# New Flash Kit: Acekard R.P.G. announced! *Update*



## shaunj66 (Sep 2, 2007)

*New Flash Kit: Acekard R.P.G. announced!*

Slot1 flash kit with dual memory feature











The team behind the original Acekard have today announced its successor, the *Acekard R.P.G.* (Real Play Gear). This highly interesting slot-1 device is the first slot-1 flash kit to boast two completely separate storage solutions; the Acekard R.P.G. has both *8Gb* (1 gigabyte) of on-board NAND flash memory and a micro *SDHC* card slot, this allows for a potentially massive amount of file storage. The Acekard R.P.G. also features an on-board USB connector which appears to be used for writing to the NAND flash.

*Update!* - A typo on the teams website led us to believe that the onboard flash was 8GB. This is NOT the case. It is 8Gbit, and therefore 1 gigabyte.

The team also plan to make this the first *OPEN SOURCE* flash kit by releasing all code. Other features include 'quick exchange' for the fast transfer of ROMs from the on-board flash to SD card from within the OS; automatic save type recognition; 100% compatibility; automatic ROM trimming that removes unnecessary data from files automatically; full "iPhone like" touch screen control; Action Replay cheat support; 'Write Balance Technology'; skin support and more.





			
				Acekard Team said:
			
		

> After 10 month development, we proudly announce the arrival of next generation acekard which called “Acekard R.P.G (Acekard Real Play Gear)”. Acekard R.P.G is revolutionary and all the functions are developed base on the needs of our customers. Acekard R.P.G might not be 100% perfect, but it is definitely the best card on the current market.


Someone needs to fire their marketing guy for that last sentence.

This cart seems quite promising, the original Acekard while not received very well was not a bad cart and received a ton of updates from the team. We'll try and get our hands on this cart as soon as we can, so stay tuned to GBAtemp as we keep you up to date! Additional quotes and feature list are below. You heard it on GBAtemp.net first![title:Acekard R.P.G. press release][A perfect flash card for NDS games lovers — Acekard R.P.G release]



After 10 month development, we proudly announce the arrival of next generation acekard which called “Acekard R.P.G (Acekard Real Play Gear)”. Acekard R.P.G is revolutionary and all the functions are developed base on the needs of our customers. Acekard R.P.G might not be 100% perfect, but it is definitely the best card on the current market.
[World’s first double storage slot-1 card, Support both build in NAND Flash and Micro SD memory card]



Acekard R.P.G (Acekard Real Play Gear), the world’s first “double storage” slot one flash card which gives you the advantages of both build in and external memory system. With the fast NAND flash, your game will never lack again, and with the external micro SD memory card, you can easily expand the storage space.Support micro SDHC card, 4 gigabyte max for now.



[Build in “Quick Exchange” Technology”]


With the “Quick Exchange” Technology”, Acekard R.P.G can easily exchange files between NAND Flash and MicoSD memory card and you can also choose either start the game in NAND or Micro SD memory card.



[World’s first “AUTO Save type detection” flash card]


Acekard R.P.G build in with the “AUTO SAVE TYPE DETECTION” technology which able to auto detects the save type up to 99% of the games. (Until now, we still haven’t found any games that Acekard R.P.G is not able to detect.)



[Build in USB connector, support U-Disk]


No more Card Reader or slot 2 USB Reader is needed. To transfer the games between computer and Acekard R.P.G, the only thing you need is a standard Mini USB cable. Acekard R.P.G supports both USB 1.0 and 2.0, so the file transfer speed is extremely fast. Once the Acekard R.P.G connects with the computer, it can be used as an U-Disk as well.(However, if user want to use the  microSD card on PC, a card reader is needed.)



[100% Compatibility for all NDS games]


Acekard R.P.G simulates the original game cart which makes it able to play all the new released NDS games (Clean roms) without updating the kernels.



[Build in “Rom Trimming” Function; automatically remove the un-necessary data in the Roms]


Acekard R.P.G is the world’s first flash card which has the “Rom Trimming” Function build in. When you copy the file between Micro SD and NAND flash, if there is any un-necessary data in the Roms, Acekard R.P.G will remove it automatically.



[Fully touch screen operation]


Acekard R.P.G is using the idea of iPhone which gives the customer a totally new control experience*.


* You are able to switch to “Button Control” as well.


[Original game cart size, no flash needed, no passme needed, easy plug and play]


Acekard R.P.G has the same size as original game cart and you don’t have to flash your machine or using passkey in order to use Acekard R.P.G. It is just plug and play.



[Able to use as a passkey to boot slot2 flash cards]


Acekard R.P.G can be used as a passkey, so you can boot your slot2 flash cards with it, and no MicroSD card is needed.



[Using “write balance” technology, able to re-write NAND flash more than usual]


The “write balance” technology makes the Acekard R.P.G utilize the NAND flash evenly, so it will last longer than the original game cart.



[Save file directly stored into memory card, no battery needed and never lost]


Acekard R.P.G will store your save file directly into NAND flash or Micro SD memory card, so there is no battery needed to keep the save file, and it will never lost.



[Micro SD files exchange]


You can exchange the files between two Micro SD memory cards by using the build in NAND Flash. Make games sharing more easily



[Support Multi-language]


You can easily change the language within Acekard R.P.G.



[Easy Skin Change]


You can easily DIY Acekard R.P.G skin, and change it at anytime.



[Open Source]


We will open all the source code of our OS and also the AKMENU and Acekard R.P.G I/O interface, so homebrew programmer could easily change or re-code the whole system.



[Acekard R.P.G future function]


Support multi save files

Support Action Replay cheat

…………………….

……………………..

All these features will be implemented in next release.



Official Website of the Acekard R.P.G.


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## tjas (Sep 2, 2007)

It looks asif it's a bit bigger than a ds catrige?


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## xalphax (Sep 2, 2007)

sounds too good to be true

with every feature i read i thought - wow -

maybe this will push r4 from its throne


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## shaunj66 (Sep 2, 2007)

QUOTE(tjas @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> It looks asif it's a bit bigger than a ds catrige?


It's the same size according to the team... Amazing considering it has 8GB flash, USB port and SDHC slot ....


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## DeepFriedAsian (Sep 2, 2007)

..And it costs how much?


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## superrob (Sep 2, 2007)

Well this may give the R4 a big punch in the face if it is going to be kinda cheap


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## zatelli (Sep 2, 2007)

This card sounds promising, the only drawbacks I can think of atm are download play compatibility, performance issues with no-name microSD cards and eventually the use of an onboard battery. 
I don't think it boasts breakthrough features that'd warrant a purchase. Perhaps we shall wait & see.


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## sanchoquo (Sep 2, 2007)

I cant see this doing a once over on the R4, simply because as flashcarts go the R4 is very cheap, the 8GB NAND will push the price of this up, and with the lack of 2GB worth of decent DS games i dont think its worth it, just my opinion


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## cyklo (Sep 2, 2007)

I really like the idea of both MicroSD and USB.  If there's one thing the DS-X did awesomely, it's the plug-and-play standard USB - every time I swap out my R4 memory, something feels like it's going to break.


