I want my video... on Game Boy Advance!

[ManekiNeko]

Looks like Video Now's days are numbered. Majesco is releasing a series of cartoons for the Game Boy Advance, including popular shows by Fox, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon, the three major players in television animation. These cartridges have a lot of advantages over the CDs available for the Video Now player. Thanks to the Game Boy Advance's full color screen, they'll be in bright, vivid hues rather than drab greys. If that weren't enough, the cartridges will contain more cartoons, and it'll be a lot harder for rambunctious kids to break the media or make it malfunction in mid-play.

http://www.gba-video.com/

JR

[Bratwurst]

I like how the promotional video shows a stick figure kid zombie-walking into an SUV yet no footage of the video playing on a Gameboy itself.

[Jasoco]

Ok. This has been coming for a while now. I think it's a great idea. Though mainly for kids. I sure won't buy any most likely.

Looks as if Kmart will be getting them. Which means I'll have to learn up on them. I just know they'll mix them in with the actual games. That will just get confusing. I think I'll have to do something about that. Keep them in another case. We have one with the Video Now. We haven't had VN software in a while.

I don't really see the point of pricing them at $20 though. Too much in my opinion. But nice idea.

[Daria]

Oooh Sonic cartoons. That should be kinda cool.
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[Mr. Smashy]

It seems like a pretty good idea. I wouldn't complain if they tossed in some cool long cut-scenes in a few new GBA games here and there. None of the cartoons there that are currently slated for release there interest me in the least. I bet that they could get a nice following with anime carts (though that would likely just pave the way for the same thing to be done on the PSP).

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

If they were REALLY smart, they'd put the Clone Wars 'toons on a couple of cartridges before they hit DVD.

[mikeetler]

Nintendo has also licensed the technology from Majesco and will be releaseing Pokemon GBA Video carts starting in June.

And while I think $20 is a little high ($10-15 would have been better), is it any worse then Nintendo asking $20 for the classic NES series carts?

[Darth Sensei]

Some people with GBA flash carts have been watching videos transferred from their PC's for some time now for free. The current flash carts have 1Gb of storage so that's a lot of compressed video.

D

[Jasoco]

Some people with GBA flash carts have been watching videos transferred from their PC's for some time now for free. The current flash carts have 1Gb of storage so that's a lot of compressed video.

D
Yeah, I find that a much cooler idea. But until they get off their asses and port a Mac version of the software, it's not for me. And how I so would like to play with that.

[Captain Wrong]

And while I think $20 is a little high ($10-15 would have been better), is it any worse then Nintendo asking $20 for the classic NES series carts?

Valid point.

I thought Video Now was kind of a "coming soon to the clearance rack" the first time I saw one in action. Who wants original Game Boy quality video? The GBA video carts is a great idea, I think, though I really think $10 would make it much more attractive.

[Jasoco]

And while I think $20 is a little high ($10-15 would have been better), is it any worse then Nintendo asking $20 for the classic NES series carts?

Valid point.

I thought Video Now was kind of a "coming soon to the clearance rack" the first time I saw one in action. Who wants original Game Boy quality video? The GBA video carts is a great idea, I think, though I really think $10 would make it much more attractive.Makes me wonder how much the materials cost. Maybe they couldn't make it cheaper. How much does a cartridge and the right chips cost to produce?

[Professor Hector]

I wonder...do you think these video carts will become collectable? Will anyone here be going after all of them?

[Captain Wrong]

Makes me wonder how much the materials cost. Maybe they couldn't make it cheaper. How much does a cartridge and the right chips cost to produce?

Hmm...another valid point. LOL

I also wonder what the cost of materials is vs. the licensing fees for the content and Nintendo's lisensing fees, etc.

I'm really interested in how this works for some reason. I hope when this hits, someone reverse engineers it. I'm wondering if this is all software, or if there's actually a codec chip on the cart.

[Jasoco]

And with a flash, this topic was brought back from the dead!

