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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.

I thought someone was trolling/kidding about the Treamcast but apparently it does exist. No, that's not a typo...that's what the HK wizards who built it call it.

There is precious little info in the reviews I linked to. The dcemu.co.uk review mentioned an empty modem slot...will a DC modem fit the slot? How about the Broadband adapter? What about usage of all my DC goodies with this machine...some of the stuff I like to play requires not one, but two VMUs to make it work like I like it, and I have favorite controllers I use. The one that comes with the Treamcast looks pretty lame. And what about The Typing Of The Dead? Can I plug in my SegaNet keyboard and type some zombie ass to Kingdom Come?

Despite the unanswered questions, the Treamcast suggests there's life in the old platform yet, regardless of Sega killing it before its time. Between the fanboys writing new games for it and the legally questionable but laudable in many other respects manufacture of this brand new version of the platform what remains of Sega is probably kicking itself.

You can't keep a good console down! W00t!

Some links to the said items.

http://www.success-hk.com/review/ps2fliptop/

http://www.success-hk.com/review/ps2slidetool/

Some links to the said items.

http://www.success-hk.com/review/ps2fliptop/

http://www.success-hk.com/review/ps2slidetool/

The best way to organize the files on the cart is with PogoShell. PogoShell lets you create a filesystem on the GBA, you can use it to read text files, play GBA roms and play NES roms. It has a built-in PocketNES emulator, so all you have to do is put the NES roms into a folder in the filesystem before you create a ROM image for burning. Works great!

Buy a rewriteable GBA cart from a place like this. I like the EZ-Flash Advance. Download pocketNES and one of the utilities to build GBA ROMs from pocketNES and a few old NES games. Assemble them together, burn to cart, and knock yourself out. You can fit hundreds of NES games on a 128Mb cart.

There is, however, a TV tuner with composite inputs for GBA available. Anyone have a link to the thing? It'd sure come in handy next time the power goes out.

Here's the TV tuner that I know of. Not too expensive, but I haven't tried it to know how it works.

So there's a lot you can do with that spiffy Gameboy Player. If you have a GameCube, it's a no-brainer, you have to get one. If you're getting a new GameCube you can get a GBA Player for free. So worth it!

So next time you're going camping for a week and can't take all that nature, just get the solar charger and enjoy some quality Advance Wars 2 time without having to watch all that annoying nature.

There is a program like MAME called PocketNES which is an NES emultator for the Gameboy Advance. This allows you to play hundreds of NES games on your GBA. Up to 200 NES roms will fit on a single GBA cartridge.

I personally prefer the opportunity to play the original rom, than a remake, even one that is identical from a gameplay perspective.

So to play NES roms on your GBA you need:
- A flash cartridge and linker (I bought mine at SuccessKH and got great service. I recommend the flash2advance USB linker with a 256 Mbit cartridge.
- PocketNES
- Nintendo Roms, a google search finds these quickly

Or if you don't have a GBA but still want to relive your childhood on linux, os x, or windows, grab your roms and then grab RockNES.

They've already pulled it off. The PAL version of Zelda won't work with the Freeloader. link

After a bit more searching, I found a GBA compatible 64 Mbit flash cartridge with a linker for only $50 + S&H at Success Compu.