Jason is out at the Nintendo press event but this is the hot and fresh news from console land that just cant wait. Nintendo has announced a new GameBoy Advance that features a new design (of course) and thankfully a built-in lighting system. It's also featuring a rechargable battery that will run for 10hrs with the light turned on and only takes 3hrs to recharge. Here's some stuff:

- Nintendo unveils 5oz GameBoy
- Nintendo sheds new light
- Higher res images via bizwire
- GameSpot images/info
- GameSpy images/info

Just to mess with everyone though, they no longer accept the standard headphones jack, you gotta get the special new kind. Sigh.

Ubi Soft sent along five new screenshots from a 3D Game Boy Advance title they are publishing, Star X. It's a flightsim, and besides single player mode there will be an option to fly with three other players.

I've been checking out the Game Boy Advance version Doom yesterday and today and figured I'd share some impressions. Of course, it's hard to give any info about Doom itself that you don't know so I'll just keep to impressions of the port. Technically, it seems pretty damn impressive. It's Doom in a tiny machine. It's about as faithful to the original as you can get. Some levels are slightly (really slightly) different but all the weapons, items, sounds, music, monsters and even level transition screens are there.
The controls are about as good as they can get on a small machine like this. The normal control pad is used for turn left, right, go up, and go down. The shoulder buttons are used for strafing, B is used for opening doors, and A is used to shoot. Weapon switching is done by pressing both shoulder buttons and then press up or down. If this config is not to your liking, there are 5 other configs. You can't remap keys yourself. Obviously its not as good as a keyboard, but it works well enough.
The graphics are somewhat pixelated, but it still looks amazing. Its also not as fast as on the PC, but still pretty good. AI seems a little slower, probably due to the fact that you can't aim at monsters as fast due to controls.
Besides single player support, multiplayer deathmatch is also supported. The fact that the engine is not as fast as the PC engine does affect gameplay in multiplayer somewhat since its not as fast paced, but it's still very fun.
Besides sometimes slight level changes, the other change compared to the PC version is the fact that the blood is green. Yes, corpes lay around, but they're green, instead of red. It looks kinda weird but its understandable seeing how they could score a Teen rating this way.
All in all, as was always the case with Doom, it's a great way to spend some time if you're travelling, especially if there's some one else you can deathmatch with. There doesn't seem to be a release date for the game yet, but the version showing at QuakeCon seemed pretty much complete.

Just got a press release officially announcing that the Game Boy Advance version of Doom is in development. Its being ported by David A. Palmer Productions, the same company that recently ported Commander Keen to the Game Boy Color. Of course everybody knows Doom already, so the info about the game won't really surprise you. Of course, this is the cool part

... Continuing DOOM's legacy of immersive multiplayer gameplay, the handheld version features multiplayer support through the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable. Two to four players can test their mettle in classic DOOM Deathmatch through all of the single-player levels and an additional eight dedicated multiplayer levels. In addition, two players can team up to blast their way through single-player levels in Cooperative mode

No release date is mentioned.

They guys at CVG have managed to get a hold of the first screenshots of DOOM for the GameBoy Advance in action according to Mark Hurley. I cant get the page to load right now but we'll just trust the guy. Right Mark?

If you picked up a GameBoy Advance you'll absolutely want to check this story out. There is a contrast control hidden on the back behind the sticker! I tried this out last night and it makes a world of difference. Don't kill us if your GBA dies though.

Hey check it out, a FPS game on the GameBoy Advance. Ecks vs Sever from Bam! Entertainment. The GSUK guys have an interview with the director or you can just check out the screenshots. Thanks Stomped

Looks like the Game Boy Advance is a big hit for Nintendo as they have sold half a million units in the first week. 100k more units have been sent to retailers the past weekend, and Nintendo hopes to reach 1 million shipped units by the end of June.

