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Games Entertainment

Slashback: GameBand, Nexia, Lunarocks 217

Posted by timothy from the my-big-fat-greek-picnic dept.
Slashback is loaded with updates to recent (and not-recent) Slashdot postings. More opportunity to hot-rod your Dreamcast with an ethernet adapter, continuing seed-patent madness, more stolen moon rock, an update to Chrisd's favorite MP3 player and more, all below.

Not a paperweight. 13Echo writes: "CSI, the manufacturer of the Dreamcast broadband adapter, is extending its reservations option by another week. They wish to meet a goal of 1,000 units before production will start. A rough Babelfish translation can be found here. This device is very beneficial in Dreamcast home-brew software development, and is also supported in the various Linux and BSD distributions on the Dreamcast. It is available for pre-order from this page at NCSX, or other import shops at a price of US $49.00. If any other Slashdotters are interested, now is the last time that we will be able to get one of these things. I've already placed my order with NCSX."

How about sell moon bits to sponsor the trips up there? Anonymous Coward points to this AP report which begins: "Four grains of moon dust brought to Earth by the first manned lunar mission were stolen from a space exhibit in Sweden, a museum official said."

Will the stolen moon rock madness ever end?

The race is on, Apple. SailorBob writes "The NexII got good reviews on slashdot (Review: Nex II CF MP3 Player) a while back and now a newer version named the NexIIe is shipping. Some nice functionality has been added such as drawing power from the usb while copying files and being able to hook to an external AC adapter. They've also told me via e-mail that they're considering adding Ogg Vorbis support, which wouldn't be a problem after the fact since the player can be updated for new formats with a firmware update."

Graphomania has a name, and it is Orson. Binestar writes "Author Orson Scott Card has released his latest book, Shadow Puppets. As usual, the first 3 chapters are available online. He's definitely one of my favorite authors."

Just kidding, folks -- just kidding. Afraid to play video games in Greece? Elonka indicates this BBC story (Court Allows Greek gamers to play on), excerpting: "In reference to the recent law enacted in Greece which bans all computer games, a court in northern Greece today threw out the case against two internet cafe owners who were arrested for allowing clientele to play Counter-Strike and online chess. The court said the law was unconstitutional."

Monsanto should invest in helicopters and lawyers for a whole new revenue stream. dwprice writes "A Saskatchewan farmer loses a patent infringement case when it turns out patented canola is growing in his fields and he didn't pay for it. He claims it blew into his field." When this farmer, Percy Schmeiser, lost the first round, I figured it was a simple lapse of sanity and would be overturned on appeal. No such luck.

Best TV news I've heard in a while. Masem writes "Offical word has been announced that Futurama will be shows on Cartoon Network (most likely as part of the Adult Swim Comedy block) starting in Jan 2003, according to Cartoon Reasearch. No indication of new episodes, but CN will have all 72 episodes that have been made."
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Slashback: GameBand, Nexia, Lunarocks More

Slashback: GameBand, Nexia, Lunarocks

Comments Filter:
  • Last bloke who did this called himself 'the big cheese'... not much hope then.
  • how long did that greecian law last? that was a joke from the start.
  • I'm not sure Apple needs to feel threatened by the NexIIe just yet. One of the big problems with this device is it's still using USB which is much slower than iPod's FireWire.

    I like the price of the NexIIe, but I'm not sure the interface is quite as good as Apple's iPod either. but I don't have either in my hand to do a proper comparison either ;-)

    • CompactFlash cards are hardly any faster than a USB interface to begin with so firewire would be pointless. all computers have a USB 1.1 interface. how many have firewire?

      most people don't use these things with a microdrive (half the battery life). A 512mb CF card is currenty 180 bucks.

