March 13^th, 2002 (12:00am) - The GBA frontlight is now named Afterburner. Preorders begin March 13 at 1pm CST.

The official release date is May 10, however we’re going to start shipping kits as soon as they are put together, so the earlier you get in, the earlier your "release date" is. Kits should start shipping in the first week of May with a strong possibility of shipment beginning in late April.

As you can also see, there are a plethora of new pictures up of our "final Afterburner prototype". Did you notice the strip on the right hand side of the screen is gone now? And don’t forget the drastically improved brightness uniformity. We’ve made unbelievable strides since those last pictures were taken in the fall, and that should be obvious from the pics, (although I’ll never be a good photographer). I may be biased, but in my opinion even these pictures truly do not represent how amazingly clear and colorful the Afterburner looks.

Let me put it this way - I think it looks just as good as my IPAQ 3835, and better than the Game Gear ever was. I find myself watching games more often than playing them... Anyway, even these pictures are of a prototype, so believe it or not the quality of the final product will be even better yet.

People who have been lucky enough to see this kit in person have been absolutely amazed so far - even non-videogame people are astounded by the difference it makes. I am lucky enough to own the best handheld gaming system in existence - at least for the next month and a half.

We’ve got all sorts of things happening here in the next two days. We’ve shot video footage of the kit in action, and are trying to locate a server to host the video (22mb). By Friday we will also have a preliminary manual so you can judge the difficulty of this process for yourself. The FAQ will be undergoing some extensive change as well.

For folks outside of the USA: We won’t be taking preorders from you directly, but we will have a list of companies from which you can buy a kit. Many of these companies are considering preorders themselves. And yes - you will get kits just as early as people within the U.S.

I simply cannot wait until these kits ship and I start to hear the feedback.

Mark my words: after you install the Afterburner you will NEVER look back.

Click To Go To AfterBurner Site Now!