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News 
Seeing the Light on the GBA, Internally Lighting the Screen.
- Posted By Andrew
Weatherton, 06.22.2001
Adam Curtis, a 22 year old man determined to somehow light the GBA's screen internally, has been researching new technologies that just might do the job. Adam began with a simple petition for Nintendo, asking them to make a back-lit system available to those interested in it. However, he quickly realized the futality of this method and took matters into his own hands. For the past week he has been learning about, testing, and dreaming of new technologies that could allow for an internal light without changing the GBA's size and without a significant hit to the system's battery life.
Nintendo chose to leave a backlight out of the GBA's design primarily because of the strain it would have on the system's battery life (a backlit screen would take battery life from about 20 hours down to 5 - 10 hours). However, Adam feels that Nintendo was just too lazy and didn't research the idea of frontlighting the system. So far his search has been amazingly successful and he has discovered a few methods that actually might work. He has already shot down the idea of inserting any sort of light filament into the system - this would not be the most efficient means of lighting. Right now he is seriously researching two forms of lighting. One is called an "optical guide," which is still in the development stages. Adam states: "[optical guides have] not been fully developed yet and a simple plane of translucent material is not sufficient. Rather, the device must be intricately carved with tiny prisms constructed to very high precision - we're talking microns."
A wedged polymer plastic "optical guide"
The second technology currently being researched is available right now, Adam has been theorizing the use of 'Monoreflective diode fabrics' to light the GBA's screen. These fabrics are fairly expensive in large amounts, but the GBA's screen is really quite small. Adam says "a 10" by 10" sheet of the material costs above $300. Since the GBA lcd is 1 10/16" by 2 6/16", that sheet could be cut to cover 24 LCD's (6 rows by 4 columns). Hence each cut would be $12.50 - a very modest price indeed." These fabrics are able to emit light in one direction and allow light to pass through the other direction. If something like this could be inserted over the GBA's screen (drawing electricity from the system's batteries) then the screen could, theoretically be lit without the use of an external light.
All of this is extremely exciting, but why would someone be so interested in making an internal light when some great external lights(like the Worm Light) already exist? Because, Adam says:
1). They are bulky and get in the way of portable gaming.
2). They draw just as much power as an internal light would.
3). They produce glare on the protective screen cover that would not result from an internal solution.
4). The light would be spread out more evenly through the screen if lit from the inside.
The only reason I have spent so much time on this issue this last week is the fact that I know how easy some sort of lighting solution is to implement. Nintendo, for God knows what reason, simply didn't care.
Be sure to check out how this project is progressing at Adam's website, creatively addressed Portable Monopoly
-- Andrew Weatherton
Source: Nintendo Monopoly
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