Quickly! Someone invent and patent DRM for vinyl before MPAA does!
They already have that. Each time you play the vinyl, it will slowly degrade in quality until you must buy a new copy. It's a diabolical scheme the RIAA has been behind for decades now!
That said though, I'd be quite surprised to find a form of digital rights management on an analog recording. Actually wait, scratch that, I'm sure they'd find a way. Perhaps it could be modeled after the recent DVD fiasco that prevented movies from playing at all.
The regular Gameboy Advance was great for ergonomics, at least for me, and it is partly because of this that I never upgraded to a GBA SP or GB Micro. The frontlighting/backlighting and rechargeable batteries would have been very nice, yes, but I wasn't about to give up the ability to play for hours without hand cramps.
This is also why I chose a DS Phat over a DS Lite. Sure, the screen isn't as bright, and the stylus is smaller, but I like the ergonomics more.
I recall a recent Slashdot post - In Game Ads May Just Not Work - that basically stated that very few people could remember the names of the companies who advertised in-game like that, as the player is too immensed in actually playing the game to really notice. So what's the verdict?
The MMD officially has no support for commercial roms. However, soon after its release, a patcher program was released by an "anonymous" source that lets a few games run off the device. Compatibility sucks though, so no one would knowingly buy the product for that purpose. Interestingly, this patcher program was later modified so that the GBA Movie Player, which is electrically similar, could also run a small selection of DS games.
However, this device is different. While the MMD is a slot-2 device that comes with a slot-1 launcher, this new product resides solely in slot-1 and has a built-in launcher. However, until a DLDIfile is created for this new product, very little homebrew will work on it, meaning that its main capability will probably be just playing music, which most likely will use Moonshell anyway.
It is possible that the Music and Games card here is actually a rebranded R4 or M3 Simply, in which case the existing DLDI files would suffice. Anyone know if this is the case?
It will still be very limited in use though, as it would still only have 4 MB of RAM without an MMU to work with. Slot-2 cards with additional RAM are much preferred for DSLinux usage.
Have you considered buying homebrew equipment for your DS? Two SNES emulators for the DS run the DKC series quite well. SnezziDS runs only on slot-2 cards with GBA compatibility but runs all three of them incredibly well, though you need to change the background priority settings every so often since different levels require different priorities. If you can mind the scaled graphics, SnezziDS works wonders for the games.
SNEmulDS runs on nearly all homebrew devices and currently plays DKC and DKC3 fairly well. Graphics are somewhat screwed up sometimes, and a couple levels run at less than fullspeed, but I'd still consider it enjoyable. DKC2 has massive glitches unrelated to graphics or speed, though the developer has stated that he's worked out a bug that was the most likely cause of this. Of the two emulators, I'd recommend SnezziDS, though it's more expensive to get a homebrew device compatible with it.
A guy a know at school was playing a Sonic game on his PSP that sounded like what you were talking about. Some quick Googling gave me Sonic Rivals, which, according to the Youtube trailer I just watched, appears to offer 2d-like gameplay in a 3d world. Perhaps it's worth a shot.
Giving public accessing to the database is also designed to correct mistakes if an individual discovers that their name, number and picture don't match.
Ignoring the misuse of "accessing" for the moment, how is one assured that the correction is in fact correct? What is stopping identity fraud from taking place?
New enemies of Georgia are people who teach the theory of evolution and create community web sites.
One county down here recently got blasted for putting a small sticker on science textbooks stating that evolution was a theory and not a fact. We may have low SAT scores, but we have progressed beyond the 1920s and the Scopes Trial you know. No need to generalize.
Haven't seen the PSP's upgradeable firmware feature used for any upgrade yet, unless you consider "homebrew" crackdown an upgrade.
To be fair, the web browser, flash player, and PSX emulator were released through firmware upgrades. And Nintendo actually has upgraded their firmware several times, the latest I believe being firmware version 6. They're not user-upgradeable, and they don't mark many new changes, although firmware v4 broke current methods of booting homebrew devices, requiring new devices to be made. This was probably unintentional however. Interestingly enough, DS Phats with firmware version 5 or above actually have screens and other internals similar to the DS Lite, so the capability exists for changing the brightness levels. If you install the lastest version of FlashMe on a DS Phat with firmware version 5, you can gain brightness controls. Wish I could do that, but I've only got version 4.
