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care to let me know how a big, blue box that can't play DVD's

The Xbox comes in blue? I thought the Xbox couldn't play DVD Video titles without the DVD Video decoder software cartridge that plugs into the controller port.

represents "sentiments of small size?"

A GameCube with included Game Boy Player, which can play a few hundred GameCube games and thousands of Game Boy games (judging from goodgbx and goodgba database sizes), costs $150. An Apex DVD player costs $60. Total: $210. An Xbox console, which can play only a few hundred Xbox games, costs $180. The DVD decoder costs $30. Total: $210. Neither is more expensive, but the Xbox is likely to be heavier than the GCN and Apex put together, and you can't play games on a separate TV when a family member is playing Meg Ryan movies on the Xbox for 12 hours straight. You don't even need a questionably legal and hard-to-install modchip to run your own code on a GCN with Game Boy Player; all you need is the MBV2 cable.

You can already play movies on the GBA, with a GBA TV Tuner and a VCD player. Just connect the VCD player to the TV Tuner, and there you have your VCDs playing... Not very good quality, but it works.

You can already play movies on the GBA, with a GBA TV Tuner and a VCD player. Just connect the VCD player to the TV Tuner, and there you have your VCDs playing... Not very good quality, but it works.

lik-sang appears to have a connector for sale. Here you go!

http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?category=83&produ cts_id=2701&

buy an usb adapter for the game cube controller from lik-sang [they need money for the lawsuit vs microsoft, so its the slashdot-correct option, too]. the gc pad is recognized as a HID device, and it works with mame right out of the box.

--strangeloop

How long before someone finds a way to use them as cheap ROM dumpers?

They already are. Just connect any GBA, GBA SP (with the light turned off; otherwise you get power issues), or GCN Game Boy Player to a PC with the MBV2 cable (which Nintendo still lets Lik Sang sell even after the lawsuit), and then exercise your Betamax fair use right with mb -1 file.gba -w 300. (Not available in Australia, whose copyright laws consider fair use a much narrower exception.)

I'm a huge fan of 2D games too, but I've never owned a GB because of the tiny screen. Sorry, I can't handle 2 inch screens.

But even more exciting than the gameboy player is the Hori Digital Controller. This is what will make the GB player a must have, at least for me.

Ideally I'd like to use a Playstation 2 controller on the Xbox...

You aren't alone and thanfully you can get something that works. Lik-Sang sell them for US$15 or so. See here

That looks nice indeed. Also on my gamecube radar is Viewtiful Joe, and later this month (?) the U.S. release of the Gameboy Player so i can catch up with all the 2D goodness I've been missing out on (I hate 2 inch screens).

Sony has done this with the PS2, but instead of custom designed controllers, they made the entire system "themed" as a special edition. Much nicer IMHO. Link to one of them here. Colors are interesting, a little too pastel and smells like hello kitty :)

Ahh damn it. fucking slashdot.

clickable link

Supposedly there's a Smart Media Card Reader coming out for the GBA that will be able to do this. I'm not sure how big they can get, but SMC's are pretty cheap.

So if you are an ambitious entrepreneur (maybe dreaming of getting into the gaming industry?), J2ME may be your ticket

Ugh, I hope not... after a few weeks of developing a pretty simple J2ME game for mobile phones I'm not a fan. You're at the mercy of the MIDP implementation for many quite basic game functions like sound, transparent sprite support, pixel operations and some IO bits and pieces. And Java is just the wrong language when (in the case of the Nokia 3410) you have to limit your total jar size to 50K but still try to write portable code which'll still be relevant on the top-end whizzy colour phones. Every frigging class takes another few precious bytes from your artwork / set of trivia questions, but what can you do? Trying to write less classes really isn't something Java is built to support so I've ended up writing a pre-processor to generate different source trees for each slightly different mobile platform, and the build, test & turnaround times are subsequently horrendous. Though this is just endemic to embedded development, having to run your code & graphics through three or four different Java-based tools to generate a finished product is painful.

On the other hand, your unmodified GBA can be connected to a PC very cheaply to quickly upload demos to its RAM, or to use it to write images to flash cartridges for more substantial pieces of work. Use gcc and a few well-researched documents around the internet and you can get at the full graphics & sound capabilities of the GBA. It makes for much simpler to understand code which can gets results quickly: the portability aspect of Java in embedded devices seems to be a real red herring.

So, umm, to bring the ramble to a close, Java might be nice where you have a roughly similar set of platforms to deploy on, but where your back-end APIs and deployment platforms can vary as wildly as MIDP-supporting devices can, it demands you write pre-processors and other things that are anathema to the language. So if you're after the GBA to showcase a game idea (and I still think it's a great platform for that) you'll get much better results in C.

