Play-yan gets more functions !

Nintendo has announced that it will release a patch for the Play-yan, the multimedia playback accessory for Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo DS. The patch will give the device the additional capability to run MP4-formatted movie files, allowing videos to be enjoyed in stereo sound. Owners of Play-yan will be able to download the patch from Nintendo's Web site starting in mid-July.


In order to enjoy the MP4 movies, the 500KB patch file must be placed in the root directory of the SD memory card that contains the video. Play-yan will automatically read the patch whenever it boots up with the SD memory card inserted. Since the patch doesn't update Play-yan's system software, the SD memory card will have to be inserted whenever the user wants to play back an MP4 file.

Nintendo plans to release MP4 encoding software for Play-yan users later on. The encoding software bundled with Play-yan, MediaStage v.4.2 for Nintendo, does not have the capability to produce MP4 files.