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Gameboy Advance SP Reviewed & Disassembled
lotech writes "lik-sang has a review with full photos of the new Nintendo Ganeboy Advance SP.
Not just supplying heaps of photos they have even beaten the pack on voiding the warranty and include heaps of internal photos.
The handheld market is heating up with new releases from Nokia too and also the feature packed GP32. Oh and maybe then there maybe some Sony competition soon?"
Gameboy is made by Nintendo, unless something changed drastically recently.
-Enfors-
"New front light screen"
Sounds a lot like engrish to me.
"GameBoy SP new and much enjoyable front light screen! All GameBoy games can you have play!"
Why bother.
No, seriously... I really think it looks much cooler than the stuff Nintendo has done so far. Anyone else think it's all or partially Apples "fault"? And I mean that as a good thing.
.: Max Romantschuk
PS2...Xbox.....Gameboy Advance?
No...it's not ENTIRELY flamebait. :)
What the heck drove you to think the NINTENDO Gameboy was made by Sony?
Who moderates the meta-moderators?
That's why I use my GP32 to emulate a C=64
Make it capable of using Mini DVD Videos like the Hitachi Camcorders. Other features: TV out, USB, Mp3 capability. I think this would be a popular convergence.
They could even release 5 game PS1 packs on one mini DVD. Most of those games were 100 - 300 MB.
I believe battery technology is where it would need to be for a unit like this as well.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Here (PGC)
and some nice pics Here. Boy, this is late!
If current devices just keep getting smaller, soon I'll have a jumble of things bouncing off my keychain. It's stupid. I can't hold a feather up to my ear to talk on, or a piece of paper for playing games on. I want some feedback from gravity to know if my phone has gone silent because the connection dropped or I dropped it!
The better solution by far would be to combine a few of them so that my phone, pocket computer, camera and portable game machine all fit in one nice small (but not too small) package. If the manufacturers don't figure that out, they won't be selling them for much longer. The market for these things is hitting the point of diminishing to no returns.
But either way, none of Sonys products are competing with the Gameboy as they're all over $100 and arent specifically for games. They're PDAs first and formost, while games are at the bottom of the list, which is why the Gameboy will never be replaced. Same with the Nokia unit, it's nearly $400-500 and is a clunky phone first, and a game machine second. Wont work.
Another new design called B'ngo,a sub $200 handheld console / phone is covered on The Register.
Frankly, I might have bought more games for my GBA if I thought I could actually see them. Instead it sits in a drawer except for occasional forays in good lighting. Nintendo can go to hell if they think I'm going to make the same mistake twice.
Nintendo has been doing little flip-open portable game systems long before Apple did anything cute with their computers.
I'm trying to decide which one I want. Both have their appeal.
Of course, One question I had when I heard about the GSP was that the e-reader wouldn't work with it. I would imagine that with the homebrew/demo scene that the original GBA would be better because one could decode the protocol used on the e-reader, print your own cards, and publish your own game that way. That, plus the GSP probably has new "license protection"/DRM/Region Coding/Developer lockout/authentication etc. that the original GBA doesn'have.
Just my Z80's worth
--RickTheWizKid
I'm waiting to get one when they are released in Europe.
Does anyone know if current Flask Linkers will work with the new GBA SP?
Geesh, with all the awesome games on the GBA, you'll be missing out bigtime. Unless games really dont mean much to you. Or just get the GBAPlayer for the GameCube when that comes for 40 bux.
And the NGC (Nintendo GameCube)will also have the GBAPlayer which attaches to the bottom of the NGC and will play all your GBA screens through the NGC on the TV Screen.
After fumbling around trying to find the best source for light, whether it be my lamp in the living room or the ever annoying 'Worm Light' attachment, the Gameboy will come with a backlit screen. Not only that, but a rechargeable battery that comes standard, and a price tag (albeit you don't import it before the US release date) that will be less than $100. It will make it worth my time to give games like Castlevania a second look considering the first time I played the game I couldn't even see the game b/c the screen was so dark.
It's nice to see inside of these devices without having the crack open one yourself. How long before DMCA is used by a company to prosecute anyone that shares such photos? Does anyone know if that has already happened?
can I get a mod chip to run linux on it?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
actually, it does have a new front light screen.
I just thought I'd point out that, here in Japan, the GBA-SP comes in 3 colors: silver, cobalt, and black. The U.S. version will only come in the first two. (IMO, this sucks, as black is the coolest.)
Sono koro, bokura wa, sore ga sekai no shinjitsu da to shinjite ita.