Err... it's called a flash cart, which you need if you want more than one game on your GBA anyway. I bought mine from Lik Sang. Besides, without a flash cart, you're tethered to your PC (or, rather, you have to have a PC around so you can power up the GBA and copy the game over), so you might as well just use a PC-based emulator. *shrug*

PocketNES runs quite nicely stand-alone.

Without a link cable, how do you copy PocketNES and the NES ROM dump from the PC to the GBA's memory?

the link shown does NOT indicate GBA emulator, only GB also (as noted here it also is not backlit.... cool toy, but not as feature rich as the post suggests....

Not to toot my own horn, but I knew about the GP32 long ago. They've been selling it on Lik Sang for a while now.

The site is great because they offer all kinds of unusual gaming-oriented Asian stuff and, like TG it's always a blast to go there and check out the weird/interesting stuff they have to offer. I know I sound like an advertising bot, but it's a really great site (you may have heard of them because they got their ass sued to the moon by MS a little while ago for selling X-Box modchips).

You can go with a B&W Game Boy Camera or a color GBA mini camera.

But unfortunately, if you plug one of these cameras into a GBA SP system (rather than into an Afterburner-modded original GBA), the picture will be upside down...

free as in source.

You still need to dump it on a cartridge so you can play on your GBA, right?
(something along the lines of this)
Unless I missed something? and if I did I'm going to run out and buy a GBA this week...

And a headphone jack is available, only you have to pay extra (about $8, or $5 for an integrated headphone... go figure).

There are a lot of nifty accessories available now, like a pager-style holster.

Sure, you can get it here for $69.

It looks like you can pick them up from Lik Sang. $13 with shipping, but it's truly bizarre that they didn't include it built in - after all it has a speaker anyway, so all you'd need is a tap off that.

The problem with the Dreamcast VGA box was that it only worked for a select few games.

Even if the game did claim to support VGA output, some of the games looked horrible at the higher resolution, such as Capcom vs. SNK and Grandia 2.

The Gamecube can output to a monitor, check out this box from Lik-Sang. I haven't tried it myself, but I have heard that the VGA output on the Gamecube is better than on the Dreamcast.

Yeah, theres a VERY third-party peripheral for N64 that allows SNES or Famicom/NES carts to be played.
There also was the "Super Gameboy" like you mentioned, gameboy->SNES

And if you're so inclined, theres the N64 version of that as well.. n64 / gameboy converter

Yeah, theres a VERY third-party peripheral for N64 that allows SNES or Famicom/NES carts to be played.
There also was the "Super Gameboy" like you mentioned, gameboy->SNES

And if you're so inclined, theres the N64 version of that as well.. n64 / gameboy converter

That's what's cool about Doom on the GP32.

The GBA plays Doom, but only the original episodes. On the GP32 , you can play any WAD files.

The IDSA seems to be on a roll here. Threatening legitimate efforts. Look what they recently send to Lik-Sang for selling (!) videogames.
They make themselves look like a bunch of idiots this way.

The IDSA seems to be on a roll when it comes to stupid cease and desist letters. Lik-Sang's ISP recently received a letter from the IDSA alleging that they had "a good faith belief" that Lik-Sang was violating the DMCA (and apparently the DMCA applies to Hong Kong now?) because their prices were too cheap and that meant that they must be pirating the discs and selling them just above cost.

Lik-Sang, of course, went absolutely wild over it. They found it to be pretty hilarious and saw "So cheap, the IDSA finds it suspicious!" to be a brilliant selling point for their new "Price Crusher" promotion.

The IDSA seems to be on a roll when it comes to stupid cease and desist letters. Lik-Sang's ISP recently received a letter from the IDSA alleging that they had "a good faith belief" that Lik-Sang was violating the DMCA (and apparently the DMCA applies to Hong Kong now?) because their prices were too cheap and that meant that they must be pirating the discs and selling them just above cost.

Lik-Sang, of course, went absolutely wild over it. They found it to be pretty hilarious and saw "So cheap, the IDSA finds it suspicious!" to be a brilliant selling point for their new "Price Crusher" promotion.

I do most of that already with my Sony PLaystation II...


if you want your own.

The media-player aspect is only a lame-duck excuse. I personally see linux+Xbox as a possibility of a REAL WEB-TV device that isn't crippled by lame service... you can use any dial-up or boradband and still let grandma surf for bizzare things that old people surf for.

this is something that is still horribly lacking.. WEB-TV and the likes all suck because yoiu HAVE to use the horrible and overpriced service from that company.

