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"A DS even lets you play local MP3 files.....You just blew my mind. I've had a Nintendo DS for several years without this ability ... in fact, I don't even thing there's a way to store data of that size on my DS. What on earth are you talking about?"

I was so going to moderate you up until I read that. The Nintendo MP3 Player has been out for 4 years. Games 'n' Music is (or was) available at Walmart and still available online.

"Seriously? People belly-up to pay top dollar for quality and components that come with an Apple Product and then you quibble when Google offers something at a similar price with possibly better quality and components?"

Apple google is not. Apple has a 30 yr history of charging top dollar for premium products. Google doesn't. Horrible comparison, might as well throw in some car analogies and ask why Daewoos don't sell for Ferrari prices (yes, I did just compare Google to Daewoo).

While I do agree JerkFace is making an awful lot of assumptions without any links or references to back up his quotes, some of his points are valid. However all he has to do is look at the usefulness of Android cellphones when they lack an internet connection to see it's still fully functional, and that's a cellphone that is meant to have some sort of internet reception 24/7.

JerkFace did get one thing wrong: "4. The $300-$400 price point... Chrome OS at least had a chance in hell before I read this... There are Windows 7 netbooks at $280 "

You failed to do your homework JerkFace. While you correctly quoted the Google CEO of saying "$300-$400", you conveniently left off the rest "..that all the cost will be associated with the hardware, since the OS itself is free." With a free OS there is no Windows device that can compete on price.

Turbofire Wired Controller, while looking similar externally, would not be mistaken as a Microsoft product. If you have seen the XBox 360 controllers, I don't think you would confuse this with being the same. I'd expect competing controllers to look similar in layout since games are documented to use that sort of layout. As for the contours of the control and the internal components, I wouldn't expect them to be the same (other than basics that just about all controllers use for detecting a press of a button/stick).

Just look at the Datel controller and tell me they didn't violate a patent of M$'s.

Good thing it's a design patent, and that Datel's controller is pretty much copied exactly from M$'s.

Just look at it.

You use a memory card (SD + GameCube adapter) and a boot disc, as described here. Datel sells everything you need for $50.

I noticed our Wal-Mart has a "Max Media Dock" adapter for the DS. It accepts a CF card, and allows you to play MP3s and the like. It is like this one, but accepts CF instead of Memory Stick. According to their web site:
"MAX Media Player is the most exciting product ever released for the Nintendo DS. Combining a pristine app launcher for home brew software and an easy-to-use media MP3 and video player"

The interesting thing is this is right there on the shelf at my local Wal-Mart, when it apparently can be used to play, ahem, backups. I doubt Wal-Mart is aware of that capability. I know the packaging makes no mention of it, which is probably why they carry it.

Dan East

You don't need 10 things hanging off it, or 2. The information in TFA was obsolete. Old DS passkeys were huge, and required a DS cartridge plugged into them. New DS passkeys are the same size as a normal DS cartridge, and they don't even need to flash your DS. I use a Max Media Launcher that I got for like $20. Works perfectly, didn't need to flash my DS Lite. Max Media Launcher

You need a GBA flash cart. These are available in various flavors. Mine is the SD version of the M3. I chose M3 because it has removable memory, good reviews and compatibility (haven't found anything yet that it won't run), and I chose SD because it is common, cheap, and smaller than CF. There are also CF and mini-SD versions of M3. M3 Adapter Home

The M3 SD does protrude a tiny bit from my DS Lite. However, there are brand new products (G6 Lite, as well as DS Xtreme) that eliminate any protrusion at all, with the tradeoff that the storage capacity is relatively limited and memory is not removable.

I should add that I didn't have any problem getting my equipment to work perfectly. IMHO the only problem when getting into NDS homebrew, which hopefully shouldn't be a problem for most people here, is sifting through the blind-leading-the-blind dumbass tutorials such as the one in TFA (which abound due to NDS's capability of playing pirate ROMs) and finding truly helpful info.

The PC version involves a hack.

The PS2 version is unlockable with an Action Replay MAX code (or, rather, long list of codes).

I don't remember if the blocky pixel-nudity is part of the original minigame, or a patch to go along with the PC hack.


Either way, it is not something you can just sit down and enter some sort of controller/keyboard code to access. It is not part of the actual game, and it cannot be accessed in-game, though whether it was ever intended to be--or if it was inserted by individuals, rather than any sort of officially-sanctioned addition--I think is still unresolved. (please correct me if I'm wrong about that last.. I don't keep up with every little "scandal" report.)

I know about those utility discs, but why hasn't Datel yet published any unlicensed games?

They have in England!

Classic Games Volume 1

You can already get "real" rosters for college games for Xbox and PS2. Plus people go in and update the NFL rosters to include things such as Ricky Williams retiring right before the season.

