"What About the Next Game Boy?"

A recent entry in IGN's mailbag caught my attention and I thought I'd share it because I know others are also thinking it. (a bit lengthy...) It also has some thoughts on the MP2 situation. The last post in the mailbag; I'm sure Msenyszak has a picture for that.

@IGN - http://cube.ign.com/mail

or when that link no longer works...

@IGN - http://cube.ign.com/mail/2005-01-18.html

What About the Next Game Boy?

It seems to me that everyone has forgotten a very important statement by Nintendo. The DS is NOT the next Game Boy. This would lead me to believe they are working on something else, something to go more head to head with the PSP, and something we will see sooner than we might think. Info? Thoughts?

(I know this e-mail should be on the GBA or DS site... sorry)

Matt responds: I think you're right. Nintendo has said on several occasions that the DS is the third pillar to GameCube and Game Boy. There's no doubt in my mind that a true successor to Game Boy is therefore in development. Probably well into development, even. And that makes the DS a bigger enigma.

I just got off the phone with Craig Harris, who runs our DS channel. I asked Craig if Nintendo has slowed development on Game Boy Advance now that DS had arrived, and he said yes, absolutely, that only a handful of GBA games were underway by the company through the end of the year. He added that its DS lineup is far larger. He also noted that many of the developers previously hot on DS have now cut back on games for the platform in favor of working on PSP, but that's another mailbag entirely.

I get the feeling that what Nintendo says and what the company actually does are two different things. It said that the DS was the third pillar, a machine that would complement the GBA. And then it pulls back support on GBA and focuses on DS.

So what happens to DS when the successor to Game Boy finally arrives? My guess is exactly the same thing: in other words, reduced support for the DS in favor of making games for the new Game Boy. DS owners get the shaft. This is not a good strategy. It dilutes Nintendo's market and confuses consumers. And I really think Sony is going to capitalize on it.

The successor to Game Boy could be the best thing ever. But it's not here yet. The DS is. That being the case, I think your point is moot for now, though it may be valid soon enough. Nintendo can take out a full-page ad in USA Today and proclaim in bold lettering that "DS is not competing with PSP." Nobody's going to believe that. Of course it is! They're both portables and they're both likely to sell in the same price range. How are they not competing? Nintendo said the same thing about GameCube, PS2 and Xbox, if you'll recall. Please note that GameCube is today lumped into the same category as the other consoles. It is not its own market. The simple truth is that no matter what Nintendo says on the topic, consumers are going to view DS and PSP as competitors and many of these consumers will likely choose one or the other, not both. As a consumer, I believe that right now PSP is the better machine. If Nintendo hopes to keep its market, it needs to convince buyers like me otherwise. And since the successor to Game Boy Advance is nowhere to be found, at least not yet, that's really not an option.

Nintendo is betting that consumers want innovation over technology. That concept is at the root of DS, although whether or not the device is truly innovative is, as I stated in last week's mailbag, entirely debatable. I'm not buying it. I believe that in a decade where consumers will pay $400 for an iPod, undemonstrated "innovation" takes a backseat to technology that gets the job done correctly. So unless Nintendo shows me why DS is truly innovative, or releases the Game Boy Next, not only do I believe Sony will with PSP be the handheld market leader in four years, but I'll also wager that the portable will redefine the handheld demographic, effectively aging it up and attracting a wider audience. If this turns out to be true, Sony will have done exactly what Nintendo set out to do and grab gamers normally uninterested in videogames. But it will have done it by transforming an existing market and not catering to an unproven new one.

Too easy a target for me to bother, I think...

Nintendo claim that the DS is a third pillar, and it is possible that they can sustain all three markets. As a side point, Sony had better be careful not to let the PSP become overshadowed by any theoretical GBA2...

I don't think Nintendo should release another gameboy for at LEAST 2 years. Don't give DS owners a fuck up the ass Ninty!

msenyszak wrote:
Too easy a target for me to bother, I think...

I TRIED to read a bit of that post... too painful to try past the first "sentence".

Epoch wrote:

Nintendo claim that the DS is a third pillar, and it is possible that they can sustain all three markets.

I'm kinda worried about that. To the general public the DS can still just be seen as the next "Game Boy". The next Game Boy will be the true sucessor, but when the sucessor of the DS is out it will be the next "Game Boy" to them all over again. If the GB Evo. was released next year or even late this year that would surely steal some, if not all, of the DS's thunder.

The only logical thing to do is wait to release the GBEvo with the Revo. That would give it about two years.

I hope they don't try hooking up the new Gameboy to the Revolution. That would suck. I think the DS is here simply to compete with PSP. GBA certainly cannot compete with PSP alone.

Yeah, i kinda agree with the guy. PSP is better in almost every way.

But i dont think ill get ether. All that matters to me is consols. Its were all the best game are made.

