Hello from all of us on the Flipnote Hatena team. This is Aaron at Hatena's offices in Kyoto, Japan with another edition of our weekly news blog.
When I come to the Hatena office in the morning here in Japan, it is nighttime in North America and in Europe. I'm always surprised that many Flipnote Hatena users around the globe are chatting in the middle of the night on their Nintendo DSi's when they could be (and probably should be) sleeping.
We never expected Flipnote Hatena to be used as a new form of communication in this way, and think it's a fascinating online community that you've all created.
However, we do have mixed feelings about all of the chatting that is happening on Flipnote Hatena these days. You can chat on so many other places on the Internet, but Flipnote Hatena is unique in that you can actually create your own stuff, and express your ideas to others in whole a new way.
Unlike television, where you basically have no control of the programming that is available, you can create something new and instantly make a positive change on the quality of what we all see on Flipnote Hatena.
Next time you feel like chatting, why not try putting your feelings and ideas into a Flipnote instead? We are currently planning some more contests and other fun stuff this summer to inspire you to post more Flipnotes, that we hope you'll all enjoy.
We're looking forward to seeing your Flipnotes, and thank you for your continued support of Flipnote Hatena!
This week's new themes
The Flipnote team has created two new Creator's Room themes that are available in the Color Star Exchange this week. Below are some screenshots and details about the new themes.
- A theme inspired by Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur. (10 color stars)
- This is a changing theme, where a pair of penguins will be born and continue to grow as you post more Flipnotes. (50 color stars)
The best of last week's topic: "Toys"
We've selected some of the best Flipnotes posted from around the world that we hope you'll enjoy.
You can see all of the Flipnotes posted about last week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
You can also see the Flipnotes for last week's topic posted from your own region by entering the command 
via "Command Search" on Flipnote Hatena for Nintendo DSi.
Hatena's favorite "Toys" Flipnotes from the Americas region
★ A seemingly harmless toy robot takes revenge on its human owner in this funny Flipnote by Benjamin (id:bensch)
★ Have some fun with a wind-up frog in this nicely done Flipnote by InkWolf (id:InkWolf)
★ The items from the Monopoly board game come to life in this cute Flipnote by RetroNonse (id:RetroNonsense)
★ A story about a one-eyed doll by Kozie (id:Exedera-kozie)
★ An infant has a suprise in this cute Flipnote by Amber (id:amberkim22)
★ A wind up cymbal playing bear walks along backed up by a hip-hop beat in this well drawn Flipnote by abel (id:I_LIONHEART)
Hatena's favorite "Toys" Flipnotes from Japan
★ A young boy plays with a wooden toy, called a kendama in this Flipnote by Spira (id:tidus-zack). Kendama are still very popular with Japanese children, even today.
★ A young boy playing with a toy car gets into some trouble with the law in this Flipnote by Super Sayajin (id:tomiokarintarou).
★ Here's a very nicely done stop-motion animation of some train toys by Akira (id:akira-5963)
★ We really liked the attention to detail, and the warmth and expression of feeling character in this Flipnote by Okima (id:pu-tmkf)
★ Check out this noisy, cymbal playing animal toy in this funny Flipnote by Bororo
★ Did you ever wonder about what is really inside of your toys? Lilium (id:Easterlily) exposes the mystery of the secret life forms inside of toys in this strange and wonderful Flipnote.
Hatena's favorite "Toys" Flipnotes from the Europe & Oceania region
★ We really liked this nicely animated Flipnote by Alexander (id:Alexander494) where various toys are created from letters.
★ A young boy looks into a toy store window at some expensive toys in this beautifully drawn Flipnote by Frans (id:Kezellz)
★ Evil Teddy tells his owner Lucy about the way he really feels in this Flipnote by clobags (id:ilovemydsi). Did you ever wonder what your Nintendo DSi is thinking?
★ A young boy plays with toy planes inside of a plane, while sitting inside of a plane, which is inside of another plane, and continues in an endless loop in this Flipnote by CH
IE (id:ccharles)
★ Benny@ASH (id:iarschzwerg) created this short Flipnote about cup stacking.
★ Syan (id:Syan) created this cute Flipnote of a ballerina dancing on top of a music box.
This week's topic: "Memories" (6/4/2010 - 6/11/2010)
This week we'd like you to create Flipnotes about memories. Think about important people, places, events and things from the past express these memories in your Flipnotes. We're looking forward to seeing your stuff, and will feature some of the best ones next week here in the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News blog. Post the Flipnotes you create to channel 8 from Flipnote Hatena on your Nintendo DSi.
Also, please do not use copyrighted music in your Flipnotes if you want them to be featured here. Check out some of the sites below for Creative Commons licensable and other royalty free music:
You can see all of the Flipnotes currently posted about this week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
Weekly Frog Sighting
If you are interested in having your frog photo or illustration featured in the "Weekly Frog Sighting" section of the blog please post them on Hatena Haiku and we might feature it here.
Please submit only original photos/illustrations that you have created yourself.
★ Here's a great illustration of some kids playing with a giant version of the Flipnote frog by id:IndianaJonas
★ A cool hand drawn image of the Flipnote frog and the Hatena Haiku logo by id:pokemonfc
★ A beautifully drawn computer illustration of a frog peeking out of the water by id:r0mer0
Please let us know what you think about the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News blog by posting any comments you might have in the box below. Thanks!
