Would you be interested in a Gameboy Color/pocket/whatever screen-light kit?

[Spazmonkey]

So, before a colleague and I order loads of stuff, would you be interested in such a kit, and what would you pay for such a kit? Pre-modded units would be for sale as well, and the kit would include parts to light the screen, add a "dial" to adjust brightness, install a new battery port to use DS and SP batteries and add a mini-usb port as an alternate source to battery power.

Does this sound interesting? Would you buy it? Would you rather get a pre-mod unit and save yourself the headache? Please post your thoughts.

[Pezcore343]

I'd prefer a pre-mod but it was also depend on price, because if it was too expensive I would just stick to using an SP.

[slip81]

to be honest i'd rather just buy a used SP, since they're dirt cheap.

[Phénix]

If you were talking about front-lit NGPC, I would be VERY interested :) And I wouldn't want to do it myself, I prefer let professionals do it.

[iloveguns]

If you were talking about front-lit NGPC, I would be VERY interested :) And I wouldn't want to do it myself, I prefer let professionals do it.

+1 yeah that..

[Spazmonkey]

If you were talking about front-lit NGPC, I would be VERY interested :) And I wouldn't want to do it myself, I prefer let professionals do it.

I could do that, I don't know how professional I am though, hehe.

[Scissors]

I would also be interested in a NGPC like that.

[otoko]

to be honest i'd rather just buy a used SP, since they're dirt cheap.

Dirt cheap? They're still selling for 50$ or so here.

[aclbandit]

a lighting kit for a GBC? Hells yes.

[Spazmonkey]

Okay, if you would please say how much you were willing to spend, for either the kit, or the fully modded unit, neo geo as well. I need to know if I can even make enough money including parts.

[Daveald]

Sounds good same for NGPC preferably if the professionals can do it.

[Spazmonkey]

Yes, I said I can do that, however, what would you spend, I know people want stuff, but a price you would realistically pay would be nice.

[otoko]

Well, that's where I start having problems. I have an extra NGPC that I would love modded, but I find it necessary to know your approximate cost for the parts. That way I can make an informed decision. You must take account how much you want to make. Maybe suggest your own price, see how the community responds.

[slip81]

Dirt cheap? They're still selling for 50$ or so here.

wow, it must be a regional thing then, they go for about $30 or so around here.

[Spazmonkey]

Well, that's where I start having problems. I have an extra NGPC that I would love modded, but I find it necessary to know your approximate cost for the parts. That way I can make an informed decision. You must take account how much you want to make. Maybe suggest your own price, see how the community responds.

It's very labourious to make sure the process is done right. Parts cost about $22. We were thinking about pricing the kit at possibly $45, selling a fully completed unit for $80. We were looking at this number for a few reasons, like I mentioned before, it's very labourious. I can maybe do two or three tops in a day. We would like to start with a run of 25 of kits, and 15 pre modded units. For all the haters that just say, use an sp, please realize that it's not the same. Many people want the original feel, and just plain like the GBC. Would you pay such a price? We have already written very good inscructions, my colleague is an electrical idiot, and he is going to be trying to complete a kit, to try to see if the average joe can do it.

[Borman]

It's very labourious to make sure the process is done right. Parts cost about $22. We were thinking about pricing the kit at possibly $45, selling a fully completed unit for $80. We were looking at this number for a few reasons, like I mentioned before, it's very labourious. I can maybe do two or three tops in a day. We would like to start with a run of 25 of kits, and 15 pre modded units. For all the haters that just say, use an sp, please realize that it's not the same. Many people want the original feel, and just plain like the GBC. Would you pay such a price? We have already written very good inscructions, my colleague is an electrical idiot, and he is going to be trying to complete a kit, to try to see if the average joe can do it.

Actually not a terrible price IMO, while Im not in the position to be spending money right now, Id sure love a Pocket down the line with a light :P

[InsaneDavid]

It's very labourious to make sure the process is done right. Parts cost about $22. We were thinking about pricing the kit at possibly $45, selling a fully completed unit for $80. We were looking at this number for a few reasons, like I mentioned before, it's very labourious. I can maybe do two or three tops in a day. We would like to start with a run of 25 of kits, and 15 pre modded units. For all the haters that just say, use an sp, please realize that it's not the same. Many people want the original feel, and just plain like the GBC. Would you pay such a price? We have already written very good inscructions, my colleague is an electrical idiot, and he is going to be trying to complete a kit, to try to see if the average joe can do it.

That's not bad at all. I remember back in the pre-SP days myself and a couple friends were clearing up to $300+ profit per system on Afterburner modded GBA's during that craze. The battery rework I'm not for, it'll just add a bunch of extra cost and labor for something that no one is really demanding. The illumination portion however, as you can see from this thread, there's a decent market for it.

[Spazmonkey]

We felt like it would be a little something extra, that would be nice to have. It can certainly be excluded with choice, but I think that more people would want it, than people who don't. Okay, I'll be back before the end of July, with our finished website/store. We want to sell what we can on AA first, and then branch out to all the other large video game sites. We plan to possibly add more mods that we can do to the gameboy, like little dj or something. Also, we plan to start stocking controller USB hubs. We will consider the Neo Geo pocket, since that seems to be a hot ticket. If we were to do it, we would also sell kits/pre-mod units. I do not think we would take units in to be modified, as turn around is not always constant, we are both busy people, and can't be 100% comitted to finishing as quickly as possible. We do not at this time plan to expand to other mods, there are already many many people who do this currently.

[jb143]

Instead of a dial to adjust brightness we used to install a chip that would let you use the existing buttons. I can't remember what the chip was called though but it was just a cheap PIC micro-controller with a simple program on it. It was pretty cool to do it that way and didn't mar the case. You might look into that though. It wasn't much harder to install.

[sisko]

I think the battery mod is a great idea.

That being said, the price of $80 is too steep for me. I'm not saying unreasonable, because I do understand the difficulty of such a mod. However, I could still play those games on my GBA/SP, SGB2 or GB Player for GameCube. I don't think I fit in your target market.

I might consider it for the NGPC, as there is no alternative for playing those games. I would want the rechargable battery, but am not sure how well a SP/DS battery would fit inside the housing. If you have to use a different battery, note that the ease of finding a replacement battery would be a fairly important deciding factor.

[Phénix]

If you sell already-modded NGPC, I would certainly buy one.

[InsaneDavid]

Instead of a dial to adjust brightness we used to install a chip that would let you use the existing buttons. I can't remember what the chip was called though but it was just a cheap PIC micro-controller with a simple program on it. It was pretty cool to do it that way and didn't mar the case. You might look into that though. It wasn't much harder to install.

Stealth dimmers were what they were called in the Afterburner days, the V3 was the most popular.

[Spazmonkey]

Do you know where I could find the hex of such a thing? It looks like just a small PIC or something, I could program it sure, I just need the file.

[jb143]

Stealth dimmers were what they were called in the Afterburner days, the V3 was the most popular.

Yup. that's right. I couldn't remember. Though it was really just a PIC microcontroller. Anyways, much slicker than a knob.