Who's going to buy a DS in the knowledge that there's the GBA 2 coming out in 2006? What, so you get just over a year's use before it's replaced. It's not as though the GBA has been out that long really. And to think people are complaining that the PS3 is to replace the PS2 6 years after it's release. As for the whole SP/DS running side by side, I always thought that was BS. They haven't managed to get much original content out on the SP let alone for 2 handhelds.

[ Edited by Ikaruga on 2005/1/20 10:40 ]

I think the whole third pillar crap was to help sell more GBAP's. If at the 2004 E3, Nintendo said, the NDS will be the successor to the Gameboy, GBAP sales would have dropped significantly and caused an early death to the GBAP--pissing offer SP owners and GBA developers. I think the GBAP will slowly fade away in 2005 as the NDS gains more market share. I mean, honestly, there's a freakin' GBA slot on the NDS. People are used to playing older GB games on the GBA and GBC and Nintendo just wanted to follow suit with the NDS to give it some backwards compatibility.

Backwards compatibility is especially important when portable gaming isn't as strong as console gaming.

Considering the DS plays GBA games, I still can't understand why people didn't wait for the DS!? It's not as though the DS is that much more expensive. Might as well have the option of both sets of games imo.

Rivix wrote:
Yeah, i kinda agree with the guy. PSP is better in almost every way.

Japan clearly doesn't think so. The PSP has it's plus side, and the DS has it's plus side, the point of them not being in direct competition is because the PSP is for multimedia purposes, Nintendo is as usual, just doing it for the games.

Although the DS will probably kill off the GBA, there ARE GBA games still coming, not many but there are a few, DYNASTY WARRIOS ADVANCE, I doubt the GBAEvo will be seen soon, given the fact people seem to love the DS over Sony's portable, so I think Nintendo will plug away at it with port after port. And maybe a few new games. Maybe.

I prefur the DS to the PSP personally i think its alot better and theres not many probems with the DS theres just the Dead pixales but Nintendo will repair them for free.

Please don't turn this thread into a PSP vs DS pissing match...

The guy on IGN started it!!

But if Nintendo have been busy with the DS and Revolution, then the GBAEvo can't be near at all. If it was out in 2006 it would make the DS useless, and since the DS has sold so well, they will likely squeeze the life out of the DS.

its going to be a long time before it does come out and a agree with Sharpshot if it comes out soon it will suck the life out the DS

2007 i reckon, just when the PSP hits its peak and middle age-ness

Japan clearly doesn't think so.

But sales figures for Japan don't show the whole picture. The DS may well have sold 1.5m plus, against the PSP's 500,000+, but not only has the DS been on sale longer, Nintendo have been able to ship far more units. Once both machines are available freely without stock restrictions we'll have a far clearer picture of which machine they prefer. So far the PSP has sold out of each new shipment.

The PSP has it's plus side, and the DS has it's plus side, the point of them not being in direct competition is because the PSP is for multimedia purposes, Nintendo is as usual, just doing it for the games.

Haven't Nintendo just released hardware/software that lets you watch movies and play mp3's on the DS though. kinda knocks the whole 'just doing it for the games' into touch. Just that the DS' screen is too small for movies imo. he PSP, a proper 16:9 4" widescreen on the other hand, is far better. Though I can't honestl see people buying UMD's. More likely they'll rip their dvds to pc, to then convert to file suitable for mem stick pro and PSP.

IMO, both are in competition with each other, as both are portable games machines first and foremost. Most people alreay have i-pods for portable music, and surely you'd be better off with a portable dvd player if you don't want to watch movies. Especially when most people already have dvds at home, and portable players are very cheap now, bigger screens etc...

Nintendo tried to claim the GC wasn't in competition with the PS2/XBox because they were more focussed on games than the competiton.....

[ Edited by Ikaruga on 2005/1/20 22:39 ]

Actually I heard that Nintendo would give up all if the DS had not sold. So if the DS had failed... ot would Ninty's swansong, I think our good friend Shigsy said that. Also I havn't heard anything about a new gameboyadvance for almost a year now, usually they talk about the DS.

Superlink wrote:
Actually I heard that Nintendo would give up all if the DS had not sold. So if the DS had failed... ot would Ninty's swansong, I think our good friend Shigsy said that.

Actually, quite the opposite of that entire part.

Hey, i jus wanna say have you seen that video, that TrueShadowLink has with all the smashin of the PSP that made my day thanx man!!! dont u love the Japanese

[ Edited by Nintendo_Maniac on 2005/1/21 12:02 ]

Yep. I've seen the video; I got it off a forum post here. I downloaded the video then just chopped it up some and made it into a GIF; which is the one you see before you.

;

Gotta love them japs.

Hmm, so that Japanese guy bought a PSP? & he started to break it right away? That rocks! God wish I was Japanese sometimes :peace:

It's quite pathetic the legnths some Nintendo fanboys will go to bash the competition. Perhaps they're scared the PSP will do to DS, what the PS1 did to the N64?