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DS hits 50 million mark
The DS has hit the 50 million worldwide mark recently, reaching the halfway mark for the Game Boy's total sales. Sure, the DS is the fastest-selling gaming console of all time, but it still has a ways to go before it reaches the status the Game Boy enjoys. It has taken 16 years for the Game Boy to reach 119 million units sold, and the DS has reached 50 million in only 3 years since its launch.So, are we taking bets on when the DS will surpass the Game Boy?
Keepin' it real fake, part LXXIV: the Game Boy Micro PMP clone
You can never have too many name-brand duping, cheap looking, Chinese sweatshop produced PMPs laying around, can you? I mean sure, we've seen little guys that boost the Game Boy Micro before, such as this number from way back in 2006, but this new entry does it with so much flair and unabashed disregard for copyright law we just had to mention it. The BMP-900 -- as this device is mechanically called -- does all kinds of exciting PMP activities, like playback of MP3, WMA, WAV, and PCM audio, MPEG4 and AVI video, JPEG, GIF and BMP picture viewing, plus e-book and TXT reading. Additionally -- and this may come as a surprise to some -- the red devil does some video game emulation, including Famicom, Game Boy, and Game Boy Color. Right now the player seems to only be available in China, or wholesale in lots of 100-199 pieces... so, go nuts.[Via PMP Today]
Hack your Game Boy into a drum machine
While we enjoy hacks just as much as the next blog, we're pretty sure we would never try this on our Game Boy. It's a treasure, to be held tightly at night as we drift off into a dream land filled with plumbers and bounty hunters. Some folk don't see it the same as we do, though, as they gutted open a Game Boy, stuffed it with 1MB of flash memory, a serial interface, and a custom ROM, turning it into the drum machine you see above.See also: Nirvana: Plugged back in and electronicized[Via Engadget]
GameBoy drum machine hack
The underground scene of game-created music is really thriving, with the latest example to emerge from under the radar being a drum machine hack for a GameBoy. A bright yellow GameBoy, 1MB of flash memory, a serial interface, and a custom ROM is all that's needed to put out some beats: with a little help from some solenoids and flat surfaces, of course. Putting it all together is the hard part, and half the fun we suspect.[Via Hackaday]
The DS Life: The Game Boy lives on
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Game_Boy_Lives_On'; The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at gmail dot com.Though the Game Boy brand's days are numbered, making way for Nintendo's dual-screened future and profit plans, at least one young gamer is doing his part to keep the old, gray brick's memory alive. Step past the post break for the full story and this week's edition of The DS Life.
Nintendo hints at end of Game Boy name, possible WiiWare in 2007
While it would have been virtually unthinkable just a few years ago, Nintendo is apparently now contemplating the possibility of a world without Game Boys. That's according to Nintendo marketing exec George Harrison, who recently told GameDaily.biz that we may have seen the last of the name, specifically saying that "it's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." In other, less heartbreaking news, Nintendo's homebrew-happy WiiWare service appears to be progressing nicely, with Harrison also letting out word that "it may not take until 2008" for it to make its public debut. A firmer date will apparently depend on how quickly developers can get their act together.[Via Joystiq]
Game Boy name may be over and possible WiiWare in 2007
Nintendo marketing exec. George Harrison says the Game Boy name may be put to rest. The DS has been been successful enough that the company no longer needs to depend on the Game Boy brand name for future products. We always did wonder what happened to the next Game Boy.Harrison tells GameDaily.biz, "It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." And so a name synonymous with many gamer's childhoods is buried. Oh well, it's not like the DS name has hurt Nintendo's bottom line.Curiously, Harrison also said Nintendo's WiiWare could be out in 2007. Actually the quote is kinda in reverse order. Harrison says, "It may not take until 2008. I've seen a couple of ideas that have already been generated even before we went public [with WiiWare]. Whether those are going to be ready or not, I don't really know." So, it pretty much hinges if the developers get their stuff in order. Only the next six months will tell who gets their WiiWare out first -- the quality of those games is a whole other issue.