      Nex IIs not nearly as convenient as something with 10gigs (ipod wins there!) but they are much lighter and cheaper.
    • I'm not sure Apple needs to feel threatened by the NexIIe just yet

      Um, let's see:

      Nex IIe:
      Player- $115
      5 gigs of storage (ten 512mb cards)- $1800

      iPod:
      Player w/ 5 gigs of storage- $300

      Yeah, I'd say there's a pretty good chance that Apple doesn't need to feel threatened just yet; maybe it might have something to do with the fact that the Nex IIe costs SIX TIMES MORE!
      • You can get smaller amounts of memory for the thing, you know. If someone has $200, they obviously can't get the ipod, but can get the NexIIe and a resonable amount of storage.

        • That's my point. If you're gonna spend $200 for a player w/ 256mb, you really might as well scrape together the extra $100 for 20x the storage. And yes, I know that storage isn't everything, but at the size of a deck of cards, with firewire cable, I'd say that the iPod has all its bases covered. Unless of course the Nex is the size of a wristwatch and comes with a spiffy watch band.

    • I'm not sure Apple needs to feel threatened by the NexIIe just yet.

      However, once the NexIIgs comes out... (explanation [wikipedia.org])

      One of the big problems with this device is it's still using USB which is much slower than iPod's FireWire.

      USB, or USB 1.0? USB 2 is about as fast as FireWire, and USB 1 is still fast enough to move a pocket-player-quality (128 kbps) MP3 song in four seconds, or several whole albums in less than the time it takes to play a game of Klax.

    • I'm not sure Apple needs to feel threatened by the NexIIe just yet. One of the big problems with this device is it's still using USB which is much slower than iPod's FireWire.

      USB is everywhere, Firewire isn't. I can take my Nex around to anyones house and be guaranteed 90% of the time to be able to plug it in. No need to purchase a firewire card (however cheap) and carry it everywhere. I can use it at work without having to open up the machine (i'm not allowed to).

      I can transport a 4 meg MP3 to the player in a couple of seconds. Yes firewire has it's advantages, but I like the versitility I have and rechargable batteries solve the other problem almost as well.

      I like the price of the NexIIe, but I'm not sure the interface is quite as good as Apple's iPod either. but I don't have either in my hand to do a proper comparison either ;-)

      It isn't. But it's smaller, lighter and I'd rather run with it than an iPod. Mainly due to the fact I don't like the idea of shaking a hard-drive about for 2 hours non-stop (12 miles).

  • Ack! $50 for a Dreamcast BBA??? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Green Light ( 32766 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:06PM (#4233282) Journal
    I paid Lik-Sang $120 + high shipping charges about 6 months ago to get one! And now, nobody on eBay is going to give me $150 for the thing!

  • Question (Score:1, Insightful)

    by URoRRuRRR ( 57117 )
    Why does Apple have to support Ogg? because you want to? There are hundreds of other formats out there, many of them have more files than Ogg. Apple could chose SHN or some other lossless format for much better quality.

  • Pay for moon dust? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:08PM (#4233304)
    You have two choices:

    2004 - Hand over $20,000 for a few specs of moon dust.

    2008 - Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3. You'd be up in first class, of course).

    Hmmm... let me see.

    • 2008 - Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000...

      I am still waiting for the refund on the 1999 trip that was promised on /.

    • 2008?? (Score:2)

      by Goonie ( 8651 )
      More like 2025, even being crazily optimistic. Even assuming we invent the magic technology to make affordable spaceflight possible tomorrow - for instance, bulk quantities of nanotube composites for the space elevator - to build the infrastructure to a point where it'd be available for passengers would take that long, I'd think. My guess is more likely 2040 (by which time I'll be about to retire, probably... woohoo, blow the retirement savings on a moon trip :)).

      However, I'd be very surprised if suborbital flights didn't become available to paying customers at semi-realistic prices (~100,000 USD) before 2008.

    • Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3....)

      Did I hear correctly? Ymean any geek can have sex if they will go to the moon?

  • Futurama is back... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by radiashun ( 220050 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:08PM (#4233307)
    now they need to pick up Family Guy. That show is fricken hillarious. Honestly, how can they cancel a show that went up for an emmy last year?

