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What I find interesting is how many people were frustrated with the big N and their dark GBAs. Some enterprising individual found a way to retrofit a front light onto the LCD using what they called Afterburner They underestimated the demand and quickly sold out. Several months later with pre-orders in the 100,000s they released a DIY kit with decent instructions for about $35. I installed the lights on many GBAs for friends and family who became the envy of their peers and even more wanted them, even willing to pay me an extra $150 in some cases. Battery life was only diminished minimally, so Nintendo's claim of leaving it out to save on battery life is plain and simple BS. Nintendo was and still is very arrogant and rarely listened to what consumers wanted. IMO Nintendo got a face full of egg watching the public willing to spend 2x as much of the original to have a $10 part installed. I don't know if the SP was already in development, or did they only consider making it due the the huge demand for aftermarket installations. Even still, the GBA feels more comfortable than the SP.

That's Seal King. I've got a box of them....

Plus something like the Game Axe (http://www.goldenshop.com.hk/AI-trad/Misc_htm/m_g ameaxe.htm) which is way more portable than any of the old NES Models.

On eBay, only 2 weeks ago I found a Japanese importer who had several PSP units to sell (pre-releases that would be shipped for 12/12). I guess he figured the demand would be huge and he would make big profit, so he started the bid at $0 to get attention. It turned out, most people had never even heard of PSP selling yet and thought it was a scam (many questions to the seller at the bottom of the auction included, "Are you selling a link?" "Why are you selling this 3-4 months before the release?." Or possibly people saw the retail value of $200-250 and felt if they paid more they would be getting ripped-off.

Long story short, I managed to snag me one for just over $200US (and $25US shipping to Canada, which I find is fairly reasonable). The same unit on eBay as we speak is going for $600-$700US. I guess it pays to find these things out early ;)

Even retailers, such as Lik-Sang are taking advantage of the demand by jacking up prices. They claim it is "out of their control," although Sony still claims to lose $250US on each unit (eep).

A couple weeks ago before I managed to snag the eBay auction, I had going around trying to find short pre-order lines (or finding unethical ways of cutting in line). Everyone has their price, right? After several emails back and forth from goldenshop, I found Ronald's price was $400US for the value pack. I told him I was interested, only because it may have been my only chance to get a unit before Christmas. We agreed upon $29 shipping, and things seemed to be settled. Well, that was until yesterday. I guess Ronald got quite a few of these "deals" once customers found out how limited the supply was. His "Buy-It-Now" price (so to speak), is now US$635 (followed again with the "this price is beyond our control" line). I immediately refused the offer. Only minutes later he responds back, telling me if I wait a bit, he might lower it. It sounds like a reverse-eBay method, starting high, and seeing how low he has to go before he can sell them all. Not a bad idea at all, but why not just auction them on eBay? For a slightly lower price, for around $584, you can get the Standard Pack from success-hk.

If you don't mind waiting a bit, I highly recommend play-asia. Even with all the pre-order hype, they had a very reasonable price (around retail). When they found they were accepting more orders than they could handle, they promptly closed their pre-order lines. They also had the very first review of the PSP, even though it was a bit stingy on many details.

Wireless AV transmitters kill WLAN. Uncompressed analog TV signals eat bandwidth like no tomorrow and these gadgets use the same ISM band as WLANs.

Don't confuse this Dcube with NEC's D-Cube .

Look here

This little thing is what I use to merge A/V with my computer. Of course, I have a 24 inch monitor, so I don't suffer from having to play ps2 and vhs movies on a tiny little awful computer screen.

As for tivo capabilities, I don't know if there are open source drivers/software for it, but this little thing seems to be all you would need.

Look on this site for players that can defeat the new Regional Code Enhancement (RCE) protection. Also, apparently all Shinco DVD players can defeat RCE protection with a few steps.

It *can* be done. I frequently boot up Capcom vs. Marvel when I'm waiting on a download to let out with some Wolverine-style agression. It would be so much more pleasant if I had a little arcade-style joystick that sat on the left side of my keyboard.

Buy the Namco Arcade Stick for the Playstation and a PSX->PC USB convertor. This combination works in Linux and it's a solid joystick with good tactile response.

for those who dont like broken links
http://www3.goldenshop.com.hk/AI-trad/gba/tvadapte r.htm

They should work with that thing, right?
N64/PSX to PC USB converter
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