Game Boy Advance 2 set to stun E3 – DS to evolve into PDA

I know about the Saturn/32X mistake Sega made but I though this was the last time this kind of thing happened it's very hard to compare home systems to portables. The 32X was an addon that arrived too late in MD life cycle. There is also a big difference between an add on and a completely new all in one system. 32X just pushed MD into the 3D realm when the Saturn was what was really needed. The rest is history and Playstation took the market.

With Nintendo we have the possibility of two handhelds that do different things giving you more choice when you leave the house with gaming in your pocket. Handhelds don't have none of the restrictions that have hampered home systems for so many years, not anymore anyway. With PSP handhelds have more or less reached their graphical peak already and the only thing that would be better is GBA2 based on GC tech.

Now think a few years down the line and it will be a while before these hand helds are replaced because of what they can do graphics and features wise. Having the DS and GBA2 gives Nintendo more gaming options. I bet the rest of the world won't see GBA2 until 2006 anyway, just that it may appear in japan end of this year.

Also heard a rumour that Samsung might be planning a handheld of their own, which if true would really rock the boat once more.

I had predicted this would happen last year. It's a clever strategy, but I think it will work. Release the DS as a stop-gap to the release of the PSP. Then, on the eve of the PSP being launched in North America, drop the bombshell. The new GameBoy will be out later this year. It takes the wind right out of Sony's sails. Many people would be reluctant to jump ship to the PSP if there is a new system that will be backward compatible with your old games and on par graphically with the PSP. If you look historically, the GameBoy is in the exact same position that the PS1 was in coming into the next generation. They had a massive install base and created a new machine that was backward compatible with their new console. Nintendo has this advantage with the GameBoy and they are going to exploit it, just like Sony did back then.

I genuinely think Sony is going to drop the ball on the PSP. They aren't creating the type of games that will be viable on a portable system. There aren't millions of people who bought a GameBoy so they can sit and play it for 5 hours straight. They bought it as something to pick up and play for 15 minutes and then be able to put aside just as easily. Graphics are all well and good, but the handheld market is entirely different then the console one. If they try the exact same strategy they used in consoles they will be bitch slapped back to 1994 by Nintendo. The next round of the console wars isn't going to be pretty and Sony isn't going to be getting any free shots like they did in the last round.

I too saw this coming... when the Gamecube was launched.

At the time, Nintendo were talking about the "significant reductions in sizes" that all the parts had gone through. The first thought through my head was "what, like the advancements that made GBA/SP possible?". Bang. It occured to me that, as long as people didn't mind their games having little protection, they could actually just make the Cube portable. Not even having to change the media means the costs are cut, and people already know how to make the games...

As for the DS thing... companies are genuinely intrigued by the wealth of possibilities it opens. They'll continue to develop for it, as it opens new doors for them. It's like the argument of "why would a company do DS when they can do PSP"... they offer different things. They will develop for them because different markets play on them. They can make money from both, one by porting PS2 style games and the other via the innovative options opened by the touchscreen.

Plus... what if the GBA2 has a PSP data slot? Unlikely, but...

Damn thing double posted, after all that...

Errrr. What else? N64? That's DS remember? Why would they make another handheld with with LESS features but merely the same graphical power. That would make NO sense. They could just as well make those games for the DS. (Remember, there's no LAW against making games for DS with conventional gameplay).

Wrong! The lame guesswork you are reading one other sites may well be a result of them reading Mr McNealy's, ahem, research.

But thenm the other sites are saying something quite different to what we are saying.

Our info comes from an entirely different source. We've never been particularly impresed wiht the prediction made by "GamesIndustry Anal-ists" most of whom never actually pick up or even look at a game in their own time.



If that's a good natured josh, then we'll whistle, and look at our feet coyly.

If it's a serious suggestion that we are anything less than reliable, I'll have to suggest that you indulge in sex with your maternal parental unit.

Ok, lets say that there will be at least 20 games canned, it remains 130 games still out there waiting for lunching.
Oh, I am sorry to tell you that youŽll never see 150 games canceled ever for the DS, so sad for you.

