GBAtemp's acekard 2 Review

[golden]

For me they could close source of acekard rpg and bliss normatt and smith could only make a custom firmware for it, everyone would be happy, and all acekards would have the same new cool features at one time.

Hmm, so you are also suggesting closed source for the AKRPG. What's up with this.... I guess it's just me that like the RPG's open source. wow.....

 

[gratefulbuddy]

For me they could close source of acekard rpg and bliss normatt and smith could only make a custom firmware for it, everyone would be happy, and all acekards would have the same new cool features at one time.

Hmm, so you are also suggesting closed source for the AKRPG. What's up with this.... I guess it's just me that like the RPG's open source. wow.....

You're not the only one. I think its great having options. And the good folks already mentioned (and moogle too) have been churning them out for the RPG. Choice is a beautiful thing.

 

[azotyp]

I didnt mentioned that open source is bad, but acekard 2 is closed source propably because in future it may have some options that acekard team dont want to share with other competitors. Eaven if they would closed source of both acekards they would open it for vips like smith/normat/bliss so that vips would make wonderfull things with it and everybody would be happy. As for me open or closed source it is no matter, because I dont make customized stuff for any flashcarts, just taking goodies out of it

.

 

[Urza]

Keep in mind that one reason I'm sure they decided to release the source for the RPG is because of the unique hardware. Clones are abundant (as you've seen with the EDGE/N5/E7/etc), and releasing the source code is essentially saying "heres what you need to pirate this cart!". The RPG got away with being open source because its hardware is quite difficult to duplicate, but the ak2 has a much more standard design.

I'm not surprised in the least that its closed source, or that it will probably remain closed source officially.

 

[bollocks]

Apparently DX will be selling them for $31 which is a FAR more reasonable price than the c. $40 @ bamboogaming for what this cart is. Unfortunately they seem to be sold out already. (It seems like every new cart that they get is sold out immediately.)

hopebuy has it for $30.90, they don't do free shipping though... suppose it depends if you're willing to pay shipping rather than wait for DX to get it back in stock.

 

[dsrules]

One thing they didn't mention is that, like some other slot1 cards, certain AR Type cheats doesn't work on the acekard2 also. I would like to buy a card that supports all AR Type cheats.

 

[cutterjohn]

The only thing that they could do to push this over the top would be to discontinue the RPG, and open source the AK2's firmware. I'm already thinking about picking up one of these over the Edge cart, and would up my purchase to the next couple of months if the open sourced the firmware for this cart as well, otherwise I'll wait until around the end of the year or until one of my other carts dies randomly before then.

That has got to be the most illogical thing you have posted cutterjohn. Why would they discontinue the RPG when it is doing so well not to mention many people have bought it that expect good support. If the RPG turns into a DSX then acekard will probably go out of business. And just so you know, the AK2 isn't OFFICIALLY open source but it will have all the open source releases that the RPG gets so it technically still gets all the goodies of open source.

Hardly illogical, but I guess to Acekard's #1 fanboy it's a little hard to absorb. When a flash cart company says something like sales of X were disappointing/low/etc. what they really mean was that they were disastrous, especially in this case. Look at how many e-tailer bothered to pick it up: 2 or 3. meanwhile cheap carts like DSTT come up and popup all over the place within a matter of weeks of release.

Next point, since it's a given that the RPG is just not selling, why bother to keep trying to push. Discontinuing would be MUCH simpler, and for those of us whose only interest in the RPG was open-source, but found c. $70 (or more) from the few sellers of it to be WAY OVER the top for a flash cart, which until recently, really wasn't a very good cart. Featurewise compared to SCDS1 and Evolution it still isn't a good cart and does absolutely nothing to justify a c. $70 price tag, or $100+ price tag if it were to be sold by some US vendors (inferred from some comments made on various vendor sites, when they also mention AK2).

Lastly, I STRONGLY doubt that the AK2 will get ANY of the better features that MAY or may NOT come out for the RPG. Why? If Acekard wishes to continue hawking the RPG they're go to NEED to do something that differentiates it from the cheaper AK2 -> AK2 features WILL be limited by necessity as long as AK tries to sell the RPG. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the RPG goes away after their current inventory is sold off, as the reasoning behind the AK2 as presented by AK makes it sound like the RPG was a boat anchor around their neck since the carts weren't moving, and justifiably so.

IOW it sounds to me from everything that I've heard:
1. RPG was a dud, and probably costing Acekard since stock wasn't moving
2. Acekard 2 was slapped together and put out, while not initially featuring all of the RPG "shell" features, probably to keep the RPG selling ATM
3. AK decided not to open source the AK2 "shell", primarily I believe of #2. Just have to differentiate the two current slot-1 carts, but I really believe that the RPG is dead once current stock is gone, and would tend to believe that the "shell" of the AK2 will be open sourced at that point.
4. It's hardly likely that the RPG will be DSXed as you put it, simply because it seems that the RPG and AK2 firmware MUST be very close. The RPG "shell" is already open sourced, and IF AK opensourced the AK2 firmware after discontinuing the RPG it would be relatively simple(potentially) for people to keep the RPG tree in sync with the AK2 tree. Even if AK were to NOT open source the AK2 firmware it still would be possible for third parties to continue working on the "shell" on their own.
5. Even if 4 didn't work, well you backed a losing horse and acted like the prototypical fanboy even BEFORE you ordered the overpriced thing, which I know from personal experience, after all it wasn't that long ago when your answer to, literally, EVERYTHING was "buy an Acekard RPG".

