Author Topic: the next gameboy (Read 4786 times)

ActorJ · « **on:** April 14, 2003, 01:07:14 AM »

I know I know, i normally hate these topics too, but I had to make it anyway because a thought occured to me.

Obviously do to the massive success of the SP, Nintendo can be expected to use a similar design with thier next handheld, it only makes sense. Of course, they are not going to want to make it bigger than the GBA SP, and yet, a higher resolution seems like a must, as surely Nintendo realizes that graphics cannot be imporved any unless there are more pixels to work with....

So my best is that Nintendo goes with a screen that is about the same size as the one the GBA uses, but with a higher resolution, that is, one with smaller pixels. (for comparison, the GBA screen has pixels about the same size a 15 inch 1024X768 LCD monitor, perhaps the next GBA with have a screen with pixels the size of a 15" 1600X1200 lcd panel?)

A 300X200 screen that was still the dimensions of the GBAs screen would provide absoloutly incredible sharpness and detail, and next gen Gamboy games would certainly live up to the best playstation games. (talking 2d here, i do not think 3d makes sense on a handheld, not because of powr issues, but becuase of control issues, 3d needs buttons and analog sticks that arent practical on a handheld....)

This however poses a problem where backwards compatabilty is concerned. GBA games would surely be too small to be enjoyable on such a screen, and GB/GBC games would be absoloutly unplayable.

So the question is, does Nintendo forgo backward compatbilty with the next gameboy in order to have a no compromise screen while not increasing system size? Does Nintendo continue (stupidly) to use the same low res screen? Or does Nintendo increase the system size over the GBA SP in order to use larger screen that will still allow GBA and GBC games to display at a reasonable size?

What do you think?

Atma · « **Reply #1 on:** April 14, 2003, 01:28:02 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: ActorJ
So the question is, does Nintendo forgo backward compatbilty with the next gameboy in order to have a no compromise screen while not increasing system size? Does Nintendo continue (stupidly) to use the same low res screen? Or does Nintendo increase the system size over the GBA SP in order to use larger screen that will still allow GBA and GBC games to display at a reasonable size?

What do you think?

d) Nintendo uses a larger screen (and decides to make it use stereo sound instead of mono sound), and previous gb* games are centred on the screen while current releases fit the whole thing.

ActorJ · « **Reply #2 on:** April 14, 2003, 10:31:52 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Atma
Quote
Originally posted by: ActorJ
So the question is, does Nintendo forgo backward compatbilty with the next gameboy in order to have a no compromise screen while not increasing system size? Does Nintendo continue (stupidly) to use the same low res screen? Or does Nintendo increase the system size over the GBA SP in order to use larger screen that will still allow GBA and GBC games to display at a reasonable size?

What do you think?

d) Nintendo uses a larger screen (and decides to make it use stereo sound instead of mono sound), and previous gb* games are centred on the screen while current releases fit the whole thing.

The Gameboy has alwasy been stereo, way baxck to the original brick.

It makes no sense to put two speakers on a handheld, they would not be far enough apart to create a stereo effect anyway. It would BE POINTLESS.

That's what headphones are for.

StRaNgE · « **Reply #3 on:** April 14, 2003, 11:31:01 PM »

If it is not backwards compatible then Nintendo will be taking a huge risk .

ActorJ · « **Reply #4 on:** April 15, 2003, 12:17:45 PM »

I agree not making it backwards compatible would be a huge risk. Peronsally I would be happy if they dropped suport for Gameboy Color though. Stop developers from using that GBC sound chip....

Another concern is that I feel Nintendo has to find a way to radically increase media capacity. How they can do this while still maintaining backward compatabilty I do not know.

hylian sponge · « **Reply #5 on:** April 17, 2003, 03:39:26 PM »

maybe we dont need backward compatibility , it should be time to move on!!!!

ruby_onix · « **Reply #6 on:** April 17, 2003, 05:47:35 PM »

"Another concern is that I feel Nintendo has to find a way to radically increase media capacity. How they can do this while still maintaining backward compatabilty I do not know."

They could make it a fully GameCube-compatible handheld, and then you could just attach the GameBoy Player to it.

That's how it worked with the Nomad and the Sega Power Base converter.

ActorJ · « **Reply #7 on:** April 17, 2003, 05:57:45 PM »

Have you considered how impractical a portable GC would be? Think of how mnay buttons the GC has, and how many of those absoloutly NEED to be ful size analog buttons? Where are you going to put all thos on a handheld? Also consider that the GC's native resolution is 640X480, not at all practical for a handheld screen, scanlines would have to be dropped, whhich would suck, a lot.

No, a portable GC is not the answer. A completley Legacy free handheld from the ground up would be nice, but unlikely.

kennyb27 · « **Reply #8 on:** April 17, 2003, 06:05:58 PM »

Or they could just switch the resolution on the screen for the older games. Thereby, not foregoing backwards compatability and still have the possibility of higher resolution.

ActorJ · « **Reply #9 on:** April 18, 2003, 10:59:01 AM »

you can't switch the resolution of LCD screens, by thier very nature it is impossible as LCD have a fixed number of pixels (unlike your CRT monitor)

You can strech a lower resolution image over ore pixels, but this will result in a blocky image. It may be the bets compromise.

Sir Kero · « **Reply #10 on:** April 18, 2003, 08:36:38 PM »

An organic light emitting polymer display might fix the resolution problem.. takes less power too.
Kodak's getting their first active-matrix OLEP out there, and the price on them may be low enough by the time Nintendo's ready to make another handheld.

