Majesco Gba video soon available

[Farid]

Majesco official Gba Video site

MAJESCO TO BRING PROPRIETARY VIDEO COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY TO NINTENDO'S GAME BOY ® ADVANCE SYSTEM

Game Boy Advance Video Allows Full-Screen, Color Viewing of Live-Action Video, CGI Video and Animation
EDISON, NJ, December 29, 2003 - Majesco Sales Inc., the sole operating subsidiary of ConnectivCorp (OTCBB: CTTV), today announced that it has secured approval to apply its new video technology to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance system and create new products for distribution throughout North and South America . The technology enables the almost 17.4 million consumers who own a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP, to view a wide variety of content - including cartoons - without the need of any additional hardware.

"The power, flexibility, and vast installed base of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance systems opens up a potentially significant stream of revenue," said Jesse Sutton , President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our new video technology not only offers consumers an entirely new way to enjoy their Game Boy Advance, but further underscores our commitment to developing leading-edge technology and exciting new entertainment experiences."

Majesco 's new video compression technology presently allows viewing of approximately 45 minutes of quality color video with the capability to view 90 minutes of color video under development. Approximately 12 video titles are scheduled to launch at retail in time for spring 2004.

"Majesco 's technology fits in a standard Nintendo-manufactured, Game Boy Advance cartridge that is inserted directly into the system", said Kevin Ray , Chief Technology Officer. "The video technology incorporates standard 'DVD-style' player controls and features color video across 100 percent of the screen, a significant advantage over most competitive technologies that limit viewing to black & white video and/or a reduced portion of the screen."

For further info rmation about Majesco Sales, Inc., the sole operations of ConnectivCorp., please visit the Majesco website at www.majescogames.com .

That's the Press release classical PK talk.

Here's a link to a NYTIMES storie

A video is available at Gamespot


The first Video cartridge based on this tech will be on sale in june, the 21th. And it will be a Pokemon anime. The price is kind of expensive 19,99$US

Here's the box of the North american video

So who need the DS or the PSP to have a buisiness model for video on an handheld? (j/k)
Anyway that's a nice tech , that' reminds me of the tech demo done by 4Xtechnologie (french studio, it's closed now), by the time of the launch of the Gba. They Compressed the Matrix trailer and played it on the Gba.

 

[London Geezer]

Interesting, now we only have to see what they will use this for and it could turn out to be VERY interesting. Still, it won't keep me from buying a PSP. That is, unless PSP is a MAJOR let down...

 

[Lazy8s]

This has the potential to be big if Nintendo and Majesco can expand the forms of media sold to the massive GBA userbase by alligning the right applications and initiatives. Releasing exclusive sets of episodes of the Pokemon cartoon, with the show's perfect crossover demographic and huge popularity, along with similar movie media could create a completely new sector of the GBA software market and turn the console into more of a multifunctional multimedia device.

 

[cthellis42]

Certainly tests the market to see how will it will embrace movie media on devices like this, applying both to the PSP and to GBA's successor down the line.

Offhand, though, I don't think it will sell too well at $20. The kids it's trying to appeal to don't tend to have the money themselves, and parents are apt to balk at spending $20 for one or two episodes of what their kids already watch on TV for free, or quite possibly own already on VHS/DVD. Now if it were exclusive it would indeed be more appealing, but is Nintendo willing to create whole episides for it and avoid the much more lucrative conventional video market?

Offhand, what I think they should be doing is bundling in some mini-games as well, or tidbits that can enhance their regular gaming experience as well, so there's more incentive than just the video, and which appeals directly to the gamer who owns the machine in the first place.

 

[Guden Oden]

Minigame idea was a great one, Ct.

I agree, $20 for 2 eps of Pokemon at what has to be pretty rotten video quality considering resolution and bitrate constraints doesn't sound too appealing to me unless there's something else to add more value.

A video flashram cart that could be reloaded for cheap at stores or filled with stuff from a PC would have been more interesting.

 

[Lazy8s]

Minigames works that crossover market.

And it's actually closer to four episodes, and eight for the 90 min cart versions, as said in the video interview with Majesco at GameSpot.

 

[Farid]

About the video quality, i guess it might be good because animated series are easier to compres. Specially Pokémon since it use a lot of the "classical tricks" of animation, such as animating only a part of the character (only the mouth is animated when they talk, etc)
Bob squarepants could be a little harder to compress at the same bitrate, because it use a lot of complex animation, with a lot of painting-like background (lots of details).