Dude, cut your crying.

Thing is, there are not 150 DS titles available today, there were reputedly 78 in development as of Q3 of last year, so it is likely that there are 150 in development now - but they will not all get released.

Conf wasn't saying that 150-games will get canned. But you can bet that at least 30% of them will once Nintendo offically announce the strategy change for DS.

Well if you're not dissapointed then I'll be surprised, I'm happy with my DS, but I don't see Gamecube quality graphics on anything the size of a GBA SP I'm sorry, I just don't believe it, so if it happens, well then that'll be something unbelievable won't it?

Fine, whatever, you do have some good articles,which is why I pop in from time to time to take potshots.

However if you're saying that Gamespot, Eurogamer and CNN are all wrong and that you're the only one around with an inside at Nintendo, then I obviously need to start paying Spong a little more respect.

That said, I'm only looking for someone to make sense of the sh*tstorm of subjectivity that is the internet and I can't wait for May when "All will be revealed" (at least until the next round of hardware).They really do have us and our wallets by the balls don't they? who needs crack when you've got video games.

P.S

I'm an orphan and last time I checked I wasn't into Incestious Necrophelia. But thanks for the suggestion anyway.

Ok, working with your numbers:
30% will be 45 games from the 150, so we still have 105 games to be launched, for me Its a HUGE amount of games waiting for us.
jeje

Spong has always seemed to give out authentic information. There seems to be absolutely no hestitation in what this report, so I believe them very much so...

But if e3 comes and goes without any word of this new GameBoy, I'll have to stop coming here. o_O

Having bashed GI for publishing incorrect information, one would hope SPoNG would not follow it's lead. Interestingly, GI claim to have industrial sources inside Nintendo that rubbish SPoNG's report. Tit for tat.

As you state, all will be revealed at E3. SPoNG, having not presented this as a rumour, obviously have considerable confidence in their article. I think a lot of regulars would be disappointed if SPoNG did begin publishing rumour as fact.

Having not read the source article, but from the reports I've read and analyst's reputation, I would say that his report is fundamentally flawed in terms that it places heavy reliance on a 2 year release pattern in recent years. OK, so he's managed to pick out the timing of extension strategies for an existing product before a new one was released. Now that a new one has come along, especially with the backwards compatibility, one would expect the GBA to begin to decline. (Having said that, remember the 1998 smaller American Super NES?)

wow this story really has stirred up some opinions!



Can anyone say "MEGATON"?

Spong was really shouting about that but it was a few years ago now so I don't think it's really fair to keep beating them when it. Appart from the "rumor has it" stories I have to say that I can't think of a single recent story that hasn't turned out to be true.

Wow, it's a little warm in here...

Ok, there seem to be two main themes being discussed here:

1) SPOnG's reliability and accuracy as a news source

I've only been a SPOnG regular for about six months, but I have noticed their caution when relaying the latest Internet rumour. This awareness of the minefield of b******s that does the rounds, and their proactive approach to confirming/countering these claims by calling the relevant PR department is reassuring.

In this case, if the source turns out reliable, then kudos to SPOnG. If not, then no doubt they'll have to review their insider roster. No matter what, I don't trust 100% ANY exclusive until it's officially announced.

In the mean time, it's a good laugh discussing all the possibilities.

2) If it is true: How does this reflect on Nintendo, and what is the future of DS

A lot of Nintendo advocates have come forward and made their defence of both Ninty and DS. But I can't help but feel these people are being over optimistic. I can understand this, whether because they've loved Ninty for a long while, and/or they've recently bought a DS and cannot accept the possibility of DS going down the pan because of this.

I've said this before, but I feel I need to state it again. If the GBA2 comes out early 2006 I believe 3rd party developers will drop the DS, and the release schedule will become barren. You'll get a few quality games in the mean time, but I'd be seriously pissed off at Nintendo if I'd forked out my hard earned (pff) cash for a device I'd expect them to treat seriously.

I'm not anti-Ninty or anything, far from it. But I see this as Nintendo taking their consumers for granted.