Portable Monopoly GBA light...Finally!
 

$42 shipped, they should start taking orders next month.

http://www.portablemonopoly.com

Thank God. I have all but stopped using my GBA because of my frustration with the dark screen. I will definitely be picking one of these up.

yep
:thumbsup:

hopefully i can put it together ok

Damn, $42 is a lot considering the GBA is only $70 now. That's over half the cost just for a light. Does this thing require any soldering to install?

Anyway, I doubt I'll bother with it as Castlevania was the only game I had problems seeing. I pretty much always play in my recliner next to a lamp and have a pelican light shield advance, and have no difficulties seeing it. I never ride a bus, plane, or train, and usually drive myself everywhere so I hardly ever use it outside the house. If I did I'd probalby invest in this, if it doesn't require soldering.

This is from the FAQ at http://www.portablemonopoly.com/?page=faq#11

the light is kind of expensive. i will wait till it to drop to the $20 range. for now, i just use the sun as my light source.

Sounds tempting. I think i might just wait until nintendo finally gets around to adding a light to it's system. Now that the system can be bought for 69 dollars there shouldn't be any reason to not have a backlit version. My cheap watch has light in it. I have stopped buying games for my gba because of the poor screen. If i have to sit in a perfect lighting conditions i might as well just play my ps2. The games are only ten bucks more.

I don't understand all of you pooping on this light - Some of us have waited a long time for this light to come out. I've been following the progress of this guy since he was just posting about how he was adding a light to his (before he even thought about producing and selling it to others)... For me this actually makes the GBA worth purchasing. Up until now, I've ignored the GBA and the Game Boy and Game Boy Color etc. because you can't play em in the dark or in poor light. I have a Sega Game Gear because it has a backlight. Nintendo dropped the ball with the GBA not releasing it with a backlight... they probably won't ever release a game system with a backlight. If they do, you can thank this guy. I hope he sells a million of them and that he never has to work again for the rest of his life. I mean seriously - the GBA is pretty worthless (IMHO) without a backlight... even in good light, trying to see what the hell is going on is damn near impossible. I think $35 is a totally fair price for something like this.

The Game Boy Pocket was released in Japan with a built in backlight. I have one and they are great. Why Nintendo never did this for a color system I will never know. However, I'm not waiting. I'm going to buy this thing and install it as soon as they start selling them. $42 is a good deal IMO.

Yep, GBA's screen is the only reason why i am not getting it yet. So this is great news for me. :)

Not likely to happen any time soon; he buys the screens in bulk and they probably cost him at least $25.

what does the backlight do to the battery life?

Is there an on/off toggle?

Both questions are answered in their FAQ.

I have a GlowGuard, and for the most part am happy with it, but the pictures for this unit look awesome! I'll probably cough up the money, like always. :D What'll I use to protect my screen now? Heh heh. Thanks for the great post!

This made me finally pick one up. Now we need to find some industrious goober here that will install them for $10 a wack. I don't want to bother installing it myself, and someone could make some coin. :D

For the record, the GBA will never be backlit. Maybe front lit, but not back lit. This solution here is a front lit solution and I'm still reserving judgement till I can see it in person to see how well it looks. A backlit solution isn't a good idea because backlit screens don't work very well in light. The more light you have, the harder it is to see. Thus backlit screens are hard to see in the sunlight. That is why you will never see a backlit screen. Front lighting I was a bit skeptical on because of devices like the Palm 505 and the Sony Clie which use a reflective lit and front lit techniques. If you've ever messed with one of those, you will know that the reflective lit screen was compromised because of the front lighting. It didn't look anywhere near as good as the GBA reflective lit screen. I do have hope for this because as it stands, the reflective lit screen is sharp and detailed which wasn't the case for the Sony Clie and the Palm 505. What I'm worried about now is how the lighting looks and the even distribution of it. It really annoys me that there are only 3 LEDs shown in the pictures because that looks like uneven lighting to me.

Actually the new Sony T615 is backlit and the screen looks great. So backlighting is also posible. It depends on the type of lcd screen used and where the leds are placed. Nintendo could easily design a LCD screen with frontlights or backlights. I just wish they would do it soon. If not, I'm getting this product and doing it myself.

I can't believe so many of you are bothered by the GBA's screen. As long as you play under a bright light it looks stunning. The battery life is amazing too.

I always get glare. I would never want to play a game other than a turn based strategy on the GBA as a result. I get killed too often becuase I couldn't see the screen.

So what do you all think of the light? The web site said that they started shippin on May 10th.

I assume the first batch should be reaching the purcahsers. When I last to Adam (the guy who made it), he was busy packing and shipping. I should be seeing him this weekend and modding my GBA. If I do manage to get that done, I will let you know how it turns out, in case anyone here was not in the initial shipments.

Mine was charged and shipped yesterday and I'll be installing it as soon as I get it.

I'll report back with ease of install and quality.

Thanks guys, please post on how the installation/playability goes when you get it. Someone on the IGN boards claimed to have recieved it on tuesday but the link to the pics only went to some lame eminem pic page. But today a person on gamefaqs got it and managed to install it, also provided some working pics too. He said it took him about 2 hours to install it, but thats because he said he was not a tech savy person. It should take people who've soldered before less than that, I'm guessing an hour or so. It looks pretty good though, I wish I had preordered one now. I'll be checking teh stores who ordered the bulk orders now like lik-sang (bulk orders were delayed a few weeks though, but it'll be quicker than ordering direct).

Mine shipped out today via UPS 2nd day air. I should be getting it on Monday. I sure wish it was being shipped next day air so I could have it for the weekend. I feel like I've been waiting for this thing forever. I'll let everyone know how my installation goes.