GameBoy Advance SP

[thomas]

Nintendo Sets Ambitious Target for GameBoy Advance

Japanese video game maker Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd. set aggressive sales targets on Wednesday for its hand-held GameBoy Advance machines, aiming to boost sales by one-third in the business year starting on April 1. The creator of "Pokemon" games has seen sluggish sales of its flagship GameCube consoles while rival Sony Corp (news - web sites)'s PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) dominates the market, but it is finding some consolation in the growing strength of its hand-held models. Nintendo aims to sell two million of its new GameBoy Advance SPs, which feature rechargeable batteries and a brightly lit screen, in the first six weeks after their February 14 launch, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told a news conference.


Below: The new version of the world's most popular video gaming gadget has the same CPU as the GameBoy Advance but opens and closes like a laptop and has a front-lit screen that allows it to be played in darkness or in bright sunlight. And it has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. The GameBoy Advance SP will be sold at ¥ 12,500 (US$105) on Feb. 14 in Japan.

 

[Shinmeiryu]

That looks even more convenient than the previous style. I wonder how they will fare with competition now in the form of Nokia's hand held system coming up.

 

[lineartube]

Droooooooooooooolll

The N-Gage concept introduces a wireless multi-player platform for both local and remote gaming. Courtesy of Bluetooth, players will be able to pitch themselves against someone or a group of people in the room, or in another country, courtesy of GPRS. Meanwhile, games for the N-Gage will be sold separately on game cards (using the MultiMediaCard standard) through major retail outlets, game- specific and video game retail outlets, as well as in regular mobile phone delivery channels in all major markets.

Besides its gaming features, the Nokia N-Gage game deck also offers music playback capabilities of files in MP3 and AAC format, and comes with PC software from Nokia called Audio Manager to let users manage their music collection. In addition comes a stereo FM radio and tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 mobile phone functionality. Like other Series 60 devices, the N-Gage will also sport an XHTML browser, support for SMS and MMS, an e-mail client and various PIM applications, as well as support for J2ME applications - all presented on the 12-bit TFT color display in a 176 x 208 pixel resolution.

Nokia listed usage times for several applications, with voice and gaming taking the heaviest toll on the battery with 2 to 4 hours and 3 to 6 hours respectively. Standby time was said to range from 150 hours to 200 hours, and the N-Gage will let users listen to MP3 or AAC files for up to 8 hours and radio for up to 20 hours. The N-Gage handset will measure 134 x 70 x 20 mm, and weigh 137 g.

The manufacturer said it is planning on making N-Gage available in volumes across five continents in the 4th quarter of 2003 well in time for the holiday shopping season.

in http://www.infosync.no/news/2002/n/3018.html

 

[AutoBot11]

did they include some a lighened screen on this one?

 

[thomas]

Sold out all over Japan!

本日発売! ゲームボーイアドバンスSP初見記

 

[bulmakai]

Games

It will be interesting to see how much Nintendo can sell BEFORE the NOKIA N-gage comes out in the fourth quarter of this year..... Sometimes companies know exactly what they are doing by waiting until around the holiday season to break out a new product.....Sales will jump.

 

[Chakan]

Nintendo is finally righting a wrong. Backlit portables are nothing new (remember the Game Gear?), and the original GBA model should've sported one. Still, I'm going to buy one for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I've tasted a bit of that game and it is like a fine portable wine. Mmm... delicious.

The N-Gage is something I've been looking out for for quite some time. I'm just hoping we get lots of multi-player puzzle games! Imagine being able to play a game of Puyo Puyo or Puzzle Fighter (!) with someone sitting across town! Sounds like fun to me.

 

[Twisted]

Well, the N-Gage won't get those cool Nintendo games of course.
I think all those games will be Java based, just like on the current batch of colourscreen Nokia phones.

This means there will be loads of games for it available, but this also means the avarage quality of these games will be a lot lower then on the GBA.

 

[Chakan]

Actually, the system's nearly as powerful as the PSX... so don't go thinking it'll just have crap JAVA games.

They've actually shown off real 3-dimension demos. You can find the videos on the net if you look around. Not bad for demos of a portable system.

 

[degpiexoxo]

wow, i haven't had a handheld system for a while... i'm thinking of putting down the money for the GBA SP tho'... my cousin has one and i was completely blown away when he showed it to me, the lighting feature is really nice!
@.@ so many pretty, well-lit colors!

i wonder how the N-Gage will function as a phone, it looks a bit... awkward...;; but the mp3 and radio functions sound cool... has anyone heard anything about the price on that one?

 

[Shiryu]

Final Fantasy tactics

Final Fantasy tactics advaced is a great game i beat it. But im still unlocking a few secret characters.