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[Dice]

I just saw a commercial for these, I think it's pretty cool.

http://www.nintendo.com/newsarticle?articleid=4ee66be0-d0ea-4fbb-8ec0-a2a820a9e5db&page=systemGBA

Take Your Favorite Animation Anywhere

On a plane, in a car, in the park or at the beach, for the first time ever fans can enjoy their favorite Pokémon episodes using a Game Boy Advance. Game Boy Advance Video lets users watch their favorite animated shows on their Game Boy Advance systems at an affordable price and with no need to buy additional hardware.

Pokémon episodes include "Playing with Fire!" and "Johto Photo Finish" on one video pak and "A Hot Water Bottle" and "For Ho-Oh The Bells Toll!" on another. The Pokémon titles will be offered at an MSRP of $19.99. They join a lineup of other recently released cartoon favorites such as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly OddParents.

"Consumers and retailers are clearly thrilled by this portable, skip-proof video technology," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president, marketing and corporate communications. "Whether it's the novelty of an exciting new product or the need for something to pass the time during the summer travel season, fans have been grabbing Game Boy Advance Video products off the shelves."

The video paks look identical to Game Boy Advance game paks, fitting into the same slot. The plus button fast forwards or rewinds through the video, while the right and left shoulder buttons skip entire scenes. The start button pauses the action, while the select button returns to the main menu. The A and B buttons adjust the brightness.

Game Boy Advance Video enters the market with a massive built-in user base, with more than 50 million Game Boy Advance units sold worldwide, including more than 21 million in the United States. In the future, Nintendo expects to offer animated content with Game Boy Advance Video that appeals to an older demographic.

 

[TheDiave]

Yeah, they're pretty cool. I picked up the Sonic-X Volume 1 when they came in at work. Might pick up the Yu-Gi-Oh! and Dragonball GT ones when they become available.

Neat ideas +1

 

[SickBoy]

I saw a few of these in the store. There's no chance I'm buying anything related to the Pokemon cartoon, but it struck me as a neat idea. How is the quality?

-SB

 

[metsallica]

Screens and video are available at the official site: http://www.gba-video.com although it does look a bit better in motion on a GBA SP screen.

 

[TheDiave]

The quality's not too bad... I mean you can notice a drop in quality versus what you see on TV, and the audio has that same sort of scratchiness most compressed videos have on the computer. All in all, I still think it's a neat idea and a cool product.

Every time I show one to a customer, they buy one.

 

[Dice]

I think this idea could be really good on Nintendo DS, it will have much bigger carts to play on, not to mention better hardware. In fact I bet Nintendo is probably already thinking about stuff like this to compete with PSP in movie playing at least a little.