Video: A look at 3DS homebrew running on a custom channel
The 3DS homebrew scene seems to be picking up, with well-known hacker “Smealum” providing a first look at the ability to load software through a custom channel.
“This video is a glimpse at what I want for the up and coming 3DS homebrew scene, i.e. a way for people to make their own homebrew applications and install so that they’re directly accessible from home menu.
This has a number of advantages over running code ‘on the bare metal’ as some are already doing. For one thing, it means that homebrew code will be strictly limited to user mode code, the same way commercial games and applications are, which drastically lowers the likelihood of anyone’s (*cough*Gateway*cough*) code accidentally bricking your console.
For another, it means that our code will be able to interface with every service provided by the 3DS’s OS; it’ll make stuff like FS, wifi, and GPU access much easier. And of course, it just looks cool having your own channel in the menu, and being able to return to menu and switch between games instantly is a nice plus.”
There are a few caveats to keep in mind, naturally. For one thing, it only works with with v4.1-4.5 firmware. It’ll also be a little while before the method is made available publicly.
Smealum said of the hack’s release:
“There’s no telling how long it’ll take to get a safe package ready for mass consumption; users have already suffered through enough bricks, I’d rather my software didn’t add to the list. So sit tight ! We’ll have nice 3DS homebrew soon enough.”
