New Gameboy at E3

[bapenguin]

GamesIndustry.biz (http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=8550) has the scoop on Nintendo's E3 plans. Big on handhelds, little on consoles is the theme, with a new version of the GameBoy Advanced to be unveiled as well as the Nintendo DS' online capabilities.The new GBA, however, is categorically not the "GBA2", Nintendo's genuine next-generation handheld console. The system is expected to be an update to the existing GBA hardware, perhaps sporting built-in wireless networking and the Play-Yan adapter for playing downloadable games and videos, both of which have up until now been separate components.

Wireless=Good

[Rone]

...sources close to the company have revealed that no Revolution hardware or specs will be discussed, with the console appearing only as a video of next-gen footage.

Bleah. That sucks. At least there's the new Zelda.

And just how many versions of the GBA do we need?

[Switcher]

Enough to fend off the PSP until the real GB arrives, I suppose. If there will be a new version of it out, it better be good.

[Abednigo]

Nintendo can't afford a mediocre E3 this year. They need to blow us all away.

[Borys]

Nintendo can't afford a mediocre E3 this year. They need to blow us all away.

Everyone is waiting to be blown away by Revolution. No Revolution = nothing happens and pepole are *really* disappointed.

Don't screw this Nintendo.

[Rakael]

Apparently its already screwed.

[if76]

Either the Revolution really is so amazing that the competitors will steal its ideas (as Nintendo claims) or they have nothing to show. I can't think of any other reason they wouldn't show the console at E3

[gravey]

Apparently its already screwed.

What? Still no headphone jack (http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2003-03-24) in the GBA EX?

[Zanzibar]

Nintendo can't afford a mediocre E3 this year. They need to blow us all away.

Agreed. They are on the bubble.

I'm curious how Sony responds to the Xbox 360's media juggernaut.

[Evil Avatar]

I've been waiting for the new GBA, having an updated GBA with the DS screen will be awesome, but I wouldn't hold your breath for the "Revolution" to be anything revolutionary... it will be just another second rate console. If they had something impressive to announce about it, the info would have leaked out by now.

[Rakael]

While I tend to agree with Evil on the Revolution, I will continue to hope that Nintendo does better this generation in the console market. That damned 360 is just insane though. I bet both Sony and Nintendo are both washing down tums with malox after that last "leak".

[farley2k]

Nintendo can't afford a mediocre E3 this year. They need to blow us all away.


Why not? They are in good financial shape, they have a very loyal following, they have a virtual lock on the handheld market.

In many ways they are in the best shape of any of the big players.

True they may not be number one but as long as they turn a profit and investors are happy I don't see any problem that they face.

[Phades]

In many ways they are in the best shape of any of the big players.


Um, no. I'm not saying that Nintendo is a hurtin' company, but that's a bit too much of a stretch. Decreased market share on the console front. New competition on the portable front (their main market). Nintendo may still be financially doing just fine, but they can't rest on their laurels forever. If a new design for the GBA is all Nintendo has up their sleeve, this could possibly be their most boring E3 ever.

[BabyJesus]

Why not? They are in good financial shape, they have a very loyal following, they have a virtual lock on the handheld market.

In many ways they are in the best shape of any of the big players.

True they may not be number one but as long as they turn a profit and investors are happy I don't see any problem that they face.

Mantra of Nintendo apologists.

PSP is one nice machine, lock could be slowly pulled away from them, especially with the turd that is the DS. Console market is already starting to move away from them. Profitable now for sure, but 2 years from now? Maybe not..

[Rakael]

Why not? They are in good financial shape, they have a very loyal following, they have a virtual lock on the handheld market.

In many ways they are in the best shape of any of the big players.

True they may not be number one but as long as they turn a profit and investors are happy I don't see any problem that they face.


Have you been under a rock during the recent release of a handheld that threatens to break Nintendo's hold on the market?

Do the letters PSP ring a bell?

Not saying the PSP will trounce the DS or GBA, just that Nintendo can no longer take comfort in their "lock" of the handheld market. It looks as if they will now have to share it with Sony.

[jwbxx]

Either the Revolution really is so amazing that the competitors will steal its ideas (as Nintendo claims) or they have nothing to show. I can't think of any other reason they wouldn't show the console at E3I'll go with number 2.

