Acekard 2i Review

Discussion in 'GBAtemp & Scene News' started by shaunj66, Dec 14, 2008.

Page 1 of 2
Share This Page

Share This Page

  1. shaunj66
    OP

    shaunj66 Administrator

    Administrator
    10,020
    1,627
    Oct 24, 2002
    United Kingdom
    South England
    [​IMG] Acekard 2i Review
    Official GBAtemp Review - World's 1st review!
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    The Acekard 2i is the first commercial DSi flash kit. It's wide knowledge now that the new Nintendo DSi blocks previous flash kits from operating, but it didn't take long before the Acekard team came along and cracked it.

    So, want to know if the Acekard 2i is worth picking up to go alongside your shiny new DSi? Read our full review at the link below to find out.

    Feel free to leave your comments and questions in response to this thread.

    [​IMG] Acekard 2i official GBAtemp review
    [​IMG] Discuss
     
    #1 Dec 14, 2008


  2. Noitora

    Noitora ::

    Member
    3,768
    0
    Aug 9, 2007
    Greece
    Athens
    A review, cool!
     
    #2 Dec 14, 2008
  3. Ferrariman

    Ferrariman Hip-Flop and cRap

    Member
    3,357
    1
    Dec 9, 2007
    Canada
    Canader.
    Nice review!
     
    #3 Dec 14, 2008
  4. Maikel Steneker

    Maikel Steneker M3 Fanboy

    Member
    3,396
    34
    May 16, 2007
    Netherlands
    Nice review. So in short, this is just the normal AceKard 2 working on a DSi... Like we expected.

    One thing I noticed:
    "- Feels like a rush job, with some recycled and useless (DSi incompatible) options from previous AK models"
    That's not true. It can also be used on DS Phat and Lite, so it's not useless at all.
     
    #4 Dec 14, 2008
  5. Raika

    Raika uguu

    Member
    4,866
    10
    Sep 15, 2008
    uguu
    Hmm... its not that surprising, since flashcarts would eventually be made for the DSi. Acekard is just faster, thats all.
     
    #5 Dec 14, 2008
  6. johnchan

    johnchan Advanced Member

    Newcomer
    88
    0
    Aug 15, 2007
    Nice review, but there seems to be a glaring omission: no mention has been made to the fact that there is a very high chance that this cart will be blocked by the next DSi firmware update, and that as the AK2i does not seem to have an updateable bootloader, if this happens it will essentially leave the early adopters with a useless piece of plastic unless they manage to refrain from ever updating their DSi. I think at this stage its a bit more than speculation that Nintendo is going to make better efforts to prevent piracy on the DSi, due to the fact that we already know they can update the firmware and have already blocked all previous flash carts. As Nintendo can update the DSi firmware, they can block AK2i and anything that comes after it - this is a fact. The only viable solution for the DSi is going to be a product which is fully updateable, and then it will be a cat & mouse game with Nintendo releasing updates to block any currently functioning carts and then manufacturers releasing a new "bootloader" to counter this each time.

    AK2i and anything similar which can not be fully updated will only ever be temporary solutions, which will only function on units currently in the market and only as long as the user does not update their DSi firmware.
     
    #6 Dec 14, 2008
  7. shaunj66
    OP

    shaunj66 Administrator

    Administrator
    10,020
    1,627
    Oct 24, 2002
    United Kingdom
    South England
    Well it is useless. Why would you buy the more expensive AK2i if you don't own a DSi? Fair enough if they phase out the regular AK2.1 and make them all simply "DSi compatible", but until that happens, the options IMO are useless.

    They just need to include an option to disable non-DSi options, or just create a seperate AK2i-only loader.
     
    #7 Dec 14, 2008
  8. da_head

    da_head A dying dream..

    Member
    2,953
    2
    Apr 7, 2008
    Canada
    Toronto, Canader!
    nice review [​IMG]
    but still no dsi for me
     
    #8 Dec 14, 2008
  9. Maikel Steneker

    Maikel Steneker M3 Fanboy

    Member
    3,396
    34
    May 16, 2007
    Netherlands
    I still don't agree.

    My brother has a DS Phat with an R4. If he wants a DSi, that doesn't mean that he'll never use his DS Phat. After all, he can play GBA roms on that. If he buys an AK2i he will have a much better cart with the GBA features, for both his DS and DSi.

