Live coverage of Visteon's car-dockable GBA system

Engadget has new details of the dockable in-car entertainment unit featuring Nintendo's GBA (revealed early this morning) following Visteon's press conference:

Mario was on-hand this morning when Visteon officially unveiled its latest dockable entertainment system featuring Nintendo's GBA under a tent outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Visteon's Greg Gyllstrom called the unit the "ultimate backseat babysitter." Available this spring, the docking station features a drop-down screen with inverted image capabilities and car stereo integration. In addition, the system comes standard with wireless headphones, wireless (infrared) controller, and wired gamelink capability with a separate GBA. Nintendo's Peter Eck described the partnership as "a little unusual," as Nintendo rarely licenses its hardware to third parties.

Although this will certainly help to solidify the GBA's dominance in the portable market, we found that the Visteon prototype on display was not up to par with GBA standards. The generic controller features five face buttons (a, b, c, d, and select), "help" and "back-up," and R & L buttons on the rear. Visteon's rep explained that the five face buttons will translate into 3 a-buttons and 2 b-buttons. Huh?

The video resolution also left much to be desired. While the GBA feed will not fill the entire 10.2-inch screen, it has been stretched into 16:9 (from 4:3), making for an awkward transition. However, Visteon claims that the retail model will feature an even bigger, sharper image. Needless to say, the engineers have their work cut out for them.

[Neil @ Jan 5th 2006 8:06PM]

That's a Sky Gamepad - a device used to control interactive games on the UK's Sky Digital Satellite TV service.

[ken fager @ Jan 5th 2006 8:20PM]

Yeeeeeuck. Those controllers look terrible. Are they comparable to the portable DVD devices with similar controllers? Because those things are not built to last.



My NES controllers still take a pounding after 20 years. Nintendo really needs to up the ante on their expectations for this licensed device. Even if it is craptacularly released, it would make an interesting addition to my videogame system collection.

[Galley @ Jan 5th 2006 8:30PM]

240 x 160 on a 10-inch screen - ouch!

[Dan @ Jan 5th 2006 8:32PM]

Am I the only one that thought a GBA was *allready* a back seat babysitter without the need for a clunky controller and not-so-great looking mobile screen?

[Liam @ Jan 5th 2006 10:35PM]

Wait, I'm confused, why are there extra face buttons when the GBA itself only has A and B buttons?



This could easily turn into a collector's item.

[XGM @ Jan 5th 2006 11:13PM]

Nintendo has gone from the Nes (that i found amazing) to SNES (better then the Nes) then to sh*t, crap and more gay as* crap stuff. No wonder there console sales are going down in a straight line.

[tk @ Jan 6th 2006 7:33AM]

http://www.sky.com/skycom/channelnav/0,,90125-,00.html

[DG @ Jan 6th 2006 10:21AM]

XGM, Nintendo DS is completely SOLD OUT in Japan. That's pretty incredible. As far as I know, every one and their sister wants a Revolution. There is also the possibility the GameCube may overtake in the Xbox in worldwide sales. You're a fool.



As far as the backseat GBA is concerned, I'd be a lot more excited about it if I were a parent or 10 years old. As it is, it's a neat idea that I have for which I have no practical need. However, anything for the Big N.

[kaw @ Jan 6th 2006 2:04PM]

Look at the size of that remote/controller! Microsoft Duke has nothing on that thing. It doesn't even follow a standard GBA layout. It seriously looks like it was designed by a five year old. Why the hell would they clob together a craptacular device like that, when they could make an ergonomic wireless controller (one third of that size) that could also dock in console for recharging.

[Wanda Howard @ Jan 22nd 2006 11:47PM]

I am a mother of two teenage boys. We have NES, SNES, N64, Game Cube, XBox, SPS2 and now we gotta have XBox 360. Come on enough already!!! Who needs this in their vehicle. Kids spend enough time on video games. My kids also do the online gaming!!! I think parents should just refuse to buy all this stuff. This is my plan.