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Listen To Your Game Boy Advance
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."
Think what we could do with a beowulf cluster of those (sorry, i couldn't resist)
:)
Seriously though, it looks interesting -- the GBA is a nice little piece of hardware
Notice to Nintendo! Stick with what you know best...gaming consoles, you already are the Apple equivliant in the Game Console Industry. NO PDA's NO MP3 Players! Just stick with ther games!
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I know it makes for good headlines, but nowhere does it say Nintendo is endorsing this.
"Eventually, the company hopes that this technology can be used for study aids, advertisements, museum guides, or digital comic books..."
If they market the thing along those lines, I bet we'll be looking back next year saying 'What was that stupid game boy trick they were trying to pass off on us last year...?'
Chaos, panic, disorder...my work here is done.
1. Does it run Linux
2. Does it play OGG?
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.
My concerns are with the quality. The first is with the Audio...the DSP that is built into the GBA isn't going to be playing my favorite bands in any form of high quality. My second concern with with video. 240x160x16bit color basically can't be done in full motion on the GBA (just can't make enough memory writes before VBLANK ends). 240x160x8bit is though...but who wants to watch 256 color vides?
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
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.
Aww.. kickass.. Now I can listen to a Zelda remix.... while I play the Zelda remake...
"...content recorded by users (through the use of a special adapter) will not be able to be shared with other users."
:)
Ah yes, the 'cone of silence'...how unique
One thing that it lacks is a proper input device. To enter addresses and send emails etc. you need, above all, a quick and accurate way to enter text into this beastie
"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.
link to the original article directly? Planet Gamecube's just point to that link with rubblish abstract.
SO, if I have a large volume of audio/video files already then there is not much point to this because it wont play my current files. Unless, if I understand right, I transfer the files to their 'special' smart media cards with the codec built in.
And, what if I copy something to the device? That media belongs to me now right?
How can i archive this new media to my PC with the rest of my files if there is 'protection' from copying files?
This seems like a pointless attempt to get PDA functionality out of a piece of hardware designed to only play games.
B: MP3 players for the original Game Boy have been available for many years, and never sold particularly well. This was probably due to the decompression being done in hardware, driving prices up. 40 dollars for an MP3 player isn't bad.
C: The article mentions Museum tours and Manga as potential content to be distributed on this system, none of which compete in any way with the IPod.
D: The article says you will be able to get 5 hours of audio on a 32 MB smartmedia card. Either this means the compression level will be rediculously high and the output quite, quite bad, or they are using MIDI / Mod techniques, or (and this is my personal opinion), Planet GameCube just doesn't have a factchecker on staff.
DMCA Pandering? Competition for the 20GB gee-I-sound-and-look-sleek Ipod? Are people throwing random buzzwords into stories theses days in order to get them posted? What does this even have to do with PDAs?
Come on Filmsmith and Timothy... Justify yourselves. What do you know that we don't?
P.S. The article that this article is based upon can be found, with pictures, here.
This Sig is a mnemonic device designed to allow you to recognize this author in the future.
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.
Nobody talks about MP3/CD players. My new iRiver SlimX 400 has about 11 and a half hours at 128kbps, with full track titles, 23 hour battery life, and even an FM tuner. Plus if you get bored, you can play snake (nibbles, etc.) on the smart remote it comes with. It's thinner than a AA battery on the side, and looks like 5 CDs stacked on top of one another. Not to mention I don't have to worry about taking an hour of my favorite music, I just burn 700mb at a time and take what I want, where I want. Plus iRiver actually puts a lot of support behind their products, and if you check out the firmware site, they update around every couple months, adding new features, and even increasing batterylife by use of intelligent buffering techniques. Oh... did I mention there's 6 minutes of anti-shock? Hah... GBA audio lame... Overpriced mp3 harddrive players lame... Expensive smart media/flash mp3 players lame...
-Christopher Wu
http://www.christopherwu.net/
There was a company a looong while back that wanted to turn the *original* GameBoy into a PDA of sorts. They created a keyboard module that came with the cartridge.
Not a bad idea.
What would really get my attention is a 802.11 wireless pack for the GBA. It'd probably be a little nicer than what affordable web-enabled cell phones can offer, and far more bandwidth (even at low-power modes).
It'd be quite a challenge, but very rewarding. Not many people can afford to grab a PDA just for surfing the web wireless, but I certainly wouldn't mind a GBA solution if the price was right.
The only big inconvenience might be typing. Maybe a stand and a keyboard attachment?
Then I guess this and this must be a figment of my imagination then?
