SmileBASIC is Heading to Wii U, With Cross-Platform Support and DLC Also Confirmed

Wow, unexpected news... and rather welcome ones.

Excellent news! programming is a lot of fun once you get the knack.

Nice! Thanks for reporting this news, I was about to post this in the forums.

I think I might get this. I've had fun with other game makers, like RPG Maker and Wario Ware D.I.Y., though this is probably more advanced than those.

This is going to be interesting. I'll like to see what going to come out of this and the 3DS version, after all Mega Man 2 was remade in the original Petit Computer.

Hmm, too bad the release seems like it's a while away. I'm much more interested in getting this on the Wii U than I am the 3DS, though perhaps I'll check out the 3DS version anyways.

Now I have to decide if I should wait for wii u or not... probably will.

Cool stuff.

How much does the Wii U version cost?

Unless they provide an absolute ton of art assets with it, you won't get much good coming out of it.

@Dezzy you can create your own assets.

"This isn't your average everyday BASIC. This is... advanced BASIC."

I'll definitely pick this up... it's always fun to create!

That's pretty cool. I've always had a very mild interest in game development, in a "it would be cool to know the first thing about it" kind of way. This could be a good tool to scratch that itch.

Ehm, @ThomasBW84: Care to explain in your article what SmileBASIC is? It is a bit strange to read about it without any information about what this is. Of course I googled, but even the official website doesn't explain what it is.
Does it have anything to do with the programming language BASIC? That would be awesome.

This is huge news and I am excited.

@shani Seriously? It's linked to in the first line of the article. You know how some words appear in blue and bold? Those are clickable links. Click on SmileBASIC and you'll find out. If you come to NL.com often, you'll find that a lot of articles are written this way.

Also, explaining in detail what something is in every single article is time-wasting. Linking to an original article is faster and cleaner when the majority of users who will click on this article will most likely already know what SmileBASIC is.

@Kilroy I overlooked the link, but usually such things are explained briefly in the first paragraph of an article. That's a standard of writing articles (not one I adore much, usually I just skip the first two paragraphs) and it's common on Nintendolife, too.
I did read the 3DS review though (already had found it through Google) and I still don't really know what to expect of it. I also tried to watch videos but only found some tutorials with very terrible audio and video quality. I'm not a complete idiot, I had my fair share of programming when I was younger and I had to smirk when I saw the Hello-World tutortial. But so far I only have seen a few lines of code and tutorials for specific tasks. What's missing is an video that actually shows the posibilities and also the limits of this software.

Why isn't there a trailer that showcases SmileBASIC's assets? How did Nintendo sell it in the first place without any marketing or info material?

@Chaoz It's just unfortunate that I cannot port MM2PTC over to SmileBASIC on 3DS (or even to this), because unlike PTC where programs are distributed through un-moderated QR codes, these are stored/published to their servers for public accessibility, and they don't tolerate the use of copyright material.

Every time I Fire up Smile Basic I feel dumb as a rock.. Maybe publishing a project will never be in the cards for me.. I have been doing every single tutorial I can find for Petit computer which help out greatly. I was just starting to get a decent understanding of Petit Computer. I download SmileBasic and its a lot different. They even changed some input commands. I will keep trying but I don't know how long. I have always had a dream of making some game but I think this is not the program for me. A lot of people say Basic is easy to learn. I'd like to know how do they figure. For those who understand basic have fun but if your a newb like me good luck. There are tons of half done games to try out which is kind of neat. So at least I can have some fun trying what other people have done.

They really should consider letting the people who bought the 3DS version also get the Wii-U version. But they won't. Hopefully for once they might do the right thing.

@Discostew That's...a real drag to hear. And there doesn't happen to be a way to share programs privately, without going through the server or tediously copying the code by hand?

I wonder how they would treat parodies or homages, in that case.

@Windy I suggest you try using Python and pygame on a computer first to get started. SmileBasic on the 3DS is great, but having to deal with the fiddly stylus input and learning their extensions to Basic doesn't make it good for writing your first game.
Come back to it once you're comfortable with games programming and it'll be a lot easier.

@eza Thanks for the recommendation. I was actually thinking along those lines I had downloaded a PC version of Basic which has a bunch of tutorials and class like learning activities to teach users how to use it.

Hmm I don't know if people remember but the game called learn to type with Pokémon adventure came with a keyboard for the DS family they should try implementing that for the 3ds version

sounds really cool, although I have yet to get it on 3DS

Buthe Where's the REVIEW?!?!?!?

@shani Remember Petit Computer? Yeah this is the next game in the series.

@DoctorOverbuild Most people probably don't remember it, it was an obscure game never released in America.

@DoctorOverbuild said "Hmm I don't know if people remember but the game called learn to type with Pokémon adventure came with a keyboard for the DS family they should try implementing that for the 3ds version "
ME; Now THAT'S a great idea!