Topic: New Gameboy

[Guitar Smasher]

"Why would I want a blurry weird semi-3D thingy?"

Because it could get better?

[pudu]

I find this to be an interesting topic so I've decided to chime in:

Pro Gamecube Portable:

-devs are already in possesion of the development kits and know how to make games for the system
-GCN games are already small and therefore rather portable
-There is a large library of already available games
-the rev can act as a gameboy player right off the bat and will draw further interest to the new PGC
-any new games can be bought even by those who don't own a PGC
-hardware cost could be low, considering the Cube is already cheap and the components can be supstantially shrunk
-size of disks will be a big step up from past cartarige tech

Con Gamecube Portable:

-the GCN wasn't the biggest of successes and no longer truley fits into Nintendo's new stratagy
-the DS is doing fantastic...
-the GCN disks will require power consumption similar or more so then that of UMD's
-with both old Cubes and new Revs being able to play these games right off the bat many simply won't see a reason to by the device
-the PGC will not offer anything new or different from a GCN
-requires a completey functional Cube-esque controller with all the buttons/sticks...
-disks aren't nearly as durible as carts

I do like the idea of the 3d screen technology mentioned.  Sharps tech allows a crips 3d depth to be added to a lcd screen as long as you are somewhere near the center of the screen (not viewing from side).  This sounds like an innovative idea that I think should be used later on when the prices go down (I think Ian's right and it would really drive up the price).  This would definately fit into the next DS as one of the cool new features to add to the experience.

As far as Nintendo's new direction into innovation and somehow retro gaming at the same time I'm pretty confused what direction they are going to be taking their next portable.  They could simply make a next cart playing gameboy that plays all old gameboy games again with improved graphics...but this would be similar to the PSP yet probably not play media which could put them in a not-so-good situation.  I think with the new popularity of the DS...and the new competition of the PSP they are really doing some hard thinking now as to what the logical next step is.  My guess?  An evolution of the DS with even more new emmersive features.  

[jasonditz]

Actually prices have already dropped significantly on the Sharp 3D screens already. The 15" stand-alone screen was $1500 when it came out a couple years ago, and Sharp's already dropped them to under $400... which also supports my guestimate that it should cost about the same as two plain LCD screens of a given size.

[Pale]

It's called liquidation...

[MaryJane]

hmm the more i think about this the more i think it is plausible, although i'm still leaning towards it not happening. the next gb really isn't due for awhile, by that time who knows how far technology will progress, it could leap and bound in the next 6 months for all we know. so in a couple years who knows what'll happen, bcuz surely we're not talking about the next gb apearing until at least e3 2007, and then maybe coming out 2008 or 2009. imagine if nintendo bitch slapped us all with the new gb this year. i think i'd pee my pants.  

[jasonditz]

this year is definitely the E3 of the Revolution... no way we see anything GB related this year except for a trickle of new titles for the GBA. It's anyone's guess where Nintendo's '07 E3 is going though...

[animecyberrat]

I dont know, Nintendo is so stuck on this 3 pillar stuff they just might make a new GB sooner than that. I seriously doubt it will ever be a protabel GC though, but I can see them maybe using the same disks butit dont have to be compatible with GC games, I mean Playstation and Saturn both used standard CD but they are at all compatible.  

[MaryJane]

Quote
Originally posted by: animecyberrat
I dont know, Nintendo is so stuck on this 3 pillar stuff they just might make a new GB sooner than that. I seriously doubt it will ever be a protabel GC though, but I can see them maybe using the same disks butit dont have to be compatible with GC games, I mean Playstation and Saturn both used standard CD but they are at all compatible.

I believe the difference would be that the GC and PGC would run on the exact same hardware, just of different sizes, while the ps and saturn used completely different kinds of everythings, cpus, gpus, and all that good stuff. it wouldn't make too much sense to just totally cut the opportunity to launch with hundreds of games already developed and (for the most part) loved.  

[jasonditz]

but then you've got the problem of the existing library eating into sales of the new stuff

[lastexit]

The three pillars idea has to factor in here as Nintendo has not brought it up recently.

Power consumption is the big factor but Nintendo seems better than anybody at getting juice out of a battery.  NOTHING i've ever owned can compete with nintendo devices in battery life.  They are the best.  

The screen would be as large as they want the device to be.

The discs can be held in a mini-dvd booklet, you can have 5 at a time in a very small space.  No big deal at all.  The dvd cases stay home.

The controls?  No problem.  Start where the PSP did, with that analog-nubbin thing.  I kind of liked it when I used it.  Nintendo can dramatically improve that and the design's functionality as well.  A portable GC is very possible technically speaking.

As for eating game sales, not a problem.  NEW GAMES WILL BE RELEASED ON THE GC FORMAT.  New games are always better than old games!  

Back to the third pillar...

For years the game boy has played the role of keeping old-school gaming such as 2D alive while the consoles left it behind. With DS and Revo changing control schemes, the new portable can keep old-school gaming (eg, this current generation) alive.  