  • I wonder... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... so if someone plants patented grass sends in the lawn of a Monsanto/Monstaco exec., will he be prepared to pay royalties?
    I think not.
    • if you know where one lives let us know and we will find out !!! :)

      Shiat like this make that starving African countries' leader seem VERY SMART.

  • I'll Trade Expansion For Portability Any Day (Score:5, Funny)

    by great throwdini ( 118430 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:13PM (#4233339)

    The NexII got good reviews on slashdot (Review: Nex II CF MP3 Player) a while back and now a newer version named the NexIIe is shipping.

    You can keep your Nex II and even your Nex IIe.

    I, and several others are waiting for the obvious successor: the IIc.

  • not profit from llegal things (Score:4, Funny)

    by oliverthered ( 187439 ) <oliverthered@hotmail. c o m> on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:15PM (#4233359) Journal
    On of the best monsanto quotes of all time....

    "We have always said we will not profit from people doing illegal things"

    They might have always said that, but it was probably just to cover there ass when they were busy dumping waste from there factories. yada yada yada...

  • Canola (Score:5, Funny)

    by willpost ( 449227 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:20PM (#4233388)
    "loses a patent infringement case when it turns out patented canola is growing in his fields"

    They don't call it rapeseed for nothin.
  • I remember seeing something that stated that there was no way that the farmer being sued by Monsanto could have the density of genetically-enhanced corn he did in his field accidentally. Has anyone else seen this argument?
    • There would be if he was growing with seed from a previous year, and it was the previous year's seed that had been contaminated.

      What would really suck for this guy would be if his neighbour had been the one "stealing" for a few years beforehand, and if the g.m. stuff had gotten into his mixture back then. He'd have no way to show that the other guy's seed had been g.m.ed, and the other guy sure wouldn't have any incentive to tell anyone about it..

    • Re:GE corn farmer (Score:5, Informative)

      by jcsehak ( 559709 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @09:49PM (#4233999) Homepage
      No, but I do know of a case in which a corporation put a yam farmer out of business for selling yams which they had the genetic patent on. The thing was, the yams had been engineered by the farmers the real way, by cross-pollinating and whatnot, and the strain had been in the family for generations. Don't have the specifics on it though.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:28PM (#4233438)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • New Formats + a bonus bridge in Brooklyn for sale (Score:4, Insightful)

    by SomeOtherGuy ( 179082 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:38PM (#4233511) Journal
    Note: I really like my Nex II, it is by far the best CF player out there.

    That being said: "Firware upgradable and can support future formats" is getting really old from all digital music players. I can honestly say that I have seen over 20 players (CD, CF, HD) that proudly make this claim in their marketing jargain -- yet guess how many have came through??? It's about like me saying that my cars tires will support the ferrari. Yet, technically it could happen -- but more realistically those tires will spend their lifetime on my 87 nissan sentra.
    • That being said: "Firware upgradable and can support future formats" is getting really old from all digital music players. I can honestly say that I have seen over 20 players (CD, CF, HD) that proudly make this claim in their marketing jargain -- yet guess how many have came through??? It's about like me saying that my cars tires will support the ferrari. Yet, technically it could happen -- but more realistically those tires will spend their lifetime on my 87 nissan sentra.

      Well its a car player, but the PhatNoise Phatbox [phatnoise.com] and Kenwood Audio Keg have done this. They've already added FLAX and Audible support and Ogg Vorbis support is in alpha test (freely downloadable for those who wish to try it out)

  • Monsanto: All your food are belong to us. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JivanMukti ( 589480 ) <c.knoxNO@SPAMcomcast.net> on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @08:48PM (#4233563)

    Frankly, I'm more concerned about Monsanto using these heavy handed tactics to control the worlds food supply, than I am about M$ Palladium. We can live without computers, but with increasing patents covering basic food (corn, canola, tomatos, ...), I can see a time when all food will be covered by some patent. Think M$ is evil with their monopoly? Think what would happen when a few companies own patents on most of the food you eat.

