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GBA Movie Player Plays NES Games From CF Card

roadies writes "One-upping the AM3/Nintendo official GBA flash player (as previously discussed), Portagame reports that the 3rd party imported GBA Movie Player has released its second version. In a slimmer profile casing, it still plays movies and music from CF cards. (Not pre-recorded tv shows like the AM3 player either, you record and save your own content.) The best feature of the firmware update: An included NES emulater. You can download your favorite NES games to a CF card and emulate them through the player. Only catch is there is a 192K per game limit. May not be enough for the biggest NES game, but still enough for the true NES classics."

55 comments

  1. The South Shall Play Again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    The best feature of the firmware update: An included NES emulater.

    One o' them NES emulaters? Yee-ha! I'm-a gonna be playin' all them old classics ag'in, consarnit!

  2. Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by blueZhift · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hmmm, isn't Lik-Sang just asking to be sued by Nintendo with this update? If you want one of these new players, you'd better hurry because I just don't see how this is going to stay on the market very long. I have to admit though, I like the cool gadgets that Lik-Sang sells, but this player is definitely in a gray zone now!

    "How you decipher homebrew is up to you."

    Hmmm, we'll see!

    1. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      yes.. especially when it's not even a 3rd party application but included.

      but if you got a flash cart you could just use http://www.pocketnes.org/ anyways. the thing that's intresting is though if big N is going to slash homebrew(copying) scene once and for all with the ds.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Reducer2001 · · Score: 1

      big N is going to slash homebrew(copying) scene once and for all with the ds
      I haven't heard this before. How are they going to do it?

      --
      When you get to hell -- tell 'em Itchy sent ya!
    3. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Insightful

      how? by adding some kind of protection to the system of course. they don't have any now. make it only run signed stuff or whatever. it's a surprise they didn't do it with gba already and would really be a surprise if they didn't do it with DS.

      because it's not even going to be 'backwards'(as they claim it's not successor to gba) compatible they can just whip anything they want on it.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by mrgreen4242 · · Score: 1
      because it's not even going to be 'backwards'(as they claim it's not successor to gba) compatible they can just whip anything they want on it.

      Everything I have read has stated that the DS will have a seperate slot to load GBA games. It's got the same CPU as the GBA as its second processor (ARM7), and it looks like it's going to just have a seperate set of GBA ROM that will load when you put a GBA game into the slot.

      However, I agree with you that they will likely have sort of copy protection on the DS games.

    5. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Reducer2001 · · Score: 1
      However, I agree with you that they will likely have sort of copy protection on the DS games.

      And we all how well that works!!!!

      --
      When you get to hell -- tell 'em Itchy sent ya!
    6. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      ok then I was out of the loop, haven't been following the spec news that lately now just the initial announcements that didn't include a gba slot(and which talked nintendo slating it as an extra product rather than something following directly in the gba upgrade path sort of).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    7. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      well, with something so closed as the ds they could do a pretty good job of making it impossible to run unsigned code.

      sure it could be cracked at some point by someone but if it would happen couple of years after the launch it would have made sense for them already.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    8. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since when have emulators been illegal?

    9. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Since Nintendo got a patent on handheld emulation.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    10. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It works quite well on the GameCube.

    11. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by LocalH · · Score: 1

      Only if the emulator changes it's operation merely based on the game you are running. They don't own ALL handheld emulation.

      --
      FC Closer
    12. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, really, you can already rip games and run ripped games on the GCN, so tell me again how well it works?

    13. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Bagels · · Score: 1

      You'd think... but I see NES emulators being sold in the local mall (those shady 7600-in-1 controller things). They contain many Nintendo games with the copyrights sloppily removed (including Super Mario Bros.). So far, I haven't seen them C&D'd by the Big N.

      --
      --- Bwah?
    14. Re:Lik-Sang And Lawyers From The Big N by Wyrmw00d · · Score: 1

      More than just out of the loop I'd say. Should you even be reading Slashdot Games? Do you know who Nintendo is? They released those specs about the DS along time ago. They also said it will have compatibility for future Xbox Next and Sony PSP games along with full smartphone capabilities. You better brush on the news dude.

  3. Hm... by mrgreen4242 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    So am I reading this right when it says you can 'load homebrew' roms you could play backups of real GBA games as well? It would be usefull just to be able to carry around all my games on one 'cart'.

    Furethermore, it'd be worth it just for the MP3 playing, if it's decent quality, can read a good range of bitrates, and has a decent player interface. The GBASP w/o backloght goes for easily 12 hours on a charge and fits in my pocket. What more could I ask of an mp3 player?

    1. Re:Hm... by roadies · · Score: 3, Informative

      no, not GBA games. sorry. Just NES games. I think the manufacturer is being very careful. They put a 192k limit on the games (no limit on movies and music that I know of) and only allow games from the very expired NES system. I wish they'd allow for classic GB games, but since the GBA can play most existing GB cartridges anyway, I doubt we'll see that happen.