[GrinR]

Nintendo hasn't done anything to impress me since the original gameboy. I've bought a lot of their stuff since then, but it's been more of a casual thing, whereas I was there bright and early to get my Xbox and PSP on launch day.

Nintendo had become stagnant a long time ago. The lack of online play for the Gamecube should have made that apparent. As is, they are the 1980's Apple - dead man walking without an influx of innovation.

[netcraazzy]

If I remember correctly, Nintendo didn't say much about it's upcomming gamecube at E3 2001 either. They waited untill the Nintendo Spaceworld expo to give the big details. However, I don't think they do Spaceworld anymore so maybe they are waiting untill the Tokyo Games Show? I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get to hear much about Revolution at E3. Nintendo is historically very tight lipped about upcomming consoles, everybody thought Gamecube was going to be called Starcube up untill the last minute, and since Revolution isn't going to be out untill next year my guess is they are going to keep quiet about most stuff untill then.

[Evil Avatar]

Nintendo hasn't done anything to impress me since the original gameboy.

I was totally disappointed by the Game Boy Advance, and happy when the Game Boy Advance SP was released, but that was really just a "hardware patch" for what was a horribly flawed system. Kudos to Nintendo for fixing the problem, but to even release such a flawed piece of hardware (a screen you can't even see? What were they thinking?) shows a real lack of planning on their part.

I feel really similar about the Nintendo DS, the dual screen "touch screen" thing seems like a huge mistake - it is something no one needs and no developer has yet really put to good use (though I guess the ports of Black & White and Age of Empires will make semi-decent use of it) and now it feels like they are again going to "patch" their broken hardware by announcing a new Game Boy Advance at E3.

They spend more time fixing their mistakes than making good hardware. What will happen when the "Revolution" comes out and developers don't embrace its "revolutionary" controller? Will they have to release another hardware patch a year later?

[automaton]

Evil, you assume that if Nintendo had such great news it would have leaked by now. Nintendo is HUGELY good at keeping information from leaking. I recall being completely caught off guard last year by a new Zelda game and the official specifications of the DS (yeah, Stephen Kent leaked details the morning of the press conference but they kept it secret until the 11th hour). Nintendo always manages to offer up some farily large suprises at their pre-E3 press conference. I would expect nothing different this year.

[Evil Avatar]

Nintendo is HUGELY good at keeping information from leaking. I recall being completely caught off guard last year by a new Zelda game and the official specifications of the DS (yeah, Stephen Kent leaked details the morning of the press conference but they kept it secret until the 11th hour).

The one main feature of the Nintendo DS, the dual screens, was leaked well in advance of the system being released.

They aren't any better at keeping secrets than anyone else, they just have less secrets to release. ;)

[TrackZero]

Bleah. That sucks. At least there's the new Zelda.

And just how many versions of the GBA do we need?

Hell, if anyone wants to release updated versions of a platform, be my guest. Be it the "slim" PS2, the Xbox S-type controller and clear cases (with better DVD drives), or in this case, adding wireless and MP3/Video capability. Why not? It's in any companies best interest to improve their products.

[TrackZero]

Nintendo can't afford a mediocre E3 this year. They need to blow us all away.

That's what people say EVERY year and they continue to make money and make games.

[TrackZero]

I've been waiting for the new GBA, having an updated GBA with the DS screen will be awesome, but I wouldn't hold your breath for the "Revolution" to be anything revolutionary... it will be just another second rate console. If they had something impressive to announce about it, the info would have leaked out by now.

Heh, that's just the kind of quote I'm going to stow away, so if the Revolution does become a success, someone's going to have to eat their words.

Personally I'm not putting my expectations anywhere. Sometimes Nintendo's good, sometimes bad, but don't get your hopes up. I didn't expect anything from the DS, now I love it (yes, aside from "lack of titles"), so sometimes they surprise.

[Rommel]

If they release a new GBA it is game over for the DS. As it is, the machine is in big trouble in my humble opinion. Yesterday I said that making toys instead of games might be Nintendos last chance and was a smart move. If they don't release any worthwhile games for that toy, however, it doesn't matter what they try to do.

[KDups]

Does anyone remember the terrible show MS had at E3 '01? No-name games, poor framerates, awkward controller, mediocre graphics, the Xbox didn't show well at all. Then 6 months later Halo. Then Xbox Live! and some great games. Now here we are, excited about the potential of the Xbox 360.