    Cross contamination of GMO with natural crops is a real concern, and farmers of organic crops are starting to sue GMO producers. Some related articles at cropChoice.com [cropchoice.com]

    Monsanto got Fox news in Tampa to pull a story and fire the two jounalists who researched it because it was about health problems from rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone [a Monsanto product]) in cows milk, and it's been one of the most under reported news stories. Here's a Google [google.com] search. So they are very willing to use intimidation and the courts to further their control. Hmmm... Sounds all too familiar.

    • There are thousands of other breeds of corn out there. Farmers can choose to grow whatever they want. Hell, they can even use corn found in the wild. The difference is that their crops won't grow as large, as fast, and won't be as disease and pest resistant as the genetically engineered ones.
  • They're always "considering adding support for $whatever". That's just PR-speak for 'we don't care -- yet'. I really want a vorbis-only player for which none of my money goes to the mp3consortium, but I guess that's just as likely to happen as world peace. Barring that, the only way to my money goes over de-facto implemented vorbis. No "but..." or "future upgrade" or anything. Either you do it, or you don't get my money. (yeah, yeah, small loss -- whatever)
  • Yeah, another Bean story. Nothing particularly magical in this one. Except that the possible fallout that will give rise to the inevitable next book. This forwards the story of Bean's physical growth. Between that and a few spoilerish things (below) the next book promises to be more interesting. This is just gearing up for that book.

    Oh, and you'll probably be as disappointed in the resolution to the final fight scene as I was. It was telegraphed from a million miles away. Can't remember exactly, but it's possible that you can figure it out from the first three chapters (would need to reread to double check).

    There is a little bit of development of the Bean and Petra characters, but it didn't flow. Really felt forced. Part of that is OSC's obstinancy in not saying "Bean is now 12 years old, he's now 17 years old..."

    Perhaps the best part of the book is that it has me tempted to go reread Ender's stories. After I finish a few other books I picked up.

    SPOILERS:

    Bean and Petra get married. Artificial insemination.
    Achilles steals a few embryos.
    Achilles gets killed.
    Bean and Petra don't retrieve embryos. Obviously waiting for the next book.
    India freed from China.
    • I gotta say, what is it about Card that he gets
      more moralistic with every book? Used to be, the
      Ender books were just about little kids fighting
      wars, having their minds broken, and killing other
      little kids. Now there's all this stuff about
      religion and the joy of marriage - why?
      • You're just pissed off because your chief of security screwed you over.

        (Seriously though, I agree. The hegemon was barely in the story. Bean has some sort of mystical change of heart regarding love. I think the only reason I read it so fast is to see how Achilles bought it. And I wanted more of the story of the girl/woman in India who started the 'great wall'. THAT was interesting.)

        • That guy was such a wuss. Why the heck did Card explain away his betrayal in two lines?

          The wall was cool thought, especially the way that the girl became little more that a brick in the wall once it got reallt started. Yes, I had to make a lame Pink Floyd reference.
        • The hegemon was barely in the story.

          I thought that he was the focal point of about half of the book. The strange thing is that he became a typical teenager who is annoyed by his parents. This struck me as pretty unnatural. Also, Petra's constant clamoring for babies seemed to make her a bit one-dimensional.

          I have high hopes for the next book. Card seems to run out of steam in his series though.

          • Perhaps I misspoke, or spoke incompletely. The Hegemon wasn't in much of the book. But Peter sure was. And Peter needed a good bitch-slapping. Throughout all the rest of the series, he never needed as much hand-holding as he did in this book. How did he ever get to be Hegemon if he's that dumb?

            OSC just did not apply enough depth to this one. What possible reason could Peter have to not have Achilles executed? "To study him?"

            Bleh.

            • I agree about the Hegemon/Peter thing. Why would Peter want to "have" Achilles when he had Bean, Petra, Suri, and Virlomi? How is Achilles more valuable to him than Bean?