      --
      DS vs.
    2. Re:Hm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can get a dev kit that will play backups too, though the size limit is 512 megabit (and those are expensive), so if you have a decent sized collection they won't all fit. As for MP3s, the storage capacity just isn't there...

      http://www.gameboy-advance-roms.com/gba_flash_li nk er.htm

    3. Re:Hm... by mrgreen4242 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Did a little reading about this, and it sounds like the audio quality isn't very good. Plus, you have to convert your MP3s into another format to play them. Seems pretty useless.

    4. Re:Hm... by AndyBusch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ok, what this does is load an emulator and rom into the GBA's RAM. It's not a 192k arbitary limit, but a facet of the 64kb emulator and the fact that the GBA has 256kb of RAM.

      If you really want a good NES emulator you're better off just getting a flash cart for the GBA. Life's good with those.

    5. Re:Hm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Won't work. CF block devices are too slow to substitute for instantaneous ROM chips.

    6. Re:Hm... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      So in other words, even if I get a flash cart set and pocketnes, I won't be able to play Simon's Quest or Dragon Warrior IV? *eyes tear up*

    7. Re:Hm... by AndyBusch · · Score: 1

      If you get a GBA flash cart, you will. (Secretly, DW4 is only half a meg, and Kirby's Adventure is bigger). If you get the movie player and a CF card, you won't.

    8. Re:Hm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A headphone jack?

    9. Re:Hm... by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      fsck the movie player then!

    10. Re:Hm... by Goosey · · Score: 1

      An MP3 player on the GBA would be pretty limited, considering it only has mono sound output.

      --
      --- "End Of Line" - MCP
  4. 192 is not enough! by galaxy300 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was completely ready to buy this until I checked out my NES ROMS folder and realized that only 1/3 of my games were under the limit. SMB 2, SMB 3, Dr. Mario, Punch Out, Castlevania 2 and 2, Megaman 3,4,5,6 - all over the limit. : (

    I do own all of those cartridges, of course. I even bought SMB 2 and 3 for GBA...I just want to play my old games on the go and I still haven't seen one of http://www.famicom-plaza.com/new/pockefamithese on the market yet.

    1. Re:192 is not enough! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do own all of those cartridges

      You own the physical cartridges. Using an EEPROM reader to rip your own backups, and using a writer to restore them, would be legal.

      Downloading someone else's rip, or serving your own to someone else "who owns the cartridge" is not legal.

      Using your own rip in an emulator is grey-area at best, mostly contingent on how the emulator was created.

  5. Pocketnes by Dwedit · · Score: 4, Informative

    It includes a stock version 9.95 of PocketNES, then executes it as a multiboot game. So it gets the crippled multiboot version of pocketnes, with no save features. It is also limited to emulator+game must be 256k.

    1. Re:Pocketnes by Dwedit · · Score: 1

      Damn slashcode took out my less than sign before the 256k...
      Emulator + Game must be less than 256k. That also includes additional memory used by the emulator but isn't part of its size.

  6. Opening the software by Deliveranc3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It seems to me so many companies could get market control just by opening their software a little bit.

    Some of the integrations of this stuff are so simple that online programmers can do them by themselves and they add tonnes and tonnes of value.

    Big software just isn't listening someone needs to smack these guys around again, I sense another internet bubble around underused tech like voip, wiMax, voice integration, and free telephony.

  7. MISINFORMATION -- MOD DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no Super Monkey Ball 3.

    1. Re:MISINFORMATION -- MOD DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh...perhaps SMB is SuperMarioBrothers?

    2. Re:MISINFORMATION -- MOD DOWN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As the other AC said, that "SMB" must mean Super Mario Bros. Also, there will soon be a Super Monkey Ball 3 on the GameCube.

  8. Larger size? by jwigum · · Score: 1

    What is it that limits the size, storage included with the product, coding of their firmware, or part of the GBA?

    If it's just the storage they give you with the product, I think an aftermarket upgrade is in order :D

    If it's the coding, maybe there's a way to flash around it.

    If it's the GBA, I give up.

    --

    Look behind you...

    1. Re:Larger size? by galaxy300 · · Score: 1

      Well, it accepts any size flash card, so my guess is that it's a limitation with the emulator itself. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this to see if anyone cracks it.

    2. Re:Larger size? by Ayaress · · Score: 2, Informative

      GBA ram size, probably. It only has 256k of RAM. Take off 196k (maximum ROM size), and you're left with 60k for the emulator, which is smaller than the high-accuracy emulators, but not much different than some of the old versions of Loopy.

  9. Sounds a bit on the C&D side... by chrispyman · · Score: 1

    While this product does sounds pretty nice, there do seem to be quite a few things lacking. First is that many NES games are over the 192k limit. Second is that from what I hear, the MP3 sound quality isn't the greatest. Last is that I really don't think the GBA can do video that well, atleast not better than those GBA Video carts they sell here in the US. On the other hand, if you already have a compact flash reader and media, $25 isn't that bad a price to play a few of the older NES games and some pixely movies.

