Topic: GBA SP Rev. 2 at E3?

[RickPowers]

Revolution to be kept mostly under wraps, but a new GBA comes out of nowhere?

The week before E3 is always hard to manage, as conflicting information about games and hardware comes out, and you don't know quite who to believe.    

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Nintendo will indeed be keeping Revolution mostly under wraps (as has been reported elsewhere), showing only some video footage of next-gen games.  This information conflicts with other reports of Nintendo showing the hardware, releasing some specs, but possibly keeping the controller a secret.    

Further in the report, it's claimed that Nintendo will likely focus the show on portable gaming, with Nintendo unveiling a new revision of the Game Boy Advance SP, which will possibly include the PlayYan and Wireless features in the hardware.    

We'll find out more in exactly one week.

[Mario]

What the hell? I'll choose not to believe this, this would not be good for Nintendo's image of ripping people off who just bought their newest handheld, they need to get everything right the first time damn it.

Unless this is the Portable GameCube!

[Savior]

Theres conflicting info on this... but the GBA SP 2 is the same throughought... I  believe we will se more about the Rev, bt i dislike this GBA SP2 news... The GBA market is as saturated as it can,  adding SD Card comatiblity wont sell more, it will recieve a very negative opinion JMO...  

[RickPowers]

OK, time to put the BS meter to good use. It's getting hard to see in here.

With the MoSys report of a mid-2006 launch for Revolution, I find it difficult to fathom why Nintendo wouldn't divulge as much information this E3 as possible. If they wait until next year, they'll be competing with another imminent console launch (PS3, also scheduled to launch mid-2006), as well as another next-gen console already on the market. The lead time just isn't there ... unless Nintendo has a Spaceworld expo, something they have been reluctant to do in recent years.

For what it's worth, I think that Nintendo doesn't know what it's going to do yet. It would make sense to come prepared to spill everything, but release information based on what they see from the Sony camp.

As for the new GBA, all I can say is WTF? I'm not entirely sure that GI.biz got the info right here ... it seems more likely to me that Nintendo might release a bundle containing the SP hardware and both the PlayYan and Wireless adapters bundled in, rather than another hardware revision for the aging platform. Nothing Nintendo can do with the SP platform is going to spark interest, not at an E3 with major launch announcements. Someone must have gotten a wire crossed, here.

I'm not sure that I can take another week of this.  

[Ian Sane]

I'm hoping Rick's right about it being a bundle or something.  No one with any sort of intelligence would buy a new model GBA now when the DS is right there with backwards compatibility.  If Nintendo thinks they can sell more GBAs they're nuts, which isn't exactly the sort of impression I want to have on an E3 where they should (or perhaps the better word is "must") reveal info regarding the Rev.  No Rev info combined with yet another GBA would somehow manage to leave a worse impression than the infamous 2003 E3 conference where they spent most of their time trying to sell Pac-Man Vs.

"With the MoSys report of a mid-2006 launch for Revolution, I find it difficult to fathom why Nintendo wouldn't divulge as much information this E3 as possible."

This is where intelligent logic clashes with the nagging thought of "what IS Nintendo going to do?"  Not showing off the Rev would be pretty dumb but that doesn't necessarily provide proof that that won't happen.  Several companies, Nintendo included, have done dumb stuff that you would assume they would have clued in on ahead of time but they didn't.

I think it's good though that this sort of stuff is coming out now.  If we went into E3 expecting to see the Rev and got nothing the negative reaction would be pretty severe.  But if we have this feeling that we might not see something and we don't it's not quite as bad.  Plus Nintendo can change their plans based on our current reactions.  We've seen a lot of flip-flop between reports that Nintendo won't show anything and that they will.  I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't planning on showing anything and then saw the largely negative reaction on the internet to the "leaked" report and have been changing their plans based on how we react to certain rumours.  The possible E3 showings have been discussed on various boards.  Nintendo can use this information to figure out what exactly to show.

This week is going to be hell.  It's like waiting for Christmas morning while being aware of a rumour that one of your presents could be a bomb.  So in a week it's either "yeah presents" or BOOM.  

[Savior]

Not only that but theres not really that much First Party GBA Software to look for in 05... most of the titles are third party stuff... it does not make sense

[ShyGuy]

Maybe this will explain what Nintendo meant by calling the DS a third Pillar. Gameboy, aka Pillar numero two, is forging on ahead on it's own path.  A thoroughly saturated PS2 market didn't stop Sony from coming out with the PSTwo. Let's all cry "Oh noes, Sony is teh d00med-ded!"

[Bill Aurion]

If you think Nintendo is done making titles for the GBA you are kidding yourself...

[PaLaDiN]

I'm finding this hard to believe... although PlayYan and Wireless would kind of give Nintendo two different fronts from which to wage war on the PSP.

"If Nintendo thinks they can sell more GBAs they're nuts"

That's where you're wrong. GBA is some serious selling stuff... people seem to eat up new versions like candy, and I have a feeling this version will cost about $100.

Personally, though, I'm not happy about this and I hope it's false.

[Infernal Monkey]

Nintendo should high five with Sega and release a new GBA that can play Game Gear games. Also include a toaster. Medium brown. Also make Alleyway a built in game. And the new GBA should have ring tones, even though it has no other phone functions. Oh, oh. Include that Play-Yarn thing, and a coupon for a free cat. They'd work so well together, Nintendo would be very excited and rub their hands together in Winter.

And it should be 35 cents.  

[jakeOSX]

perhaps they have the info only slighty off... instead of a revision to the SP, maybe Nintendo plans to show of the next gameboy...

granted that is just pure speculation on my part. but i can hope, right?

