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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."

25 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. w00t by e12532 · · Score: 3, Funny

    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 :)

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

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

  3. Oh yeah, this will be good by Cali+Thalen · · Score: 4, Funny

    "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.
  4. 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 ShadowDrake · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Convergence is, by and large, a good thing. It means fewer devices to pack, learn, and keep fed. The CPU power and memory is already paid for, and the system is presumably designed to remain running fairly continuously, so why not only require users to carry one box and keep one set of batteries charged?

      --
      It's just like a fascist dictatorship, without the punctual rail service!
    2. 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.

  5. A Few Concerns by GweeDo · · Score: 5, Informative

    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
    1. Re:A Few Concerns by vandel405 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've Actually done some gameboy advance development (http://www.neo-modus.com/GBAAtaxx.zip). And IIRC, the GBA is running at 60fps. I doubt any mpegs are gonna be 60fps, maybe 24fps? Anyway, that doubles your write time. Anyway, you're going to need to double buffer, which means you should use mode 5, which is 160x128. So now you almost have a factor of 4 increase in time, I think it can be done...

      But then again, who cares about 160x128 mpegs, unless its pr0n.

  6. -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.

  7. Special adapter by djupedal · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...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 :)

  8. Audio + Video do not a PDA make by Mr_Tulip · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I fail to see how this will make the Gameboy Advance into a PDA.. Although I'd love this to happen, coz then I could claim a gameboy as a legitimate Tax Deduction =)

    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

  9. 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.

  10. Why doesn't /. by jsse · · Score: 4, Informative

    link to the original article directly? Planet Gamecube's just point to that link with rubblish abstract.

  11. PDA market? by Chris+Canfield · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A: the article in question says that a consortium of 3rd party companies (Toshiba, Imagica, and Bandai), none of which are related to Nintendo, have created essentially an MP3 / media player for the Game Boy Advance.

    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.

    --
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  12. 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.

  13. bah... already got 11 & 1/2 hours in my pocket by skermit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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/
  14. Expansion Again by grimsweep · · Score: 3, Informative

    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?

    1. Re:Expansion Again by The+Notorious+ASP · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm not even sure where to begin. To me, this falls under the "sure, it can be done, but... um... why?"

      I mean, really, I could modify my $0.89 bic lighter into a gas grill of some sort, maybe cook up some food in a really shoddy fashion, but is that really a solution?

      Why don't we just let these devices stick to what they really are. A Game Boy is a Game Boy, not a PDA. Want a PDA? Drop the money on a PDA. Can't afford a PDA? Then you probably don't actually need a PDA, you just want a PDA.

      Just my .02. I really do understand having fun with this stuff, I hack around on useless crap all the time, I just don't see the point in saying there's a lot of real good use to this. Let's call it geeky fun and be done with it! ;)

  15. 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!

  16. Re:this is normal for nintendo by Moridineas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  17. Re: overpriced jukeboxes? by bmerlin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  18. Here is a better Link with Pictures by doctor_no · · Score: 5, Informative

    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."

  19. More information on the device by doctor_no · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is seems they plan on distrubuting content through kiosks and the internet, as well as selling smartcards with content already on it.

    They plan on selling music, videos, comics, e-books, and photographs.
    http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030204/ am3_13.htm

    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/new s05.html
    Watch Impress
    http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20030204/ am3.htm
    Offical Page
    http://www.am3.co.jp/

  20. Listen! by JanusFury · · Score: 3, Funny

    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!"

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    using namespace slashdot;
    troll::post();
  21. Remember the Songboy? by farfisa69 · · Score: 3, Insightful


    Does anyone remember the songboy ?

    --
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