More about the DS/GBASP Multimedia Player

Turns out it might not be 'all about the games' for Nintendo after all - a slew of fresh info about the Japanese giant's upcoming Play-Yan device, which lets you play MP3 music files and MPEG4 video files on your GBA SP or DS.[br]And we're very excited. For a start it's now being widely reported that Play-Yan is compatible with DS, although this has not been officially confirmed and every prototype shot we've seen shows the system slotted into a GBA SP. Still, with Sony's PSP counting multimedia playback as a killer app it would seem crazy for Play-Yan not to be compatible with DS.[br][br]And there's no physical reason why it shouldn't work in DS. Designed in conjunction with Panasonic and expected to launch in Japan in February 2005 with a reasonable 5000 Yen price tag (about £25), Play-Yan looks like a normal GBA cartridge - so it'll certainly fit into the DS's GBA cart slot. [br][br]You'll get your music and movies onto your GBA or DS by transferring files onto an SD card, which will then slot into the Play-Yan cartridge. We've heard that the device could even come bundled with a 256 Mb SD card, which would hold around 2 hours of video or 4 hours of music, but you can pick up compatible cards pretty cheaply these days.[br][br]In terms of battery drain, Nintendo reckon you'll be able to squeeze 15 hours of music or 5 hours of movie from one charge - read it and weep, PSP fans. The reason for the extra-long music playback time is that after 30 seconds of inactivity your GBA will continue to play music but go into sleep mode, saving your precious charge.[br][br]Organising your music collection looks to be simple, too. Your tracks are organised into separate folders that you access by moving a wee stick man around and then selecting what you want to hear. There's even a headphones socket built into the Play-Yan cart, so you can enjoy stereo sound in private.[br][br]In terms of movie playback, you'll be able to enjoy video up to a resolution of 320x240 in MPEG4 or SD-Video format - so you should be able to watch video from a compatible digital camcorder. Reports state that the playback quality isn't earth-shattering but pretty impressive for a GBA screen (apparently when used on a DS the playback is identical, much like playing a regular GBA game on the new system) and you've got full control over the video via the D-pad and buttons. Pressing left and right on the D-pad seeks forward and back, up and down on the D-pad adjusts the volume, the left trigger adjust volume and the start button pauses.[br][br]There are a couple of disappointments: apparently Nintendo won't bundle SD card file transfer software with Play-Yan, so you'll have to look after that yourself. And worse - Play-Yan is only confirmed for Japan at the moment, and the initial launch will be a limited online roll out. We're praying Nintendo bring the peripheral to the US and Europe.[br][br]Potential availability problems aside, Play-Yan sounds like a fantastic piece of kit to turn your GBA or DS into a multimedia hub. Sony must feel slightly worried that the mooted battery drain stats are so low and Play-Yan's price is surprisingly affordable, suddenly bringing DS's features in line with PSP. [br][br]Or will those Nintendo fans who continually yelled 'it's all about the games!' stay true to their words and ignore Play-Yan's music and movie multimedia orgy?[br][br]We'll bring you more on Play-Yan soon.

will i be able do use it to downloud songes and media player things too

[quote author=admin link=board=NDS;num=1103220258;start=0#0 date=12/16/04 12:04:18]No date or price has been officially set, but Nintendo is looking at a release date in mid-February and a price range near 5,000 yen ($48)[/quote]

thats $48 not $4 8) on ign it said it would be about £25 so thats cool!!

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will they be out befor jan 31st

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[quote author=admin link=board=NDS;num=1103220258;start=0#0 date=12/16/04 12:04:18]Nintendo is looking at a release date in mid-February [/quote]

I hope they release that in America, because it seems like a cool add-on for GBA.

It drives the price of the DS up to PSP levels. Plus the quality won't match that of the PSP, and you'll probably end up re-encoding a lot of your media. But for GBA it is more interesting, if you already have one. It'll turn your GBA into a good portable music player, with some video capabilities to boot.

anser my question ( 2nd top)

[quote author=Alexvrb link=board=NDS;num=1103306645;start=0#4 date=12/22/04 at 21:25:23]It drives the price of the DS up to PSP levels. Plus the quality won't match that of the PSP, and you'll probably end up re-encoding a lot of your media. But for GBA it is more interesting, if you already have one. It'll turn your GBA into a good portable music player, with some video capabilities to boot.[/quote]


but the DS will have (has) much better games than the PSP

^^^ Well said Â*;D, you can't beat Nintendo on games, Mario, Zelda, DK, Metroid... the list goes on, I'd love to see a Smash Bros. game for the DS, with online play *drools*. And a lot the games that PSP fans are saying will beat the DS, will be on the DS as well like Final Fantasy and Tony Hawks, Playstation just don;t have any original games/characters, Nintendo totally beats them in that area.
Anyway I'm looking forward to Play-Yan to come out, I think the quality will be pretty good 'cause i have an N-Gage and the quality of the video using SmartMovie is amazing! Imagine what the DS can do Â*:o.

[quote author=Alexvrb link=board=NDS;num=1103306645;start=0#4 date=12/22/04 at 21:25:23]It drives the price of the DS up to PSP levels. Plus the quality won't match that of the PSP, and you'll probably end up re-encoding a lot of your media.[/quote]

1. Yea it does but you dont have yo get it! The price is nice and as you said can be used on the gba aswell! Secondly when you by a psp it comes with a 32mb stick which really is not alot! thats about 5-7 mp3s which is rubbish and you will not use iit as a mp3 play until you get a big card (about 1gb is you want movies) and they get very expensive so the price goes up alot! the play yan comes with a 256mb card which is alot bigger and can hold about 20-30 songs which is a big difference! is you want a bigger one SD cards (i head that that was what the play yan was going to use) then they are getting alot cheaper!!

2. The quality may not match but i dout it will be far off! I cant see why they wont be able to make it good quality. The quality is also partly down to the headphones you use and the quality of the track you are playing.

3. The psp can only play 1 video type which means you will have to re-code all you media for the psp aswell!

and 1 thing you have to remember is sony are very money hungry and there could be a problem with converting some of your media and getting it to play!

uhhh did they say it will be released in north america or only japan

only japan at the moment but we can always hope or import i guess!