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## bullet007 (Sep 2, 2007)

Very nice card there.  I will probably end up buying it!


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## Linkiboy (Sep 2, 2007)

I can see this costing over 100USD >_>


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## superrob (Sep 2, 2007)

Me2 linki...


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## sanchoquo (Sep 2, 2007)

QUOTE(cyklo @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> every time I swap out my R4 memory, something feels like it's going to break.



This card could easily have the very same problem


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## Reduxed (Sep 2, 2007)

i hear another GBA temp review!!!

hmm, look like a R4 and M3 copycat, but still looks great


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## flai (Sep 2, 2007)

It looks good but it won't beat the R4 if it has a bad GUI, thats what I'm focusing on cause it looks like everything else is great.

And to reduxed, how on earth does it look anything like an R4?

And this is probably going to cost more than a DS-Xtreme.


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## Wuschmaster (Sep 2, 2007)

yawn, dont see anything better than r4.
8gb onboard sounds pretty useless to me. wouldnt pay extra money just for that.


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## monaug5 (Sep 2, 2007)

the r4 was never on top. it boots slower than the Ninjapass X9.


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## roboz (Sep 2, 2007)

Even though I'm a R4 fanboy I'm pretty impressed by it. The only reason why is because of the massive storage it has. I mean come on 8GB not Gb, but GB. Add that with a 4GB micro sdhc card you have 12GB of space


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## kiruyama (Sep 2, 2007)

Interesting, but my R4 does the job fine. Unless of course this is going to be $50, then I'd gladly take that 8GB of memory.


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## roboz (Sep 2, 2007)

This thing is probably gonna cost more than DS-X


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## fryguy (Sep 2, 2007)

W00t! when i first read it i thought it had 8gbit capacity but if thats actually 8gigabyte its pretty impressive!


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## pkprostudio (Sep 2, 2007)

I'm not going to spend more than $50 on it. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





I won't need it anyway. 1GB is enough for me, as I don't keep games after I finish them. (Only exception is EBA, which I didn't play for a couple of weeks now.) R4 is good, and it boots fast enough. The GUI is really great, and I am happy with it. I don't need a flash card with 8GB and another 1GB just because it's "cool" and "awesome".


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## CannonBallZ (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(fryguy @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> W00t! when i first read it i thought it had 8gbit capacity but if thats actually 8gigabyte its pretty impressive!



I was thinking 8 gigabytes, yeh right...will be just as expensive as an ipod mini.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I am erring on the side of thinking that it's probably an engrish translation error, 8 gigabits more like...
and for those saying that R4 is way better, pshhh...stop being such fanboys, i love the R4 but the features claimed for this is quite impressive


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## Wuschmaster (Sep 3, 2007)

yeah $50 is the MAXIMUM i'd pay, because i already have two NDS flash carts


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## constellation (Sep 3, 2007)

Yeah, it'll probably cost a lot, and be way out of my budget. But for 8 GB, and the extra microSD slot, the price may be justified. 

The only reason I think I'll need that much space though is if I use my DS as a video player. But I think I'll pass on that, just not a fan of Moonshell's interface.

Open-source seems promising, though. If enough developers collaborate on this, we might see some amazing stuff. So, I guess it just depends on the price point they're selling this at. I still see no reason to get one if you already have an R4, though.


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## NotAgOat (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(PharaohsVizier @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> Hmmm I wonder what these people are thinking, how are they not impressed by this?Â I mean OPEN SOURCED, automatic trimming, two separate storage!
> 
> I especially don't see why R4 still can't be beaten, in my eyes it is already beaten by the CycloDS Evolution...


I agree with everything said.


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## yooeee (Sep 3, 2007)

8GB is overkill.  they should down it to 4GB.  I"m finding that 2GB is great for a selection of games outside of the 100+MB games, those sorta take too much space for me.  4GB would be plenty, plus microsd is great.


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## Mewgia (Sep 3, 2007)

This should be an "oh fuck yes" moment, I believe.

Even if the team cannot make the hardware happen completely, There's still one major feature that will remain:

It's an open-source cart.

This is the card I've been yearning for. even if they cannot deliver 100% download play compat, it has been proven by the Cyclo team that you can improve that via firmware. And even if the team doesn't do that, someone will.

I do hope, though, that they offer a cheaper version as well; this would be the "premium" version, while a cheaper version has only 1-2GBs of on-board memory. 8GBs of nand is very costly, and this will almost certainly cost more than a DS-X.

Also, idiot R4 fanboys are idiots.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

Does the Cyclo have something more to destroy, now?


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## RyuKakashi (Sep 3, 2007)

alright finally something that'll compete for cyclods's throne! (take that r4 fanboys!)

i can only imagine the cart being priced at the least $150 but acekard's have always been cheaper than what they should be.

the auto trim scares me cause it might have problems with compadibility? although i haven't heard of anyone break a rom with trimming.

oh to think open source was on the april fool's joke flashcart =P


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## Evilkoko (Sep 3, 2007)

Features sound great but doesn't warrant me switching from my r4.


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## ZAFDeltaForce (Sep 3, 2007)

8GB of onboard memory as well as a Micro SDHC slot? I fear a high price.

On a side note, the build quality looks top notch and very rugged.


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## stop_loading (Sep 3, 2007)

why people aren't impressed by this? this sounds like the ULTIMATE flash card, minus the download play compatibility

R4 and cyclo share the same problem, slow microSD bandwidth killing some of the game speed, like CoR crashing or THDJ running slow, now with this, you dont have to be picky with your microSD card anymore, you can run in directly in the flash memory, not to mention we can go back and forth from the NAND flash to microSD, you dont even need a card reader anymore

and also this:
"Acekard R.P.G simulates the original game cart which makes it able to play all the new released NDS games (Clean roms) without updating the kernels."

now both R4 and CycloDS have failed being future proof since some small percentage of the games don't work, now i'm not exactly believe acekard's claim, but if it's proven right, then i'm sold on this card


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## felix123 (Sep 3, 2007)

Is there an official source where it says 8GB? It does sound a bit too big.


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## ZAFDeltaForce (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(felix123 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Is there an official source where it says 8GB? It does sound a bit too big.
> 
> 
> Yup. From shaun's first post,
> ...


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## felix123 (Sep 3, 2007)

That's not an official source though.


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## coolbho3000 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Linkiboy @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> I can see this costing over 100USD >_>



Yeah, it'll be expensive, but very very good.

How much money would the 8GB of flash memory cost? $50 on its own?


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## cubin' (Sep 3, 2007)

quite an impressive card but my R4 works fine for what I want a flashcard to do. + it's gonna be very expensive


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## GeekShadow (Sep 3, 2007)

Yeah impressive features...

But! But! What about Wii/DS Support ? That's THE feature for me


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Evilkoko @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Features sound great but doesn't warrant me switching from my r4.


The R4 doesn't even have features.


