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Listen To Your Game Boy Advance

Posted by timothy on from the uncumbrance dept.

filmsmith writes "It looks like Nintendo may be interested in using the GBA to enter the PDA market and even considering itself competition for the Apple iPod. It smells of DMCA pandering, though. 'It looks like protection will be in place to ensure that even content recorded by users (through the use of a special adapter) will not be able to be shared with other users.' Planet Gamecube has the article here."

7 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Again... by Slashdot+Insider · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know it makes for good headlines, but nowhere does it say Nintendo is endorsing this.

  2. Nooooo by Kirby-meister · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I just want games.

    I don't care if my PS2 can run Linux, or my Xbox can be turned into some media center. I don't care that my Gameboy Advance will soon try to take the place of my iPod.

    I just want games. I am a gamer. MAME for Xbox, or DreamSNES or other emulators for Dreamcast (play NES/SNES/Genesis games on your Dreamcast), or the new e-card reader for the Gameboy Advance I know some people would rather do the opposite of what I just said, but I only care about the games. Smash Bros, Panzer Dragoon, Radiant Silvergun, Gunstar Heroes, Super Mario Bros, Final Fantasy Tactics...not Red Hat, MPlayer, X server, Xvid, ogg....

    Besides, I have my computer for all that other stuff. My 19" CRT is a much better choice for video due to the better clarity compared to my 20" JVC from 1995.

    1. Re:Nooooo by WaKall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The more a device tries to do, the more likely it will have trouble and/or fall short. There's a lot to be said for custom hardware/firmware, instead of solving everything in software.

      Convergence is a good way to solve some problems - cell phone + pager + PDA, for example. However, a functional laptop will never fit in your pocket, and a phone will never display enough to substitute for your laptop. So you'll have both and use/carry when appropriate.

      I like having a separate device for games (aka, my GBA with afterburner). If it gets outdated, I replace it, and keep my phone. Likewise for the phone, I can replace it at will.

      I imagine the market would get pretty saturated if you made every permutation of convergence devices for sale, and you'd still have to address the problems of battery power as you throw more processor to do things in software, or just add more hardware into a device and make it larger.

      Then there's 8 year olds with GBAs - they probably don't need/want a cell phone and PDA.

  3. -1 Exagerated by kweg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    from the article -
    "32MB SmartMedia card can hold up to 24 minutes of video, and 5 hours of audio."

    That's some pretty low quality.

  4. What format is this? by Arcaeris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "A 32MB SmartMedia card can hold up to 24 minutes of video, and 5 hours of audio."

    Holy God, compression are they using? On the audio side, a 128 kbps mp3 runs at about 1 MB/min, and that sounds like crap to the discerning ear. I guess on the Gameboy speakers it won't really matter: all you'll hear are pops and cracks.

    As for the video, 24 minutes? I guess if the screen is small and the resolution bad, but who wants to watch porn on their Gameboy anyway? I never dreamed of the day I'd see GameBoy Pocket Pool.

  5. Re:this is normal for nintendo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They have never been much for sharing, even their old games. They can still profit from them and so still want to sell everything to users.

    Imagine that. A company wants to profit from the product they create. Fuckers.

    They currently still sell even their ancient NES games as playable on the GBA through the use of the e-card reader.

    Thus, the ancient NES games are playable. If the makers of the game can turn a profit, why shouldn't they be allowed to do so? That's what they were made for in the first place.

    Or should NES games enter the public domain after 10 years, because you want to play an emulator? Come on. It's not abandonware. Nintendo has all the right in the world to prevent the illegal copying of their games.

    Just because Nintendo has a great line of games and (in my opinion) a great line of consoles, doesn't mean they are a morally correct company.

    Bunk. It's like you listen to Lessig but you're not really hearing him. The creators of the work have the right to be compensated for their work, for a reasonable window of time.

    They have done everything from price fixing to scamming the government...

    This I know nothing about, but I'd be curious to read more if you've got links.

    Sorry. It sounds like I'm picking on you here, which is not the intent. I'm just bothered by your sense of entitlement.

  6. PDA? I think not. by Latrommi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It looks like Nintendo may be interested in using the GBA to enter the PDA market

    And how many other successful PDA's can you name that have no touchscreen or keyboard (other than the control pad and a couple buttons). Or are they going to come out with the GBA keyboard? Seriously now, the thing isn't even backlit!