As of right now the GBA has no competition at all. The GP32 can't even been seen as an issue due to its pure lack of power. While it has a higher MHZ rating it doesn't have any special hardware to deal with sprite effects, background effects and more...this is where the GBA really out muscles it. The Nokia NGage is still a vague object on the horizon if you ask me. And when we finally do get to truely see it, it will be an over priced monster without support from the big channels that it needs and with a customer base that is too small. The GBA SP is just Nintendo's next step in maintaining their control on this market.
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There was definitely no region system in the GBA - I've played US games on my UK/Europe version.
Wrong, dipshit. Nintendo sells GameBoys made by Sony. Your Kroger Brand Rice Crisps aren't actually made by Kroger either. You may have known this well know fact if you weren't masturbating to your GayBoy you piece of shit.
Penny Arcade
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Hey Gaz, any idea when Trollaxor will be back online? These Slashbot wankers need some heavy duty co-ordinated trolling. In fact, I think some reference to how CmdrTaco shoves Newky Brown Ale bottles up his arse would be entertaining.
What the heck drove you to think the NINTENDO Gameboy was made by Sony?
That's now how I read the blurb. It looked to me like lotech was waiting for Sony to make a handheld gaming device, based on either Palm OS (what seems to have been pictured) or the PSOne architecture. I'm guessing Microsoft will beat Sony to the punch with the Xboy.
Will I retire or break 10K?
If a PSOne + 4" LCD screen without battery or integrated controller costs $150, how much do you think your smaller version with integrated controller, 3" screen, hi-capacity battery (because of all the freaking MOVING PARTS), USB, and mini-DVD drive instead of a regular CD drive cost?
If your answer is $200 or more, congratulations, you have yourself a portable system that will sell so few numbers as to be unprofitable, and therefore unfeasible for any smart company to produce.
More likely scenario is that SUCCESSFUL portable game systems NEVER "evolve" to use optical media drives which use moving parts. They are OLD/inferior technology compared to current high-capacity solid-state storage media, and are completely unsuited to portability. Think discman vs. mp3 player. Nintendo will own this market for as long as they stick to cartridge-based portables that maintain compatibility with older software. The real next step, hopefully, will be a GB with back-compatility, front-lit screen, full complement of 6 or more buttons not counting select and start, wireless connectivity of some sort, minimum 16-bit 22.05 KHz 2MB wavetable sound, and Playstation-level 3d hardware. Such a system that is durable enough to be handled by children will not hit the $100 magic price point for another 4-5 years at least.
Or buy the GBA games that you want, download (or rip) the game ROM, and play it on an emulator.
Hm...
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
As always, I am told T.C will be any time soon.
Besides, who YET has money money initially selling the hardware?
And I disagree with you. Cart games are EXPENSIVE to produce. optical games can be cranked out up to 20X faster and if I read right at Tokyo ETimes about this; a total "optical game" package costs even after royalty for about $4-$7 US. A cart costs up to $15 to produce.
Nintendo has LOST the home war. They will soon lose the portable war if they don't come up with something better than cartridges.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
"I don't see why Sony ... could make something with a 3 inch screen and mini DVD and integrated controls."
Because maybe Game Boy has been eating technilogically superior handhelds for breakfast for the better part of a decade now and Sony isn't dumb enough to spend all that R & D money on cannon fodder?
"I believe battery technology is where it would need to be for a unit like this as well."
This new Game Boy uses a Li-ion battery. What more do you want?
*cough* Gameboy!*cough*
Here in europe we get black and silver
The light in the GBA SP IS in front of the LCD screen (or more accurately, around the edges in front) . It has to be since the LCD is transreflective. The screen reflects and light hitting it back through the pixels. This prevents the screen from getting washed-out in bright daylight.
Probably because the mechanical devices need to move & read a disk would occupy so much space that there wouldn't be much left for the game hardware. While disk drives are good for mp3/music players and such, the processing power for a decent game system requires more hardware. Think of adding a disk dive to the GBA, you would probably more than double the thickness of it. Quite simply the hardware isn't there yet. I wouldn't be surprised if one of Nintendo's future portables can play Gamecube discs.
This was news like, uhm, 4 days ago when I posted it :-P Now it's just olds.
2003-02-14 17:10:19 Gameboy Advance SP (articles,games) (rejected)
pfff
This new Game Boy uses a Li-ion battery. What more do you want?
I want to be able to plop new batteries in when the old ones die and keep playing right away. I don't want to be about to go on a trip and find out that I forgot to recharge the battery and thus be gameless for the trip.
Unless a hardwired battery holds a perpetual charge, I will not prefer it to a removable battery.