Today is that golden day many gamers have been waiting for. The Nintendo GameBoy Advance system is official today and should be on retail shelves across most of North America. The system is launching with 15 games available now and should have about 60 titles before the end of the year. Here's the launch title list for ya:

Super Mario Advance - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - F-Zero: Maximum Velocity - Pinobee: Wings of Adventure - ChuChu Rocket - GT Advance - Namco Museum - Earthworm Jim - Konami Krazy Racers - Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - Iridion 3D - Fire Pro Wrestling - Super Dodge Ball Advance - Rayman Advance - Pitfall - Army Men Advance

Here's a good FAQ including more games, previews, and information. It will be official in Europe on the 22nd of this month.

Oh man I dont know how we missed this one. Nintendo just a few days ago has confirmed that there will be a new Metroid title for the GameBoy Advance. Woo! After many people met the announcement of the GameCube new Metroid title turning into a FPS title with not exactly great enthusiasm fans of the Metroid titles will rejoice to know that the new GBA title will keep to the sidescroller roots.

"One of the things I wanted to get across in today's meeting is that Metroid is not Super Metroid. It's something new," Lobb clarified. "And that's something that will hopefully be seen at E3 for our sweet little Game Boy Advance."

I'm just dying for the E3 show this year. Nintendo showing off all their stuff, MS showing off all their X-Box stuff, New Duke4 stuff and maybe even some DOOM stuff. Mmmmm!

Pocket.IGN has a report on more GameBoy Advance stuff, Thanks Mike Z. They mention that the DOOM port (story) may end up running on the Crawfish3D engine (story). Dunno if that is good or bad. TonyHawk2 is a launch title for GBA also, w00!

Here is something I cant say I would have ever expected. Activision has announced their lineup of games that will be showing up on the Nintendo GameBoy Advance handheld system. The surprise though is DOOM from id Software is among those titles.

Based on the most popular action-shooter of all time, id Software's DOOM for Game Boy Advance features all of the frenetic, adrenaline pumping action and immersive gameplay from the original PC game. True to the original, the game features an advanced 3D graphics engine and an onslaught of horrific demons. DOOM challenges players to face off against attacks from cyber-organic creatures and demons in a timeless battle of skill and firepower.

Nintendo has been slowly shedding that 'kids and family only' oriented games that they were pushing for so long. The GBA will be launching on June 11th of this year. Thanks KungFu

We already knew about the hardware specs of the Gameboy Advance, but what about the price and games? The GBA should be about $99.95 when it hits stores in the US in June. There will be a full line of games available too, such as RPG, sports titles and action games. Nintendo hasn't decided what games will be available for the US launch, but there will probably be a new Mario game (Super Mario Advance) which should be about 40 bucks. More info in the CNN article. Thanks Rick.

Stomped has gotten their grubby hands on a press release from Activision announcing that Commander Keen is making a comeback! A new game for the GameBoy Color has been announced as in development.

Nintendo has finally announced the official US launch date of the Game Boy Advance, which will be June 11. With some 110 million units sold the original Gameboy is pretty much the best selling handheld computer ever, and the GBA will be able to play the original GB games.

Scheduled for release on June 11, Nintendo's Game Boy Advance will be powered by a 32-bit CPU, with the potential to display 512 colors [Maarten - actually according to the Game Boy site it does 511 in character mode, 32,768 in bitmap mode] simultaneously. According to Nintendo, the current Game Boy Color represented 47 percent of all hardware systems sold through 2000

Analysts question Nintendo's ability to produce enough GBA's, since there is a shortage of LCD screens. Nintendo says they won't have problems. So, who's getting one?

FGN Online has some news on two 3D engines that have been created for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. According to developer Graphic State 3D games such as Quake 3, Counter-Strike and others can be converted to a handheld quite easily. Interesting development.

A day after the rumors of Nintendo buying Sega (and both companies denying), a a Nintendo spokesman has said Sega may provide games for the Game Boy Advance, the successor to the original Gameboy. This isn't very surprising as Sega had already said it was going to change it's business model, providing software for devices other than the Dreamcast (seen in this and this story).

Despite Sony's component shortage, Nintendo is looking at making 24 million Gameboy Advanced devices in the first year, hoping to sell 1 million in the first ten days. Right now there's a shortage of Flash memory and small LCD screens, but Nintendo is pretty sure it'll be solved in a few months.