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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?"
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
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.
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.
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?
Nintendo has been doing little flip-open portable game systems long before Apple did anything cute with their computers.
I was actually referring to the silver look and generally stylish design, as opposed to the orange 80's Donkey Kong flip-open thingies.
.: Max Romantschuk
One big selling point of the GameBoy has always been long battery life. Lighted screens eat battery life. Therefore Nintendo tried to make a screen that made the most of ambient light rather than to backlight it. I know of a lot of folks that appreciated that, and had no problems with the screen. My palm has a backlight, but I never turn the thing on... same with my TV's remote control. I'm not willing to lose the battery life.
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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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.
"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?
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.