Game boy grows up

TOKYO – A pair of new add-ons for Nintendo Co.’s Game Boy Advance turn the hand-held into something considerably more than a gaming machine – a video phone and a video player.

As long as you bear in mind that you’re dealing with a toy, you might not be too bothered by the less than stellar quality.

The videophone is blurry and the connections don’t always work, and the video player is only good for 30-minute animations.

Still, both are simple to use, cheaper than the real thing and durable enough for kids and the young at heart.

They’re a bit of fun as well – as all toys should be.

Considering that Nintendo has sold nearly 54 million Game Boy Advance machines around the world, even a tiny portion of that market is enough to fuel the ambitions of startups trying to add fun new functions to the handheld.

Both attachments fit in the slot for the game cartridge.

Campho, which stands for “camera phone” from Digital Act in Kyoto, the central Japanese city where Nintendo is based, turns the Game Boy Advance into a videophone that works on a regular analog fixed line.

It’s selling in Japan for $170 and is planned for the U.S. market before year’s end.

Campho has a 0.1 megapixel digital camera, and outlets for an analog line, earphone-microphone set and AC adapter. Although less than half the size of the Game Boy, it has a modem and built-in image compression.

When you put the Campho into a Game Boy, an image of your face appears on the screen. Dialing takes a bit longer than a conventional phone.

You have to push the “A” button on the Game Boy to call up a display with digits, then use the Game Boy cursor and the “A” to enter the desired phone number (you can only call someone who has a Game Boy Advance and Campho). Another push on “A” launches the call.

I had to try a couple of times for the link to work. Once it does, the face of your conversation partner pops up as a washed-out, foggy image. Your own image will be in a tiny square on the left-hand corner of your screen.