ActionReplay (Xbox) has 43 "Power Saves" for EA's NCAA 2005 which include 13 different rosters for Div 1A.

If you don't want to pay for their memory card you can download their software and use a USB memory stick or your own Xbox Memory Card.

There is no need to mod a gamecube to do these things since it can all be done in software:

Plus the fact that there was already a mod for the Panasonic Q, which includes gamecube hardware (and works 100% with the above software), but also played DVDs and could read standard CD/DVD media.

Also, Nintendo's got nothing on Sony for (trying to) shut down mod/emu vendors/users, and even Sega was more proactive about stopping rom pirates. Nintendo's been rattling its sabre over Gameboy roms, but there's not really all to much to be gained from the GC side of things since the losses to piracy are realtively small. Well, have been so far, anyway...

And lastly, PSO is commonly used for console hacking because it loads executable data from a network source; once the handshaking was worked out, the most complex task left was running a name server so that it thought that your PC was Sega's server.

There is no need to mod a gamecube to do these things since it can all be done in software:

Plus the fact that there was already a mod for the Panasonic Q, which includes gamecube hardware (and works 100% with the above software), but also played DVDs and could read standard CD/DVD media.

Also, Nintendo's got nothing on Sony for (trying to) shut down mod/emu vendors/users, and even Sega was more proactive about stopping rom pirates. Nintendo's been rattling its sabre over Gameboy roms, but there's not really all to much to be gained from the GC side of things since the losses to piracy are realtively small. Well, have been so far, anyway...

And lastly, PSO is commonly used for console hacking because it loads executable data from a network source; once the handshaking was worked out, the most complex task left was running a name server so that it thought that your PC was Sega's server.

Does the GC have regional lockouts? If so, how do people get round them without modchips?

The problem has never been the mod chips, it's been the fact that Nintendo uses a custom media disc, not the CDs/DVDs that the PS2 uses, or the DVDs that the Xbox uses. If the GCN could take commodity media, then I'm sure a mod chip would be forthcoming. However, Nintendo stopped you from getting to the point where a mod chip would be useful. You do have to admire the fact that they, unlike Microsoft or Sony, managed to beat the piracy problem on the cube.

I'm going to have to import a US version of I-Ninja to play on my Gamecube. Datel's Action Replay means I can play games from outside my region, but there are a few games where I am unable to save. I'm looking into getting a Jap/US cube soon.

There's an Action Replay code that unlocks Metroid here. They even use it as a selling point for the AR.

There will probably be a code that unlocks whatever GBA bonuses in PoP.

if you want a picture of what it looks like, click here
The think I don't like about this device is that it will most likely be emulation instead of hardware. There no way something in the memory slot of the Gamecube could be playing a gba game and sening out video. I've had my share of shitty emulation already.

This might not actually work, but why don't you try writing a nice letter/email/petition to the people who make the Action Replay (it's kind of like Game Genie for PS2) and ask them to write some codes for Disagea and some other games to aid color-blind players? Changing color palettes seems like the kind of thing the Action Replay could be made to do with ease.

It is worth a shot, at least, perhaps, and it would be interesting to see their response..

Some things in the parent not quite clear, will clarify for him.

A special kind of memory card that connects to your PC: Mega X-Key or (if you prefer) Action Replay Xbox.

The appropriate thing to do with this is to use it to upload the Free-X font overflow (Bert & Ernie, or ideally a derivative like Bert Cheats On Ernie/Snuffleupagus - be VERY careful about kernel versions, we don't have addresses for everything yet!).

• to remove the region-code limitation on the PS2 DVD player -- UK citizens can now view Region 1 DVDs which are almost always much better and cheaper to import than it is to buy the UK release several months later in the shops.
  
• to remove the green screen SCART limitation. Sony think it's a good idea that RGB output from the PS2's DVD player should be cripped by boosting the green component so DVDs are unwatchable. Games themselves are not crippled like this. Sony bundle the PS2 with a lower quality SCART "adaptor" that uses uncrippled composite video.
  
• to remove the need for an official Sony memory card. Official Sony memory cards have the CSS decryption algorithm buried in them and the DVD player forcibly uses that. This is to quell the market for unofficial memory cards, because while Sony can't stop competitors making what is essentially some flash ROM and a simple microcontroller, they can stop them from replicating the CSS decryption algorithm through copyright law. And, of course, if memory card manufacturers don't include the CSS algorithm, Sony can simply say to the public "these are inferior quality memory cards - they don't work with our DVD player. Mwuhahahahahaha!"
  

I got this cool CD for my PS2 (UK) - I assume it works on ALL versions though (US/JAP etc). It allows you to select the region you want to viwe a DVD from at startup. It requires a memory card though.

Also, your TV needs to be able to support both screen modes (PAL/NTSC) - otherwise you might get some funny results.

Go have a look at codejunkies - it cost me £19.99 - which I think is around $25.00