This thing is very cool... but there is just a few things that could be done to make it just a tiny bit better.
First off- the (nintendo®) Logo on the front is backwards when the screen is in the open position, this is the same mistake that Apple made with it's powerbooks and eventually fixed Pic
Second- the shoulder buttons are upside down! I assume they did this so you could check to see which button was R and Which was L when you flip the device towards you... but really is that necessary? Most people, even children know their left from their right hands- and even if they don't they somehow adapt and figure out what each button does... anyways perhaps it's only me but the buttons seem upside-down Pic
Lastly- a dimmer on the backlight sounds like a good idea.
It looks great and I really look forward to getting my hands on one- nice job Nintendo!

This thing is very cool... but there is just a few things that could be done to make it just a tiny bit better.
First off- the (nintendo®) Logo on the front is backwards when the screen is in the open position, this is the same mistake that Apple made with it's powerbooks and eventually fixed Pic
Second- the shoulder buttons are upside down! I assume they did this so you could check to see which button was R and Which was L when you flip the device towards you... but really is that necessary? Most people, even children know their left from their right hands- and even if they don't they somehow adapt and figure out what each button does... anyways perhaps it's only me but the buttons seem upside-down Pic
Lastly- a dimmer on the backlight sounds like a good idea.
It looks great and I really look forward to getting my hands on one- nice job Nintendo!

"New front light screen"

Sounds a lot like engrish to me.

"GameBoy SP new and much enjoyable front light screen! All GameBoy games can you have play!"

or you can just buy a replacement mount.

Will a GP32 do? I wish someone in the US would carry them.

The gp32 is as close to an "open gameboy" as exists today.

PDA (click bottom link, they check referrers)-like utilities and audio players have existed for years. This isn't exactly killer app territory.

(Yes, that WB pic is a horridly fake-looking mockup, but it's the best I can do without going 2 hours from here, digging through old NPs, and scanning the -official- fake-looking mockup.)

The Gamepark gp32 has a 2.4GHZ RF Module for connecting to other devices.

Frankly, the gp32 blows the GBA away:

# CPU 32 Bit 133MHZ RISC CPU (ARM9)
# Display: TFT 3.5" Reflective TFT LCD(65,536 colors)
# ROM 512 Kbytes
# Storage SMC(Smart Media Card)
# RAM 8MB SDRAM
# PC Connection Cable USB Port connection cable
# Sound 16Bit PCM Stereo Sound, MIDI support (over 32 poly), 4 Channel WAV Mixing
# Definition 320 X 240 Pixels
# Power 2 AA Batteries (12 Hours use time between charges)
# MP3 MPEG(I,II) Audio Support
# Controls 8-Way directional pad (joystick) + Durable 6 key buttons
# Wireless multi-player gaming
# Internet Connectivity
# Online multiplayer game can be played by high-speed Internet connection

It runs SNES, GBC, C64, NES, 2600, etc. emulators, plus Doom and even Quake. Mame and GBA emulation are on the way. MP3 and Divx players too.

The Gamepark gp32 has a 2.4GHZ RF Module for connecting to other devices.

Frankly, the gp32 blows the GBA away:

# CPU 32 Bit 133MHZ RISC CPU (ARM9)
# Display: TFT 3.5" Reflective TFT LCD(65,536 colors)
# ROM 512 Kbytes
# Storage SMC(Smart Media Card)
# RAM 8MB SDRAM
# PC Connection Cable USB Port connection cable
# Sound 16Bit PCM Stereo Sound, MIDI support (over 32 poly), 4 Channel WAV Mixing
# Definition 320 X 240 Pixels
# Power 2 AA Batteries (12 Hours use time between charges)
# MP3 MPEG(I,II) Audio Support
# Controls 8-Way directional pad (joystick) + Durable 6 key buttons
# Wireless multi-player gaming
# Internet Connectivity
# Online multiplayer game can be played by high-speed Internet connection

It runs SNES, GBC, C64, NES, 2600, etc. emulators, plus Doom and even Quake. Mame and GBA emulation are on the way. MP3 and Divx players too.

Hmm. Unless those 32k+ games are really 32767 variations on Tetris and a couple FPS I'd agree. What we really need is a open platform. Even ID started out with the humble beginnings, growing out of shareware. IIRC the GP32 was supposed to encourage outside development, relying on profits from sale of hardware, unlike Sony, Nintendo, Xbox.

