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

Firstly, I like the sound of DoomSpeak over and above its obvious DS link. "Also, make a note of the word 'DoomSpeak'. I like it and I want to use it in conversation more often."

Secondly, the PDA software is, as far as I'm concerned, an admission by Nintendo of the problem they face in going forward with the DS. This just serves to highlight what I, and others, have been thinking about the DS for a while now. That makes my DoomSpeak quite appropriate to this discussion.

I don't think that the DS will just die. It's a great console in it's own right, and I believe that if Ninty don't release a GBA2 then the DS may not capture the market but it will be a success.

Having said that, if a GBA2 is released most publishers, as you said, would rather produce a single version powered by middleware.

Just a thought: how long will it be until games consoles are almost completely standard, in same way that DVD players are standard? For the first time we're heading into a generation where middleware will be the norm for most games from the very start, with most games now being multiplatform.

It's possible, but I don't think it's likely.

Let me explain what I mean.

The DVD market has a standard platform because it is content driven and it has to be.

The PC market has a (semi) standard platform because it is application driven, it doesn't have to be, it could be content driven, but changing the Wintel stranglehold is a large task.

The games industry has no standard platform because it is hardware driven, always has been, maybe always will be. Breaking the stranglehold the platform holders have on the market is a monumental task.

One way to move the games industry to be content driven is to get a consortium together and define a standard hardware platform and make it stick. Historically this is difficult (MSX anybody?) Can you imagine our current "big three" deciding on a standard platform? Neither can I. Can you imagine an outsider coalition defining a standard and beating the big three? Neither can I.

Another way is if Criterion figure out how to make RenderWare support a single disk that runs on all current platforms and EA make all their games use the new format. Given the way the hardware platform companies control the games published for their devices (copy protection, region locking, approval processes, etc), this is also unlikely to happen.

The only other way I can think of at the moment is if we all stop buying consoles and only use PCs. This is very unlikely to happen for reasons of cost, ease of use and "fear" of PCs in the general public. This is also unpalatable to many due to it meaning effectively giving Microsoft the games market as well as the PC market.

The problem with the games market is that it is controlled by the people who make the hardware, they have the final say over what gets published on their platform. They also have the ability to have exclusive content and business plans built around it.

This doesn't mean that games publishers have no power, EA dropping support for a platform would probably kill it. However EA would probably not produce their own hardware either.

In the short term, I can see a reliance on middleware reducing the differences between versions of a title, but I can't see a standard hardware platform and only one version of a game being released.

MSX? Old skool failure.

Threeeee Deeeeee Ooooooh

We're doooooomed!

I'm surprised this debate has lasted this long. Over 80 posts? Ag!

Let's just see what they say, shall we? Iwata loves the machine, so it's not going to just die. Games developers love it too, so it'll have support. Heck, it isn't out in Europe yet and people are already saying it's dead!

The DS is one of the few systems i've ever seen put on display that people actually play on. PS2 cabinets and their competitor counterparts are usually ignored, i find; the DS interests people as they pass, and as such Nintendo has already done what it came to do. Such a machine deserves to live.

"If the next generation platforms are going to create even more gorgeous looking games using further enhanced functionality, and if that next-gen market can still expand the games industry, then I'm afraid that third-parties may not support Nintendo."

Original article

We may be being pessimistic in our predictions for the DS, but Iwata's words on innovative systems are worrying indeed.

i bought the DS the day it was released, hard as hell to find one... went all around town. being a die hard nintendo fan i had no second guesses about buying a DS... fairly well priced, what the hell. im always one to have the 'latest gadget', no matter what the cost, problem is though, im fairly dry in the wallet afterwords. i now hear that nintendo is planning on releasing a GBA2... im gonna want this, juss like im gonna want the PSP... but if it as sum of yu say, DS being the cheaper alternative, that just cant do...

now im wondering, should i abandon ship now, trade in my DS fer sum store credit, while its still worth sumthin, or wait until E3 and see whats goin on, i only fear im gonna only get 30% of what i originally paid for. i dont think i can justify to myself that i bought a gaming system to be used fer just a few months.

i used to divuldge money quite willingly into the pocket books of nintendo, im slightly reluctant, althought mario kart and animal crossing will grab me by the teeth and beg to purchased.

i can only hope i dont have to part with my DS...

more and more it seems people are after power, and not ingenuity, the DS is brilliant, albiet a bit confusing in my mind.

Well I have to agree with Adam and Fluff. You need to give the DS a good first year run before we start claiming it's a failure or gonna be phased out. Sales are strong for DS despite PSP presence.