DS may have killed the 'Game Boy' name
We all suspected that the Game Boy Advance was basically moribund, because it lacks the high-tech money-printing capabilities of the DS. Confirming our suspicions, Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned in an interview with Kotaku that Nintendo basically didn't care about the platform anymore. Now, according to George Harrison, it's not just Nintendo's "third pillar" strategy that's out, but the whole Game Boy line. He told GameDaily that "This year in our marketing you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark."It makes sense for Nintendo not to bring back the Game Boy name when the DS has so much momentum. But, personally, we think it's quite sad to see a Nintendo standard go away. Oh, well, at least we've got the Wii now to take over as the most awkwardly-named Nintendo console on the market.
Unreleased Game Boy Color RPG resurfaces
Planned for release in 2001, Affinix Software was ready to put the final touches on Infinity, a role playing title for the Game Boy Color. Unfortunately publishers were already looking ahead to the Game Boy Advance and all the pretty pictures it could display. Infinity was never released, Affinix was eventually dissolved, and the game was left to sit on its creators' hard drives for years. But a Lost Levels forum member unearthed a video of the game in action (watch it after the jump) and suddenly Infinity finds itself the recipient of some well-deserved attention.In early February a news post on the Affinix website mentioned the possible release of an Infinity ROM. We contacted project leader Justin Karneges to get an updated status on the game. According to him, Infinity is very close to being complete and just needs a few story points linked together, spells filled in, and a final boss programmed. In addition to himself, one more team member is needed to tie up the loose ends, everything else is ready to roll. You can even download the full soundtrack from composer Eric Hache's website. As for the ROM: "There's no need to talk us into releasing a ROM. If we had a finished game, it would be released.". Infinity could be a breathtaking game, or it could turn out to be a dud. We won't know until we get to play it, and we're itching to take her for a spin. If you need us, we'll be consulting our astrologers to make sure the stars are in perfect alignment to get this game into the wild.[Via Insert Credit]
Today's potential franchise relaunch video: Crash Bandicoot
Gameplay footage from Crash of the Titans held our interest for today's video pick. The upcoming Bandacoot adventure for all current platforms besides PS3 will be out this fall, and Crash fans may find a new title to love. (We're not talking about you, Action Pack.) Or is Crash looking a little too like The King for his own good?See the new video after the break, and watch a longer GameTrailers developer interview, too.
Non-Game Boy: Serious games before they were cool
Since the release of Brain Age in Japan, Nintendo has turned their attention toward casual, nontraditional fare for adult audiences. Much of it, like Brain Age, is casual game material with a slight educational slant, but other successful DS releases, like Cooking Navi and Eigo Zuke, are not games at all, but rather educational aids and tools designed to use the DS's unique interface. They're all doing massive business, which makes it difficult to laugh at them no matter how silly they are. But Nintendo was not the first company to attempt to sell application software on a gaming system, however. That distinction probably falls on BASIC Programming for the Atari 2600. Nintendo wasn't even the first company to sell application software on a Nintendo handheld. In fact, Game Boy non-games appeared in 1991. They didn't change the face of gaming. But they make for an interesting historical footnote now, and isn't that better than selling millions of copies? It is for us!
Diamond and Pearl release raises classic Pokmon prices
The drive to catch all 493 beasts in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is causing a surge in demand for old Pokémon games. JJGames' used video games price tracker shows the average price for used, classic Pokémon games rising over 20 percent since early Feburary. Used game prices in general went down nearly 20 percent during the same period.As the above graph shows, the Pokémon prices largely track with the market through the end of February, when they surged ahead of the DS games' April 22 release. The prices take a downward turn for the month after Diamond and Pearl's release, then shoot up again after Memorial Day, the traditional start of summer.While this meteoric rise might encourage you to invest all your savings into used Pokémon games, we encourage caution. A well-diversified portfolio of used games is the only way to avoid fiascos like this one.
Virtually Overlooked Week: Eric's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases.It was 1994 when Ahmad poignantly rapped, "Back in the days, when I was young; I'm not a kid anymore, but some days, I sit and wish I was a kid again." If scientists could only harness the wasted enthusiasm of our nostalgia, our cities would never want for electricity.Remember the peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches? Or the summer swims with the sun on your back, tanning your skin golden brown? The days you could set your heart on a girl you hardly knew at any moment, whether it be a winsome classmate or the clear-skinned brunette from Noxzema's hokey commercials? The nights when TGIF meant new episodes of Full House and Family Matters, and not after-work casual dining?Each weekly batch of Virtual Console releases is a reminder of my idle youth. Some games I recognize only from magazine previews I read with eager eyes over a decade ago, and others are familiar friends -- titles I've been meaning to catch up with to recount years past. The whole gang hasn't quite made it to the reunion yet, but that doesn't mean we can't trade old stories about them in the meantime. "Sometimes, I still sit and reminisce ..."