How to test your DS firmware version
I have recently purchased Elite Beat Agents, an astoundingly fun game that I can only describe as being "DDR on crack." Without the touch screen, the game would probably never have been created. The lower quality graphics doesn't stop it from being a great experience.
And with the extra hardware I purchased to make my DS homebrew-capable, my DS now functions as a PDA and media player as well. All in all, the DS was one of the best purchases I've made. I'd say Nintendo had the right idea when making the product.
Not quite the world. DS wi-fi are region-limited oddly enough. So if you bought it in the US you could only play wi-fi with other US players.
Then how does the "worldwide" option for the Mario Kart DS online play work, and how is it different from the "regional" option if the DS wifi is indeed region-specific?
The Opera browser is out in Europe as well if you want to import it. I bought it when I was in London because I was tired of waiting for a North American release. It works pretty well, if a bit slow.
Homebrew offers two text-only web browsers in the DSLinux port of the Linux OS to the DS. Getting connected to the Internet can be a pain, but once it's connected, they work good enough for me.
DSOrganize is a homebrew organizer application that many swear by. It's very useful and does more than just act as a PDA organizer.
Indeed, DS homebrew is worth investing in. Moonshell is an amazing application for viewing many different types of media, and the games mentioned on that page are pretty fun, especially Tetris Attack DS. Other notable applications include DSFTP, an FTP server for the DS, and DSOrganize, which is more than an organizer and includes functions like playing back Internet radio streams. There's also SylphAmp, which lets you stream music directly from your computer to the DS.
Overall, there's a lot of awesome DS homebrew out there, and I'm glad I spent the money on the additional hardware necessary.
I personally prefer slot-2 devices because:
They are more supported by homebrew, although as the article said, this is slowly diminishing due to the new DLDI support.
SnezziDS, one of the best SNES emulators for the DS, only runs on slot-2 cards with GBA compatibility.
DSLinux works best on slot-2 devices with GBA compatibility, as explained in this post. With DSLinux, I can browse the web while listening to MP3s while chatting on IRC.
"lower quality" = "better user experience" now? We already smashed the whole "higher cost = better quality" idea years ago, but now we're stretching it.
Much easier solution to sharing songs: just get a portable headphone amplifier/splitter ($20 at Radio Shack) and have your friend plug his/her headphones into your player. Heck, if you're really that crazy about sharing your music with random people, carry around some of those crappy airline earbuds they give you for free. Then the other person doesn't even need a music player to begin with.
There's an NES emulator for the Gameboy Color called either "nes2gb" or "fcgb2" (can't remember exact name) which runs a select few NES games (Donkey Kong, Popeye) at a horrible framerate (but with sound!). This GBC image can then be emulated by Goomba Color, a GBC emulator for the Gameboy Advance. The GBA can then be emulated by the PSP (or by a PC). As far as I'm aware, no PSP emulator for the PC is advanced enough to add another link to the chain here.
Slashdot Mirror
That said though, I'd be quite surprised to find a form of digital rights management on an analog recording. Actually wait, scratch that, I'm sure they'd find a way. Perhaps it could be modeled after the recent DVD fiasco that prevented movies from playing at all.
Still an awesome effort though.
The regular Gameboy Advance was great for ergonomics, at least for me, and it is partly because of this that I never upgraded to a GBA SP or GB Micro. The frontlighting/backlighting and rechargeable batteries would have been very nice, yes, but I wasn't about to give up the ability to play for hours without hand cramps.
This is also why I chose a DS Phat over a DS Lite. Sure, the screen isn't as bright, and the stylus is smaller, but I like the ergonomics more.
I recall a recent Slashdot post - In Game Ads May Just Not Work - that basically stated that very few people could remember the names of the companies who advertised in-game like that, as the player is too immensed in actually playing the game to really notice. So what's the verdict?
