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Late Night Consoling

by jason bergman, Mar 24, 2003 8:00pm PST
Related Topics – Sega, Capcom, Konami, Games: Console

So this evening after work I took a walk over the gi-normous Toys 'R Us in Times Square and picked up a GBA SP. I'm so weak. I was actually a little surprised at how many they had in stock, given the shortages I've been hearing about at specialty stores around the country. Granted this is a huge store we're talking about, but apparently Toys 'R Us stores have more in stock than other places (due largely, I'm sure to the fact that they didn't take pre-orders) so if you want one, try your local Toys 'R Us, or Amazon.com, which handles online orders for them (that's a commission-free link, by the way). One question for all of you out there...has anyone seen a headphone adapter anywhere? I called around, and no place seemed to have it for sale, and I couldn't even find one online anywhere. I found it at import shops, but those tend to charge a premium, and it seems silly to spend extra for such a small, but necessary add-on. Also, has anyone tried this weird-looking add-on from MadCatz? Like the original GBA my hands are too big to comfortably play for long periods of time, so I need to get some kind of ergonomic grips, and the combo battery/grip I had from MadCatz worked well enough for my stock GBA.

GameCube GameBoy Advance GameCube GBA Player Released Always one step ahead of its American counter-part, Nintendo of Japan has released the GameCube GBA Player. Import retailer NCS has posted a brief writeup on it, and confirmed that while the hardware is 100% compatible with local GameCubes, you will need an import switch or Freeloader boot disc in order to run the software.
PS2 Xbox Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II Announced Interplay today announced Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II for PS2 and Xbox. Like its predecessor, this game will provide co-op Diablo-style action. Not much is known yet, but GamePro has the first screens and details, including word that there will be five playable characters, and multiplayer will still be limited to two players.
PS2 Onimusha: Blade Warriors Q&A Computer and Video Games has conducted a Q&A with Keiji Inafune, the producer of Capcom's Onimusha series. The questions deal with Onimusha: Blade Warriors, the recently announced fighting game that uses characters from the various other games in the series.
GameCube Rogue Squadron III Confirmed? Citing no source at all, Computer and Video Games has a news item up "confirming" that Rogue Squadron III is in development at Factor 5. While it's almost certainly true, the news story fails to credit even a passing source, claiming to confirm this news almost entirely in the headline of the story.
Xbox Otogi: Myth of Demons Coming to North America Sega of America has announced plans to publish From Software's Otogi: Myth of Demons for Xbox here in North America. The game should be out in September.
GameBoy Advance Splinter Cell GBA Preview A new preview of the Game Boy Advance version of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is up at Pocket.IGN tonight. While brief, it is hands-on, and has the requisite new screenshots.
PS2 ZOE 2 Bonus for Europe As they did with the European release of Metal Gear Solid 2, Konami has announced that there will be bonus features when Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is released over there. Among the additions are three new playable levels and a new "extra mission mode."
Console Game of the Evening: Star Tropics for the NES. "This was a pretty cool adventure title. Spoiler, select text to read: Finding out that the letter from your 'father', which came with the game, had a message that was revealed when you dipped it in water was classic." (submitted by Trilinear).


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Comments

33 Threads* | 118 Comments
  • #113
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    By: |hawkeye| x
    Reply
    I'm really interested to see sales figures on the GBAsp. I saw two dudes on the train playing theirs today, while I was playing mine. Two of my friends bought one as well. So basically, I've been seeing a shitload of these things around and they've only been out for a couple days. I'm thinking Nintendo just added a solid gold defensive shield to their corporate offices. Anyone know how much dough Nintendo makes off of each GBA, if any? They're still coming out in the black on this, I'd imagine.

    Zelda sales figures would be interesting too. We know the preorders were impressive, even rivalling Vice City. There were a bunch of dudes having a party in Gamestop last night, eating cookies and drinking pop while streams of people came in to buy the Wind Waker...could be interesting to see how well it did.

    Wind Waker and the new GBA are both kickass products and I thank Nintendo for providing me with such gaming bliss, all in the same week, no less.
    Mar 25, 2003 6:52am PST
  • #50
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    By: Wombat Woo x
    Reply
    So how long do you think it will take before there is a headphone jack mod. The current official headphone adapter looks like it could snap at any time, causing damage to the adapter or even the gba sp.

    It sort of reminds me of the adapters for certain cell phones. From my previous job it wasn't uncommon for a few people a week to come in with broken adapters, or damaged/flaky cell phone connections due to the damage that those type of adapters cause.

    I dunno electronics too well but wouldn't it be possible to make use of the wires that connect to the current speaker in the GBA SP and hook a 1/8 female jack to it or 3/32 if 1/8 is too big, then just do some fancy cutting to make it look perty?
    Mar 24, 2003 9:20pm PST
  • #1
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    By: burbons_lacs x
    Reply
    Jason the no stores have the headphone adaptor in yet. The Nintendo company store even doesn’t have them yet and it gets things at least a week before retail stores do. However they are on the release list for this week so I expect them to be shipping to stores next week. I’m really not sure why but you would think they would ship first party accessories at the same time as the product!

    Also to anyone who has a GBA or GBA-SP a STRONG word of caution: do NOT use your GBA with the new Zelda WW! Yes the feature is really cool and fun if you have someone else playing with you BUT the GBA tells you almost exactly what to do taking most of the fun out of the game. Its like having the official strategy guide linked to your Cube. Simply walk in a room, look at GBA “hey we could use that XXXXX to open that XXXXX!” Combine that with the game being fairly short in length using the link system makes the game even shorter and feels like you just did a “Zelda done quick” run. If you play a game with gamefaqs.com open then the link feature is prefect for you and it really is fun to use.

    Zelda is possibly the best looking game to date. The game is so beautiful, fluid and full of life. Truly stunning to play, or even watch. I was never anti cell shading but after playing it I can’t see it being done any other way. WOW. The graphic style and colors fit with the game so well it’s amazing.

    That doesn’t mean I’m for everything toon style, but it’s a perfect fit for some games Zelda being one of them. After Zelda and Xenosaga I really like the distance blur effect these games offer. I wish more Xbox devs would look into this if it fits the game. I always disliked that hyper realistic looks that so many recent PC and Xbox games seem to have because the world is almost TOO clear and sharp looking.

    One last thing, did anyone get on the Auto Modellista beta? How is the online play? I really liked the jap version and plan on getting the game this week but I would like to know if the online play is fun or even functional.
    Mar 24, 2003 8:01pm PST

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