[jromz03]

*sigh* Why cant they just show the NRev in all it's glory? Or at the very least show us live games. They can hide the controller/console, just it to us Nintendo. Why another gimmick?

Maybe Bill was right...

[Pale]

This is just all together a terrible idea....  The ONLY thing that could make releasing a GBA SP SP worth while is if the wireless was compatible with the DS wireless and it could mean both online play for GBA and multiplayer between GBAs and DSs.  Thats not gonna happen though, concidering the current GBA wireless isn't compatible...

Sigh...

It would definately be good for the GBA but terrible for the DS.  Consumers will be confused on what the better hand held is...

[Nile Boogie]

I believe it more likely that this is a New DS bundle vice a GBAsp2.0. More threatened by the PSP's features is Nintendo, and I don't believe anyone is saying which one should I get "GBAsp or PSP". Sense it would make if the DS was tweaked to combat the multimedia features of the PSP. Now if you think about the recent announcement of the online and wi-fi partnerships, Nintendo based routers and such, a D.ocking S.taion w/usb2.0 would seem more like the way to go. Ahhh, just give me my AC on-line and let me hibernate.

[couchmonkey]

I don't think announcing a new GBA is a bad idea.   What happened to all the people on this forum who were saying DS and PSP were too expensive last year?  A new SP will be $50-$150 cheaper than the DS and the PSP...that's a totally different market from the DS and the PSP.  The top-loading NES and PSOne both came out near or after their successors, if I remember properly, so I don't think it would be a big surprise if Nintendo released a new GBA to try and spark some extra sales.

Also, if Nintendo really believes in the "third pillar" scenario, then keeping the Gameboy Advance alive must be part of its long-term plan.  Now, I've always thought the third pillar plan is iffy, but that doesn't mean Nintendo won't go ahead with it.

As for Revolution, I've been convinced that Nintendo needs to show us something concrete this E3 and that's especially true if recent rumours about a mid-2006 release date are at all accurate.  I don't mind if Nintendo wants to try and keep its "secret", but it's time to start generating some interest in the system.  Give some info on the basic specs and bonus features (i.e. hard drive, movie playback, etc.) and find a way to demonstrate a game or two, hide the revolutionary stuff if you must.  I'm prepared for Nintendo to just show a short reel of trailers, but hopefully that won't be the case.

[Chiphead]

I don't see what's so crazy about a new GBA.  It's no different from when Nintendo redesigned the NES and SNES when they were on their way out, or when Sega made a third Genesis when that was on its way out.   I do think that announcing an entirely new handheld only six months after another handheld was released is suicide.  Either the new Game Boy would tank because everybody who had just bought a DS wouldn't want to shell out even more money for something completely new, or future DS software would bomb and support would drop because it would be all about the new Game Boy.  So another GBA makes perfect sense.

[RickPowers]

"I don't see what's so crazy about a new GBA. It's no different from when Nintendo redesigned the NES and SNES when they were on their way out, or when Sega made a third Genesis when that was on its way out."

It's entirely different, actually.  None of those re-releases/redesigns were done to ADD features, they were done to reduce costs and make them machines cheaper to produce.  It's not out of the realm of possibility that Nintendo could reduce costs and add the new features, I'm just not convinced that it's happening.

[Ian Sane]

"It's no different from when Nintendo redesigned the NES and SNES when they were on their way out."

True but the GBA is a little different.  The DS has backwards compatibility while the SNES and N64 didn't so back then there was still a reason to sell the old system because you had to have it to play the old games.  Plus Nintendo has a negative reputation of ripping people off by releasing slight variations to the Gameboy every few years.  Releasing another GBA would only further that reputation.  It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to buy a Nintendo portable for fear that they'll replace it with something better soon after (all this new Gameboy talk isn't helping sell me a DS).  No one wants or needs a new GBA model so it would just be seen as another attempt to squeeze money out of us.

The multiple GBA models, the small memory cards, the e-Reader, the bongos, the microphone, and connectivity has given Nintendo the image of a company trying to con people into buying gimmicky junk.  Some of that's justified and some of that's unfair but the image is there nonetheless.  They have to lay off all this hardware stuff because it's not helping their already largely negative public image.

[Kamek_X]

You all need to stop being so gullible. Sure its only natural to speculate some truth to this because E3 is just around the corner.  And being so hard up for information causes us to be easy prey, to be devoured by misleading information and rumors. However there is something in the latest Nintendo Power magazine that might interest you. If you look in the second to last page of the magazine, you'll notice that there is something being revealed behind curtains. What it is I cannot tell, but it does look like a machine of some sort. You can only see a partial image and its not enough to determine if its rev or your sp2. Check it out and speculate what that thing could be.

[stevey]

Kamek_x that link but on top there a g in yellow my guest is it saing gameboy cube. gbasp2 bull sh!t the media is stupid i.e. the ds has 2 touch screen n-gage is go to take over ... so there tring to say  gbc (wait gbc wount work ) will have sd card for memery (nintendo sd memery card come out in the us) PlayYan buit in and Wireless features    

[Kamek_X]

Now that I look at it in the bright light I can tell its Links Shield. Oops... Still its hiding something behind that curtain.  

[RickPowers]

It's Link.  That Nintendo Power picture was revealed weeks ago.  Nothing about Revolution in that picture whatsoever.

[joshnickerson]

Meh. Doubtful. Why release another SP unit when they can sell the wireless adaptor and the Play-yan separately and make more money? I think Rick's right, a bundle is probably what's going to be announced.... y'know, for those three people in the world that don't have a GBA yet.