gba
Latest
Nintendo says goodbye to GBA
And it's all the fault of that sleek system you see to the right. Eurogamer reports that in an interview with Reuters, Satoru Iwata shot down the idea of creating new versions of the hugely popular GBA, stating that it would be pouring cold water on the DS and the DS Lite's unfathomably hot success. He says that he "would have a second thought about using our resources on what would be the next generation of Game Boy Advance considering the strong support DS is now enjoying." So is that the end for our beloved GBA? Not by a long shot. Many developers are still churning out games for the system--given how many people have one stashed inside their pockets, it's still very much a viable and even lucrative market. Besides, you'll want to keep one around if you simply can't handle the sight of a GBA cart sticking out of a DS Lite.
Japanese sales charts, April 17-23: Hello, Mother
Several new releases are sitting pretty in the Japanese charts this week, with newcomers holding the top three spots. Mother 3, described by Famitsu as the "Most Wanted" game in Japan back in March, unsurprisingly rocketed to the top with over 200,000 sales; a spinoff from the popular Dragon Quest VIII is in at number two, after selling 127,500 copies.The ten bestselling games in Japan for the week ending April 23:1. Mother 3 [GBA]2. Dragon Quest: Shounen Yangus no Fushigi na Daibouken [PS2] 3. Final Fantasy XI: Aht Urhgan no Hihou [PS2]4. Brain Age 2 (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu: Motto Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS) [DS]5. Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai [PSP]6. Okami [PS2]7. Brain Age: Train your Brain in Minutes a Day (Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju no Nouo Kitaeru Otona DS Training) [DS]8. Animal Crossing: Wild World [DS]9. DS English Training [DS]10. Pokémon Ranger [DS] The corresponding hardware sales (cumulative sales for 2006 in brackets):
Viewboy DS2TV preview
Popular importing website Lik-Sang recently got their hands on a prototype of SyberSoft's GBA and DS TV adapters. These devices latch onto each respective system's screen and are able to display the image by relaying the picture off a lens and series of mirrors, transporting the visual data through AV cables to the TV set. You may have noticed this same type of product for the PSP, but for those of you wishing you had one for your DS, this is a worthwhile read as the guys over at Lik-Sang really put the product through the gauntlet and give you a good idea of the pros and cons of the hardware. [Thanks DSemu and Graham!]
Dockable DVD player with GBA drops in May
We first got our hands on Visteon's portable DVD player cum Game Boy Advance at CES back in January and, frankly, weren't impressed. Our final assessment: "Needless to say, the engineers have their work cut out for them." Well, those engineers have had a couple months, let's see if they've eliminated the major shortcomings of the prototype. First off, the controller more closely resembles the interface of a GBA. Gone are the "Help" and "Backup" buttons, with the perennial Start and Select buttons in their place. A superficial, but welcome change. The five face buttons have been reduced to a more reasonable three...which is still one more than they needed. Why two A buttons guys?The screen resolution issues appear to have been solved, at least if we're taking the press image at face value. In the prototype, there was some problem with the GBA feed not filling the entire screen, and suffering from the conversion to 16x9. In the marketing mockup above, there is no sign of this problem. We're hopeful this accurately reflects the final product. No word on price, but it will be "available May 2006." Now I wish I had a minivan to put this in the back of...and someone to drive me around in it...and somewhere to go...See also:Coby DVD player with 8-bit Sega game[Thanks, Sense and Sean]
Metareview - 2006 FIFA World Cup
Though EA has released several FIFA iterations this year, the new 2006 World Cup might be worth a look if you haven't played the series in a while and have $30 bucks to spare. If anything it should get you pumped for the world's largest sporting event if you're a futbol buff. IGN 84% - "EA put together its most solid soccer gameplay experience yet and the deepest World Cup title of all time. Still, it's hard to argue that the gameplay, an obvious imitation of Winning Eleven, is better, but with star players and a nifty new shooting mechanism, it would be hard to argue it's worse." Games Radar 70% - "The biggest disappointment is the sheer lack of innovation in the game engine and graphics. Yes, the shooting mechanic is a little different, but for the most part the gameplay is the same as the last few FIFA games."