Correction the new port is for the new battery recharging pack, and the new headphone adapter they call it a multi-access port

Lik-Sang is neither a hardware manufacturer

Actually, Lik Sang does manufacture a few devices such as the excellent MBV2 cable, which connects a Game Boy Advance system to a PC in much the same way that Nintendo's cable connects a GBA to a GameCube console. The MBV2 cable lets you run homebrew software on the GBA by copying a binary from the PC into the GBA's 288 KB of internal RAM. But because proprietary commercial games are 2 MB to 8 MB in size, the MBV2 won't let you play those on a GBA. Thus, Nintendo turned a blind eye turned to the MBV2 cable and let Lik Sang continue to sell it.

Plug: Tetanus On Drugs, a homebrew falling tetramino game for GBA. Works with MBV2 cable.

Lik-Sang has more than mod chips, GBA dev kits and such. They also sell the afterburner internal light for the the GBA and the excellent Gamepark GP32. This little handheld game has a much bigger screen than the GBA, has a 113Mhz ARM 7 CPU and uses SMC cards instead of cartridges.

Yes, a Linux port is under way. Anybody know of an existing Linux SMC driver?

Alternately, you could pick up a Gamecube (I like Lik-Sang's modded Japanese Panasonic Q--import GC games and region-free DVD!) and GC game Animal Crossing, which includes Excitebike among other old NES titles (My favorite is Donkey Kong Jr. Math).

Are you able to play a lot of games on Linux?

There are over 1,000 Game Boy games published in the United States. Just buy one, put it in a cart reader, copy it to your PC, and emulate it. Cart readers are easy to find for the GBA, harder for the classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color. I will admit that the right controller does make a difference.

Advance Wars
Metroid Fusion
Golden Sun
Tactics Ogre

Eye of the Beholder - if you like throwback games, it's really similar to the old D&D Gold Box game.

The GBA is a great system, IF you can get enough light to it. On a plane, the little overhead lights work great for lighting up the screen. If you're willing to modify your GBA you can install the Afterburner backlight mod.

off the record, Nintendo, et al. aren't too concerned about importing of games (and DVDs, etc), compared to piracy.

What about homebrew software development for Nintendo consoles such as the GBA? Here's what I've gathered about Nintendo's behavior in practice:

• Devices designed for region modding, such as NES, SNES, and N64 region adapters and GCN modchips: Blind eye.
• Devices that make piracy easy, such as flash carts with the same memory map as official carts: Lawsuit.
• Devices designed only for homebrew development, such as the MBV2 cable produced by Lik Sang Manufacturing: Blind eye.

We just have the region locks to keep the suits happy

Specifically, 1) to distinguish 50 Hz (Europe/Australia) and 60 Hz (Japan/America) consoles, and 2) to solve the "Peter Pan problem", where different entities own a particular franchise in different markets. (Barrie's Peter Pan is in PD in >=1923 USA and life+50 Japan but not in life+70 EU.) So why did Nintendo put Japan vs. America region locks on the NES, Super NES, N64, and GCN consoles, but not on the GBA system?

Buy a Gravis gamepad an a video card that supports video out.

Let's see... Can you get a good gamepad (the Gravis GamePad Pro USB is too touchy on the SE diagonal), a video card with TV-out, and a $30 PC link cable for under $40? thought so.

Even if you don't have a Cube, it's difficult to squeeze a good gamepad, a video card with TV-out and 3D acceleration, and a PC link cable for $190 ($150 for Cube and $40 for wideboy).

i already bought the GBA "cybernetic upgrade" tv adapter on a trip to hong kong.. it's not licensed by nintendo though, it makes your GBA big and bulky, requires it's own power source, and costs about the same..i just installed it on a second GBA that i had laying around (they're very cheap in asia). look into it if you don't have a gamecube but you are as annoyed with the GBA screen (w/no afterburner) as many other people are.

How about just about anything else of the shelf? I'll give you Unreal 2k3, but anything not written for Linux is doomed to crash and take hours of fooling with it

Really? When I want a 2D platformer, I just go to the "Game Boy Advance" section, pick out a game I want, put it in my GBA, and play it. It's even easier than Windows XP's so-called "plug and pray". If I want to play it on a big screen, I plug my GBA into my computer, dump the cartridge, and fire up VisualBoyAdvance.

I won't give up Windows until there's a decent amount of games I can live with for Linux.

Want games on Linux? Buy a Game Boy Advance system, an "MBV2" link cable from Lik Sang, and some GBA games. Then dump the games to your computer with mb -w 300 -1 game.gba, and run them in VisualBoyAdvance (which, incidentally, just went GPL).