Nintendo Brings Paint Program to DSi Ware

Nintendo has a new type of edutainment program on the way for DSi Ware download next week. Egokoro Kyoshitsu, or Painting Classroom, promises to teach players how to draw.

The title is split across two separate downloads, respectively 1st Semester and the more advanced 2nd Semester. Each title includes lessons that take you through the various phases of drawing, including rough sketches, coloring, and shading.

The 1st Semester program offers six lessons: basics part 1, basics part 2, trees, pear & pepper, limes, apples and peaches, and waves and the sea. The 2nd Semester program offers four lessons: yellow lily, puppy and cat, swan and goose, and landscapes and riverside.

Once you've finished a drawing, you can save it to your DSi Camera album along with a frame of your choice. You can also save your progress on a partially completed picture, although this is limited to just one save.

Nintendo has also included a Free Paint mode that's shared across both versions. This mode allows you to take a picture with the DSi camera for use as a reference.

The success of a paint program depends largely on the tools it gives to players. You can see the toolset at the official site. Outside of a variety of pencils, brushes and palette settings, the interface includes zoom in and out, and grid on and off.

You can see drawing samples at the official site:

• 1st Semester: Tree
• 2nd Semester: Lily
• Mini Lessons: Pepper, Apple and Peach, and Sea

Both semesters will be available for download on 11/18. Nintendo is asking 800 DSiPoints for each.