              In fact, it seems that in each of the Bean/Ender books the characters are less brilliant in each book. Think about the crazy/complex situations that Ender and Bean "solved" in Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Then think of Ender in CotM. Now look at what Bean has to in Shadow Pupets. The major strategizing that he does is about Achilles. SPOLIER ALERT It turns out that he could have walked in there without having thought about the situation at all and he would have been fine. In the end he did go in without a plan, but he sure fretted about it a bunch beforehand. Maybe I am over-simplifing it, but Suri had made it so clear in the rescue that he knew how to fool Achilles that it was pretty clear to the reader what would happen.

              I felt that the last book was a bit sparse as well. When I read that he had initially intended to write one book covering the events of these two I knew what to expect. Of course he did the same thing with Xenocide and CotM, but they were filled with enough interesting stuff. Maybe in the next Bean book Bean (and his family) will be smart enough to hop on a colony ship and use time dilation to his advantage, letting the science advance enough to cure him while he zips around the galaxy at high speed. If he went far enough into the future he could meet up with Ender again and maybe even use the philotic web to cure his disease. At least he doesn't have a bad case of OCD.

              • Interesting possibility for the next book. But I gotta tell you, I'd be happier if something bad happened to him. Okay, not happy, but... It would feel more real. Tragic hero and all that.

                Maybe I'm just too old to be OSC's audience for these books.

      • i really liked enders game, but the books just got weirder and weirder, the 2-4 books were less about ender, more about human nature and whatnot, speaker of the dead, xenocide and children of the mind each got progressively worse and more confusing, still good books and better than a lot of crap i've read, but card made up for it with enders shadow and shadow of the hegemon, i wish shadow of the hegemon ahd been more about peter and less about bean though, still a great book
  • Step 1: Buy GM Canola
    Step 2: Plant in crack in competitor's parking lot.
    Step 3: Call Infringment Police

  • Who buys a Nex II? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fermion ( 181285 )
    I fail to understand the Nex II player is even an issue. It is US$120 without memory, while the Nomad is US$100 with memory, and pretty much the same specs(except for the microdrive).

    The Nex II can use a microdrive, but with a 1GB microdive, the Nex II is about the same price of a 10 GB IPOD.

    As far as the defense of the wimpy USB connector, it is not suitable for regular transfers of GB of data. It is slow. I can barely stand to use it for my Nomad.

    Perhaps someone can tell me why I should spend more on the Nex II, when it is little more than sub standard interface dongle.

    • are you nuts? I can get a NexII all day long for $78.00 without memory or $129.95 with a 128Meg CF card.

      Now he NEX-II sucks for loading through it's USB cable but using a real CF card read/writer it rocks.. and I can upload faster to it thna the blessed I-pod people by using my PCMCIA-CF card adapter or an IDE-Cf adapter

      The NEX-II is the cheapest and absolutely best Mp3 player on the market that is not a fragile hard drive based device.. (take your Ipod and while it's playing throw it out a second story window onto concrete... My NEX-II survived, your Ipod will not.)

      Who buys a NexII? anyone looking for an awesome and super cheap Mp3 player that isnt crippled by idiot engineers that try and force DRM and other crap down your throat. also anyone that uses linux or BSD exclusively... it's one of the only choices.

      I have 2 of them... one for me and I just bought one for my 10 year old daughter... and I will be buying 3 more this christmas for gifts for friends and relatives.
  • I think we can all agree that if any fictional character ever *deserved* to get laid, it was Bean.

  • The Moon Landing was a Fake... (Score:5, Funny)

    by kzinti ( 9651 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @09:54PM (#4234027) Homepage Journal
    Will the stolen moon rock madness ever end?

    In a related note, did anyone else see the story about Buzz Aldrin punching [guardian.co.uk] that flat-earther in the nose? Oh, sorry, my mistake. He wasn't a flat-earther, he was one of those nuts who say that the Moon landing was faked [tripod.com]. Seems this clown approached Buzz in public and asked him to swear on a Bible that he walked on the moon. Buzz put up with him briefly, then popped in the snout.