DS is unique enough that it can do well where other normal consoles (like 32x 3DO) have failed. I see no reason why it should boom if it's gonna possibly replace GBASP eventually. Its possible PDA options count as a bonus if many would not bother buying a PDA specificly. All PDA on the market have more or less dump games anyways, so Nintendo are killling two birds with one stone while not aiming to take over that PDA market. Think of it as raising the bar (to PDA makers) if you will.

Though they have had many chances (who hasnt?) Nintendo deserve a chance to make DS and perhaps GBA2 work.

Yeah!

Well I realise I'm teribly late in replying, but a few of my own thoughts...

I preordered the DS. I didn't just take one look and fall in love to shell out some cash. I took my time, followed the system's development, weighed it against the forthcoming PSP, and in the end felt it was going to be the Next Big Thing™. And I still think it COULD be, that is if Nintendo can stop itsself from cannibalising the system.

Lets take a step back for a minute. I don't know how many remember the original PSP announcement. No not the one everyone's heard from E3. The original. The one that pegged the PSP as the Playstation portal. Yes, a PS1 in your hands. This was the time when the GBA was still youngm and Sony wanted some of the limelight. And Nintendo grinned and all was quiet.

Fastforward a bit. Rumors are flying that the next Nintendo system will be powerful. 3D powerful. N64-ish powerful. Nothing confirmed, just lots of rumors.

And Sony hears it.

Sony, having gotten most of their faulty PS2 hardware reigned in and under control begin to think 'This here PS2 is mighty strong. And kinda small! I wonder...' and the PSP was transuted from the PS1 portable, to the PS2 portable.

It was all very quiet and VERY sneaky.

FastForward to E3, showing the DS. Everyone's intrigued about this ominous 'Brick' that has two screens. You acn use a touchpad to game with. neat!

Sony ups the ante again by boosting it's original Ps2-ish PSP's specs. 8mb of Ram? Pfft. we can do better. Cram 32 in. *Done*. Can't we push more poly's? *Done*...you see the trend. And both PS2-PSP iteration's have their specs available online for reference.

So now Nintendo's been caught with their pants down, playign with their touchpad. They have to face off the weakest, but most successful console of it's generation - against the N64 level DS. Built from technology that lost the previous generation's race.

But to turn back now would be to lose face and admit defeat.

Paints a bit of a grim picture.
And yet I had faith. They packed the DS with voice recognition, Wi-Fi, loads of touchscreen possibilities, and of course - two screens. So Preorder I did. I just find Nintendo games more fun.

What I don't find fun is having my chosen platform aborted before it's own birth.

Living in Canada, i got my hands on the DS in November. And I was pleased. But as I look around and see these clandestined whisperings of a new GameBoy and PDA software for the DS, I can't help but be concerned.

First off - the DS isn't the new gameboy. Yes yes we all know. But it IS a gaming system. Sure lets release some PDA software just because it has a touchpad. But has anyoen considered how much of a sub-par PDA this is going to be? What happens when you close the DS? It goes to sleep. How does a sleeping PDA alert you of a meeting? Or anything else? If picto chat can't do it from sleep mode....well lets just hope that they left that out for a reason. But I think you see my point.

So a new GBA. we knew it was coming. But so soon? Is Nintendo THAT scared of Sony? Granted they may have a reason, but since when has the mobile market bent to the side of greater graphics? Why would Nintendo risk alienating SO many fans? because don't kid yourself, that's what will happen. You can't say that in the face of the next GBA anyone will stay developing for this gimmicky 'third-pillar'. Why code for a touchscreen when you can speed production by coding for standard input? Why make 3 versions of your game when 1 won't sell half as well as they other 2? I really dont' think Nintendo thought this out. If they're that ready to start spitting out new consoles on a whim then I'll end my 20 year affiliation as a Nintendo fan and consumer and stick to my PC. I'll cart my laptop around and play games that way. Heck, I already do that at times.

So if Nintendo has any hope, any common sense, and any sense of loyalty to their fans, they won't spit out the new GBA for some time yet because if they do, they WILL lose. Their fans will be done with them and the lack of certainly that there will be that comes with each Nintendo Purcahse. "Will this system still exist this time next year?"

I hope so.

-V
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Appologies for typos. The typo gnomes have commandeerd my hands.

Nintendo have been planning this for quite a while. When the Cube first launched, they talked not about the power of the system, but how small the components were. Many a warning alarm went off.When Sony announced the PSP, they began speeding up the process. Considering how cheap they can manufacture a GC for, the portable one would cost about £100, with all the features Sony are shouting about. Difference is, they'll be winning the graphics war, and they won't have to use shoddy Memory Sticks.

Monkey Ball on the move. Billy Hatcher. Mario Kart. All waaaaay more suitable for short play while on transport than Metal Gear and Gran Turismo. And that is the Nintendo trump card: they make games (and encourage others to follow suit) that can be played for an age or for 10 minutes. And those Gamecube disks are very small. Hmm...