Android Arcade
In Android Arcade, Android Central Senior Editor Android Myrick explores retro gaming, emulation, handhelds, and more each week.
Do you recall the times when you needed to visit a store to grab a game guide because you were stuck? Thankfully, now I can simply Google it! However, I often find myself playing on my handheld devices connected to the internet, and I prefer not to comb through countless links that may or may not offer the information I seek.
Recently, the Anbernic RG557 launched, and its latest update features “Anbernic AI.” This chatbot is designed to assist gamers with answers and translations. After some research, I discovered it’s based on either Deepseek or Alibaba’s Qwen LLMs. While this revelation is a bit unsettling, it sparked my curiosity about creating my own version.
Utilizing tools like Gemini Gems and ChatGPT GPTs, I set out to replicate Anbernic’s capabilities, but with AI chatbots I trust a little more to work seamlessly on handheld devices. Although my attempts didn’t go as planned, I was fortunate enough to discover NotebookLM.
My unsuccessful attempts
Instead of creating a website or app using Gemini, I thought it was an opportune moment to design a Gemini Gem. Introduced last year, Google describes these as “your custom AI experts.”
My initial plan was to develop a Gem that I could interact with using Gemini Live whenever I had questions or needed help. The new screen recording feature seemed perfect, allowing me to simply show Gemini what I was seeing instead of trying to describe it verbally. At least, that was the idea.
Regrettably, as of now, Gems cannot be utilized with Gemini Live; instead, users are limited to the “standard” Gemini experience. Though that’s acceptable, I preferred the idea of a gaming-centric Gemini experience.
Initially, this seemed like the end of my journey, as I successfully launched Gemini on my RG557. However, my curiosity pushed me to explore whether I could achieve similar results with ChatGPT. The app doesn’t work on the RG557 due to it being rooted, despite having a locked bootloader. Currently, I can’t find a workaround for this limitation.
Of course, my next step was to use the ChatGPT app on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. After some exploration, I discovered that OpenAI has a similar feature to Gemini Live that even promised to share lore about the Star Wars universe when I opened KOTOR II.
Unfortunately, just like with Gemini, you cannot utilize the “Live” experience with created GPTs. It would be great if feature parity between Gemini and ChatGPT improved in the future.
NotebookLM to the rescue
Then, another intriguing idea emerged. Google has been enhancing NotebookLM extensively, although it’s a tool I often overlook. I have various projects where NotebookLM could be beneficial, but I was particularly curious about how it would function as a gaming encyclopedia.
There are some constraints with NotebookLM. You can upload only 50 “sources” to one notebook. Thankfully, as a Google One AI Pro subscriber, I’m able to input 300 sources. I emphasize “only” because I’m hoping to gather strategy guides for various retro games.
Clearly, 300 isn’t sufficient, so I took a different approach by creating notebooks based on different game series. I’ll have separate ones for Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, Fallout, and so forth.
Thanks to the gaming community, numerous old Nintendo Power and Prima strategy guides have been preserved. My task was simply to source, download, and upload them into NotebookLM.
However, I faced a challenge since many guides are saved as CBR or CBZ files. These formats are incompatible with NotebookLM, which only accepts PDF, TXT, Markdown, or audio files. Luckily, I discovered that I could convert CBR or CBZ files into PDF format using Calibre, which proves to be faster than any “free” online conversion tool.
With those hurdles cleared, I began uploading files and waiting for the process to complete. You might be surprised at the size of some of these PDF files, and remember, NotebookLM has a 200MB limit per upload.
Before long, I had created a comprehensive resource library for various Super Mario games I had played over the years. Now, whenever I forget how to defeat Bowser, I can quickly open NotebookLM and inquire.
I realize this took a turn from my original objective, but the aim is to showcase that AI tools can be incredibly useful in unexpected ways. While I’m unsure where the idea of assembling these guides originated, I’m genuinely thankful it occurred to me.
Currently, you can’t access this functionality while gaming like you can with Gemini or ChatGPT. However, I can’t help but wonder if such features will be introduced soon. It would be amazing if there was a way to create a Gem or GPT for use with Gemini Live while utilizing NotebookLM as the resource base.
Nevertheless, who knows what innovations lie ahead? Perhaps something will emerge that takes this concept even further, and we just haven’t realized it yet.