    The Moon landing was a fake? No, actually it was a feint and a jab! Hey, Buzz, smack him once for me, would you?

    --Jim
    • You know, I heard about this too, and couldn't get the picture out of my mind of a grizzled old Clint Eastwood punching that guy out. I hope it was as great in person as it is in my imagination. If Buzz Aldrin was not a hero before, he definatly is now!

      Three cheers for crusty old guys!

  • Sue Grain Patent Owner (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Myriad ( 89793 ) <myriad@the[ ]d.com ['bso' in gap]> on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @10:09PM (#4234093) Homepage
    The farmer should sue the grains patent owner for unlawfully seeding his land. Given the success of the patent suit you have proof, by definition, that the foreign grain has invaded his land.

    I figure you could argue criminal trespass and sabotage (to the existing crops). Possibly more.

    Heck, these days the farmer could probably claim the patent owners were Genetic Terrorists bent destroying natural grain fields. Hrmmm. With cases like this that suddenly doesn't sound so far fetched.

    Mind you, IANAL.

    • From what I've read about the specifics of the case, and the court's decisions so far, your idea is akin to trying to sue Ford because all of their trucks are mysteriously trespassing on your driveway.
      • From what I've read about the specifics of the case, and the court's decisions so far, your idea is akin to trying to sue Ford because all of their trucks are mysteriously trespassing on your driveway.

        Except that Ford cannot sue me because one of their trucks happens to be sitting in my driveway and they don't like it - whether I bought it or not.

        If a truck that isn't mine turns up in my driveway Ford (or the Police) are welcome to take it away - you just damn well better not damage my property on the way out. Nor can you sue me for having a vehicle I shouldn't (assuming I didn't take it or know it was stolen). It's not mine, I don't want it, take the bloody thing away.

        This is not the first time this has happened with GE grain. There have been similar instances in Africa. It's a disturbing concept: I can be sued because your wacky seeds have blown into my fields. It's not my responsibility to ensure you don't go broadcasting your IP on the wind. How can it be my fault if you seeds grow in my fields when you let the seeds blow into them in the first place?

  • Speaking of going to the moon, don't tell Buzz Aldrin [salon.com] that no one's been there!
  • Take the recent two lunar materials thefts, add to that the fact that Buzz Aldrin punched a "journalist" who was harrashing him and trying to get him to swear on a bible that he actually did go to the moon...and you get a conspiricy by the Moonlanding Deniers who are in production of a documentry trying to prove the Apollo Landings never happened. I hope Buzz got a good shot in!

    ttyl
    Farrell
  • How would the farmer have gotten the patented corn if he didn't buy it from the only company that produces seed to grow it? Its not like he could have scientifically engineered it himself in his backyard.

  • Adult Swim (Score:4, Insightful)

    by JohnG ( 93975 ) on Tuesday September 10, 2002 @10:48PM (#4234323)
    If adult swim would just pick up Invader ZIM, I'd be about the happiest Cartoon Network viewer out there. I love that little green guy!
  • When the Monsanto agent/sale rep/dealer shows up, he's packing a contract that is a half inch thick and written in greek. You start to read it, but it's not easy to understand, pretty soon your eyes just glaze over, and you sign the bottom line. Hiding somewhere in there is a clause that lets Monsanto reps have access to your land (even if its posted no trespassing) so they can check to see if you've kept up your end of the contract. Sound like any EULA you've ever read?
    This farmer hasn't broken any laws. He's not accused of breaking any laws. All of this is because of a contract.
    The Monsanto reps only had to find some traces of the genetic markers in his field. Traces do the farmer no good at all. Roundup is a herbicide that kills broadleaf plants, including non-modified canola. To get any value from the 'illegitimate' plants, the whole field would have to have been of roundup ready canola.(so he could spray the field, and not kill off his own crop).
    In my opinion, this case legitimizes all the things we fear from abusive EULAs.It legitimizes giving up your rights to a contract that you can't be expected to understand. It legitimizes giving up those rights, even after the practical use of the contract expire (I've uninstalled MediaPlayer, but I can't unsign the Licence agreement). It legitimizes contract law over common sense.
    Today its Monsanto. Tomorrow it could be Mircrosoft, or RIAA (ever read the small print on the cd case before you buy it?).
  • Oh Man, Sealab, Brak Show and Futurama in the same hour. That's gonna be sweet.

