Gameboy been the most popular games system franchise for over 13 years selling over 100 million units since 1989 at a average of 1000 units a hour.

On Tuesday this week Nintendo announced the newest addition to this franchise with the release of Gameboy Advance SP, Luckily for us folks at Cube Europe we got the worlds first look and playtest of Gameboy Advance SP in London along with editorial teams from Nintendo Official Magazine, Cube, CVG as well as may other industry people, So here is the verdict on the new Gameboy Advance SP

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One of the most important features of the new Gameboy is that it's an outstanding piece of design, by means of compacting the whole Gameboy Advance in to a lot smaller case about half the size of the original Gameboy Advance. The other important features of the Gameboy Advance SP include its front light system, and rechargeable battery pack.

The lithium ion rechargeable battery pack gives approx 10 hours with the light on and approx 18 with it off. The battery is estimated to last approx 300 charges (about 3 years) with about a 70% loss in performance. Charging the Gameboy Advance SP is really quite simple a specially designed lead plugs into a port next to the link lead and a separate charge light shows were the charging currently is.

The front light system enables the best possible performance from the lighting system by project the light on to the screen directly instead of flooding the case with light. This means you can get the best results in the worst lighting conditions.

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The buttons on the Gameboy Advance SP are slightly smaller than the Gameboy Advance and are also set in a grove so not to damage the screen. The shoulder buttons have been shortened and are still smoothed in to the casing. The light button is towards the top of the bottom section and can easily be knocked on and off. The power button is located on the right hand side with the volume wheel on the bottom being replaced with a slider.

With its slick folding design at only 8cm*8cm wide and 3cm thick, Gameboy Advance SP will probably invade more college lectures, train journeys and other boring events than ever before.

So how does it play? It plays surprising well the demo game Metroid Fusion controlled perfectly the buttons were soft to the touch. And the illuminated screen gave it the best view I have ever seen, As for ergonomic the Gameboy Advance SP Fit's neatly to your fingers like a mobile phone, so those who are good at texting will sure pick up the controls very quickly.

So is it worth getting a Gameboy Advance SP ?

You decide !!!

Kevin