The Dawn of the Wing commander revival, or a false start?

Originally posted by Frosty
I'm going to have to assume that it's impossible for a properly installed Afterburner to wash out the colors. Maybe he just saw the photos, they look a little limp.
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I think I just might be a really picky bastard. I have a friend who installed the after-burner, and the super-white LED lights give it a funny blueish look. I prefer a nice incandescant lamp, it doesn't wash things out too much. I also have owned lots of backlit portables(Turbo-Express, Game Gear, Nomad), so I'm biased there, too. No matter what, the afterburner just is no replacement for a backlight(come on Nintendo! get with the program!).

PS-- my friend installed the afterburner himself. I don't recommend this... He forgot to install the brightness control, and he's too timid to go back in there to do it over again. I, personally, don't blame him.
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
I, personally, have trouble with the external lights... I'm going to buy one of those pre-modded Afterburners. That way I can have a GBA attached to my TV and one that I carry around...
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Wow... What do you do for a living? You seem to be loaded, what with your play-all-WC games set-up, your GB, your GBA-TV connector... Do you own any next-gen consoles? I'm assuming you must have a pretty nice, PC, too.
 
LOAF is God... he has anything he wants... yeah, that ain't fair at all, but that's life ;)

No, no, I'm sure he works a lot to get this stuff... or he sells WC games through black market... no, nobody wants WC games... ok, LOAF is working...

John
 
Originally posted by Lelapinmechant

PS-- my friend installed the afterburner himself. I don't recommend this... He forgot to install the brightness control, and he's too timid to go back in there to do it over again. I, personally, don't blame him.
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Yes, I must agree that if you're too stupid to follow directions, you shouldn't install anything at all by yourself. :(
 
Originally posted by Lelapinmechant


Wow... What do you do for a living? You seem to be loaded, what with your play-all-WC games set-up, your GB, your GBA-TV connector... Do you own any next-gen consoles? I'm assuming you must have a pretty nice, PC, too.
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LOAF sold his eye to the devil so that he could be the greatest Wing Commander fan ever.
 
Originally posted by Trelane


LOAF sold his eye to the devil so that he could be the greatest Wing Commander fan ever.
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That's way better than Odin's deal. He only got wisdom. Sucker.
 
Um, yeah, whatever.

Would someone care to explain to me what this Afterburner is and does?

Originally posted by Filler
I can't afford that. The ones on ebay.com.au are AU$100, but I'd never have that much.
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Filler, I understand how you feel, but quit moaning about not having money. Prices come down, they always come down with time. Why else would I be buying things so much later than the original release dates?
 
Basically, the GBA's screen isn't so hot unless it's directly under a light. The afterburner is a mod that involves installing a light between the screen and the outer clear plastic plate of the case.
 
I guessed that, but the original impression I had was that it was an officially endorsed extra. I take it it isn't.
 
Basically, the Afterburner's a light that uses the medium of the plastic faceplate, and an antiglare coating put atop the LCD, in order to light the screen. It has the advantage of being a completely internal solution that won't have problems fitting in cases or need external batteries or connections. The disadvantage is that installing the bugger violates your warrantee with Nintendo and that you need to cut or shave parts of your casing away to put in the two LEDs used for lighting and the potentiometer used for adjusting the brightness. Also, there's only one sheet of anti-glare material so you need to put it in correctly the first time.

Thus it's not officially endorsed by Nintendo - they're too busy taking bribes from everyone who wants to make a light for the GBA for that. ;) I rather like my Flood Light by Gamester/Radica: you can see it here at EBWorld: http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/categories/products/product.asp?pf_id=218718

It's a bit bulky, but it's pretty damned bright and fills the screen completely unlike my Trap Light (which missed a half-inch strip in the middle of the screen) without having too much glare.

It's no Afterburner, but then again it doesn't leave the colors looking washed out in some games (which have a darker palette than is recommended) and also uses external batteries.

Now if only they'd issue an OFFICIAL backlight, that'd be perfect.
 
How much extra would it cost to put a backlight in? Not just in monetary terms, but in terms of power lost to the lighting. How many, and what sort, of batteries does the GBA take?
 
Well, at Lik Sang a GBA with an Afterburner costs $109 -- as opposed to a regular GBA which costs $70. Alone, an Afterburner costs $35... but it's not supposed to be easy to install (which is to say, spend the extra four dollars).

The PortableMonopoly claims that an Afterburner on full-blast will use up the batteries in about 9 hours. A GBA uses two double-A batteries.
 
I love my GBA too much to open her up. I have to finish playing Legend Of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Tactics Ogre.

Aside from WC:P for GBA, also announced is Medal Of Honor: Underground and (Oh god yes) Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past with multiplayer!
 
Originally posted by Wedge009
How much extra would it cost to put a backlight in? Not just in monetary terms, but in terms of power lost to the lighting. How many, and what sort, of batteries does the GBA take?
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Don't be fooled. The afterburner is not a backlight, it's a light that's placed betwixt the screen and the plastic screen protector. I've now seen one with brightness control attached, and mantain my original belief that any white-LED based light-- be it a "Worm Light" external light or an "Afterburner" not really internal just jammed between the screen and the screen protector light-- will give a bluish tint to your screen. You cannot install a "backlight". Backlit LCD screens are an entirely different breed than reflective TFT screens. We need to wait until Nintendo is intelligent enough to give us a GBA with a backlight. Theory goes, though, that the price drop in the GBA(from $100 to $70) makes room for a new, backlit GBA to take the $100 price slot.
 
Whoa, you misinterpreted me, I meant how much would the GBA have cost (in terms of extra price and lost playing time) if Nintendo had put a backlight in? [I know the Afterburner is not a backlight. ;)] I remember when portable consoles had just come out: Nintendo's GameBoy, Sega's GameGear, and an Atari one which I can't remember (this is in Australia, BTW). Only the GameBoy survived - IIRC, the GameGear chewed up 6 or 8 AA batteries for only a few hours play. I assumed this was due to the colour display and backlighting... although with GBC and GBA, I'm not so sure about the colour bit...
 
Originally posted by Lelapinmechant


Don't be fooled. The afterburner is not a backlight, it's a light that's placed betwixt the screen and the plastic screen protector. I've now seen one with brightness control attached, and mantain my original belief that any white-LED based light-- be it a "Worm Light" external light or an "Afterburner" not really internal just jammed between the screen and the screen protector light-- will give a bluish tint to your screen.
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Whatever you want to call it, the afterburner is incredible. I've been involved with and seen five afterburner modded Game Boy Advances so far and they're absolutely incredible. There is no bluish tint or any glare whatsoever. The light is evenly balanced across the screen and brings out the color. It's like going from the little speaker on the GBA to plugging the unit into your home stereo through the earphone jack (which I have done too :) ). I have used a wormlight extensively in the past and the afterburner is in a completely different league.
 
Originally posted by ChrisReid


Whatever you want to call it, the afterburner is incredible. I've been involved with and seen five afterburner modded Game Boy Advances so far and they're absolutely incredible. There is no bluish tint or any glare whatsoever. The light is evenly balanced across the screen and brings out the color. It's like going from the little speaker on the GBA to plugging the unit into your home stereo through the earphone jack (which I have done too :) ). I have used a wormlight extensively in the past and the afterburner is in a completely different league.
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Aye. I must say, myself, that the Flood Light also easily kicks the ass of any Worm Light, or Trap Light. :D A little fluorescent tube does that.
 
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