launched earlier this year - but with this license, the company clearly has something more ambitious in mind.
Personally, I'd like to see a handwriting version of Typing of the Dead, where you had to defeat zombies by typing amusingly innocuous phrases onto the Dreamcast, PC or coin-op keyboard. It would also work brilliantly in a Sprung-style dating game, where you'd have to write neat love letters or risk romantic humiliation.
Any more?