GBA Player's Choice titles hit April 2nd
Just in case you missed the news last week, Nintendo is finally rolling out its Player's Choice program for the Game Boy Advance. The first titles on the docket are Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2, and Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, all set to be relabeled and rereleased at a $19.99 price point on April 2nd.While it's great to see Superstar Saga get more exposure and future sales thanks to its lower MSRP, what we'd really like to see are some other popular (and more recent) first-party titles such as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 hitting the discount rack, too. All in due time, right?[Thanks, striegs]
New screens of X-Men 3 game arrive with new movie trailer
Just as a new trailer arrives for the new X-Men movie, new screenshots arrive for the new X-Men game. WorthPlaying has got a couple dozen new screens from X-Men 3: The Official Game up on their site, which means you get a few more action shots of Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Iceman in events leading up to X-Men: The Last Stand. The game will apparently explain "Nightcrawler's mysterious absence from the movie" (and Alan Cumming's no-show in the movie's credits). What this game really needs, however, is more playable time spent as shiny Colossus. Both the game and movie will be released this May. [Via Evil Avatar] See also: X-Men 3 game to feature 3 playable characters Apple.com trailer for X-Men: The Last Stand IMDB full credits listing for the movie
GBA Super Robot Taisen titles coming to North America
Atlus is bringing two Super Robot Taisen titles to North America for the GBA this year.According to the official press release linked, "Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation is scheduled for release in the summer of 2006, followed by Original Generation 2 in the fall of 2006." The original Original Generation was released in Japan in 2002, while the Original follow-up arrived in early 2005.While the super-deformed strategy RPGs will feature Banpresto's original pilots and mechs, the Original Generation titles unfortunately leave out SRT's traditional mash-up of Japanese anime robot warriors from Mazinger Z to Neon Genesis Evangelion. At least GBA and DS owners with a love for SRPGs will have something extra to look forward to later this year.[Via GameSpot; image taken from AdvancedMN]See also: More PS3 and Xbox 360 third-party titles confirmed GameSpot's preview of SRT titles back in 2004 IGN's profile of Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2
CES: In-car GBA on the cards
If portable isn't good enough for you, this new product from Visteon in partnership with Nintendo (being announced at CES today) may help with your in-car entertainment needs.Boasting a fold-down DVD player that can be used on your lap or roof-mounted, the Dockable Entertainment was developed in conjunction with Nintendo and can play GBA games too. All that Game Boy goodness on 10.2 inches of screen? Oh my.[via Engadget, Nintendo Insider]
Nintendo cements Amazon's record Xmas
Gone are the days when "Amazon" referred to a lush South American stretch of land, brimming with exotic animals, untouched rivers and impenetrable jungles. No, that Amazon has long since been uprooted, trampled and burnt to the ground to make way for computer servers to power the modern and decidedly more well-stocked Amazon. That's progress for you.Amazon has made quite some progress this year, with their Christmas sales reaching epic proportions. They've reportedly sold more than 108 million items with virtual carts being filled at a rate of 41 orders per second. It was a blue Christmas for them, as the top-selling items in video game hardware were, of course, the Pearl Blue GBA SP and the Electric Blue DS. Oh, and that PSP thingamabob. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO was also kind enough to impart some holiday well-wishing. "We are grateful to our customers for shopping with us this holiday season and we wish everyone a happy new year."In other words, thanks for giving us your money and we hope you're still alive next year so you can do it again.
Hudson classics coming back
Re-releasing old classics on portable gaming systems? What a novel and hitherto unexplored idea! Those crazy guys at Hudson have plumbed their archives of goodness and yanked out a few classics they thought you might enjoy again and then promptly squeezed them into tiny little GBA carts. You know, those things that go into that bottom slot thingy in your DS.The "Hudson Best Collection" label will see the release of several great NES games, including Lode Runner, Nuts & Milk, Star Soldier, Adventure Island, Bomberman and, er, Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom. Hmm, sounds like that last one should be tossed. Dreadful puns aside, I fondly remember my time with Lode Runner. I loved that game - the tension, the satisfaction of stealing a pile of gold and the realization that....you just dug yourself into a freakin' hole. Again! Man, I hated that game.
FIFA 2005 cover athletes announced
It looks like Freddy Adu will have to wait for another year, EA has announced the newest athletes to appear on the cover of the latest FIFA installment. In North America, FIFA Soccer 2005 will feature Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Morientes, and Oswaldo Sanchez. "I love EA SPORTS, especially the FIFA franchise," said Sanchez. Now that's a spokesman! FIFA hits stores next Tuesday, we'll have more coverage then.
FIFA 2005 demo scores GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL
To celebrate the opening day of American football comes the FIFA 2005 demo, the premiere soccer video game. Okay, okay I'm being facetious. Weighing in at a mere 86 MB, the demo will let you play for six minutes with Arsenal vs. AC Milan in the Highbury Stadium. The marketing hype claims that every slight move of the controller will show up as human movement on the screen. Actually, if you watch the clips they may not be stretching the truth too much. Better yet, download the demo and play it yourself.