This device would be a PSP killer.

[IceCold]

Quote
The controls? No problem. Start where the PSP did, with that analog-nubbin thing. I kind of liked it when I used it.

Oh, please no. From the (albeit little) time I used it, it was absolutely horrible. Awful.

[Smash_Brother]

It can't be an optical media format.

Optical media eats battery life like popcorn.

[Louieturkey]

Quote
Originally posted by: lastexit
New games are always better than old games!

Never have I heard such a false statement before.  Goldeneye is still considered by many gamers to be the defacto console FPS and it is close to 10 years old now.  Mario 64 is still the king of 3d platformers and many believe Super Mario Bros 3 is superior to even that game.  

I think you meant to put the word "looking" into your statement.

"New games are always better looking than old games!"

[IceCold]

And in this case they won't even be that much better looking since the GCN has been pushed by many games already. They would be hard pressed to make a game that looks significantly better than, say, Metroid Prime/2.

[wandering]

Quote
This device would be a PSP killer.

Creating a portable that's designed to be a "psp killer" would be like creating a spray that's designed to be a "soap bubble killer". What's the point?

[Smash_Brother]

Agreed.

Killing the PSP would be an act of mercy.

[animecyberrat]

my comparison to PSx and Saturn was simply the media not hardware, what I meant was they could use the GC disks but not nescasarily use the GC hardware/ that way they dont have to desgin the system with GC controls in mind, they can desgin it from the ground up and not haev to worry about the dual analog sticks.  

[MaryJane]

they could always make the sticks fold into the system,  i don't think it would be too hard, you pull up on the stick to unlock it from control status, and it fold neatly into a slot designed for it, also thinking nintendo would utilize the clam shell design the sticks wouldn't have to be tall, and could possibly have little nooks built into the top half of the portable to hold them while folded. I don't think the old games would cut into the sales of new games, all the people who didn't buy a gc until last year (and allowed nintendo to beat out the 360 in terms of sales) i don't think nintendo was too worried about them buying only old games. if you buy a system, no matter what system you want new games for it.  and i don't see why they could update the hardware some, imagine if they used the hardware that they used to show off mp3 at e3. o that would pretty sweet. since it was just beefed up gc hardware, and supposedly (and hopefully) doesn't compare to the capabilities of the rev.  

[jasonditz]

How about this for an idea? Attachable controllers...

I'm picturing something like a GBA SP style design, but with the cartridge slot and screen and the processor all in the top. Then the bottom clips onto it through a port of some sort and has all the controllers. This would allow you to offer analog control that would be easily replaced without replacing the entire unit (for those of us who tend to wear out our analog sticks) and allow for other interesting attachments for certain games (then each Warioware game could come with it's own controller for whatever weird-assed things they want us to do next).

[Artimus]

I'm happy with the DS?

[MaryJane]

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
I'm happy with the DS?

totally unrelated. nintendo is pretty adamant about have 3 pillars.

[Artimus]

Quote
Originally posted by: MaryJane

Quote
Originally posted by: Artimus
I'm happy with the DS?

totally unrelated. nintendo is pretty adamant about have 3 pillars.

Not really. They haven't talked about that since the DS was announced. It was obviously more a safety net than anything...

There is really no need for a new GB, it would only eat into DS sales. The DS is supposedly a different pillar than the GBA, but GBA sales are dead because of the DS (in Japan).

[jasonditz]

There are three reasons as I see it to still have a new GB released somewhere in late 07 or early 08

1. The market seems able to support them. Alternating GB's and DS's every 3-4 years seems perfectly reasonable.

2. Excitement: people like to talk about the new system, and that generates a lot of buzz without advertising. Before the DS/PSP were announced the GBA was the top selling system on the market but all the attention was going towards the consoles. Keeping a new Nintendo handheld system always either having just launched in the past 2 years or about to be launched in the next two years keeps the excitement up.

3. Sony can't do it: Sony's hurting right now... have you seen the news? Their consumer electronics market is declining year over year... they face the very real possibility that their delays and higher than projected costs are going to force them to scale back their console expectations. Their handheld is at best a moderate success in the US, and a very definite also-ran in Japan. There's no way they can afford to trump another new Nintendo handheld in the next couple of years.

[Artimus]

1. Nintendo would not have released the DS when it did had it not been for the PSP. Only by basically ending GBA support did they manage it.
2. I think the DS, now in its second year, selling out this week shows excitement doesn't require a whole new handheld.
3. Sony is hurting...even less reason to spend the money on a new system.

It just makes no sense. As long as the DS is a hit, not terribly out of date, and there is no threat, a new system makes little to no sense. The GameBoy wasn't really replaced until 2001, with only one real update (GBC) to speak of.

[jasonditz]

But they didn't "basically end GBA support"... the GBA had plenty of quality titles in 2005. In 2005 Nintendo was able to develop for 4 systems simultaneously, the GBA, the DS, the Cube, and the Revolution...