Cartridges DO NOT cost that much to produce. Especially the low capacity ones used in the GBA. Maybe 15 years ago they costed around $20 to make, but now it is around 1 or 2 dollars.
Another problem, for me anyway, is that there isnt one of the three (GC, PS2, and XBox) that is a clear loser.
PS2 isnt as technologically advanced hardware-wise as XBox, but it has a really good stable of games, AND is backward compatible with PS1 (a real plus, since PS1 was the last generation best seller, and still has really good games).
XBox has some really kick-butt hardware, but since they are the new kid, they have yet to get games associated with MS (like Mario, Metroid, and Zelda for Nintendo, or Final Fantasy and Metal Gear for Sony; technically FF is Square, and not specifically tied to Sony, but you get the point). XBox has really come on strong with XBox Live, and the ability to potentially use it as a mini-PC is very intreging to me as a computer geek.
Finally, GameCube has the GBA link thing (which they need to use in more games), they have all the signature Nintendo games, and their game design is continually breaking new ground in terms of originality. I wish other games had copied Zelda: Ocharina of Time's control features- it just worked so well. Metroid does this as well with their 'Lock-on'; aiming has always been a weakness on the console compared to a keyboard/mouse setup.
But the poster before was right- you will always be better off with solid-state devices on a portable system. Moving parts = things to break.
Also, throwing all those things into one device, while nice on paper, will cost so much, and take so much development time, that by the time you get it to market it will be three years from now and cost $500- a price point that nobody will want to approach (hear that Palm?). Nintendo knows what they are doing. The most someone would reasonably expect to spend for something like that is around $100.
Once you start to approach $200, people start thinking about all the other things they can do with that money. Also, what parent in their right mind is going to give a $200 portable device to their kid, that they can throw in their book-bag, break, or lose?
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
I don't know, but I'd imagine a company would use trade secret laws for this sort of thing--not the DMCA. Unless they copyrighted how their circuit boards look. (not the design, just the look) ;-)
Anyone have any specs on the processor and when I can expect to install my favorite *nix version on the SP?
Come on, I can't be the only one who thought of it!
--Should work--
Not really sure how well this pocket system is going to actually feel. It looks very square and boxy...and I know from trying to use my Palm to play simple games, it doesn't feel good to hold something like that for very long.
I wonder if they went too far towards attractive design and ended up making an XBox controller.
-Barkeep, a draft of your most hazardous brew, for the world is slowly stepping into focus, and I don't like what I see.
kind of like nintendo/super nintendo was eating technilogically superior consoles (genesis, neo-geo, jaguar) for breakfast for the better part of a decade until sony stepped up with the PS1? *rollseyes*
as for the battery, instead of li-ion, how about a fuel cell? *smirks*
The PSX got where it was because of the games, which is exactly why the Game Boy is in the lead. I'm tempted to say that all their success relies on Nintendo's decision not to make the N64 a CD-based system. Aside from battery life, size and price issues, the Game Boy is where it is today because of its library alone.
Beyond that, compared to the Genesis, the SNES was the technilogically superior platform.
Less, and here's why. A 3" screen is cheaper than a 4" screen, especially if you can get away with lowering the resolution. The controller is not a significant cost. A mini-DVD drive shouldn't cost much more than a CD drive over the long term -- and remember, portable consoles have a lifetime of 8-10 years.
But most importantly, this: Sony can take a loss on them. The mini-DVD format means that users can't just use their existing PSOne games (on CD) -- they'll have to buy them again. Sony can charge $30-$40 each for games that they've already written. Nintendo is already doing this with SNES games on the GBA, and it's got to be hugely profitable. Sony could sell PSOne games on mini-DVDs for $20 and still turn a profit, because the disks are so damn cheap compared to cartridges.
I just so happened to have ordered a Gameboy Advance SP from Lik-Sang after ncsx closed their pre-orders. Unfortunately, Nintendo's production is lagging and pre-orders haven't been fulfilled. In my opinion, Lik-Sang should have sent this Gameboy out with the rest of the pre-orders. I'm not against taking apart the thing to find out its workings and all, but I AM against the OTHER article they posted and then removed. In this one they destroyed one of the new gameboys by smashing it and lighting it on fire to appease the owners of past gameboys. Now, tell me whether or not that is being wasteful.
This thing is very cool... but there is just a few things that could be done to make it just a tiny bit better.