Conversely, every year (besides E3 '03) Nintendo always seems to show something that excites the crowd. And here we are, Nintendo losing market and mind share year after year.

The point is that E3 really isn't as important as people make it out to be. It's just a really cool show for us gamers:)

[amusedtoe]

Does this really make sense though? Unless Nintendo has thrown in the towel on the DS already why should they be introducing anything into the market that would take away a single sale? If there's a new Gameboy out with a back lit screen, wireless functionality, and whatever else and it sells for $100 why would anyone buy the DS until the game lineups securely turned around? These are the kind of decisions Nintendo keeps making that make absolutely no sense and makes it seem like they have no clue what they're doing anymore. Is it just me or does Nintendo run their buisness the exact same way they did 10 years ago and act like they're the only ones in the market?

Someone please explain to me how this makes good buisness sense please? How can you suceed when your taking market share away from yourself? Can anyone do this for me? I really don't want to think Nintendo's become like that incompetent senile guy we all know.

[WastelandDan]

I've been a Nintendo fan since I first got my grubby hands on an NES back in the early 80s, and I've remained loyal, but this just fucking sucks. I bought a DS and I hate the stupid thing; there are no really good games out for it (the best game for it being a port of a Mario game released in the 90s) and with the new Gameboy coming out and the "GBA2" slated, it's like they're just saying a big "fuck you" to all the people that bought the DS. The online service for the DS had better be freaking unbelievable for me to not trade in this thing for a PSP. I've never owned a Playstation product before but frankly, what I've seen looks fantastic, and so far all Nintendo has released for the DS is a number of mediocre puzzle games and a very limited number of interesting titles, with Metroid, Castlevania and Mario Kart so far in the future that the ship dates keep sliding further and further up.

I want to love you Nintendo, I really do, but stop fucking with me. Deliver some solid content.

[bobbler]

While I tend to agree with Evil on the Revolution, I will continue to hope that Nintendo does better this generation in the console market. That damned 360 is just insane though. I bet both Sony and Nintendo are both washing down tums with malox after that last "leak".

I'd be willing to bet both Nintendo and Sony knew the specs before we did, long before we did =o

I don't think they are all that concerned, honestly. If either one of them is actually concerned they fucked up badly a couple years ago. If anything, I'd bet this generation Xbox2 will be the weakest power wise -- so thats good news at least, all 3 consoles should be monsters (at least xbox2/ps3 will be, who knows what the revolution will end up being).

[mister_slim]

Considering that most of the "developer leaks" have been that PS3 hardware is more powerful than Xbox 360, shouldn't MS be shaking in their boots? Wait, the console market is not just about hardware. This is not a deterministic system, people. The SP is still selling quite well with the PSP and DS in the market. Nintendo can either keep dropping the price or they can bump up the hardware. Having a GBA at $50 doesn't make much sense, so they're building in more features. Seriously, do you people understand how this business works? The "GBA2" will almost certainly stomp the PSP. The PSP2... etc.
I've been waiting for the new GBA, having an updated GBA with the DS screen will be awesome, but I wouldn't hold your breath for the "Revolution" to be anything revolutionary... it will be just another second rate console. If they had something impressive to announce about it, the info would have leaked out by now.What was so second-rate about the GC? Lack of third-parties? Lack of money piled in the box? Your apathy towards Nintendo?

[Kelegacy]

What was so second-rate about the GC? Lack of third-parties? Lack of money piled in the box? Your apathy towards Nintendo?

I think the 3rd party support did hurt the system. i do enjoy Nintendo and defintely will always look back on them with fondness, but for some reason the GC didnt really astound me this round. Not a huge amount of games i guess..that's what hurt it. At least with the N64 we had tons of 3rd parties on the wagon to choose from. Also, they owned Rare back then. Now...well Microsoft bought them and Rare created the worst game and went into the worst slump of their existence. At least Nintendo doesnt run around buying development houses. Nintendo is still a gentleman in a league of lecherous, slimy asshats, IMO. At least compared to the other eels.

Sony hit a homerun this round (again), Microsoft got a ground rule double, and Nintendo got a base-on-balls. Of course, I'm talking about the North American market, because it's MS and Nintendo's roles over in Asia are wholly reversed.