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## pootman (Sep 3, 2007)

I can't see anything on the official site to say this is 8GB rather than 8Gb, but between games/homebrew/comics/books/video/music I could easily fill 8GB. At the mo I have a 2GB card in a M3 lite, all games and books, with about 600MB to spare, and a 2GB card in a M3DS, with my wife's games, and homebrew/comics/music/videos - this card's always full, with more waiting for space to be freed up (currently re-watching complete MPFC at work). (I have an 8Gb G6DSR as well that i could easily fill with more video, but I hate carrying an extra cart, so it's waiting for the trading forum.)

If it's really 8GB+microSDHC then sod the cost. I want one. 

If it's only 8Gb it'll have to wait till my M3DS dies.


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## Ben_j (Sep 3, 2007)

Very promising. But it sure will be way too expensive to make me change...


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## Pigwooly (Sep 3, 2007)

Right now I think the Cyclo DS is the best card out, but the fact that it's more expensive than the R4 makes the R4 an excellent purchase as well, so in my opinion the desirability of this card will hinge on the price. It certainly looks like it could end up being the best card, but if it's like 100 bucks, it probably wouldn't be worth it over a Cyclo or an R4. Auto trimming and more space than I'd know what to do with sounds cool though.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(pootman @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> I can't see anything on the official site to say this is 8GB rather than 8Gb, but between games/homebrew/comics/books/video/music I could easily fill 8GB. At the mo I have a 2GB card in a M3 lite, all games and books, with about 600MB to spare, and a 2GB card in a M3DS, with my wife's games, and homebrew/comics/music/videos - this card's always full, with more waiting for space to be freed up (currently re-watching complete MPFC at work). (I have an 8Gb G6DSR as well that i could easily fill with more video, but I hate carrying an extra cart, so it's waiting for the trading forum.)
> 
> *If it's really 8GB+microSDHC then sod the cost. I want one. *
> 
> If it's only 8Gb it'll have to wait till my M3DS dies.


It's kind of in the picture. But to be honest, if it doesn't have features I will never buy this.

And I can pratcially say that int he new Cyclo firmware, everything that the Acekard says is exclusive to theres, WILL be on the Cyclo.


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## azn_225 (Sep 3, 2007)

noob question >_<

but what's open source??


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## phoood (Sep 3, 2007)

Sounds nice.  I've been thinking about wasting my money on a slot-1 since it's a bitch patching roms and copying over to the card on my sc lite.
This does sound like the dream card. w/e.


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## ahtin (Sep 3, 2007)

its a funny news for me


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## Alastair (Sep 3, 2007)

This sounds PRETTY cool!
Storage is out of this world, but I already have a CycloDS with 4GB and it's nearly 2x  too much storage. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			







QUOTE(azn_225 @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> noob question >_<
> 
> but what's open source??



It means they release the source code (nuts and bolts of the software) to the public to do what they will with (usually with some sort of agreement like no profits allowed).


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## hollabackitsobi (Sep 3, 2007)

Easily $120+, I just want to see how much over it goes.


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## azn_225 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Alastair @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> This sounds PRETTY cool!
> Storage is out of this world, but I already have a CycloDS with 4GB and it's nearly 2xÂ too much storage.
> 
> 
> ...



thnx!


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## wifi1 (Sep 3, 2007)

I can understand how some people say that 8GB is too much space. I hope they release a 4GB model, which should easily be half the cost of the 8GB since prices rise exponentially. But really, it all depends on what you want to use your flash card for. If it's only for games, then yeah, an R4 with 2GB is more than enough. But I know personally, I would like to put music on my flash card and perhaps some movies if I ever feel like it. 2GB isn't enough for me, heck 4GB will soon no longer cut it. To me, a 4GB version with possible expansion through the micro SDHC is totally killer. It really depends on the person, but in either case, I'm surprised that few are impressed at this announcement. Hopefully, there'll be perfect download play announced, which should seal the deal. For now, I'll use my CycloDS Evo with an R4 as backup.


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## hollabackitsobi (Sep 3, 2007)

4GB plus MicroSD/SDHC support with R4 features+ might sell me. I'm getting tired of swapping out my MicroSD cards on my R4, which is why I was looking into a CycloDS Evolution...R4 FTW, tho!


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

What features? The R4 does nothing but play your games. Which ALL flashcarts do.


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## jtroye32 (Sep 3, 2007)

Is the auto trimming done via the cart firmware or via some transfer software?


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## jtroye32 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> What features? The R4 does nothing but play your games. Which ALL flashcarts do.



The r4 DOES have features such as built in action replay, soft reset, brightness adjustment, boot to slot 2, skinning, etc etc.

I'm not a r4 fanboy, but give the cart some credit.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(jtroye32 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 2 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > What features? The R4 does nothing but play your games. Which ALL flashcarts do.
> ...


Oh you mean the features that nearly every other flash cart has, right?


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## pootman (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(pootman @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > I can't see anything on the official site to say this is 8GB rather than 8Gb
> ...



All it says on the cart in the picture (which is only a mock-up/concept art anyway) is "8G" no mention of B's or b's.


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## jtroye32 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> QUOTE(jtroye32 @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 2 2007 said:
> ...



none the less, features.


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## Sweater Fish Del (Sep 3, 2007)

I'm surprised more people aren't hyped on the open source thing.

That's an amazing thing for Acekard to do.  If it's really true it will mean that their card will eventually be the most feature-rich card on the market for sure.  Team Cyclops have been good about implementing features that users request, but you can tell that their programmers are only working on this stuff a couple ours a month probably.  With a pool of hundreds of developers putting their work into improving this new card's firmware--not because they need the extra money, but because they own the card and want it to havve all the features they can dream of--the RPG will prgress by leaps and bounds and before long it actually will deliver the iPhone-like interface Acekard is advertising--in more ways than one.

The other features like the two types of memory or the built in USB interface are not that great on their own, but they're amazing toys for the developers to play around with when they begin customizing the firmware.  My imagination is already running wild with the possibilities.

Unfortunately, I already made my decision and bought a CycloDS Evo.  I don't regret that yet, but I might if the dev community around the Acekard really takes off.

I only hope that other card manufacturers--especially Team Cyclops--follow Acekard's lead with the open source firmware just like they've done with the other new features their competitors come to the table with.


...word is bondage...


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## pootman (Sep 3, 2007)

If it's open source, it should have features falling out of it's arse, since any dev can modify the code to add whatever features they want.

edit: Like SFD said while I was summarizing =) the devs can do what they want. Imagine integrating all of your favourite homebrews into what could accurately be described as the card's OS, and being able to alt-tab-style switch between them (memory limitations aside).


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## jtroye32 (Sep 3, 2007)

there are going to be multiple firmware builds and people can use the one they like best.


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## zombielove (Sep 3, 2007)

Why are people even mentioning R4? Cyclo DS owned it ages ago. Hell, even the N-Card with the latest firmware is much better imo.

Anyway, this card sounds really awesome.

I want as much storage as possible. Maybe there's enough storage if you just play US releases, but I have heaps of Japanese games (all the cooking games, dictionaries and other training games). They take up heaps of room. And the DS library is only going to grow.

Maybe now I'll actually be able to fit some Mp3s and DPGs on there.

