Just thought I'd drop a line for all the gameboy advance owners out there.

There's a lot of non-mainstream gaming accessories due to hit the market in the first semester of 2002. Nintendo packed a lot of power into their high color compact, but didn't give the consumers everything they hoped for. Well, some independant developers have come to save the day. Here's a couple key items that should interest you:

Portable Monopoly - The ultimate lighting solution:
    http://www.portablemonopoly.com/

    Neccesity is the mother of invention, so naturally the mother of neccesities will produce the mother of inventions. As any GBA owner knows, that damn screen is a pain in the ass. Play DOOM in anything but direct sunlight, and you wouldn't know you hit anything if it wasn't for the sound effects. You've seen plenty of peripheral producers claim they have the best light... no more. These guys cooked up the only possible solution, and will be offering the $35 kit in march/april. Pre-order now so you're not screwed later.

nReach's Bluetooth adapter - Wireless gaming:
    http://www.nreach.com/press_releases...01/191201.html

    This should be great news for the pokemon lovers amongst you. Bluetooth is an 802.11b compliant wireless technolgy. Essentially this means that a little bluetooth chip that can be connected to anything can send and recieve up to 11 Megs/sec of data. It's also capable of sending such information up to a mile away. This is also radio based. Meaning no line of sight (Infared works this way) is neccesary in order to make a connection. So not only can you play your game in class, but you can issue the beatdown on your friend in another class! Chances are this will be a bit more pricey than our little gaming light, expect to see this adapter for around $75 or more (most likely more).

So if you sold your GBA to your little brother, this spring might be the right time to offer him a refund...

...you're worried about the warranty? Look man, warranties, for all intensive purposes, only cover shipping damage. They give you a 30-day or 1-year warranty to make it look like they value you as a customer, in reality they're not going to fix your damned gameboy when it's most likely to be suffering from a coffee spill.

With the light on through constant use, the creators have found an average of 10 hr. lifetime, which is really about the same compared to what I've experienced with my GBA, even with Titanium Energizer batteries.

And for the record it's not 'welding' it's soldering, and if you fear a little hands-on work to get something working then this accessory really isn't for you anyways.

I bought an excellent light package for mine, not sure of the name of it (headlights I think)but it has it's own power supply and the lights (one on each side) fold down to form grips when not in use.

I'll look for a picture

Well, I guess I'm just a big fan of surface lighting, and to me this is the next best thing...