First off- the (nintendo®) Logo on the front is backwards when the screen is in the open position, this is the same mistake that Apple made with it's powerbooks and eventually fixed Pic
Second- the shoulder buttons are upside down! I assume they did this so you could check to see which button was R and Which was L when you flip the device towards you... but really is that necessary? Most people, even children know their left from their right hands- and even if they don't they somehow adapt and figure out what each button does... anyways perhaps it's only me but the buttons seem upside-down Pic
Lastly- a dimmer on the backlight sounds like a good idea.
It looks great and I really look forward to getting my hands on one- nice job Nintendo!
How many D cells does your laptop take?
As far as I know the GBA isn't region specific. Which is part of the reason why the are releasing the SP so soon in North America.
I'm pretty sure (don't take my word for it) is that if you were to order a Japanese model it would be capable of playing your North American games.
It isn't $1 or $2 dollars - that may be materials cost, but not production, marketting, royalty, distribution costs. Investigate before speaking :)
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Looking at the headline I firstly thought: "OMG! A service pack for the Gameboy!?"
Maybe I should get more sleep...
Other (non-Nintendo) games can't copy it because it is patented by Nintendo.
Why won't any U.S. distributors carry the gp32? It is available in the UK now.
I disagree with most of your points:
...
Yeah, a cd player gets 20 hours off 2 AA batteries and a TV gets 4 hours. Now combine the two, you have less than 3 hours left, and thats without the game optimised CPU. Run the CPU at full speed and you have less than 2 hours left. 2 hours of battery life for a gaming machine is pretty useless.
Now imagine throwing a gamecube CPU in this. It requires a lot more juice than a GBA/portable TV CPU, dissipates more heat and of course its bigger. Your battery life would fall very low, less than 30 minutes.
Now, keep in mind, that a CD/dvd/mini-cd for a game unit must spin a lot faster than an audio CD, else access time is a pain and load times takes forever. Your battery life just fell down to 15 minutes on two AA batteries.
Now, okay, double the ammount of batteries - 30 minutes. Not enough... Add a pda battery... because the CPU needs so much power and because of the spinning disc, you still get around 30 mins.
Although my battery life time are clearly eastimate and that the batteries could last a lot longer... they could still last a lot SHORTER...
Now think about the price of putting everything together, and you will see that its just not possible with today's technology. Maybe in 10 years (the time it took to get a snes equivalent to get portable...) we will have cartridge that hold enough data and new cpu that need less juice that will make this possible, but right now, is just not possible.
And nope, Nintendo has not lost the home war, if you take world wide sales, they still sell more than the Xbox. Add gameboy advance and gamecube sales and you get pretty impressive numbers. I dont think Nintendo will lose the portable war either, all its competitor crank losy products right now (n-gage with 3-4 hours of battery life? hahaha, GP32 looks nice, but it will never get here, and wonderswan are already dead (bandai is discontinuing it to work on GBA games instead).
Wouldn't the markeding, production, royalty and distrbution costs be nearly the same for CD-based media vs. Cartridge mased meida? The only possible extra developement costs I can tell are whatever efforts are needed to make sure the game fits on the cartridge.
Patented a control scheme? Ya right... And if for some reason they were actually able to pull this off, it's yet another reason for me to hate Nintendo with a passion.
I would ignore this patent in a second, after laughing at it.
I've already found a bunch of dev sites via Google, but I'm interesting in hearing if anyone here has tried developing GB or GBA apps. Good/bad experience?
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
what? you cant patent 'push button to lock on target'.
Thats like saying somebody can patent using a mouse to look around and a keyboard to move.
Go to school, get a good job, work hard, and maybe someday you will be able to buy a clue.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
not only do you post dupes within 2 hours you don't bother about consistent linking. when there are 20 links its hard to figure out which is the link to the actual story. according to previous slashdot stories the the company's name should link to the companys homepage with words like review should actually go the review.
I've got a GBA with an Afterburner frontlight. It works great. No need to change. Enough said.
We are blind to the Worlds within us
waiting to be born...
I have seen the new clamshell gameboy, and doubt that I will even consider getting one.
The GBA is just the right size, the only upgrades I need is a backlight and a slightly high resolution. A better screen(in those two aspects) would make this an awesome handheld game system... oh, and maybe a few more buttons, 2 just seems so... few :)
Similarly, the Sony Mavica CD Cameras last about 4 hours with the LCD on. MINI CD's and a MINI DVD does NOT spin up as fast, it doesn't have to, the tracks aren't as far spread.
I have been reading that the new OLED takes up 1/5 the power of an LCD.
The technology is all there, it would take VERY minimal effort to shrink the Gamecube, and the CPU it uses is SIMILAR to the one I have in my PowerBook a PPC G3 450, I beleive with ATI video. The new chips from IBM at this speed are almost cool to the touch!