I couldn't really care how much it costs. It's only a one time purchase and that price is going to be the same as buying a few new DS games anyway. Damn some people are stingy.

Open source is definitely something to get excited about. The hardware has all the features I could want. By the time this card comes out I'm sure it will have download play support etc.


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## n45800 (Sep 3, 2007)

Any word on when it will be released? or when there will be any more information?
I may have to get this for myself and give my R4 to a friend instead of getting a R4 for him.


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## zombielove (Sep 3, 2007)

Just checked the official forums. Someone asked a bunch of questions. But the admin just replied with a "all will be revealed soon" answer.

They could at least clarify whether it's 8GB or Gb.


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## ryuken (Sep 3, 2007)

these things always looks good on paper, we'll just have to wait till a good review comes out to find out if this is worth our money.


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## punch1337 (Sep 3, 2007)

Open source is awesome to allow the community to do its own fixes for game incompatibilities/bugs etc. but the only thing I would be worried about is if there's multiple firmwares out there, it would get confusing/annoying to keep track of which one had what fixes... what if no single firmware has all the features/fixes you want?

Team Cyclo have a great rapport with their forum community it seems, and with their fast updates (at least recently) they have been able to keep on top of things mostly... and the product is great as a result

Having 1 authoritative firmware from the makers of the cart itself could be better than having X number of community-driven 'mod' firmwares, each with different features, fixes & bugs...


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## jesterscourt (Sep 3, 2007)

Bye bye DS-X. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




And for those that think 8 gigs is overkill... You can put on movies, music, etc... duh.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(jesterscourt @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Bye bye DS-X.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you seriously want to watch a movie of the Ds, you should go to an institution asap.


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## Mewgia (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(punch1337 @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> Open source is awesome to allow the community to do its own fixes for game incompatibilities/bugs etc. but the only thing I would be worried about is if there's multiple firmwares out there, it would get confusing/annoying to keep track of which one had what fixes... what if no single firmware has all the features/fixes you want?
> 
> Team Cyclo have a great rapport with their forum community it seems, and with their fast updates (at least recently) they have been able to keep on top of things mostly... and the product is great as a result
> 
> Having 1 authoritative firmware from the makers of the cart itself could be better than having X number of community-driven 'mod' firmwares, each with different features, fixes & bugs...


I don't really think that will be a problem.  Look at something like Xbox Media Center, or PSP Custom Firmwares (probably not the best examples but meh). There's a centralized team building and releasing new versions for each, but anyone can add anything if they want to.
Such is how I envision this.  I think that there will be a team, probably made up of people like Chism, Natrium42, Rudolf, Dark Fader, Olimar, and the like.  It's probable that they will begin with releasing some no-commercial-rom firmwares, but, as it is open source, this will be quickly remedied.
Open-source=virtually no boundaries.


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## bullet007 (Sep 3, 2007)

I just checked the AK RPG SITE.

ITS 8GBIT, NOT 8GBYTE

http://www.acekard.com/

_After 10 month development, we proudly announce the arrival of next generation acekard which called “Acekard R.P.G (Acekard Real Play Gear)”. Acekard R.P.G is revolutionary and all the functions are developed base on the needs of our customers. Acekard R.P.G might not be 100% perfect, but it is definitely the best card on the current market.(The first version called Acekard RPG 8G PRO *with on-board 8Gbit NAND* and a micro SDHC slot will be released soon.)_


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## interfreak (Sep 3, 2007)

Taken from the Acekard website:

'The first version called Acekard RPG 8G PRO with on-board *8Gbit NAND* and a micro SDHC slot will be released soon.'

So its *8Gbit* not *8GByte*....

*edit* Just beat me bullet007!!


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## bullet007 (Sep 3, 2007)

lol same time post of the exact same thing!   XD


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## interfreak (Sep 3, 2007)

Great minds think alike 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Just shows we are smarter than the others on here by doing some simple research from a link that was posted in the original post...


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## punch1337 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Mewgia @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Open-source=virtually no boundaries.



This is true, and I take your points about the PSP firmwares...

I don't think the fact that the onboard NAND is only 8G*bit* is a deterrent, the mini USB and open source firmware will hopefully make up for it...  Is it a CycloDS Evo beater though?


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## bullet007 (Sep 3, 2007)

So it really features 1GByte of onboard memory and microSD slot

still isnt that bad.

Now since the memory has been clarified, it might be cheaper than what people are thinking.....


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## Gilrad (Sep 3, 2007)

Three things that excite me over this:

Open source. Already stated earlier, if the community takes it and runs, the hardware is the limit.

8gbit onboard. Not for the storage, though. It could be used as RAM, much like how DSLinux uses the onboard memory of slot-2 cards, when loaded from a slot-1. With that much memory, it adds a whole new dimension to the homebrew capabilities.

USB port. Again, not because of the first purpose that comes to mind. Imagine homebrew that can make use of a USB keyboard, or playing QuakeDS with a USB mouse? Or how about a homebrew game that talks to your computer through the usb connection. Again, a whole new dimension to the homebrew possibilites.

Of course, this all depends on how the hardware is implemented. If the latter two points are not possible, then yea, big whoop. I would get one only if Team Cyclo stopped updating.


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## 754boy (Sep 3, 2007)

8 GIGS????? Are u kidding me???? damn, that in itself is enough to hold all the good DS games and alot of the crappy ones too. WOW. I bet this thing is gonna be at least $100

Edit: Nvm, only 8gigabits lol


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## sasuke_kun12 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


i kno that guy who translated it. It was one of the staff at bamboogaming. Lol he wanted me to check it, but looks like acekard released it before i got to check it

anywaiz it looks very promising, i didn't kno it had SDHC support, plus it has 8gbits built in. Its either gonna be a hit or miss. I hope it lives up to its expectations or else its gonna be pretty disappointin


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

Well, this si now old news to me, can we please continue to talk about how much the CycloEVO pwns everything?


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## interfreak (Sep 3, 2007)

This card does sound very interesting, but the support for more poular cards such as the R4DS (on forums, etc) is FAR too big to ignore, so this card wil be fighting an uphill battle to make a name for itself, no matter how good it is.

The bottom line is that most users of the R4DS use it because:
1) Its cheap
2)It can play NDS games extremely well, and has few issues.

and thats all that matters to them.

I for one will not be leaving the R4DS anytime soon...


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## sasuke_kun12 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> Well, this si now old news to me, can we please continue to talk about how much the CycloEVO pwns everything?


do you even own one?


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## felix123 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(punch1337 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Open source is awesome to allow the community to do its own fixes for game incompatibilities/bugs etc. but the only thing I would be worried about is if there's multiple firmwares out there, it would get confusing/annoying to keep track of which one had what fixes... what if no single firmware has all the features/fixes you want?
> 
> "Wer die Wahl hat, hat die Qual."(Who has the choice has the pain.) -  German proverb
> But having too many options is always better than not having a choice.
> ...


That 8GBit part was added after GBAtemp posted the news.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(sasuke_kun12 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now I do, I got it in the mail yesterday. After selling my dreaded R4.


