Acekard 2i Review

[Immortal Game]

I'm wondering if it's compatible with the DS Lite, because that might be why there's still a boot from slot 2 option.

Anyway, nice review. xP

 

[Satangel]

Yes, it is compatible.
Read the review, it's stated in the features list.

 

[UltraMagnus]

summary:
It werks!

 

[Satangel]

summary:
It werks!

Yes, it works, but it's too bad there aren't any DSi games out yet, or DSiWare ....
But still, I'm eager to see the next move of Nintendo.

 

[kallekall]

Nice review. So in short, this is just the normal AceKard 2 working on a DSi... Like we expected.

One thing I noticed:
"- Feels like a rush job, with some recycled and useless (DSi incompatible) options from previous AK models"
That's not true. It can also be used on DS Phat and Lite, so it's not useless at all.

Yeah. I thought the exact same thing.

 

[golden]

I'd like to personally thank the Acekard Team for all their help and for supplying us with a Nintendo DSi and a couple of Acekard 2i's to go with it. They've been very good supporters of GBAtemp! Cheers team!

hey shaun, did you guys get to keep the DSi the acekard team sent you? if so, nice, that's one hell of a "review sample". lol

 

[Satangel]

I'd like to personally thank the Acekard Team for all their help and for supplying us with a Nintendo DSi and a couple of Acekard 2i's to go with it. They've been very good supporters of GBAtemp! Cheers team!

hey shaun, did you guys get to keep the DSi the acekard team sent you? if so, nice, that's one hell of a "review sample". lol

The AceKard team has proven numerous times that they are very generous (or at least with GBAtemp

)
Weren't they the team that gave 50 (!) AceKard 2's to GBAtemp?

 

[Zaiga]

Nice review! The Acekard team is ahead of everyone right now.

 

[RPG Hacker]

It doesn't bring anything new to the table, and even has recycled options from previous Acekard kits such as slot-2 support (completely useless as the DSi does not have a GBA port).

It's not! The Acekard 2i is said to be compaitble with old DS versions as well. Did you test their compatibility by the way?

 

[rikuumi]

very nice review. i think ill buy acekard 2i and DSi!
cant wait for DSi release

 

[JPH]

no mention of AKAIO = you suck, shaun. BRING THE HATE!

lol

good review shaun, which reminds me....

and guys the "couple of review samples" might pop up as prizes for tempmas competitions soon...you never know

 

[shaunj66]

I'd like to personally thank the Acekard Team for all their help and for supplying us with a Nintendo DSi and a couple of Acekard 2i's to go with it. They've been very good supporters of GBAtemp! Cheers team!

hey shaun, did you guys get to keep the DSi the acekard team sent you? if so, nice, that's one hell of a "review sample". lol

The AceKard team has proven numerous times that they are very generous (or at least with GBAtemp

)
Weren't they the team that gave 50 (!) AceKard 2's to GBAtemp?

Yep and yep. They've been very generous. But I don't mind sacrificing a weekend if it means I get to keep the DSi. (Yeh the review took me 2 consecutive days to do)

 

[Curley5959]

Very nice review...

I hope I can win one of the upcoming comps..

The prizes are getting really good now..

 

[JPdensetsu]

I really like the review, I think I'm going to buy me a DSi with the Acekard 2i

Thanks Shaunj66 for the awesome review!

 

[Narin]

Just a heads up about the AceKard 2i.

It has a fully flashable hardware including the boot loader. Meaning that the firmware and boot loader used by the AK2i can be updated by the AceKard team through their AK loader. The problem also arises that its possible to completely brick the AK2i to make it not work on any DS, including the DSi. If you use an incompatible AceKard Loader (Basically any version below the 4.12 release), theres a good chance that it will over write some of the boot loader and cause the AK2i not to boot on the DSi anymore. You'll either have to get a new AK2i or wait until the AceKard team makes an unbricker (If they make one that is) to fix it.

This also means that it may be possible for Nintendo to create a firmware update that checks for flashcarts with flashable hardware and completely erase the boot loader which will brick the flashcart to the point where it won't work on any DS console and no way to unbrick it without specialized hardware. Its also possible for some homebrew to cause damage to the AK2i as well if they overwrite any of the boot loader on purpose or on accident.

At any rate, theres been a few reports of people bricking their AK2is already, a couple by members here on GBAtemp, one of which is the AKAIO developer SmithS. So becareful about using your AK2i and make sure you use only firmware/loaders meant for the AK2i. Though in good news, the AKAIO team is working on an update to the AKAIO loader so it works with no problems on the AK2i as it does on the normal AceKard 2 and RPG. The AceKard team sent them the latest AceKard 2 firmware to help them with this.


Now Information about the DSi:
Currently no flashcard can access the DSi features or run DSi games, access the SD slot, DSiWare, access the cameras, etc. The problem is, the DS is hard coded so that when you place in a normal DS game (Well, non encrypted and digitally signed DSi game) which includes flashcarts, the games run under a DS compatibility mode which will either need a hardware mod or custom firmware to bypass which restricts the DS game to only what is available on a normal DS. This means that normal DS games and flashcarts will not be able to access the new DSi extra features.

Now a custom firmware is currently not possible until some one manages to break the encryption and digital signatures that the Nintendo uses for their firmware, DSiWare and DSi games. The firmware on the Nintendo DS was only protected by hardware which could be easily bypassed by using a paper clip which allows the firmware to be over written. With the DSi, the firmware is updateable via WiFi as well as through DSi games though it is digitally signed and encrypted with a very strong encryption which will not be easy to crack.

 

[lemming]

Hi

Got my DSi on Release day here in Japan and am impatiently awaiting my Acekard 2i from Deal Extreme.

Thanks heaps for the review, and thanks Narin for the clarification on the ability to update the A2i fully.
It makes my investment seem more worthwhile...

Does anyone have information on when the first DSi Ware titles will be released?

 

[Narin]

Hi

Got my DSi on Release day here in Japan and am impatiently awaiting my Acekard 2i from Deal Extreme.

Thanks heaps for the review, and thanks Narin for the clarification on the ability to update the A2i fully.
It makes my investment seem more worthwhile...

Does anyone have information on when the first DSi Ware titles will be released?

The New DS Browser for the DSi is DSiWare.

 

[lemming]

The New DS Browser for the DSi is DSiWare.

Thanks - already downloaded that one though

 

[Szyslak]

Nice review shaun.

I'm really impressed that the AK team managed to preserve backwards compatibility.

Looking forward to the next wave of products/ releases from all manufacturers.

 

[DjoeN]

I Posted a movie on youtube about AK2i on my DSi
A Dutch review will be online the first week of January on "ndss"
(can't do it earlier. you know, busy with getting late pressents for X-mas and NewYear) for the kids and wife and family)



(If you double click on the movie you will go to the youtube page, there you can choose the watch it in better quality)