 

[azotyp]

I think that acekard 2 is big competition to stuff like dstt look on dealextreme it was sold out in first hours of arrival because of very low price comparing to rpg

But RPG is just a flashcart I wont cry if they will cut the firmware support , as long as it play games I dont care about support very much

(maybe a little cose I regulary upgrade that merged love firmware because I'm always eager about new features

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[4playgaming]

I think that acekard 2 is big competition to stuff like dstt look on dealextreme it was sold out in first hours of arrival because of very low price comparing to rpg

But this is just a flashcart I wont cry if they will cut the firmware support , as long as it play games I dont care about support very much

(maybe a little cose I regulary upgrade that merged love firmware because I'm always eager about new features

.

Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC). Hence, it's a valid step to judge the quality of a card by the progressive and frequency of it's support. No purchase should undermine this fact.

 

[Urza]

Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC).

Hardly a valid point, as almost every anti-piracy method put into place is cracked by the developers in the community before the flashcart teams release their own fixes.

 

[Destructobot]

It's no wonder that DX is always almost immediately sold out: that a$$ emvee is hoarding them to unload them at ridiculous prices! So unfair. He often posts at the DX forums by the way as "emvee1".

He's a member here, too. He goes by the username qwertyasdf, and all he does is advertize his store. I don't know why he hasn't been banned yet.

 

[Urza]

It's no wonder that DX is always almost immediately sold out: that a$$ emvee is hoarding them to unload them at ridiculous prices! So unfair. He often posts at the DX forums by the way as "emvee1".

He's a member here, too. He goes by the username qwertyasdf, and all he does is advertize his store. I don't know why he hasn't been banned yet.

He's been on suspension for about two weeks now.

I'll recommend him for a ban.

 

[4playgaming]

Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC).

Hardly a valid point, as almost every anti-piracy method put into place is cracked by the developers in the community before the flashcart teams release their own fixes.

Are you kidding me? Support not being a valid point? That just baffles me. Are you saying that flash cartridges and their game fixes are completely pointless? That all the owners of said flash cartridges don't care if a fix is to be made?

 

[Urza]

Support is absolutely vital to the existence of a card during this day and age. It's clear Nintendo is finding ways to circumvent the playing or dumping of roms, so extensive support is a big plus and an absolute necessity feature wise, as there is no promise that future games will prove to be 100% compatible (e.g., FF:CC).

Hardly a valid point, as almost every anti-piracy method put into place is cracked by the developers in the community before the flashcart teams release their own fixes.

Are you kidding me? Support not being a valid point? That just baffles me. Are you saying that flash cartridges and their game fixes are completely pointless? That all the owners of said flash cartridges don't care if a fix is to be made?

Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.

 

[nightwalker]

It's no wonder that DX is always almost immediately sold out: that a$$ emvee is hoarding them to unload them at ridiculous prices! So unfair. He often posts at the DX forums by the way as "emvee1".

He's a member here, too. He goes by the username qwertyasdf, and all he does is advertize his store. I don't know why he hasn't been banned yet.

He's been on suspension for about two weeks now.

I'll recommend him for a ban.

he also advertises on a few other boards under the exact same username too...i hope he gets banned everywhere and ends up eating those acekard

 

[Bri]

I just hope dealextreme gets a HUGE shipment in and sells them at their usual price and he's stuck with hundreds of dollars of inventory that he can't get rid of.

-Bri

 

[c2ironfist]

Not sure if this has been asked but how does the card compare to the CycloDS Evo? :-)

 

[Awdofgum]

The Interface is awesome, if i didn't have a flashcart already, id totally get this.

 

[golden]

I can see where you are coming from cutterjohn but they would never open source the AK2 as the only reason I can see to keep the source closed from the very beginning is if they want to implement some exclusive features for the AK2 and don't want it to be easily pirated as Urza said before. Discontinuing the RPG doesn't seem like something that's going to happen since I saw DSXGoru post a month or two ago that DSX's are still being shipped.

And yes, if you ever want to complete your life, all you have to do is buy an RPG.

 

[4playgaming]

Of course not, but something thats "a valid point" is not the same as "absolutely vital to the existence of a card". If a couple games require third party patches, I know I don't consider it a big deal if the cart is still superior in other respects.

That would be dependent on the game and would go back to the point of support being vital. If Nintendo branded games suddenly had a method of circumventing the use of playing the games on a flash cartridge and the negligence of a team to not determine or fix the issue in due time, this pretty much makes the use of said flash cartridge negligent for a large majority of players whom would play these games. I think the review on the Acekard 2 was great, but I think you're undermining the validity of future support. I wouldn't solely put this ideology to strictly flash cartridges but more so to any product I buy. Future support, driver compatibility, etc. is a vital part to the usability of a product.. If it doesn't have dedicated support, what good is the hardware or features if you can't even use it for its intended purpose? Hence, support is quite important.