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## sasuke_kun12 (Sep 3, 2007)

fair enough, wish i had a cycloDS. I'm too poor to own one


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## ridgecity (Sep 3, 2007)

It won't be the first card with an iPhone interface look at the G6...






download






download


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(sasuke_kun12 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> fair enough, wish i had a cycloDS. I'm too poor to own one


Well I sold my R4 and my 2gb, for a CycloEVo with a 2gb.

And I got it for the EXACT same price, as when I sold it. Talk about a sweet deal.


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## villa_bryan (Sep 3, 2007)

1 gigabyte of onboard memory is a nice touch for those who want it to work off the bat without buying a memory card.

but obviously it's gonna be the fact that this thing is opensource that's gonna win ppl over.  

i think the homebrew, and rom hacking, scene has show to what extent ppl are willing to go get what they want out their ds or to get what others want.

in the end all that's needed is good compatibality and a few good, willing, progammers to make this thing go snowballing out of control.

will keep an eye on


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

People will be happy that it's open source, now. But it will also lead to the death of it. Like Tupac...


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## Xcursion (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(ridgecity @ Sep 2 2007 said:


> It won't be the first card with an iPhone interface look at the G6...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Those are just skins. The box art don't actually move.


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## OSW (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(CannonBallZ @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(fryguy @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > W00t! when i first read it i thought it had 8gbit capacity but if thats actually 8gigabyte its pretty impressive!
> ...



Does no-one read the website? they clearly state

8 Gbit

Edit: my bad, someone else already posted it.


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## rest0re (Sep 3, 2007)

oh the kids, oh the kids 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




open source seems to be fucking magic word that you can put and kids go crazy? so what if no dev will buy it ever. woah. guess what? there is your open source then. coz nobody cares to dev it.

and then it seems okay card to me but .. blaa


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## shadow1w2 (Sep 3, 2007)

been waiting for a card like this. Just need to know the price now and a good seller.
Definitly grabbing this one :3
Open source for the win! xD

Though I bet the eight gigs will send the price way up.
But hey, atleast we dont have to pay for the software. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Edit: Ok, if its Eight gigabits then why does the front page say gigabytes?
Though thinking about it, only having a single gig would be even better xD
Cost less and still have an SD card option. Perfect.

Oh and the buety of opensource is that ANYONE can jump in and dev it up.
I think the main appeal will be for those who want to ultra customize their card software or those who want to create extra features by taking advantage of the hardware in full.
Say like wiring a hard drive to it and reprograming it to take full advantage of it or control it better.

Still, its really just for the option.
Having the possibillity makes the lack of updates feel less intimidating.
Opensource is great to have if a dev picks it up or not.
Heck, even lazy arses like myself could pick up some coding tutorials and reprogram it myself.
Its all about the options man.


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## DjoeN (Sep 3, 2007)

If acekard give away there rpg cards to devvers for free, you maight see a huge support, that is IF the do that 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 (I would, just like neoflash does)


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## Sinkhead (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(rest0re @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> oh the kids, oh the kids
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If the Acekard Team don't give some away to developers I might... You know, giving stuff back to the community and all that... But it depends on how much it costs  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




- Sam


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## johnchan (Sep 3, 2007)

A few things...

a) This thing will be far too expensive for most people, and I dont think the high price will be justifyable considering the features. Dual storage is nice but its not necessary. Most people simply want to play games, and for this you dont need anything special. Other products like R4 and CycloDS provide great features, support and compatibility at a fraction of the price that this thing will be sold for. The cost of NAND flash chips right now is quite high, while the prices for MicroSD cards continue to fall. This trend does not bode well for any devices with onboard storage.

b) Open Source is nothing to get really excited about. While it will be nice to see how their software works and maybe tinker around with the code, do you really think that homebrew developers are doing to devote their time to improving software which can only be used on a single device, leaving everybody else with different flash cards out in the cold? I dont think so. There are some great things happening in the homebrew community such as DSOrganise and DSChannels - these applications could make great replacements for the GUI's of various flash carts. I anticipate that we'll see more work on projects like these which can be used by anybody, rather than work which would be locked to a single piece of hardware. Thanks to DLDI, its already possible to access the filesystem on just about every flashcard. The main thing missing now to achieve full integration between homebrew software and flash cards is some way to load ROM's via homebrew software. If some interface similar to DLDI was created for the purpose of playing ROM's then we would have our answer. That way flashcart vendors could simply provide their "ROM driver" and DLDI driver, which would be patched into a homebrew loader to provide full integration. Imagine using something like DSChannels to load your ROM's on R4, CycloDS, EZV etc.


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## quartercast (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(johnchan @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> A few things...
> 
> a) This thing will be far too expensive for most people, and I dont think the high price will be justifyable considering the features. Dual storage is nice but its not necessary. Most people simply want to play games, and for this you dont need anything special. Other products like R4 and CycloDS provide great features, support and compatibility at a fraction of the price that this thing will be sold for. The cost of NAND flash chips right now is quite high, while the prices for MicroSD cards continue to fall. This trend does not bode well for any devices with onboard storage.
> 
> b) Open Source is nothing to get really excited about. While it will be nice to see how their software works and maybe tinker around with the code, do you really think that homebrew developers are doing to devote their time to improving software which can only be used on a single device, leaving everybody else with different flash cards out in the cold? I dont think so. There are some great things happening in the homebrew community such as DSOrganise and DSChannels - these applications could make great replacements for the GUI's of various flash carts. I anticipate that we'll see more work on projects like these which can be used by anybody, rather than work which would be locked to a single piece of hardware. Thanks to DLDI, its already possible to access the filesystem on just about every flashcard. The main thing missing now to achieve full integration between homebrew software and flash cards is some way to load ROM's via homebrew software. If some interface similar to DLDI was created for the purpose of playing ROM's then we would have our answer. That way flashcart vendors could simply provide their "ROM driver" and DLDI driver, which would be patched into a homebrew loader to provide full integration. Imagine using something like DSChannels to load your ROM's on R4, CycloDS, EZV etc.



a)  i. On the contrary, I don't see Acekard making this cart much more expensive. The Acekard+ was very reasonably priced at the time (50 AUD), and 8Gb NAND flash carts are quite low in price (8Gb MK5: 45 AUD ex shipping). Flash carts are very well priced these days. Think about it, how much does a real game cost, 60 AUD? Are you saying most people can't afford to buy 2 DS games? Come on.. get real! Given this took 10 months to manufacture, and that it's being manufactured by an asian company, I reckon it'll be priced around 100 AUD. I remember when the groundbreaking slot-2 lite solutions came out, they were around that price.

ii. You obviously haven't played many games on a flashcart. All slot-1 microSD solutions are hampered by the latency of the reader/microSD card, which cause some (popular!) games to freeze. Most NAND-flash ram based carts to date are plagued by slow write speeds, and all are hampered by unexpandable memory. This appears to be a best-of-both-worlds solution!


b) So, what excites you then? As far as most of the GBAtemp community are concerned, this is the cart they've been waiting for - for a long, long time! Human beings are naturally creative, this will allow them to be. Why do people spend so much time making custom firmware for all sorts of devices? Because the device didn't support a feature which they wanted, or they just wanted to get it to do some funky things that weren't intended originally!