    I understand that it feels a bit useless for someone who already has a better flashcart for the DS/DSL, but for some people this would be a big reason to buy an AK2(i), while you list it as a con.
     
    #9 Dec 14, 2008
  10. steve007

    steve007 GBAtemp Fan

    Member
    429
    15
    Oct 7, 2007
    United States
    Nottingham
    Hum if i get this do i still have to patch the games like sonic RPg on my r4ds and i hope it has a cheep price for it yes im geting a ids becouse i love nintendo Sony messed up the PSP with updates >_
     
    #10 Dec 14, 2008
  11. shaunj66
    OP

    shaunj66 Administrator

    Administrator
    10,020
    1,627
    Oct 24, 2002
    United Kingdom
    South England
     
    #11 Dec 14, 2008
  12. cory1492

    cory1492 GBAtemp Maniac

    Member
    1,489
    19
    Jun 23, 2005
    Canada
    Home, WhereElse?
    Well that cuts it, it's just complete junk then [​IMG]
     
    #12 Dec 14, 2008
  13. shakirmoledina

    shakirmoledina Legend

    Member
    6,611
    218
    Oct 23, 2004
    Tanzania
    Dar es Salaam
    acekard are quick but not intelligent enough... introducing dual storage was great but nothing somebody then actually bothered about unlike itouch who included cheapness, compatibility , design , features and the latest one which is RTS... that is what i call planning with simplicity
     
    #13 Dec 14, 2008
  14. Frederica Bernkastel

    Frederica Bernkastel WebPerf and PWA advocate; @antoligy on Twitter

    Member
    3,150
    758
    Jan 31, 2008
    Hinamizawa
    Nice Review, Nice Card.

    Although, why do you need to buy a DSi card, if the DSi is shovelware crap.
    Its fugly, stupid and more shovelware than most of ubisofts games.

    Also, a DS lite is cheaper. With a gba slot.

    If you're interested in a new DS, don't buy a lite.
    Also, M3 RULES!


    That is all.
     
    #14 Dec 14, 2008
  15. Smiths

    Smiths AKAIO Person of Interest

    Member
    1,337
    155
    Feb 24, 2003
    United States
    The land of Dairy Queen
    no mention of AKAIO = you suck, shaun. BRING THE HATE!
     
    #15 Dec 14, 2008
  16. Joey90

    Joey90 Not around any more

    Member
    703
    0
    Apr 21, 2007
    UK
    What competitors [​IMG]

    At the moment AK can do pretty much whatever they want - if you want to play ROMs on a DSi you need an AK2i.

    And although it does seem a little unpolished, I'm sure at least some of the early adopters would rather have a functional cart that they can use, over a perfected and fine-tuned cart that they have to wait another few months for.

    Plus I am sure that a lot of the firmware 'bugs' will be removed in the near future.
     
    #16 Dec 14, 2008
  17. B-Blue

    B-Blue im a slut

    Member
    GBAtemp Patron
    B-Blue is a Patron of GBAtemp and is helping us stay independent!

    Our Patreon
    2,446
    287
    Sep 18, 2006
    Nice review, Shaun! Thank you [​IMG]

    All I want is to play ROMs on my DSi, so the Acekard 2i is more than enough for me [​IMG]
     
    #17 Dec 14, 2008
  18. jensa

    jensa Member

    Newcomer
    44
    0
    Jan 19, 2008
    didnt team cyclops make an update for the cycloDS to work on DSi?
     
    #18 Dec 14, 2008
  19. Satangel

    Satangel BEAST

    Member
    10,255
    555
    Nov 27, 2006
    Belgium
    Bruges, Belgium
    "as Team Cyclops proved by also releasing footage of their cart strutting its stuff on the new handheld, the Acekard 2i is the first to go commercial."

    That is said in the review [​IMG]
     
    #19 Dec 14, 2008
  20. Beware

    Beware GBAtemp Advanced Fan

    Member
    991
    16
    Apr 5, 2007
    United States
    Nice review, but I don't really see the point of an entire review. It's just meant to be a DSi compatible version of the AK2. The ONLY differences are the build quality and the fact that it is DSi compatible. It was never meant to be more than that (yet). I don't mean to seem ungrateful for the review, I just think a FULL review wasn't totally necessary. Just copy and paste most of the stuff from the AK2 review, since they're the same cart. [​IMG]
     
    #20 Dec 14, 2008
Page 1 of 2