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Homebrew Gameboy Advance Lighting Project
palo0019 writes: "I'm sure Slashdotters who picked up Nintendo's new portable have found its screen to leave a little to be desired (Penny Arcade illustrates the point well). Adam Curtis has created a grassroots lighting project called PortableMonopoly.com. I know I would help out if I had any knowledge in the area, I'm tired of playing Castlevania in my bathroom." There's some interesting information about portable video display systems in there as well -- those game designers have some pretty tough compromises to make.
For the hardware hackers out there, IGN has an article how to adjust the contrast on your GBA (and Neo Geo Pocket. w00t): Game Boy Advance Too Dark?
Sorry if this is all redundant, portablemonopoly is /.'ed and I can't get to it
psxndc
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You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
A backlight won't help in the GBA's case. The LCD screen has reflective faceting to improve the visual quality (not to be confused with the reflective plastic cover that actually makes frontlighting the unit unbearable due to glare).
Any light shone through the back will only succeed in "washing out" the colour due to the properties of the LCD. Personally I would have preferred an organic electroluminescent display (OLED) to this darkened LCD nightmare. OLEDs produce their own light and are more energy efficient than LCDs, let alone LCDs with backlighting.
"Where shall the word be found, where will the word resound? Not here, there is not enough silence." -T.S. Eliot
Or people can get to the meat of the story by just going to http://pocket.ign.com/news/35946.html, which has full details on where the control is and how to access it. I'd rather buy the special screwdriver and take the thing apart than puncture the sticker on the back of my Gameboy Advance, but still, it's nice to know where it is if I'm desperate. =)
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Some GBA owners have also found an adjustable pot under a sticker on the back of the system that serves as a contrast control. Seems to wash out the display and increase flickering due to interlacing, but some claim slight improvements. See the IGN board discussing it http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=6921262&re plies=462
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Anyone remember why the GameBoy Advance isn't backlit?
Ah yes...battery consumption! Take a look at the Sega Game Gear(4 or 6 AA), Sega Nomad(6AA), Atari Lynx(4 AA plus a 6 D battery expansion pack), Turbo Express(6-8 AA I think and the best handheld ever). Those all had backlight displays! You also were only able to play a maximum of 4-8 hours depending on the system before the batteries were dead.
Now I don't know about any of you, but I'd rather pay $5 for a little clip on worm light for the system(which works quite well), and still have my 20 hours of gameplay on the GBA.