  10. Imagine how many games you could get on... by Sevn · · Score: 1

    This sucker. Probably all of them. Great price also. Just picked one up for an Ipaq running Opie.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
  11. Reviews are mixed by Zaphus · · Score: 5, Informative

    The customer reviews for the product at Lik Sang, as well as the review over at ShackNews both talk about scratchy sound quality and low frame-rates. Neither talk about the emulators (since they are reviewing the earlier model, I assume) - but for the price you can't really go wrong can you ? I think this is the actual product homepage, but it isn't much more informative.

  12. Going to bemoan the inability to play my favorite by geminidomino · · Score: 4, Informative
    RPG of all time, Dragon Warrior IV(1MB), until I read this on the product homepage
    Supported NES format file, which is 200k limited. Before you play FC game, do remember to put the Pocketnes.gba file to the root directory of the CF Card. Save function is not supported. Just copy the TXT format file to the CF Card then read it on the GBA/GBA SP.


    Not much good for most of the games I'd play anyway, though maybe some Galaga or Tetris...
  13. Re:Going to bemoan the inability to play my favori by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Dragon Warrior IV is only 512K of program rom. There's a bad dump of this game floating around with an extra 512K of junk at the end. I've played this game in TuxNES, and it works fine, it recognizes the rom at 512K and ignores the extra garbage.

    Unfortunately that won't do you much good on the GBA, as it's still over 200K.

  14. Clarification by David+E.+Smith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've had one of these devices for a while. Not a bad little toy. I'd love to be able to just put MP3s on the flash card and go, instead of having to convert them to "GBS" (Game Boy Sound?) format, but the GBA doesn't have that much CPU.

    The article text is a bit misleading. You don't have to have one of the new, slimmer Movie Advance units to use the NES emulator feature - just update the firmware on the old one and it'll work just fine.

  15. Lik-Sang should open up their Movie Player by Jagasian · · Score: 1

    Lik-Sang should openly document their movie player, so that people can great new improved firmware for their device. It would help them sell more units. Maybe somebody could hack out a firmware that allowed larger games and saving to the CF card.

    1. Re:Lik-Sang should open up their Movie Player by mrgreen4242 · · Score: 1
      The problem is that you have to load the whole NES game and the emulator into 256k of RAM in the GBA. That's also why you can't save.

      The reason is that the compact flash file system and hardware is much different than a GBA cart, which is much faster, and so you can't load things to and from it like you would a cart. If that makes sense.

      I remember seeing a device that was a 'developers flash cart' with a connector to attach it to a SecureMedia card reader so you could change the contents of the cart without being tethered to a computer.

  16. Re:Going to bemoan the inability to play my favori by Ayaress · · Score: 1

    If I'm not mistaken, the emulator being used here can be put directly on one of the GBA flash cartridges you can buy, which have considerably more space than this version. I think it can also support saving. Try Zophar.net to find out about the emulator itself, they link to virtually every emulator project site on the internet.

  17. Flash Cartridges by dakryx · · Score: 1

    Anyone have any good places where I can buy a flash cart for GBA? All the places that I see that sell them seem just a tad shady

    1. Re:Flash Cartridges by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      I found a good looking list at www.gbadev.org/hardware.

      The tricky part is picking one...

    2. Re:Flash Cartridges by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Gods, what is with me and URLs lately?! Not only isn't that hyperlinked, its WRONG.

      Let's try again

      Sorry about that.

  18. In an interesting twist... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..someone has already made a clone of (version one of) this movie player. The clone is the one sold at eg. http://www.success-hk.com for around $10 lower.

    This clone player uses the exact same firmware as the player discussed in the orginal article. However, newer versions of the firmware refuses to install on the clone, proclaiming that you can't install it on a clone of the original hardware...

  19. Video Game copyrights by mrgreen4242 · · Score: 1
    Are there any specific rules about video game copyrights? If they aren't specifically addressed, what sort of media are they classified under in copyright law?

    I ask because I am curious about how long until video games start to become public domain?

    1. Re:Video Game copyrights by Ayaress · · Score: 1

      They get the same sort of copyright as music and movies. The ones that are on cartridges get the extra DMCA anticircumvention protection, since dumping the ROM off the cart is considered circumventing it's copy protection. Long run, when NES games start becomming pulic domain, I doubt I'll still have enough eyesight/hearing/reflexes/bladder control to enjoy them anymore.

  20. Re:Going to bemoan the inability to play my favori by Dwedit · · Score: 1

    The save function can be hacked into multiboot pocketnes, if you are willing to sacrifice the sram of another cartridge.

  21. GBA does support stereo by Zaphus · · Score: 1
    An MP3 player on the GBA would be pretty limited, considering it only has mono sound output


    The GBA has stereo sound output through the headphones, it is only mono when using the internal speaker (and many games have a mono/stereo setting in the game to take advantage of this)