    "It's less of a time machine than it is a.. dodge ball cannon."

    • "It's less of a time machine than it is a.. dodge ball cannon."
      That Stormy. What an idiot. Since I figure I've got a little Karma to burn, it can't hurt to recommend Adult Swim to anybody who hasn't seen it. Sealab 2021 RULES! [cartoonnetwork.com]
  • Here's a copy of an email response I finally received after many emailings to the original company who are going to be making the BBAs:

    Thank you so much for your E-Mail.

    About you inquiry we would like to guide you as following.

    1.We enciphered the country number(the number identifies
    each country)and embedded that in Dream Cast(DC)
    2.Since differences of voltage, we fear Broadband Adapter(BbA)
    might be a cause of a fire.
    3.We sell BbA only for collect on deliverly, but this way of
    payment is available only in Japan.

    Therfore the function itself of BbA is not adapted to DC
    (overseas edition) as you have, and that is unavailable for you.
    We feel sorry and have to apology, but because more than anything
    else we don't hope to bother you(particularly reason 2.),
    we decline your subscription.

    We will be so glad if you agree above-mentioned reasons
    and we hope this information helps you.
    If there is anything more we can do for you, please don't
    hesitate to let us know.

    Best Regards,

    ---
    Dreamcast (Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana redacted due to /. lameness filter)
    ---
    CSI (Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana redacted due to /. lameness filter) URL;http://www.csi.co.jp/dc

    -=-=-

    They make a good (if engrish-ridden) point. Different power requirements and different country stamps mean that you may be buying 49$ USD paper weights.
    • I also got the same email, but I do not believe that it is a legitimate concern. There has been no problem with the import broadband devices in the past. They have worked fine on the other NTSC Dreamcast (I know that the American models work).

      Assuming that they are made the same way as the last units that they produced, then there should be no problem. I don't see why they would be any different.

      Besides... Even the import Dreamcasts themselves work fine. We will see what happens though. I diubt that there will be a problem. American and Japanese voltages (frequency, actually 50/60Hz)do differ, slightly, but it isn't enough to really make a difference on modern devices. If I were in Europe, then I might be concerned. But I am not, and I use an NTSC console.
      • Also. I just read that European Dreamcasts also work fine with the import BBA units.

        Also- it looks like the region number that they are referring to is not part of the BBA, but the Dreamcast itself. It is a standard region lockout. Normally, this only effects software. It doesn't effect peripherals on the Dreamcast (except for light guns, which operate just a bit differently).

        All of the software that was ever created for the Dreamcast (regardless of region) uses the broadband devices in the exact same way, so there should be no differences from these and the original units. This is why you could play the Japanese PSO on a Dreamcast from another region, with any BBA unit from any region.
    • It's possible they are set up for the local 100 volt power. US power is between 115 and 125 volts which is about 20% too hot for the design. If they use a wall wart, you may need to replace it with a US version with the same output voltage and current rating. Otherwise you may need to get a transformer to provide 100 volt power. I still have mine I got when I spent a couple years in Japan. It is reversable. It powered American 120 volt stuff while I was there and it now powers the Japanese 100 volt stuff I brought back.
      • Except that the BBA doesn't run off of wall power. It gets 5 volts DC from the Dreamcast unit. 5 volts DC is 5 volts DC no matter what AC voltage it is being derived from.

        They really just don't want to ship overseas. Nothing more. NCS is offering a perfectly sensible way to order one, and they're cheaper too.

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