ActorJ · « **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2003, 09:59:30 PM »

No, it would make no difference, it still has a set number of pixels. Also OLEDS have other problems, not the least of which is that they are actually ALIVE and therefore eventually die, and far too soon.

The only advantage to OLED is that it doesn't require a light of any kind. But the image quality is the same as a TFT LCD.

Flames_of_chaos · « **Reply #12 on:** April 20, 2003, 06:23:29 PM »

Quote
3d needs buttons and analog sticks that arent practical on a handheld....)

Well 3d is not practical but analog sticks on a portable is practical just looks at a neo geo, those had analog.

ActorJ · « **Reply #13 on:** April 21, 2003, 11:52:50 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Lord_die_seis
Quote
3d needs buttons and analog sticks that arent practical on a handheld....)

Well 3d is not practical but analog sticks on a portable is practical just looks at a neo geo, those had analog.

OF FOR THE LAST TIME!!!!:

The neo geo pocket did not have an analog stick. IT HAD A DIGITAL CLICK STICK.

Otherwise known and a d-pad with a stick on top. Even so, try and fit one of this things on a system with a folding screen...

You also forget, that any unit that has an anlog stick would have to have a d-pad as well, as analog sticks are completely useless for 2d games, figiting games, etc.

Just where are they going to put all these buttons?

EggyToast · « **Reply #14 on:** April 22, 2003, 09:19:00 AM »

They could do a joystick-thing really easily -- just have a thumbpad, like those mousepads. Sure, they're digital, but with enough resolution they'd be basically like analog without the moving parts.

it'd be relatively flat, too. They could also simply have a touchpad (like those controllers for the NES) that senses direction as well as distance from the center.

I don't know if you guys remember, but Nintendo did just invest a lot of money in a company that makes very small, high-capacity storage material. So they're already planning ahead for the GB.

Personally, I'd be more than happy if the GB stays as a 2d platform, due to the reduced screen size and the idea of keeping it portable. I missed 2d games for a long time, and totally skipped last generation as 2d was out and 3d was still pretty sucky. Now we have the GC which is great, and the GBA which is basically an updated, portable SNES.

I just don't see where they're going to go from here. The SNES had a ton of games they could pillage for easy, popular transfers to the GBA, but the N64 doesn't have nearly as many. It would also start to lose its portability appeal -- the cool thing about the GBA is that despite having plenty of longer, SNES style games, they're still easy to play on the go. I'm not sure how massive 3d worlds would transfer over to a "save anywhere" portable system.

ActorJ · « **Reply #15 on:** April 22, 2003, 08:00:04 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: EggyToast
They could do a joystick-thing really easily -- just have a thumbpad, like those mousepads. Sure, they're digital, but with enough resolution they'd be basically like analog without the moving parts.

it'd be relatively flat, too. They could also simply have a touchpad (like those controllers for the NES) that senses direction as well as distance from the center.

I don't know if you guys remember, but Nintendo did just invest a lot of money in a company that makes very small, high-capacity storage material. So they're already planning ahead for the GB.

Personally, I'd be more than happy if the GB stays as a 2d platform, due to the reduced screen size and the idea of keeping it portable. I missed 2d games for a long time, and totally skipped last generation as 2d was out and 3d was still pretty sucky. Now we have the GC which is great, and the GBA which is basically an updated, portable SNES.

I just don't see where they're going to go from here. The SNES had a ton of games they could pillage for easy, popular transfers to the GBA, but the N64 doesn't have nearly as many. It would also start to lose its portability appeal -- the cool thing about the GBA is that despite having plenty of longer, SNES style games, they're still easy to play on the go. I'm not sure how massive 3d worlds would transfer over to a "save anywhere" portable system.

Some very Good thoughts!

I was not aware of Nintendo's investement... Very interesting. I can comepletley relate to skipping the last gen of sucky 3d. that's exactly what I did.

I still want a higher res screen on the gameboy though. 320X240 would be perfect.

EggyToast · « **Reply #16 on:** April 23, 2003, 07:19:47 AM »

They could easily bump up the resolution of the LCD while keeping old games full-screen (or mostly full screen). They'd just have to have some basic software to bump up the resolution without bumping up the quality -- easy! It'd just be a horizontal and vertical line doubler.

ActorJ · « **Reply #17 on:** April 24, 2003, 08:34:18 PM »

the problem is the quality of line "stretching" algorithms varies greatly. Compare older laptop screens when run at a lower than native resolution, to new ones....

aoi tsuki · « **Reply #18 on:** April 25, 2003, 05:18:06 AM »

Quote
It makes no sense to put two speakers on a handheld, they would not be far enough apart to create a stereo effect anyway. It would BE POINTLESS.

That's what headphones are for.

i woulndn't say it's pointless. if they went back with a style similar to the standard GBA, it could be done. i've got an Intec Game Screen, and the width of the screen is similar to the GBA, but with two speakers, which create a good stereo soundfield. The main difference is that the screens speakers aren't limited by low sound output by underpowered speakers. i would say that the mono speaker works better for the small case though.

Rick Powers made a great suggestion on the old board about the addition of Dolby's Virtual Speaker technology, to provide surround sound via headphones. The downsides would be the processor and power consumption, although i wouldn't put it past Sony to create a similar technology specifically for handheld devices like these.

The touchpad idea is definitely a good one, but without separation of the buttons, you lose accuracy. And with a standard D-pad, some of the force exterted by pressing the buttons is absorbed in the rubber contact pad beneath the buttons. With touchpads, all the force is absorbed by that rock hard pad, and that would hurt after even a modest (an hour or so) play session.

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Author Topic: the next gameboy (Read 4786 times)