Anyways.. happy moaning to you  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




EDIT: cleanup


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## TLSpartan (Sep 3, 2007)

The SCDS is open source.


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## azotyp (Sep 3, 2007)

if it will be open source, maybe m3simply and r4ds programmers will copy and modify its code, so we can have cool menus on m3simply and r4ds


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## quartercast (Sep 3, 2007)

Meh, why would you want to develop for the Scone anyways 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Good point though


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## TLSpartan (Sep 3, 2007)

So, this isnt the first open source flash cart. Its just the first where it has been advertised


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## 4saken (Sep 3, 2007)

Software theft would be a problem if AceKard were to open source their stuff. In any case, this will be an interesting product. If you want the storage of an SDHC card, you can run low latency-requiring games (eg. Castlevania, Tony Hawk: DJ) from the NAND, and other stuff from any SDHC.

EDIT: word mixed up :S


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## TaMs (Sep 3, 2007)

sounds really good.


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## quartercast (Sep 3, 2007)

Hey yo,

Check out the review sample I got!









Damn I need a shave  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





EDIT: 3rd time lucky


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## Sweater Fish Del (Sep 3, 2007)

But that's exactly what the open source firmware will allow on this card.  I guarantee that among the very first things released based on this source will be plugins for Moonshell and DSOrganize that allow loading commercial ROMs with those apps, but only on this card and it won't happen for other cards unless they release their sources, too.

As for whether many developers get involved with the Acekard source, time will tell (time and whether it's truly 100% open or only parts of it).  There has been plenty of work done on past cards like the R4, Supercard and GBAMP, though, so I don't think the argument that no one will mess with the Acekard source just because their work would only be usable by other Acekard users flies.

Time will tell, but it is a big step and it's sure to get them a lot of attention, both from coders and non-coders, so it already fulfills its purpose.


...word is bondage...


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## johnchan (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(quartercast @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> a)Â i. On the contrary, I don't see Acekard making this cart much more expensive. The Acekard+ was very reasonably priced at the time (50 AUD), and 8Gb NAND flash carts are quite low in price (8Gb MK5: 45 AUD ex shipping). Flash carts are very well priced these days. Think about it, how much does a real game cost, 60 AUD? Are you saying most people can't afford to buy 2 DS games? Come on.. get real! Given this took 10 months to manufacture, and that it's being manufactured by an asian company, I reckon it'll be priced around 100 AUD. I remember when the groundbreaking slot-2 lite solutions came out, they were around that price.
> 
> Â Â ii. You obviously haven't played many games on a flashcart. All slot-1 microSD solutions are hampered by the latency of the reader/microSD card, which cause some (popular!) games to freeze. Most NAND-flash ram based carts to date are plagued by slow write speeds, and all are hampered by unexpandable memory. This appears to be a best-of-both-worlds solution!
> 
> ...


You need to consider the cost of all the components here. They will have a NAND flash chip, some USB chipset, a large FPGA to drive all the components and hold their "NDS cart emulation logic", plus other misc stuff like SD slot and USB connector. That alone means it'll cost quite a lot to manufacture. These people are going to want to make a profit as well. This means its going to cost considerably more than R4, CycloDS, EZV etc - there is no denying this. I really think your estimate of AUD100 is a bit too optimistic - it will probably be at least AUD120 and then you still need to fork out for a MicroSD card if you want that too.

And yes, I'm well aware of the various problems associated with both MicroSD and NAND based solutions. Dont try to tell me that I havent played enough games 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 In my experience, using MicroSD based carts has been fine with the exception of Castlevania and Tony Hawks. Castlevania is the only game which I am aware suffers from freezing issues. Tony Hawks has a few graphical glitches. So, thats two games I'm aware of - and two games which I dont play. I'm not prepared to pay a premium just to ensure I can play these games. Granted, some people WILL be prepared to pay extra - but I'm quite confident that the majority wont be. Why do you think R4 is so popular, even though there are superior solutions out there? Because its cheap 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




About the homebrew stuff, you're entitled to your opinion as I am entitled to mine. Lets just wait and see what happens after a few months, then we'll see who was right 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I'm not trying to moan here, but rather tell things as I see them.


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## quartercast (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(johnchan @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> And yes, I'm well aware of the various problems associated with both MicroSD and NAND based solutions. Dont try to tell me that I havent played enough games
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You haven't played enough games! Play more games! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaar! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Sorry, that was a bit uncalled for  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




  Don't forget about slowdowns as well, like w/ FF3, Animal Crossing etc.. but yeah, most of your points make sense now.


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## shaunj66 (Sep 3, 2007)

Yes they fixed the typo on their website. It's 8Gbit (1GB) not 8GB...

Main post updated.


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## 4saken (Sep 3, 2007)

Have any of the GBAtemp staff tried to secure samples yet?


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## Raisingod (Sep 3, 2007)

This looks good 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Though new DLDI drivers will be needed since there are two partitions to access 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Plus open source will make this cart a favorite among devs


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## Mehdi (Sep 3, 2007)

LMAO @ update. There I thought this card was the next best thing.


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## shaunj66 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(4saken @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Have any of the GBAtemp staff tried to secure samples yet?


We'll get one in under 2 weeks, hopefully


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## tjas (Sep 3, 2007)

xD thats marketing! 8gb and then ow sorry... typo it's 8Gbit


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## sasuke_kun12 (Sep 3, 2007)

hello quartercast! anywaiz getting back on topic, the acekard r.p.g in my opinion would cost about 120AUD. How much is a g6 real 8gbs? and how much is an r4? reckon about 60 bucks each?


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## xalphax (Sep 3, 2007)

8Gbits is still plenty of space for those games which need fast memory

and a pricetag of 50$ seems in the right range again.

if it realy was 8 Gigabytes of NAND the price would be far over 100$ more like 150$


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## Raisingod (Sep 3, 2007)

I really don't think they will charge 120 AUD for it


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## Maikel Steneker (Sep 3, 2007)

This looks great! And it may become perfect thanks to the open source support.

I think it will be much to expensive though... Unless the R4 and CycloDS Evolution.

I'll wait until some good sites review it first


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## Monkey01 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(PharaohsVizier @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> If it claims that it runs clean roms without modifying it (which it does) it also means that it claims that ill work Wii/DS.
> 
> EDIT:Â Food for thought, what would happen if GBATemp's newest feature is that they are actually bringing the GBATemper card to life with the Open source and everything, wouldn't this cart kick its butt?
> 
> ...


The G6 8Gb is $57. The R4 is $42.
But if it's two things in one, most of the time it's cheaper then buying the stuff seperated... Might be different with smaller devices though.

But G6 and R4 aren't the cheapest anyway, you could also see it as an EZ5 of


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## felix123 (Sep 3, 2007)

AceKard's clean rom support is really good. They didn't have to rush out new kernels for new games, unlike most of the other cards.


