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New only from Japan of course.....

Japan: Vending Machines To Distribute Game Boy Advance Movies

AM3, who creates unique hardware and peripheral devices in japan, has confirmed that they are testing out a line of vending machines in various locations that function as dispensers for Game Boy Advance movies; namely, anime.

Throughout August and September, market testing will commence in precisely 20 different locales about the country.

Customers can download movies by inserting a "smart media" card into the machines to acquire the data, then transferring it over to their Game Boy Advance with a device sold separately called, rather apropos, "Advance Media". Each movie will run consumers about 100 to 400 yen a piece($0.91-$3.70), varying in price based on both the type and quanitity of the data transmitted. The very first eight epidoes of Pokemon, for example, will debut in August and September for 300 yen a piece. The "Advance Media" card will retail for 1,980 yen ($18).

As any experimenting company would, AM3 plans to eventually install its vending machines across the complete isle of Japan, with 10,000 machines installed by next summer. If this takes off, the firm would like to release similar products that require "sold data". These include "Advance Picture", "Advance Music", and "Advance Navi" (mapping tool). (wj)

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cellOP

I think this sounds really interesting, but I'm not sure how well it would do in North America. From what I hear, Japan has a strong loyalty, almost, to vending machines, especially concerning toys and collectibles (gashapon?). Still, one thing very much intrigues me about this, and that's the promise of "Advance Navi." I would very much like to see regional maps of the states out for the GBA, especially if it were in something like this kind of format, where you could put 3$ into a machine and get a map of the area that you're in from a gas station. I think it would be incredibly great for driving trips and the like, and also help parents and kids connect when they make their kids the "navigator" of the trip (at least, it always did something for me and my parents when they did that).

That, and I just think it'd be nice to have a map without having to buy a PDA or a paper map.

Ragnar Danneskjöld

I like this, They should put it in America, THis GBA movies will simply skyrocket even further sales of the GBA. Nice try trying to beat GBA now sony.

Dawson

Good for anime fans, but I would never have a reason to use such a thing.

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cellOP

Well, that's if they stop at anime. Are you saying you wouldn't have any use for the Advance Music or Advance Navi service? What if they started putting out episodes of other shows on these things? Say, episodes of Futurama, or even X-Files? They should take the service even further and offer game demoes for a pittance, or game trailers, or even movie adverts each time you purchase something from it, especially something that's not available otherwise. The potential of this goes well beyond Pokemon cartoons or anime, as the producers have already hinted at.


I like this, too, but it still has some problems, the main one being that the movie player that this is based on isn't available in mainstream America. Lik-Sang and ebay are the only places I've seen it, and it's around 40 some odd dollars there, if I remember correctly. On top of that, you have to purchase a SmartMedia card to use it, which runs around 30-40 for 64 - 128MB cards.

So I really, really like this idea, but I'm still not sure how far it would go. If they re-rigged it so that you could simply purchase a GBA FlashCart for around 30$, I think it'd go really far.

edit: Just to clarify that, what I mean is, a one-time purchase of a 64 or 128MB GBA Flash Cartridge that you could use in these machines, instead of having to purchase the movie player and then a SmartMedia card. So, that'd be one cartridge that you put in this, download content, and then play on your GBA like a regular cartridge, most likely with a menu system of some sort.

Pojo

That's cool and all, but American's wouldn't care. It's just the way we are.

Japan is so cool.

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GameOver

Absolutley, game trailers for Gamecube or Revolution games would be excellent cross-marketing. It could help the popularity of the lil purple cube.

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