Tendo City

From IGN:

Quote:December 15, 2004 - Hot on the heels of the PSP's Japanese launch, Nintendo has announced a device that adds limited multimedia capabilities to the Game Boy Advance SP. Set for release in Japan in February of 2005 is the tentatively named "Play-chan," an MP3 and MPEG-4 compatible playback device that accepts SD cards.

Play-chan looks like a large Game Boy Advance cartridge. It has a slot that accepts SD cards and includes a built-in Broadcom VC01PXX-ES2 hardware decoder. The presence of the hardware decoder sets this apart from similar movie devices that have appeared for the GBA, all of which have made use of the GBA hardware for playback at the expense of video quality. Play-chan also has its own audio-out port, allowing users to attach headphones directly to the unit.

Movie playback supports ASF MPEG-4 files at up to CIF (352x288) resolutions. The maximum data rate is 1.5 Megabits per second. Sound drops to single channel when viewing movies. These specs may not seem too high, but Nintendo promises that you'll be able to store uup to two hours worth of footage to a 256 Megabyte SD card.

The product is also compatible with a few multimedia products. SD-Video support is included, allowing users to grab video off their Matsushita/Panasonic brand digital video recorders (models DMR-E500H, DMR-E200H and DMR-E100H). When used in this way, the product is not compatible with extra fine mode (320x240 resolution at 30 frames per second). Also, videos created on Fujitsu and Hiatchi computers that have shipped pre-installed with Matsushita-brand Media Stage software can also be played back on the player.

Movies can be placed in subfolders on the SD card, with thumbnail images appearing on screen for quick access. The software interface lets you use the D-pad for forward, reverse and skipping through chapters, with L and R used to adjust brightness.

MP3 playback is, similar to movie playback, compatible with folders, although Nintendo hasn't commented on playlist compatibility. MP3 files can use VBR (variable bit rate) encoding with bitrates between 32 and 320 kilobits per second supported. As you listen to music, the screen displays artist name and song information from the MPE3's ID3 tag. Specific interface support hasn't been finalized by Nintendo just yet, although you'll at the very least be able to skip forward and back through your music.

Battery life seems to take somewhat of a hit depending on how your use this device. When viewing movies, the GBASP lasts four hours. Music playback lasts for fifteen hours if the screen backlight is off and eight hours if it's on.

Although Play-chan was announced by Nintendo as supporting the Game Boy Advance, it's also compatible with the DS. Only one screen is used for display, though. The standard Game Boy Advance is not compatible with the product.

It's unclear just how far Nintendo intends to take Play-chan in the market. While pricing is expected to be in the 5,000 yen range, distribution will initially be limited to Nintendo's Online sales site, with no current plans for retail distribution. The Japan-based few who are interested in the product will want to make reservations at Nintendo Japan's site in mid-January for shipment in mid February.

We expect to get a look at this product in the next few days, so stay tuned to IGN Game Boy for an update shortly.

-- Anoop Gantayat

Cool! I imagine the video quality will be better than the third-party compact flash reader I just got, but it won't play Famicom games...

Still, I'm very interested.