Author Topic: Question for Rick (Mailbag)  (Read 2681 times)

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Offline J-Le2k3

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Question for Rick (Mailbag)
« on: February 01, 2003, 03:48:54 PM »
The wacky GBA hardware add-ons continue to roll on out ...

A company called am3, funded by Toshiba, Imagica, and Bandai, are set to start test marketing in May (in Japan) a device for the Game Boy Advance (and Game Boy Advance SP) that will allow you to replay video and music file stores on SmartMedia memory cards.  They plan on a full-scale release in the fall.


If the information we have is correct, it seems that am3 plans on selling both recordable SmartMedia (which you can put anything on), and SmartMedia which will have pre-recorded (and presumably, protected) content.  It looks like protection will be in place to ensure that even content recorded by users (through the use of a special adapter) will not be able to be shared with other users.  They also plan to offer pre-recorded SmartMedia cards through kiosks in convenience stores.


The compression/decompression algorithms are stored on the media, not in the adapter, and will take up some of the space on the cards.  The codec is written specifically for the ARM7 CPU in the GBA, but no specifics on the technology are available.  A 32MB SmartMedia card can hold up to 24 minutes of video, and 5 hours of audio.


Eventually, the company hopes that this technology can be used for study aids, advertisements, museum guides, or digital comic books, and the company does indeed plan on expanding the device into the United States in the second half of 2003 and Europe in 2004.  They will officially announce the device for the North American market at E3 in May.


Pricing appears to be a bit vague, but they appear to be offering the device and one SmartMedia card for about $40.  Blank 32MB SmartMedia cards will be around $28, with a CD-ROM packed with content available for about $60.


Offline Mingesium

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Question for Rick (Mailbag)
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2003, 05:14:11 PM »
You asked for it, you got it!  We're now hosting our very own Forums!  Go get your new Forum account NOW!

It's been a long time in coming (back), but they're finally here.  We seem to have gotten some of the last little bugs worked out, and we're now ready to unleash our new Forums on the world!


The new Forums are different from ezBoard in many ways, so you're bound to be disoriented at first.  Make sure to take time to look around and read some of the posts before you jump into the fray ... many of your likely questions have already been answered.  Most importantly, make sure you read the Rules and the FAQ so that you're aware of what kinds of things will have your access removed.


We're still going to be making changes to the Forums as we come up with ideas, so be prepared for cool surprises and updates!


Offline J-Le2k3

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Question for Rick (Mailbag)
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2003, 02:27:43 PM »
I didn't post this??????

Offline RickPowers

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Question for Rick (Mailbag)
« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2003, 02:34:51 PM »
Those look like a couple of TalkBack posts.  Probably a slight bit of database skew from one of our crashes over the last week.  I wouldn't worry too much about it.  
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