I saw in the Kmart flyer for either this week or next week that we're getting these things in. Not sure which Tuesday it was. Today or next week. Either way, I really plan on collecting them. Maybe not at full price, but eventually. And since my store is getting them in, it's easier to get my hands on every one released.

I have one question that's been bugging me, though. What does the boxing for these things look like? I was thinking it would be a regular cardboard GBA game box. But it seems everywhere I look in ads, the boxes are long rectangular like DVD cases. Do you think they've put these things in a more durable media? It would seem so. Makes me wonder why the hell Nintendo didn't think of it for the GBA games instead of cardboard boxes.

I wonder how many will be released in all before they stop. Or if it'll end up being a hit and continue for years. The Game Boy is perfect with the backwards compatability. Majesco could continue making these forever. For as long as there's a market. Would be nice to see some other shows on these things and not just kids stuff.

Well.. guess I'll find out soon enough. I wonder though. Will I file these under "Games" or a new category? Damn. Dilemma. Guess a new category is in order. "Game Boy Video".

[TheScaryOne]

Great idea. The video now really is shit, with it's 1 inch screen and grey colors. Kids will really go for this as long as they advertise it well. I think 20 dollars is a good price, considering there will be 2-4 episodes per disk. Does the VideoNow ever skip, becuase I know a gameboy won't, but those video nows have some bad construction.

[Jasoco]

Does the VideoNow ever skip, becuase I know a gameboy won't, but those video nows have some bad construction.It probably has the potential to. Plus there's the scratching part as well. Cartridges don't scratch.

[Chunky]

Does the VideoNow ever skip, becuase I know a gameboy won't, but those video nows have some bad construction.It probably has the potential to. Plus there's the scratching part as well. Cartridges don't scratch.

i say that's a huge selling point. Watch my niece and nephew destroy all the DVDs my brother had bought for them. The kid can't talk much but he can put a DVD i the player, turn on the tv and hit play. But that only lasts so long, everything is scratched to shit.

Now my brother has gone back to VHS tapes.

[Syxx573]

I happen to like the new Sonic and TMNT so I might get those "games." Too bad Johnny Bravo and Ed, Edd, and Eddy are mixed with two other shows I don't like.

Anyway, this all seems pretty cool. I have the GBA tuner and it works really well.

[NintendoMan]

Oooh Sonic cartoons. That should be kinda cool.

Well they are the new sonic cartoons. I don't like those. I like the ones from about 6-10 years ago, or so. The new ones just don't interest me.

I think it's a great idea to put the video's on the GBA!!!! I won't be buying any unless they remake some older cartoons. Wouldn't that be cool if they put the CAPTAIN N episodes on them. Or much more, finally put them on DVD format!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nature Boy]

I have one question that's been bugging me, though. What does the boxing for these things look like?

Unless I'm mistaken I saw one for sale at a local game store. They didn't look quite like DVD cases but they're definitely different from the GBA boxes. To be honest I didn't take a close look because, at this point, I'm not interested in the kiddie cartoons they'll be releasing for it...

[ManekiNeko]

On a related topic, there was a twenty meg file circulating around the newsgroups about a month ago. It was an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Nathan the Snake), encoded in a Game Boy Advance compatible format. The compression technology they'd used wasn't so hot... there was a lot of blurring and some pixelization, but it was nevertheless entertaining.

JR

[Jasoco]

Well, let's dig this one up now, shall we?

We got these today. GameStop got these yesterday.

We got 5 different carts in.

SpongeBob Vol 1
SpongeBob Vol 2
Dora the Explorer Vol 1
Fairly Odd Parents Vol 1
Fairly Odd Parents Vol 2

The cases are cardboard. Taller and slightly narrower and thinner. This is done to distinguish them from the actual games. Would you want to buy a SpongeBob cart expecting a game and get an episode of the show you've seen over and over? That is why. I was expecting plastic. I wish it was plastic. But it is cardboard.

I want to collect them. $20 is a bit much, so I put the current 5 in a drawer to keep until I either get money or they drop in price. Whichever.

Anyone know if those 5 are the actual first releases? Are there ones my store didn't get? I assume there's no Dora 2 currently?