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Even GBA development isn't an excuse, again, because of the availability of the Flash Advance Linker mentioned above.

Anyone buying a GP32 for the purpose of playing GBA games is doing so because for whatever reason they think it's a better financial deal for playing pirated games (for the cost of a SmartMedia card) since a GBA SP is cheaper and a GBA is a lot cheaper.

All of this SEEMS to be moot since the link given in the story to GP32 emulators doesn't seem to include a GBA emulator, only GB/GBC.

without fusing my naked retina to the screen

Well, there is your problem right there. Since it's not backlit, if you fuse your retina to the screen, you're blocking all the reflective light from getting to the GBA. No wonder you can't see anything on the screen.

Or, you could just buy one of these case mods.

In the GBA Develop and Backup category, Lik Sang still has the MBV2 cable.

If you want flash memory cartridges and writers for GBA, CDworld and Game Gizmo still have them.

this site gamegizmo.com has a lot of stuff if you miss lik sang (or however it's spelled).

COOL!! the gba is now a console...

For one thing, the Game Boy handheld video game systems have always followed the console pricing model (include the OS license in the price of the games rather than the price of the computer). Thus, the Game Boy systems are handheld consoles.

For another thing, you can play GBA games on TV with the third-party TV de Advance adapter, which qualifies the GBA as a TV console placed somewhere between the Super NES and the Genesis 32x.

Not only does the GBA have a tv-out accessory, it now has tv-in as well.

COOL!! the gba is now a console...

For one thing, the Game Boy handheld video game systems have always followed the console pricing model (include the OS license in the price of the games rather than the price of the computer). Thus, the Game Boy systems are handheld consoles.

For another thing, you can play GBA games on TV with the third-party TV de Advance adapter, which qualifies the GBA as a TV console placed somewhere between the Super NES and the Genesis 32x.

Not only does the GBA have a tv-out accessory, it now has tv-in as well.

I used to order flash carts from lik-sang so I could write my own GBA/GBC applications.

Game Gizmo still has GBA flash carts. I'm a developer too; unfortunately, my site is down because my ISP seems to have blocked incoming connections to my computer.

Well, according to the version on CNet, Sony "has successfully prosecuted several US operations selling PS2 mod chips".

In general, it seems that PS2 and XBox usually do a lot of threatening and their lawyers and bankbooks usually convince people to cut it out. What garage mod chip operation has enough money for a legal battle with Sony or Microsoft?

As a followup, this definitely "brightens" the already vibrant homebrew development scene.

The Visoly flash linker and carts are great, and available from (your friends and mine) Lik-Sang, GameGizmo and Easy Buy 2000 (all no-referral URLs).

The multi-boot cables (for downloading small apps to your GBA without needing to flash a cart) are cool, too, and have been exploited to turn your GBA into a handheld terminal. Check out the PDF on that last link; much nicer than reading the page, with pictures. Wish there was someplace within the continental US to order a couple non-ugly ones from, though. Those MBV2s are just too unweildly to use in sexy handheld terminal demonstrations.

Look at the 3 consoles. PS2 wins if you want a quantity of games, period.

Four.

Nintendo currently sells two consoles: the GameCube, and the 32-bit Game Boy Advance. (Yes, the GBA is a console. It has twice the power of Super NES, and a third party makes a TV adapter.) The GBA can play over a thousand official games, including games designed for Game Boy and Game Boy Color. (Are there more Game Boy games or more PS1 games?) That doesn't even count the demos and mini-games that any C programmer can develop and run on the system with a flash card or $50 link cable.

Gamecube has an amazing controller

I agree, but a fellow has to admit that it's a copy of PlayStation's with the L1 button removed, the L2 and R2 buttons made analog (like Dreamcast), and the left pad and stick interchanged.

Intel only looks good in integer math... games don't do integer math

Yes, 3D games are mostly floating-point, but 2D games (such as ports of some arcade fighting games) use integer math, and game AI uses heavy integer math.

Microsoft needs to bundle: a mediocre DVD player, a mediocre video game player

Microsoft currently sells this for $330 (XBox + DVD dongle).

a mediocre MP3 jukebox

Well within the XBox's capability, but Microsoft would rather use the WMA format than what some journalists have termed "Music Piracy 3".

a mediocre PVR (VCR Replacement)

So you're proposing an XBox + Ultimate TV combo deck. It'll be a while before Microsoft can get costs down to put the price below $300.