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## OSW (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Raisingod @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> I really don't think they will charge 120 AUD for it



yep $100 AUD max i reckon. I don't think Acekard will charge the same premium G6 team does, but this cart has more hardware features.

so like $60-65 USD?


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## 4saken (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(OSW @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Raisingod @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > I really don't think they will charge 120 AUD for it
> ...



Probably not that low. But anyway, there was something on yyjoy a while ago which discussed the price of the AK2, it was either 200 chinese yuan, 600 chinese yuan or 800 chinese yuan (I think, or I might have forgotten the number completely). But at this time is was probably just speculation


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## Raisingod (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(4saken @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(OSW @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > QUOTE(Raisingod @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> ...




200 CHY  is about 26 $ so I guess not


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## cubin' (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(zombielove @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Why are people even mentioning R4? Cyclo DS owned it ages ago. Hell, even the N-Card with the latest firmware is much better imo.



People are mentioning the R4 because it's a good card that's cheap. It does what it's meant to to do well - play NDS games.


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## xalphax (Sep 3, 2007)

i cant understand all them r4 haters...

the card is dirt cheap
it plays everything very good
the team is FAST with updates and responds to user requests well

i think its because they have got other cards and dont want them to be behind r4.... maybe they have better features, download play support etc etc.

but price/quality wise the r4 comes out on top


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## 4ppleseed (Sep 3, 2007)

I'm just happy to see another SDHC card on the market. I guess if a new R4 comes out with SDHC support and a host of new features we'll be jumping up and down for that.


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## quartercast (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(sasuke_kun12 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> hello quartercast! anywaiz getting back on topic, the acekard r.p.g in my opinion would cost about 120AUD. How much is a g6 real 8gbs? and how much is an r4? reckon about 60 bucks each?



Hey sasuke! G6 real is expensive man. R4 - $50 hopefully, if you're not getting ripped off  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




EDIT: Oops just read above, G6 is not that expensive  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



EDIT 2: Hmm, that seems to be in USD


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## DavePS (Sep 3, 2007)

felix123 is right on the mark about not needing new kernels for original AK. I haven't needed to do the ARM7 shuffle for any games on AK everything just works.


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## recover (Sep 3, 2007)

This is absolutely awesome, it really indeed looks like the card of teh cards!
I think that the biggest feature (and attraction) in the end will be that it's open source.
Think about it, only a few days after the card has been released (are there an estimated release date btw?) there will be tons of homebrew modifications of the card integrating tons of things.
After a few months devs will have settled in and really like the card and make wondrous firmwares with a zillion different combinations, then everyone who has it will recommend it to the next person.
This should encourage other card dealers to open source their firmware as well (hopefully, if the ARPG becomes popular enough).

*If* the card is coming soon it will probably make me regret buying my DS+R4 at this moment (just about a month old), since this seems to be soo cool.

Another cool feature is the transferring between the NAND memory and the microSD card, this will allow you to very easy share your roms and saves, even pictures/homebrews/configurations.

Marvelous, I await the reviews!!!


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## Raisingod (Sep 3, 2007)

Yeah it seems like this is a card that we can call next-gen (both internal and external memorey + Open source )


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Raisingod @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Yeah it seems like this is a card that we can call next-gen (both internal and external memorey + Open source )


Being open source has NOTHING to do with the next gen qualifications. This card is jsut another card that serves, a meaningless purpose, if you ask me. Once you use up ALL the space on NAND, you're practically screwed. If other companies really wanted tot do this, they would but they don't. Why? Because they want people to be satisfied with heir product, not having a bricked one


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## Mewgia (Sep 3, 2007)

....?

Why would you be screwed once you use up all the space on the NAND?

That makes no sense :S


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## hollabackitsobi (Sep 3, 2007)

Yeah dude, what are you talking about?


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## Maikel Steneker (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(recover @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> This is absolutely awesome, it really indeed looks like the card of teh cards!
> I think that the biggest feature (and attraction) in the end will be that it's open source.
> Think about it, only a few days after the card has been released (are there an estimated release date btw?) there will be tons of homebrew modifications of the card integrating tons of things.
> After a few months devs will have settled in and really like the card and make wondrous firmwares with a zillion different combinations, then everyone who has it will recommend it to the next person.
> ...


You're right. The hardware seems to be very good, and it can be supported to the max with open source firmware.

It's risky to directly flash a custom firmware though, so I hope they'll give an option to use it R4-like too. In this way, game fixes can be used via a loader, but the real firmware can be accessed to (for thinks like improving SDHC-compatibly).


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## Gilrad (Sep 3, 2007)

Or they could handle the firmware like the CycloEvo, where there is a hard-written firmware that it defaults to if there is a failed write.


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## Jdbye (Sep 3, 2007)

I suppose you can't read the microSD/SDHC card by just plugging the usb cable to the card? Because if you could, you would never have to remove it :S


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## recover (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE said:
			
		

> It's risky to directly flash a custom firmware though, so I hope they'll give an option to use it R4-like too. In this way, game fixes can be used via a loader, but the real firmware can be accessed to (for thinks like improving SDHC-compatibly).
> Hmm... I wonder if it's actually possible to flash that part of the firmware.
> I mean, thinking about the R4, my best guess is that there's a part of the card that detects the presence of a microSD card and then executes a specific address in it, starting the firmware that you put on the card yourself, and I think this part of the data is read-only
> BUT in the case of the ARPG, it has a non-removable NAND memory, so I guess you store the firmware there.
> ...


Well, I actually think that you will remove it even more than you would with lets say, an R4.
My argument only applies to people who knows other people using slot 1 cards with microSD.
Imagine, you can transfer data between the microSD and NAND freely *without the need for a computer*, this will allow you to transfer your roms/savegames to your microSD card and then put that microSD card in your buddies ARPG, then he can transfer the files he want from your microSD card to his NAND memory, then when he's done he can give you back your microSD card.
It will be *SOOOO* much easier to trade files from each others cards!


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## CrystalSweet (Sep 3, 2007)

this cart sounds almost too good to be true  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



its making me regret my r4 purchase which isnt even here yet!
but i bet this cart is really expensive


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## recover (Sep 3, 2007)

Yea, it really sounds too good to be true.
But I think it's best to wait until the reviews start rolling out 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



For all we know, this card might not ship until next year...


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## Orc (Sep 3, 2007)

Nice features, hope the official GBAtemp review comes soon lol.
Hopefully it's as good as it says it is and really is open-source, since I want to buy one just because the cart design is nice.
Cheers to a good cart design.
I mean, the CycloDS and DS-X have nice features when they were first introduced but the carts themselves look fugly.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Orc @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Nice features, hope the official GBAtemp review comes soon lol.
> Hopefully it's as good as it says it is and really is open-source, since I want to buy one just because the cart design is nice.
> Cheers to a good cart design.
> I mean, the CycloDS and DS-X have nice features when they were first introduced but the carts themselves look fugly.


Well the Cyclo looks fine as is, and the Ds-X doesn't. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




But if you think this cart will sell over design, you have failed, completely. Also, that's not even it, that's a mock up design.


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## 4saken (Sep 3, 2007)

They already started making these things (as prototypes/samples) before the image was released.