Games don't make a platform. Popularity makes a platform, games follow.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
" My laptop (An Apple PowerBook G3 that is 3 years old lasts 2.5 hours watching a DVD on a 14.1" screen). The battery is about the size of a Gameboy color, it could be MUCH smaller, as the new iBook battery is which lasts 3 hours watching a DVD."
That would make the gaming system VERY heavy. The system got to be light, cuz you will end up holding it in your hands for a long time. Take the size of the GBA SP, where do you put an ibook battery in this? And where do you put the mini-cd drive? That takes room too.
I own a gamegear, and it's BIG. It's almost impossible to carry it without a special carrying case. Yet, my GBA, although not as small as a GBA SP, is not an incovenience to carry. The GBA SP improves a lot on this, it fits in a shirt pocket, even jeans pockets.
Even if the gamecube CPU is shrinked, it will still consume more juice than you can afford with 2 AA batteries. Beside, it would cost so much that you'd have to spend well over 200-300$ to get such a system.
Nintendo know what they are doing very well, else they would not own the portable gaming market.
reply I got from Nintendo:
Message(#6851-000095-8637\958637)
Hello and thank you for contacting Nintendo,
At this time, there are no plans to release a black Game Boy Advance SP, but your feedback is important to us and I will be sure to forward your remail to the appropriate departments for review.
Sincerely,
Nintendo of America Inc.
Sharon Matheny
Nintendo's home page: http://www.nintendo.com/
Power Line (Automated Product Info): (425) 885-7529
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-----------------
From: "Cpt_Kirks"
Posted At: 21:51:45.000 01/11/2003
Posted To: Nintendo
Subject: GBA SP
Hello,
Is it true that you will not be releasing the black colored GBA SP in
the US? I thought adults were your target market for the GBA SP.
I am an adult and would prefer a black one. Please reconsider and sell
the black model in the US.
Thank you.
Well, next gen 3D systems...
Have a glance at the GP32 - its not 3D yet, but I know some people are developing 3D engines of various sorts. It seems to handle ~15000000 polygons (untextured) at about 7fps. So in due course, some 3D stuff might come out for it.
Failing that, wait for the GP64 in 3-4 years (assuming the company doesn't go bankrupt before then, which I hope oh so much that it won't).
Finally they came up with something better than my Turbo Express.
Wait, no they didn't. Still....
Oh well, the superior technology doesn't always "win", now does it?
Yup. It's not that hard either. Download a tutorial, a GCC compiler that's tuned for the ARM processor, a GBA emulator, and a few examples, and you're ready to go. I started here www.gbajunkie.co.uk
I just finished my first GBA game (Space Cmdr Pac-Man.. http://www.gbadev.org/demo_feb2003.html) and I'm started on my second.
It's actually quite fun. The restrictive nature of the GBA hardware (compared to other gaming platforms) lowers the bar so just about anyone can create fun games.
"We all know that Crap is King" - Don Henley
"Nintendo has LOST the home war. They will soon lose the portable war if they don't come up with something better than cartridges."
Nah, they're still in the fight. If anything, Microsoft is losing the home war.
Besides, the GameCube's big selling point right now (other than its library, that is) is its ability to tie in with the Game Boy Advance. PlayStation 2 may be outselling GameCubes, but GBAs are outselling PS2s by a comfortable margin.
Bandai just announced that the WonderSwan Color has officially joined the long, long list of handheld platforms bitch-slapped by Nintendo. And "bitch-slap" may be too mild a term.
When all is said and done, technology doesn't count as much as games. If technology were all that mattered, the 2600 would have died with the advent of ColecoVision and Intellivision, we would have all been saying "Zelda who?" as we played our Sega Master Systems, and Square would have never jumped ship to side with Sony.
"ETimes about this; a total "optical game" package costs even after royalty for about $4-$7 US. A cart costs up to $15 to produce."
Cart storage capacities go up without requiring a new media interface, an advantage cartridges have over optical media. That's why cart production prices don't go down the same way as optical media. Comparing the two is like comparing the prices of CD-Rs and RAM. Super Mario 64 was on a 64 Mbit cartridge, Majora's Mask was 256 Mbit, and I recall hearing of a 512 Mbit N64 cartridge. Tiny GBA cartridges started at 32 Mbit and are already hovering around 128 Mbit (if they aren't there already).
Will you still be jumping up and down about the wonders of optical media once cartridge capacities start to outstrip them? Between the constant effort to squeeze more transistors on a chip and the way it takes several years for a new optical standard to get out of the gate, I don't see the size gap between the two lasting much longer.
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