AM3 release the first details of a new media player for the GameBoy Advance...

Japanese hardware manufacturer AM3 (not to be confused with the former SEGA division) today released the first screens and details on its Smart Media Player for the GameBoy Advance.

Scheduled for a Japanese release in May for 2,800 yen (~£15); the player slots into the GBA cartridge slot and allows video and sound to be played back on the GameBoy Advance. Using 32MB cards and specific codec compression routines, the player can store approximately 24 minutes of video footage and around 5 hours of music.

The player supports a variety of media formats and houses a variety of different features; it’s claimed that you can view pictures from your digital camera on the device, whilst it could be the perfect format for e-books to finally take-off.

We’re hoping that the developers see sense and release this outside of Japan; with a choice of higher storage cards the demand could be huge, perfectly suited to the older audience that Nintendo are targeting with the GBA SP.