From yyjoy, as usual >_>

EDIT: Though it looks like they're not going to use these.. since they don't have RPG written on them


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## Monkey01 (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(recover @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Yea, it really sounds too good to be true.
> But I think it's best to wait until the reviews start rolling out
> 
> 
> ...


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## flai (Sep 3, 2007)

Well, I really like the look of this flashcart and I am hopefully going to get one to replace my dad's G6 Real. Looks like a really promising product and I am really digging the design, all I want to know is how the GUI is, its something that is so often overlooked in flashcarts but is so important.


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

THAT IS A MOCK UP NOT THE REAL THING!

Why don't people listen anymore. Damn Americans.


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## flai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> THAT IS A MOCK UP NOT THE REAL THING!
> 
> Why don't people listen anymore. Damn Americans.



So the picture on the actual website is a mock-up even though the cart is to be released in a couple of weeks?


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## shaunj66 (Sep 3, 2007)

I should have my hands on one in 6-8  days


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## Hiratai (Sep 3, 2007)

QUOTE(flai @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Hiratai @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > THAT IS A MOCK UP NOT THE REAL THING!
> ...


Yes.


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## go185 (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(shaunj66 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> I should have my hands on one in 6-8Â days



Cant wait till you pre/re view it for us!


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## imgod22222 (Sep 4, 2007)

is it me, or is the logo sticker on the wrong side, and they have that to purposely not show the other side of that monster? ( or .)

I wonder if you can access the SD and onboard flash at the same time from the same menu.. And I wonder how homebrew and DLDI would work... I'm supposing on the cards OS it will have settings like "save all homebrew to ____" and you pick SD or NAND there. Or maybe where it runs is where it saves from...

However, I see this being as open source as the Wiip (open source schematics, I haven't seen the code tho.. I could be wrong.)

Would like more screenshots...


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## Seraph (Sep 4, 2007)

Even if they are just mockups is still looks great compared to other carts and their mockups. I'm hoping they leave the other side blank. The design was the first thing that caught my attention(maybe because of the size of the image). I was relieved to see that it is actually one gigabyte so it'd actually be affordable.

If it includes all the features it says it has and actually gets open source benefits this will be the slot 1 card I've been waiting for.


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## hollabackitsobi (Sep 4, 2007)

1GB onboard for games to maximize speed and then a 6GB SDHC card for media and homebrew sounds like SEX.


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## felix123 (Sep 4, 2007)

Pic from HKCC. (There is no picture of the back.)


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## fli_guy84 (Sep 4, 2007)

w00t? No FPGA sticking out, yay!


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## sasuke_kun12 (Sep 4, 2007)

i should be getting one soon as well. I'll have the prices listed for the Acekard R.P.G as soon as bamboogaming.com has the prices up. So currency AUD USD any other currencies?


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## Hiratai (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(sasuke_kun12 @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> i should be getting one soon as well. I'll have the prices listed for the Acekard R.P.G as soon as bamboogaming.com has the prices up. So currency AUD USD any other currencies?


Do you have AIM or MSN or something? I need to talk to you.


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## Seraph (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(felix123 @ Sep 3 2007 said:


> Pic from HKCC. (There is no picture of the back.)


No sticker label on the front! It looks good.


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## quartercast (Sep 4, 2007)

Bamboogaming is the best!! I'll be really disappointed if they don't stock it 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




BTW, what kind of savetypes did the original Acekard use? I hope shuny has a converter ready for when I get my RPG in


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## acekard (Sep 4, 2007)

Thank you for your focusing.

The review of our new product AK R.P.G would be shown every soon and it's shipping date would be very soon also.

We thought all of your question could have a satisified answer from the review.

We hope our product can provide more capacity for you and DS.

Thank you again.


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## recover (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Monkey01 @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> Quite sooner then that...
> 
> 
> QUOTE(barry181091 @ Sep 2 2007 said:
> ...


You and me both!


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## zatelli (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Seraph @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(felix123 @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > Pic from HKCC. (There is no picture of the back.)
> ...


Actually, it's the back that's shown on the picture.


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## 4saken (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(zatelli @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> QUOTE(Seraph @ Sep 4 2007 said:
> 
> 
> > QUOTE(felix123 @ Sep 3 2007 said:
> ...



It's the front >_> You can't see the pins


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## quartercast (Sep 4, 2007)

*LoL* I didn't think magazine staff would get that one wrong


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## Raisingod (Sep 4, 2007)

this cart looks amazing ( its good that they decided not to put a sticker on the top of the cart, makes it look like a better quality product )


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## superrob (Sep 4, 2007)

Well the Cyclo Evo is awesome!

But i hate that the MicroSD card is allmost imposiple to remove..
But im going to get this deffently!


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## SkH (Sep 4, 2007)

So it stores the FIRMWARE in the NAND Flash Memory? Therefore, it can be greatly upgradeable?


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## felix123 (Sep 4, 2007)

More pics from yyjoy:


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## 4saken (Sep 4, 2007)

Yea those have been around for like 10 days >_> You can't really tell much about the product from just those pictures anyway 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 but I guess they paint the whole picture once you get some info.


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## Trulen (Sep 4, 2007)

Wow.
This looks like a real winner here.

If its team has the same support of the CycloDS, then it'd be pretty much THE best card.  

You could whine about the price, if it's higher than the CycloDS and R4, but you couldn't ignore the fact that it'd be the better cart.

Open source.  I've got no idea what that means, except a hokey-snap amount of awesome things coming to it.

Blast.  I shoulda waited 2 months before looking to get a flashcart.


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## Hiratai (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(Trulen @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> Wow.
> This looks like a real winner here.
> 
> If its team has the same support of the CycloDS, then it'd be pretty much THE best card.Â
> ...


I'm guessing you have no idea what you're talking about.


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## JPH (Sep 4, 2007)

If you are going to buy one of these - there is something wrong with you.

R4 fo' life.


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## bullet007 (Sep 4, 2007)

QUOTE(JPH11200 @ Sep 4 2007 said:


> If you are going to buy one of these - there is something wrong with you.
> 
> R4 fo' life.



R4 fanboy for the LOSS


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## felix123 (Sep 5, 2007)

Don't get too excited over this yet. There are still a bunch of unanswered questions:
DLDI
Wii
Soft reset
Real time walkthrough
Real time cheats
etc


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## hollabackitsobi (Sep 5, 2007)

Real time walkthrough, what the fuck?


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## xcalibur (Sep 7, 2007)

the SCDS1 has that feature at the moment but its ugly as sin
its not as good as moonshells text viewer and it white text with black background
i only use it for japanese games
the ingame cheat system is brilliant though
its not that badlooking either
i wish it had a little scrolling thing whenever you stay on an item so you can see the rest of thetext of the code
i heard they were working on it

dunno who they is....


the opensource should be a good addition but its going to be confusing for newbies to find out how to take advantage of all it has to offer


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## JacobReaper (Sep 8, 2007)

oh my... i might get one of these..


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## Rocky5 (Sep 22, 2007)

Does it have softreset like he R4 because this is a must now a days


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