Funny how that happens, eh?

[Furious Wang]

My God, are they really going to try and make us buy a THIRD GBA?

[31 Flavas]

My God, are they really going to try and make us buy a THIRD GBA?Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't realize Nintendo was serious when they said the DS the third pillar? The GBA is not going to be discontinued if thats what you thought was going to happen with the release of the DS.

[KamaItachi]

My God, are they really going to try and make us buy a THIRD GBA?

They're not going to make you do anything. Did they make you buy one before? Put a gun to your head? Kidnap your family?

[amusedtoe]

They're not going to make you do anything. Did they make you buy one before? Put a gun to your head? Kidnap your family?

Yes, yes they did. It was all very Stalin-esque and you'd be surprised to learn the Nintendo execs are all Russians. Go figure.

[Rone]

Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't realize Nintendo was serious when they said the DS the third pillar? The GBA is not going to be discontinued if thats what you thought was going to happen with the release of the DS.

When did he imply that? Like I said back on page one, we don't need yet another GBA. We need something actually new. If Nintendo wants to spend all its time revising and hyping old hardware, they'll get buried by all the new hardware announcements. I'm holding out a faint hope that they'll release some bit of info on the Revolution that'll make it worth waiting for, but it's waning fast.

[Kelegacy]

When did he imply that? Like I said back on page one, we don't need yet another GBA. We need something actually new. If Nintendo wants to spend all its time revising and hyping old hardware, they'll get buried by all the new hardware announcements. I'm holding out a faint hope that they'll release some bit of info on the Revolution that'll make it worth waiting for, but it's waning fast.

I dont want the honing of old hardware (and it is old in gaming industry terms), i want new shit. They should focus wholeheartedly on the DS and the Revolution. Spreading yourself too thin isnt great, and i think maybe this horrid crop of DS games in the past 6 months is an effect of that.

Revolution should be top priority. Putting some new features onto the old GBA shouldnt, nor should it be second or 3rd priority.

[31 Flavas]

I dont want the honing of old hardware (and it is old in gaming industry terms), i want new shit. They should focus wholeheartedly on the DS and the Revolution.Right, just drop the most successful handheld line ever? I'm not talking about just GBA, but GameBoy entirely. You want to drop that as a whole, for DS? You want to drop a product line that makes how many XXX million dollars per year? Uhm.. Yea, right... Ok.... Believe it or not, there are people who still don't own a GBA and that is what these redesigns are targeted at. Why do you think Sony redesigned the PS2, to "get you to buy it again" or so that new customers would have something to consider?

[Captain Alaska]

I think the thing a lot of people are forgetting, is Nintendo could, if they really wanted, say 'Fuck all of you gamers' (being us) and just go target younger audiences. Nintendo must make a fortune every year just from parents buying their systems so their children can have 'kid friendly' games. The PS2 and XBOX simply don't offer that 'household' friendly quality.

For this reason alone, I think it will be a long time before Nintendo bites it. Not that I in any way want them to go this course mind you! I too would love to see some more kick ass games, and really hope their new console is worthwhile.

[Kelegacy]

Right, just drop the most successful handheld line ever? I'm not talking about just GBA, but GameBoy entirely. You want to drop that as a whole, for DS? You want to drop a product line that makes how many XXX million dollars per year? Uhm.. Yea, right... Ok.... Believe it or not, there are people who still don't own a GBA and that is what these redesigns are targeted at. Why do you think Sony redesigned the PS2, to "get you to buy it again" or so that new customers would have something to consider?

Duh, no. Drop it? That'd be stupid. Just STOP making GBA upgrades every couple years and passing it off as something totally new. Heck, in this regard Sony could keep adding small tweaks to their PS2 like a flashing cop light, a cup holder, and a water fountain and make a special release for each one for the next 5 years or more.

The slimline doesnt count. Not only is it cheaper to manufacture, it's a goddamned ingenious space saver. Plus, the successor to the PS2 is coming out next year--where's the proposed successor to the GBA? Nowhere, and instead of doing something about it they like to revamp dated hardware and pass it off as new and improved. Give me Gameboy Ultra or whatever the next is called. Make it backwards compatible to keep GBA fans sated, but c'mon!