IT'S A GAME BOY! IT'S A CAMERA! IT'S A GAME BOY CAMERA!
(reprinted with permission from:
Talk about a bolt of lightning from out of nowhere! Nintendo just introduced "FUNtography," and we think it is going to be a MONSTER success with both kids and certain arty adults (ah-hem).
On June 1, Nintendo launches Game Boy Camera, a cartridge featuring a swiveling, big-eye lens that fits into any Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket unit and turns it into a low cost, easy-to-use digital camera and "studio!"
Game Boy Becomes Camera.
Nintendo also will launch the Game Boy Printer (sold separately) that can be attached to the camera to print photo stickers for kids to collect and trade.
The Game Boy Camera has a suggested retail price of $49.95, and the printer has an SRP of $59.95. A link cable and additional paper stickers will be sold separately.
Peter Main, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing says, "Kids can actually photograph and insert their own faces as the stars of games or make and collect stickers with all their friends' faces. Game Boy Camera is already enormously popular in Japan, and we predict it'll take the U.S. by storm too." We agree 100%.
Actual Photo From "Camera."
The "camera" looks like a Game Boy game cartridge with a big round-eye lens on top that swivels 180 degrees. Point the "eye" and the black-and-white image appears on the Game Boy screen. This is what it does:
The camera can take and store up to thirty digital images and allows users to manipulate the images in several ways. Trick lenses can flip, stretch, zoom or split the screen. Panorama mode shoots both tall and wide formats. Time-lapse mode adjusts to let the user take photos continuously or up to sixty minutes apart.
Snapshots can be viewed one at a time or as a slide show in sequential or shuffle order. Shots can also be arranged and viewed as an animated short (up to 47 frames).
Then the silly stuff starts. Decorate the photos using "Stamps." These include horns, goofy facial features, antennae, and letters. If you don't remember doing this stuff, this should refresh your memory:
Looks Like Jay Leno!
Ah, yes, it all comes back now! Use paint functions to draw or retouch a photo. Designate "hot-spots" on a photo, which, if activated, can change the music or jump to another photo.
Once the perfect image is created, users can link to a friend's Game Boy Camera and transfer the snapshot or use the Game Boy Printer to print saved images onto stickers.
And there's more. The Game Boy Camera comes bundled with four mini-games -- Space Fever II, Ball, D.J. and Run! Run! Run! -- that allow the user to put an image of his or her choice on the face of the main game character! The D.J. option lets kids create their own music compositions as well.
This is going to be a hot, hot item. There's no need to talk about resolution, CMOS versus CCD or any of that. This is simply good, clean fun.
Slightly Enlarged Image.
Wes Nihei, editor-in-chief of GamePro Magazine says, "Also, it will most likely appeal universally to girls as well as boys, because all kids love to take pictures of their friends. It's difficult to imagine the Game Boy becoming more popular, but the camera just may make that a reality."
Another group of folks who will go ga-ga over this are the "toy camera" fanciers. These are photographers who put down their pro photo gear to make great images with primitive cameras that are often given away as "premiums." These include the Time Magazine type cameras and the Argus 555P. There are also fanciers of those little 110 film key chain cameras and the famous "Diana" roll film camera of the '60s and early '70s. For more on this a visit to the Toy Camera Page is a must.
About twelve years ago, Fisher-Price made a video camera for kids that used audio cassettes and produced very crude images. Guess what? These are highly prized by the "art" crowd now and fetch stiff prices!
We don't feel it is a question of IF, but WHEN the same group will latch onto the Game Boy Camera. Things will really begin to happen when someone figures out how to transfer the images to a PC or Mac. For the time being, they will have to be printed and scanned.