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GPS for GBA
Grey Ninja writes "I just came across a preview for a new gadget that's going to be demoed at E3, which is a GPS and map attachment for your GBA. It should be mentioned that you can pre-order now and get $50 off. " I can't imagine very many useful applications for this, but it sure is nifty.
Except that the GBA's GPS product is $250! It's a neat idea, but for that money I'll just go buy a dedicated GPS unit. It'll probably outlast my GBA and there will come a time when I won't care to tote my GBA around and play games on it anymore - whereas my GPS unit would probably have a constant place on my hip.
Nintendo really does have a monopoly on portable gaming. The GBA is 1/10 as powerful as most handheld PDAs, the screen is hard to see (even on the newer SP), and yet they come out with a GPS attachment for it that will only work for the GBA. Plus, I can't see entering address information with five buttons being very viable.
Though GPS on a GBA is somewhat nifty, I think that a normal compactflash (or other media style) of GPS unit for a PDA would be more useful.
Perhaps Nintendo can turn global navigation into a 2d mario-style game. Then, I could break the road blocks in my way by jumping up at them.
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I can think of market that this might really appeal to... Backpackers and other travellers. Lots of gamers buy a GBA when travelling for a long time (something to do on the plane, etc). If they could use it when they get to their destination to help find their way around then I guess a fair number of nerdy backpackers would pay for one.
I know I would have killed for one of these when I was in London a little while ago. I kept getting lost at four in the morning in some maze of lanes near Soho, with my guidebook sitting on the couch where I was staying. A GBA is light and easy to carry/store, I'd rather haul that around than my Lonely Planet guide.
It seems like there's some sort of internal memory in the unit, in which case it should be able to simply download new maps (via USB maybe?). This would rock if you were travelling through Europe and staying in lots of large towns, for example. Just grab the next map at an internet café and you're set.
This is to say nothing of the possibilities with regards to GPS gaming. I can think of a bunch, especially if the games can be downloaded and localised. Among the more annoying/money making: Advertisers could have you unlock extra features of a game (secret Pokemon, etc) when you enter one of their stores...
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Dude, do you know how GPS works? A GPS unit on the ground listens to the signals from a couple of different GPS satellites and uses the information in those signals to triangulate its own position relative to the satellites (that's a very simplified explanation, but that's basically how it works). The satellites don't "find" you or "tell you where you are." They just beam messages down to the surface. They have no idea where, or by whom, those messages are being received.
Maybe, maybe not. There are a huge set of assumptions if it can.
One of the key challenge for the location based services (via mobile phone and/or gps) is the tedious management of access groups and permissions.
It has to do with privacy issues essentially.
A simple scenerio is - the owner of their location information have the full ownership on how they want their location information be shared, and with who.
However, like many other services, location based services, for example, tracking, is usually done with a third party involved - acting like a proxy agent, and as such must have certain permission set from the owner of the location information.
To make things more challenging, we can add another role, by having a guardian over the owner of the location information.
And the quick question now is - who owns the location information? The owner of the location information or the guardian of the owner? There are no easy answers.
Anyway - nowadays, knowing where the kids are is a _willing_ mobile phone call away.
Hey, that's my password you are typing
Every body I know has been saying "Gameboys are great, but I'm not buying one until it has a GPS"
I think this internet thing sounds like a good idea
$200? I can get a *VERY* nice GPS unit for a lot less.
It seems to me that add-on gadgets for PDA's or the GBA should be *CHEAPER* than stand alone versions. They don't have to include the screen, buttons or in some cases a CPU.
Why do add-ons cost *MORE*?
Global Positioning, not Tracking. GPS units are entirely passive. The only person who knows where a given GPS is located is the person holding the GPS. Unless you're going to also fit the children with a cellular telemetry rig or something, only the kids will know where they are.
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