"Taking the "talking" out of "talking.""

PictoChat is essentially just an accessory added to the DS series. It is present on all four: the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, and Nintendo DSi XL. This program is somewhat like e-mail. Using it, you can "talk" to your friends. This accessory is more used than most think.

PictoChat is just like it says. You can communicate with text or pictures. How? By using the Touch Screen, you draw pictures with the stylus or type text. Then you send the message and all people using PictoChat, regardless of system, will receive and read the message. This has some uses.

One use is obvious. Say you and your brother are grounded. Your rooms are, quite literally, right next to each other. Even if you cannot get out, you can still talk. FYI, you also could play multiplayer games. Frankly, this accessory really can soften punishments. There are some other uses.

This is a game that can sort of be multiplayer. Imagine - you can draw and type. Sure, you can't use color, but that is beside the point. What can this lead to? Games. There are several different games that you can easily think of right off the bat. One game is where you draw something and someone makes a slight change to it. For example, an apple having a bite taken out of it. Another is a "complete the picture" sort of thing. Essentially, you finish a picture to make something. Maybe Mario, a geometric shape, or just a lame bunch of squiggles. There one last thing you can do, but is more used on the regular DS and DS Lite (because the DSi and DSi XL have the Flipnote Studio). You can make flipbooks. This is mainly single player. You draw something and make a slight, somewhat movement-related, change. Maybe an earthworm is moving, or a flower grows and dies. That is your choice.

This also has some other uses. You can use this to mark notes down for other video games around the house - without using any paper! For example, my usual use is Final Fantasy X Al Bhed translations. I can use my other DS to take notes down for Pokemon battles - as if I need that! It also can be used to sort of cheat Brain Age games. You can use it to study for tests. If you're good at math, but don't have a calculator, use it to figure up numbers without any paper. Using the multiple language part of it, train yourself in some foreign languages. Need to study for a Japanese test - but what school has them? Use this and chat with your friends. Heck, put random symbols and see if the know that it's gibberish!

Anyways, Nintendo has made one change to this accessory over the six years it has been on the DS consoles. The DSi and DSi XL have gotten a rainbow pen. This, like it is named, will give a rainbow effect to your writing. The original DS and the DS Lite can also copy this, but not write with the pen – just put black on it, put text on it, or erase some of it.

There isn't much to do in the way of graphics. The main thing is the text. There is the usual English alphabet, some other symbols, the Japanese stuff, mathematic and grammar symbols, numbers, and some other stuff. After that, the graphics are, mind the pun, in your hands. How you and your friends draw affects the graphics, after all. Probably, you will be affecting the graphics a lot more than you would think.

The PictoChat accessory has no real sound. Really. Nintendo truly has taken the "talking" out of "talking." Why? You hear virtually NOTHING. There are very, very few sounds here. Here they are - drawing, typing, changing menu, copying, deleting, erasing, and posting. Sure, more sounds than some actual video games. However, what these sounds consist of the main problem. For the most part, the sound is made up of bleeps and bloops. What isn't made like that consists of a sound that sounds like a pencil on paper. If you plan to use this often, plan to have a radio so that you won't go crazy from the bleeps and bloops.

Anyways, PictoChat is an okay accessory for the Wi-Fi age - but it really should have been made better over the past six years. Seriously, it has been six years. Can't Nintendo make improvements beyond a rainbow pen for the newer systems? Not even some lame elevator music?!? Alas, it will not be so. This, although you might actually use it, shouldn't be used to often, as you will likely not enjoy it. It actually is good, I'll say that much, but it could be better. There, it has a C. Anyways, this is okay to use. Enjoy it, those who actually will use it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/14/10

Game Release: PictoChat (US, 11/21/04)