Official Nintendo GBA Mpeg-4 player!

[boatofcar]

From www.gizmodo.com

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/spsdflash.jpg

Flash memory Game Boy cartridges are always welcome around here, so seeing this MPEG4/MP3 player with a built-in SD slot was notable enough—then I realized it was from Nintendo themselves, which is even more surprising. Obviously, it's not designed to play games, but the unit can play back movies for up to 4 hours at the Game Boy Advance SP's native resolution (352 by 288 pixels) as well as play back MP3s with the screen off for up to 15 hours on a charge. I have no idea if Nintendo plans to bring the unit out to the United States, but since it should work with the DS just fine, there's no reason they couldn't (like taking away from the DS's momentum, I'm saying).


For gamers I still think flash linkers that let you copy ROMs over are a lot more convenient (and you can get ones that use SD and MMC cards, I know), but since Nintendo has quietly been selling a ton of video content on GBA carts, I wonder if they're thinking about moving over to an SD-based content distribution system.

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If this comes to the US, I might have to pick it up.

[DigitalSpace]

Hmm, cool. I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up going the way of the 64DD, though (or the GC online adapter, for that matter).

Anybody else read this and ponder the possibility of watching porn on the GBA? LOL

[JJNova]

No...but it is funny, because I just responded to a post in the DS vs PSP section of the forums noting the FlashLinker Xpress.

The argument of not playing GB and GBC games on the DS is crushed when you think of how the DS will play GBA games. All you need to do is export the GBC cart to your computer, then import it to a flash cart. and VOILA! Retro gaming on the DS. You can fit many a GBC, and GB games on a single flash cart. Also, there is a NES emulator that you can use (Which has been out LOOOOOONG before the Nintendo Classic series).

The only reason you need the emulator on the flash cart is to run NES games, because NES and GameBoy have different screen resolutions.
Word to your moms, and PEACE!

[Cauterize]

Anybody else read this and ponder the possibility of watching porn on the GBA? LOL

I prefer my SP to be non-sticky to be honest!

[Querjek]

Anybody else read this and ponder the possibility of watching porn on the GBA? LOL
Well, having the 2 screens of the DS would allow for some "extended" images, if you know what I mean ;)

Maybe it's just me, but I think that the cartridge looks really cool. Something about the part that "sticks out" on the top reminds me of... Famicom carts maybe?

[Mr. Smashy]

the unit can play back movies for up to 4 hours at the Game Boy Advance SP's native resolution (352 by 288 pixels)

That can't be right.

[SoulBlazer]

Well, if this comes out in the States, I'd rather buy this then buy a stand alone MP3 player, especily if it can play movies as well.

I'd hit this! :D

[Cauterize]

surely this will open up possibilites with GBA piracy right?
take ngage for example, releasing MMC based games has to be the stupidest thing ever, apart from the Dreamcast back door left open for back ups!

[it290]

Hmm, interesting. I'm guessing the '4 hours of video playback' means that the batteries will last that long, not that you can actually fit a four hour movie on there. I wonder if this thing actually has specialized hardware in it? I believe there's another device like this already out there, but I remember reading that the video quality wasn't too great.

I wouldn't mind owning one of these, but then again, I'm not sure if it would be worth the hassle to have to scale and re-encode movies to that resolution. That type of conversion takes a while even on fairly fast hardware. Perhaps Nintendo is releasing this thing to try and compete with the PSP's movie playback capabilities?

edit - Oh yeah, and to cauterize - the door for GBA piracy is already wide open. You won't be able to play games on this unit, except perhaps NES games that are less than 192k. There are zillions of flashcarts out there already, but the RAM in an SD-based solution like this isn't fast enough to use for playing cart-based games.

[unbroken]

No...but it is funny, because I just responded to a post in the DS vs PSP section of the forums noting the FlashLinker Xpress.

The argument of not playing GB and GBC games on the DS is crushed when you think of how the DS will play GBA games. All you need to do is export the GBC cart to your computer, then import it to a flash cart. and VOILA! Retro gaming on the DS. You can fit many a GBC, and GB games on a single flash cart. Also, there is a NES emulator that you can use (Which has been out LOOOOOONG before the Nintendo Classic series).

The only reason you need the emulator on the flash cart is to run NES games, because NES and GameBoy have different screen resolutions.
Word to your moms, and PEACE!


currently its not possible to play gb or gbc games on a gba flashcard.

[Cauterize]

edit - Oh yeah, and to cauterize - the door for GBA piracy is already wide open. You won't be able to play games on this unit, except perhaps NES games that are less than 192k. There are zillions of flashcarts out there already, but the RAM in an SD-based solution like this isn't fast enough to use for playing cart-based games.

errrr, thanx mate, but i kinda own a Flash card ;) i just thought it would be yet another open door to it

[jonjandran]

currently its not possible to play gb or gbc games on a gba flashcard.

Have you ever heard of the Gameboy Emulators for GBA ? :roll:

Like Goomba....