GBA discontinued at Target?
We'll admit we haven't been in Target for awhile, so this news comes as kind of a surprise to us. Sure, we like to use our DS Lite to play GBA games (even if they stick out some), but sometimes you just can't beat the feeling of pulling a GBA SP out of your pocket, flipping it open and playing some Omega Factor. Apparently, the GBA SP's time on this Earth is limited.Of course, we can understand why Nintendo would discontinue the handheld, but it doesn't mean we're not a tad bit hurt to see the handheld leave our life so quickly.
Pentagon wants to make a supercomputer out of a Game Boy
The new program is called STAP-BOY (space-time adaptive processing) and the goal is to turn "any Soldier, any Marine [into] an advanced sensor platform." To do this, the military is looking to take "commercial Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) hardware and software of the type currently used for fast geometry computations in hand-held electronic games like Nintendo's GAME BOY," gifting soldiers in the field with a "technique that enhances the ability of radars to detect targets that might otherwise be obscured." Right now, this can only be done by the most advanced of supercomputers.As of now, Darpa figures it'll be ready to hand the project over to the Army by the end of 2008. Personally, we wouldn't want to be the guy in charge of using the gizmo, since we're sure we'd just play Tetris on the thing.[Via Danger Room]
Game Boy emulator for PSP adds a dash of color
Fresh off the PSP homebrew press: an emulator that plays classic Game Boy games -- in full color! Created by a programmer called Brunni, the emulator is still in beta and isn't likely to be released for some time (Brunni likes things to be perfect). From the looks of it, this is more than a Super Game Boy-esque palette swap. A shaky-cam video (after the jump) shows Super Mario Land in crisp, colorful detail.
Adding some color to Game Boy emulation
Just as Technicolor added color to moving pictures, classic Game Boy gems await their colorized update. On the homebrew front, a new video from PSPHardwareHelp (after the cut) shows Super Mario Land running through an upcoming emulator for use on PSP. The notable difference between this and previous offerings is that this emulator converts black and white Game Boy classics into full color. It's certainly a remarkable achievement, one that Nintendo may want to capitalize on if they ever (wisely) bring Game Boy classics into the Wii Virtual Console.
DS Daily: The lost Color
Backwards compatibility has always been a mainstay for Nintendo's portable systems, with every single new iteration reaching back toward the past to play legacy content. Even the Nintendo DS, third cousin twice-removed of the original Game Boy line, has a convenient second slot to play GBA titles, but it's not perfect. The slot is unable to play original Game Boy or Game Boy Color games, and for us old-schoolers, that's a bit of a buzzkill.Does this even matter to you? Remember, the original Pokemon Red/Blue titles were original GB titles, as were classics such as Metroid II, Super Mario Land, and even the very first Tetris. We also miss out on the brilliant duo of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Zelda: Oracle of Seasons for the Game Boy Color, that system's final swan song. Do you still keep around a GBA (or older) system for playing these titles, or did you trade it in for store credit for your shiny new DS? Which game from the GB/GBC era was your favorite? And remember, if you answer ... we know you're old.
Game Boy Phat: The PC
A crafty Japanese DIYer has crammed an entire PC into the shell of an old Game Boy system. The computer is fully-functional (assuming Windows XP is "functional") but lacks a built-in screen and a few other niceties of modern computing. Not practical by any means, but since when does geek hackery have to be practical?Other features of the Game Boy XP PC include: Runs Windows XP off of a 4GB compact lash card that slides into the game slot A and B buttons power the system and show status Two USB ports VGA out for, you know, a monitor Built-in network adapter %Gallery-3050%
Introducing the amazing Game Boy PC
It's amazing what people are turning into computers these days, as this original Game Boy has become the case for one of the smallest Windows XP PCs we've ever seen. Complete with 2 USB ports, LAN and VGA outputs, the cartridge slot has even been turned into a Compact Flash drive. This thing is sick!Who's ready to try and cram one into a DS Lite?[Via Plastic Bamboo]
