Visteon looking into multi-use DS and Wii devices

by Candace Savino { Jun 17th 2008 at 4:00PM }

Those of you who like all-in-one devices might be familiar with Visteon's Dockable Entertainment system. Even though we see this as more of a "we like the idea but wouldn't actually buy one" item, this portable player supports Game Boy Advance games, as well as DVDs and music. Therefore, it's the perfect device for people who were looking for a GBA-meets-music-player-meets-DVD-player to keep them (or their children) busy on long drives.

This is all old news and exposition, though. The interesting part is that Visteon told GamerTell in an interview that they hope to come out with two new Dockable Entertainment systems, one featuring the Wii and the other the DS. These plans are nowhere near definite, but the fact that Visteon is looking into them is enough to get us excited. Granted, a portable Wii device that can also play DVDs and CDs is the more appealing of the two, but a DS version isn't too shabby of an idea, either. Of course, the potential pricing on these devices has us nervous, considering that the GBA version cost a cool $1,200 with installation when it came out.

Tags: cd, dockable-entertainment, dvd, mp3, visteon, wii, wma

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Garst @ Jun 17th 2008 10:28PM

I don't see either being too profitable, and actually lose money for Visteon in the case of the Wii version. How can you play a system with a touch screen if it fixed to the roof in front of you? And do you really think it's wise to have people flailing about in a car?

TJF588 @ Jun 18th 2008 7:36AM

Agreed on the touchscreen point, though the biggest problem with it if how to allow them to reach the screen if it's stuck to the top of the vehicle. As for Wii, I'd say "why not just hook a Wii up?", but then I remember that Wiis don't do DVD/CD playback (yet)... do they? Anyway, actually controlling it is just a matter of getting your kids to learn to minimalize their movement instea of playing as intended... which might kill some of the fun for 'em.

This GBA player thing insterests me a bit, though. the Game Boy Player is prog.-scan-capable, but getting that setup nowadays is costly just for playing GBA (or orig., or Color, etc.) without interlace. While it's only for a car... Bah, screw it. It's a novelty for me.