Um, the GBA has a 3.5 mm headphone jack right? 20 seconds.
Banaaaana!
Instead of spending $150 for a low-end Clie, or spending $50 on a clearance-sale Visor Deluxe (thanks for the boxing day sale, Staples! :) ), someone will go right out and spend $100 for a GBA, plus $40 for the adaptor so that they can use a substandard PDA.
I know by the time I press "Submit" everyone else will have made the same point, but it had to be said.
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!
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of nintendo and have never owned another console (because all my friends had them and I would use theirs).
However, some quick googling turned up this link that shows the most recent price fixing by nintendo, occurring just last year. Some more searching will uncover much more.
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
Out of curiosity why should Nintendo "share" their old games..ESPECIALLY if people are willing to buy them? I just don't get the logic that would make you think "oh, well because they are old, they should be free"
That said, yeah, other aspects of Nintendo's operations have been..less than clean.
ummm...yeah...after every other Game Boy has included that on-board, I was kinda expecting the same thing for the SP. I don't appreciate having to pay $10-15 extra just to have the ability to actually hear the game.
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I'd say that $199 is overpriced for a CD-MP3 player. I'd rather just fork out the extra $100 and get a nice 5 gig iPod, complete with near-instantaneous (esp. compared to CD burning) file transfer and complete integration with my music software. That, or there are plenty of other jukeboxes available right in your price range.
It seems like more a portable video player than an Ipod.
Here is the link
http://mb.vgdirectory.com/game020403d.htm
"AM3 announced they will release a Smart Media Adaptor for GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Advance SP in October, which allows you to download multimedia contents and play on the GameBoy Advance. The AM3 Smart Media Adaptor will retail for 2800 yen, and the AM3 32M Smart Media Cards will retail for 2000 yen each. Downloadable contents such as e-Books, animated cartoon will retail between 200 - 500 yen each. AM3 is also planning to install kiosk terminals in convenient stores for customers to purchase contents."
Is seems they plan on distrubuting content through kiosks and the internet, as well as selling smartcards with content already on it.
/ am3_13.htm
w s05.html / am3.htm
They plan on selling music, videos, comics, e-books, and photographs.
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030204
The product's price seems resonable at 2800yen ($28.46US) for the device. The 32MB Smartcard will be 2,000yen ($16.75), and individual content will cost 200yen ($1.68).
Another interesting thing is that since Palm uses Arm7 processors and SDs that content will probably be compatible with Palm devices at a later date.
Links: (In Japanese)
Gamspot Japan
http://www.zdnet.co.jp/gamespot/gsnews/0302/04/ne
Watch Impress
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030204
Offical Page
http://www.am3.co.jp/
Listen to your Game Boy Advance...
It's trying to tell you something...
Listen closely and you can hear it...
It's saying:
"You were actually stupid enough to buy an MP3 player addon for your gameboy? Hah!"
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
Back in the early nineties there was a "game" called workboy for the original gameboy which was basically a PDA. It even came with a keyboard.
Of course, that was a flop at the time. But I think that one of the big problems with game consoles today (as opposed to before) is that you can get pretty enough throughput (which is the most important feature of graphical applications) with a general purpose CPU as you can with a gaming CPU.
So perhaps branching into the markets of their general use counterparts may allow them to be justified (well, I could get a PDA to use at work which plays games sometimes, or a gameboy...).
I know that I have pretty much decided that the age of the console is over. For me it's PC and PDA games from now on.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
Does anyone remember the songboy ?
Meat is murder, I eat chicken.
Well, you can get Gameparks' GP32 then. It has 133Mhz, 320x240@16bit, there is a MP3 Player, a DivX3 Player, Smartmedia slot built in, loads of full speed emulators (SMS, NES, Scumm, Sarien, GB, C64, MSX, C16, ZX), load of nearly full speed emulators being worked on (pcengine, genesis, snes) and even Linux ported to it. Some people work on a GBA emulator even, but that will be hard to do 100% right, although the GP32 has an ARM tdmi9, so they try to execute GBA code directly and use the dma to trap hardware calls. And be reminded that this is a handheld game, it has a microswitch joystick, much better than gba's joypad and way ahead any PDA's unusable directional pad.
It's destined to join the Gameboy camera in the worse than fucking useless pantheon of add-ons for the Gameboy.
... me bringing the gameboy back into the meeting room. After last time, I don't think the fact that it can do PDA functions is going to keep him from flying off the handle.
I'll just have to stick with playing games on my PDA... he think's I'm sooo productive then.
Snooze and you lose your sushi.