Topic: Cool Idea that will Never Happen

[MysticalMatt517]

I recently purchased a GBA-SP, and I absolutely love it! It gets more play than my Xbox or GameCube combined simply because I'm never home and I can keep it with me wherever I go! It's truly a marvel of design. Somehow it just feels comforting to hold it in your palm... I know it sounds weird, but it's true.

Anyway, I've been playing around with some of the GBA-GC connectivity things and I have to admit - some of it's pretty cool. Not worth purchasing a Gameboy for, but definately an added value. It's definately a cool concept. Most notably in Animal Crossing - I think animal island is cool addition (though they could have done more with it) and I love playing the NES games! I think Nintendo may be on to something here... Perhaps they haven't even seen it - but this could pave the road to a much more interesting future for the GameBoy.

Think about this:

What if you could have a "Gameboy Dock" that you attached to your computer through a USB2 port or something. Then, you could log on to a special website and purchase games which would then be automatically downloaded to your Gameboy. Instead of that big cartridge slot N could use that space to hold several hundred megs of solid state memory. What happens when your gameboy gets full? Well, you'd have the games backed up on your hard drive and you could swap them in or out. Most of us only keep a couple of games with us at a time anyway, so as long as you could fit four or five games in the thing you'd be set!

The only concern is Piracy. There would be someone sure to hack the thing then give them out for free. Yet somehow PC games survive - even with mass piracy. For that matter the online music business is exploding with laughable DRM on their files. I think most people find $20 - $30 for a game acceptable. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work if it were handled right.

This would also open up Nintendo to opportunities that currently aren't possible because of the game market. Suddenly under this model - without the cost of making a cartridge and stuff, it becomes logical that Nintendo could sell small, mini games for $5. Yeah, you might beat it in an hour and a half, but how much did you pay for it? Think of flash games like Diamond Mind - you would never see it on a major console because of the current market, but it would be worth paying $5 for. This would open Nintendo up to even more new markets!

Thoughts?

[KDR_11k]

Look up "GP32".

[MysticalMatt517]

That's cool, and kind of what I had in mind, but not quite. I was picturing a professional service like iTunes or something. This is cool, and I love the fact that it would be an awesome console for a homebrew developer to work on, but it's not quite at the scale that i think would get the mass market interested.

I was picturing something like iTunes that you would open up, shop around, and then purchase the games. You could then hook your gameboy up like you would an iPod and transfer the games to it.  

[KDR_11k]

That's exactly how mobile phone games work!
Well, okay, they let you download them from the web by using just the phone, but I don't think that degrades the idea in any way...

[davidlow122]

Have a look at this site:

http://www.pocketnes.org

Sure, you need a piracy device, but you don't have to use it for piracy.

I haven't tried it on a flash card (Can't afford one yet) but it works perfectly on a GBA emulator like Visualboy.

[MysticalMatt517]

That's exactly how mobile phone games work!
Well, okay, they let you download them from the web by using just the phone, but I don't think that degrades the idea in any way...

You're right of course, it's just that mobile phones suck for gaming. (nGage!) To be honest I don't see that changing. Mobile phones are by their nature clumsy, and trying to turn them into game consoles is a very bad idea. The other thing is that data transfer over phone networks is pretty dang slow. It would take hours to get a GBA quality game downloaded! However you're right... It's much the same concept, just into a differen't kind of box.  

[thepoga]

piracy would run rampant if this happened, methinks. thats right... me thinks. cuz i think sucks...

and u can't say that cell phones will never be good for gaming. just because the ngage sucks. a gameboy advance could be a cell phone (theoretically) if u had the antanea and the mic and other parts. but can keep its same shape. it would still be a game console with an added feature. and it doesnt have to use the connectivity either with the gameplay.
however, i dont think that game consoles should have multiple uses like this. it should be purely meant for gaming. but actually i mannaged to make a gameboy cellphone. heres  how: tape the cell phone to the gameboy!

[MysticalMatt517]

Quote
Originally posted by: thepoga

but actually i mannaged to make a gameboy cellphone. heres  how: tape the cell phone to the gameboy!

lol... Duck Tape... The ultimate innovation material ;-].

[Draygaia]

The N64 had that.  In fact the creator should do one for this generation like the last.  I would prefer that the GBA successor used the same memory cards as the console or Panasonic SD cards.

The only phone game I thought was interesting was Neverwinter Nights.  I wouldn't mind the GBA having its own phone but I would only use it for people who do the gaming.  We would talk and game.