The MMD officially has no support for commercial roms. However, soon after its release, a patcher program was released by an "anonymous" source that lets a few games run off the device. Compatibility sucks though, so no one would knowingly buy the product for that purpose. Interestingly, this patcher program was later modified so that the GBA Movie Player, which is electrically similar, could also run a small selection of DS games.
However, this device is different. While the MMD is a slot-2 device that comes with a slot-1 launcher, this new product resides solely in slot-1 and has a built-in launcher. However, until a DLDI file is created for this new product, very little homebrew will work on it, meaning that its main capability will probably be just playing music, which most likely will use Moonshell anyway.
It is possible that the Music and Games card here is actually a rebranded R4 or M3 Simply, in which case the existing DLDI files would suffice. Anyone know if this is the case?
It will still be very limited in use though, as it would still only have 4 MB of RAM without an MMU to work with. Slot-2 cards with additional RAM are much preferred for DSLinux usage.
Have you considered buying homebrew equipment for your DS? Two SNES emulators for the DS run the DKC series quite well. SnezziDS runs only on slot-2 cards with GBA compatibility but runs all three of them incredibly well, though you need to change the background priority settings every so often since different levels require different priorities. If you can mind the scaled graphics, SnezziDS works wonders for the games.
SNEmulDS runs on nearly all homebrew devices and currently plays DKC and DKC3 fairly well. Graphics are somewhat screwed up sometimes, and a couple levels run at less than fullspeed, but I'd still consider it enjoyable. DKC2 has massive glitches unrelated to graphics or speed, though the developer has stated that he's worked out a bug that was the most likely cause of this. Of the two emulators, I'd recommend SnezziDS, though it's more expensive to get a homebrew device compatible with it.
A guy a know at school was playing a Sonic game on his PSP that sounded like what you were talking about. Some quick Googling gave me Sonic Rivals, which, according to the Youtube trailer I just watched, appears to offer 2d-like gameplay in a 3d world. Perhaps it's worth a shot.
*sigh* I can never escape you, can I? =)
How to test your DS firmware version
Completely agree.
I have recently purchased Elite Beat Agents, an astoundingly fun game that I can only describe as being "DDR on crack." Without the touch screen, the game would probably never have been created. The lower quality graphics doesn't stop it from being a great experience.
And with the extra hardware I purchased to make my DS homebrew-capable, my DS now functions as a PDA and media player as well. All in all, the DS was one of the best purchases I've made. I'd say Nintendo had the right idea when making the product.
Not quite the world. DS wi-fi are region-limited oddly enough. So if you bought it in the US you could only play wi-fi with other US players.
Then how does the "worldwide" option for the Mario Kart DS online play work, and how is it different from the "regional" option if the DS wifi is indeed region-specific?
The Opera browser is out in Europe as well if you want to import it. I bought it when I was in London because I was tired of waiting for a North American release. It works pretty well, if a bit slow. Homebrew offers two text-only web browsers in the DSLinux port of the Linux OS to the DS. Getting connected to the Internet can be a pain, but once it's connected, they work good enough for me. DSOrganize is a homebrew organizer application that many swear by. It's very useful and does more than just act as a PDA organizer.
Overall, there's a lot of awesome DS homebrew out there, and I'm glad I spent the money on the additional hardware necessary.
I personally prefer slot-2 devices because:
"lower quality" = "better user experience" now? We already smashed the whole "higher cost = better quality" idea years ago, but now we're stretching it.
Much easier solution to sharing songs: just get a portable headphone amplifier/splitter ($20 at Radio Shack) and have your friend plug his/her headphones into your player. Heck, if you're really that crazy about sharing your music with random people, carry around some of those crappy airline earbuds they give you for free. Then the other person doesn't even need a music player to begin with.
There's an NES emulator for the Gameboy Color called either "nes2gb" or "fcgb2" (can't remember exact name) which runs a select few NES games (Donkey Kong, Popeye) at a horrible framerate (but with sound!). This GBC image can then be emulated by Goomba Color, a GBC emulator for the Gameboy Advance. The GBA can then be emulated by the PSP (or by a PC). As far as I'm aware, no PSP emulator for the PC is advanced enough to add another link to the chain here.