XCM Hyper Gear case promises to overclock your DS

Overclocking the Nintendo DS is hardly anything new, but the mod-happy folks at XCM look to be taking a decidedly different approach with their new Hyper Gear case which, as you can see above, is actually a full-on replacement case for the currently non-hyper DS Lite. That approach gives you the added advantage of selectable turbo speeds and, of course, a rapid fire switch, both of which, as Technabob points out, will likely take quite a toll on battery life. No word on a price just yet, but it'll apparently be available from at least a few of the usual modding retailers in the next few weeks.

[Via Technabob]

[LC @ Nov 5th 2008 5:07PM]

Too bad it isn't actually overclocking. All it does is speed up the game, not make any hardware run at a higher frequency.

[Skrying @ Nov 5th 2008 5:17PM]

Eh? On low end gaming hardware games are often very tied to the frequency the device runs. Raising the clock speed on the device is going to do nothing more than cause undesirable effects in commercial games. Now for homebrew it might be useful but that's a seriously small... and rather pointless market for a for-profit product. Making games run faster would require some extra horsepower, so I'm going to say this device is indeed overclocking the DS.

[Trugamer @ Nov 6th 2008 8:25AM]

Because of the way the ds works it assumes the clock speed is constant, unlike other devices like a PC or PSP.
Because of this overclocking will make the game run twice as fast if overclocked twice as fast.

I haven't explained it very well but the ds is basically a special case.

[maveric101 @ Nov 5th 2008 5:09PM]

i hate to be that guy, but the point is? when i saw a video of an overclocked GBA, all it did was make the game run faster (literally - as in Mario moved twice as fast). how would it work with the DS?

[AVG @ Nov 5th 2008 5:34PM]

Yeaaaah... this is ridiculous. Some things really aren't worth doing "just to do it." This is one of them.

[polobunny @ Nov 5th 2008 5:14PM]

"will likely take quite a toll on battery life"

[polobunny @ Nov 5th 2008 5:16PM]

Argh, somehow caught the Add comment button.

"will likely take quite a toll on battery life"
I don't see that being a problem, considering that if the battery is drained 1.4x faster, than you're likely doing what you were doing 1.4x faster. In the end it only sums up to less waiting for extremely those long walks in Pokemon. :P

[low tech @ Nov 5th 2008 5:45PM]

Save your battery and your money and use the Bicycle. That's what it's made for!

[Valicore @ Nov 5th 2008 9:27PM]

LOLOLOL, I love that. The game runs faster so the battery discharges faster. This device is, in reality, a very focused time dilator.

[Alexei @ Nov 5th 2008 5:15PM]

Finally...I can get a 40 second Lap Record in Figure Eight Circuit

[StalematE @ Nov 5th 2008 5:16PM]

why?

[MC Double Def DP @ Nov 5th 2008 5:29PM]

This will help me with speed reading through Phoenix Wright!

[Good_Bytes @ Nov 5th 2008 5:51PM]

Offtopic:
"Don't copy that floppy!"
Nice avatar.

[bangladeshiluv @ Nov 5th 2008 5:32PM]

How about some good games for the DS???

[Phoenix @ Nov 5th 2008 5:46PM]

Have fun with your lack of hardware buttons.

Oh, and it's not high res compared to say a Touch Diamond or Pro, or an X1, or an Omina... Or most consumer electronics today (TVs, computers...)

[Phoenix @ Nov 5th 2008 5:47PM]

That's a reply to Ocean/Clak, who is fortunately right above me anyway.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 5th 2008 6:00PM]

Clak is back. But more importantly. How did he hack his reply button not to function ?

[computer.dude.28 @ Nov 5th 2008 11:13PM]

Can we please petition to have Engadget ban his IP address?

[bandigolo @ Nov 5th 2008 6:02PM]

is "high-res" an industry standard or a term of comparison? I was not under the impression that the iPhone has a high-res screen. And by "not under the impression," I mean "the iPhone's resolution is not impressive."

[Adam Zey @ Nov 5th 2008 6:05PM]

Homebrew, people! Seriously, do you not see the potential here? The DS is a great platform for homebrew, but has serious performance issues. One of the things holding back many emulation projects (like SnemulDS) is the lack of performance. You bump that up, you're going to get smoother and more compatible emulation when developers take advantage of it.

[Skrying @ Nov 5th 2008 6:18PM]

Sorry but the biggest issue with a SNES emulator is the 2D layers needed that the DS hardware simply doesn't support. It's never going to be fast enough to emulate that hardware truly so the current state of SnemulDS is likely not going to get much better. Rather sad really as every other aspect of the DS makes it a tremendous pocket emulator.

[XIYL @ Nov 5th 2008 10:22PM]

This is not meant to be fan boyish but if your gunna get a portable console for home brew, get a PSP. They are way faster plus on the topic of emulation you get flawless emulation of every console up to the PS1 and fairly decent n64 emulation, no Zelda tho. Its like having the power of a modded original xbox in your pocket. The best money I ever spent.

[Zelatio @ Nov 5th 2008 6:14PM]

Too bad the games suck.

[Zelatio @ Nov 5th 2008 6:15PM]

Awesome comment system. Was in reply to OCEAN CLAK

[oinquer @ Nov 5th 2008 6:17PM]

Get a life troll...Iphone even tho its a good piece of hardware its not called for this topic...
so get out...get some air...after that? throw yourself from a bridge....

[Robert @ Nov 5th 2008 6:44PM]

Speaking of retailers - where is a good, reliable, no-bull crap place to purchase a flash cart or homebrew device?

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Nov 5th 2008 7:10PM]

Dealextreme - cheap, no hassle, fast delivery.

note: I don't work for them just a satisfied customer. NDSTT FTW!

[WiiFTW @ Nov 5th 2008 7:55PM]

Although they're the absolute cheapest, I've heard some nasty stories about getting the wrong stuff/not receiving the products ordered. They're based somewhere in China.

I suggest realhotstuff.com because they're based in the U.S., in New Jersey I believe. I ordered an R4 from them for Christmas last year and it came in fine.

On-topic: This might be useful for Doom DS because the creators have had trouble trying to make any higher Doom run on the DS.

[iofthestorm @ Nov 5th 2008 10:19PM]

I would second realhotstuff.com, they've got cheap prices and really fast shipping. Dealextreme always looked a bit fishy to me.

[Juaquin @ Nov 5th 2008 7:17PM]

Rapid fire is cool, so is the aftermarket case. The overclock is pointless except for homebrew.

[wickedpheonix @ Nov 5th 2008 8:27PM]

Buyer beware with XCM - their XFPS mouse/keyboard adapters for the 360 are absolute CRAP.

[Valicore @ Nov 5th 2008 9:37PM]

Yeah, good luck with that. Give a shout in about a year and a half, we're all curious to hear how the iPhone will stand up to your slobbering all over it.

[Cal @ Nov 5th 2008 9:53PM]

@ low tech
What about tall grass?

[Cal @ Nov 5th 2008 9:54PM]

dam you engadget commenting system

[OCEAN 'CLAK' 20th @ Nov 6th 2008 12:12AM]

@ computer.dude.28 they tried that, thats why i no longer have an ip address lol the art of hacking

[Mark @ Nov 13th 2008 2:08PM]

If AcidMods posted news about every conceptual drawing they have there would be no ideas left to write about... Can we please not post somthing without a proof of concept video.. That takes the fun out of modding and being first....