#31733 - PaRaSHooT - Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:46 am
Has anyone heard any news/specs on the wireless messanger for the GBA other than what the majestico site said?
that and does anyone know when it comes out? i am getting release dates from in a week(www.gamestop.com) to already out(www.walmart.com)
from what the sites said it looks pretty cool, that is if the DS hadent come out first.
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#31771 - Lupin - Tue Dec 14, 2004 11:17 am
That indeed looks cool... maybe you just have to order it and see if it is already available?
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#32198 - PaRaSHooT - Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:20 am
Update: walmart had it but was sold out =( but they said that they would get more beore christmas. now to brave last-minute shoppers! (goodie)
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#33750 - agsilva - Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:21 am
I saw this in the store over the holidays and would be interested to hear the experiences of anyone who got one.
1) Everyone involved needs one to communicate right? (Not compatible with regular wireless adapter correct?)
2) Is it worth money $39.99?
3) How does the vastly increased range (3 miles by package) affect battery life?
#33757 - PaRaSHooT - Sat Jan 08, 2005 6:58 am
ok, update again: got one from walmart($29.96)((freaking gamestop)), seems to work just fine if not a little how you say primitive interface. will post pics of innerds if anyone cares enough.
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#33760 - agsilva - Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:37 am
Innards would be interesting if you can see which chips were used to enable wireless functions. The box I saw said 3 mile range which would imply some regular radio components and I wonder how that affects battery life. Maybe they included additional battery inside (doubt it though).
#33761 - PaRaSHooT - Sat Jan 08, 2005 8:43 am
well on the back it says internal battery, do not incenerate. plus all the packageing says it lives up to a week on one charge. but that is very suspect. i have one and my friend has one, the real testing will start tomorrow.
and as far as i know it is incompatable with the gba wireless adapter sold with hokeycon and the wireless link that majesco recently released. that would be soooo worth it if acted as a link cable too.
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#34556 - agsilva - Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:45 am
Well, theoretically it could take the signals from a GBA link game and pack them into its own format then transmit them. This would allow another majesco to pulldown the signal and decode but there are problems:
1) Every device in range would get the signal. There would have to be hardcoded channels (with an external switch) to make sure only the right GBAs received the signal (presumably the friends you play with), just as though they were cable linked. I presume that Nintendo's wireless games do some sort of handshake before transmission to accomplish discrimination but existing games rely on the 'hardcoded' cable to do it.
2) Even with a switched channel and encapsulation scheme, the encoding and decoding overhead would likely create 'lag' issues. Also since reliable transmission wouldn't work (re-transmission of data would totally mess up timing) any interference or dropped data might really scew things up.
I think only games designed from the start to take advantage of wireless can, and those will likely only be Nintendo games since 3rd party support is rare for add ons (which is too bad). I even wonder if ANY more games other than the Pokemons will ever use the wireless adapter which would suck cause I want one.
The Majesco device seems neat if you and your friends each have one but it is really a novelty I suspect, a clever and interesting one though (if I had $60 bucks to spare I'd get a pair :) ).
I do wonder about the battery life though. 3 miles(?) requires a pretty powerful transmitter (considering the GBA's power resources). Please let us know how long it lasts.
EDIT:
Hmm saw this link in another post http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/515/515156p1.html
deals with Majesco Link not Messenger (with chat stuff which is what you have right?) but explains how they achieve discrimination. Of course is short range and still probably has 'lag' type issues like I mention. Sequential boot wouldn't work for long ranges though. Of course if you used the Messenger software to id each unit then somehow switched to link game you might be able to do it but I doubt that is possible? Can a Majesco softboot a game cartridge (and trick it inot thinking it has a link cable attached? If players set up game using chat (agreed to channels/positions) in advance then started up it might work. Pretty unlikely Majesco set that up though. Did they (you have one)?
#34575 - Miked0801 - Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:39 pm
| Quote: |
I even wonder if ANY more games other than the Pokemons will ever use the wireless adapter which would suck cause I want one.
|
We are pretty much supporting both on our multiplayer games. Once the API is written, it's not hard to support either.
#34578 - PaRaSHooT - Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:38 pm
well digimon racing uses it and alot of the classic nes series can use the wireless adapter.
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#34593 - Miked0801 - Sat Jan 22, 2005 1:26 am
Yep - Digimon was done by us and the NES classics by Nintendo first/second party developers.
I type too fast and have to wait before posting :)
#35324 - agsilva - Thu Feb 03, 2005 1:34 am
Cool. I didn't know other games supported it yet. Guess I'll get go ahead and get Pokemon or the separate adapter. I recently added Sword of Mana, Metal Slug, and Klonoa Empire of Dreams to my collection so I have too much to play as it is :P, but such is the life of a gamer...
I never thought I'd have so much fun with this little device. Between the code tinkering and the playing it is great. I hope the GBA doesn't get orphaned by the DS and mythical GBA2. I seem to have jumped on it late, but it seems like it has so much more potential. I have heard the royalty structure is pretty rough which is too bad. The prices are much better (than big consoles) and it seems to me the GBA could/should have a much larger library of games.
It really bugs me to see so many kiddie titles. I don't want stuff like Manhunt, but there are so many franchises in between that could be appearing. MOH Infiltrator was a fun little game. Why aren't we seeing an new old school Metal Gear? Nintendo always says controlling quality is important but I can't believe all those Barbie/MaryKay(Kate?) and Ashley/ and Beyblades are all that great ?
Am I missing something?