Next Gameboy backwards compatible with GCN?

I guess it didn't occur to me in the last 2 years that the portable Cube has been discussed and theorized, but I just thought of another significant hitch that I don't believe has been mentioned anywhere else.

Publishers of "new" games would be facing off against a huge back catalog of ultra-cheap games. By 2006 or 2007, all the Cube titles will probably be twenty bucks or less, and even cheaper if "Preowned". Right now all these companies are talking about launching portable titles at $40 or even $50! What hope do they have if their new platformer is forty bucks, and facing off against a value-priced edition of Super Mario Sunshine? The entire situation completely favors companies that can re-issue old games at dirt cheap prices because their development costs have been re-couped. Their only cost is producing new discs, meanwhile people that make new games will have to deal will have to price their products very conservatively. If the portable CubeBoy is meant to pick up a lot of casuals that turned their noses up at GameCube, then it won't matter that the cheap games are "old", because they will not have played them anyway. It is probably a win-win situation for Nintendo since they can either make new stuff or re-issue old titles, but for third parties it might be very dodgy.
 
border said:
I guess it didn't occur to me in the last 2 years that the portable Cube has been discussed and theorized, but I just thought of another significant hitch that I don't believe has been mentioned anywhere else.

Publishers of "new" games would be facing off against a huge back catalog of ultra-cheap games. By 2006 or 2007, all the Cube titles will probably be twenty bucks or less, and even cheaper if "Preowned". Right now all these companies are talking about launching portable titles at $40 or even $50! What hope do they have if their new platformer is forty bucks, and facing off against a value-priced edition of Super Mario Sunshine? The entire situation completely favors companies that can re-issue old games at dirt cheap prices because their development costs have been re-couped. Their only cost is producing new discs, meanwhile people that make new games will have to deal will have to price their products very conservatively. If the portable CubeBoy is meant to pick up a lot of casuals that turned their noses up at GameCube, then it won't matter that the cheap games are "old", because they will not have played them anyway. It is probably a win-win situation for Nintendo since they can either make new stuff or re-issue old titles, but for third parties it might be very dodgy.
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That's true but then again, why do people buy any new PS2 games when there's already a huge selection of Greatest Hits titles?

Most retailers would phase out older titles after a while anyway, I can't remember the last time I saw Eternal Darkness or Pikmin on a store shelf for instance.

I suppose what they could do is give the GC Evo the GCN chipset, but change the format to some kind of card (ala the DS), and then devs could just re-release older software directly.
 
border: Then third parties might try to port stuff to a GBE or the GC and have a go that way. It'd be a cheap solution for them as well to just start pumping out the older stuff.

I can't believe that this thread is based entirely off of something Matt C said- that may never actually happen- yet it's at the 200+ post mark (and I helped. bleh). Then again, it's GAF.
 
wow - 80s flash back

"In sad news today, Freddie Mercury has AIDS"

Thank god he's cured!

.... okay , i admit, my life IS pretty dull.
 
It'd be a total waste of resources. Until battery technology catches up to the demands of optical media, I don't see Nintendo abandoning solid state. Plus 3DM alleviates almost all the traditional problems of solid state media (cost, capacity, lead time, etc) anyway. Also, using the GCN chipset on even a screen the size of PSP's would be a bit of a waste... if Nintendo didn't feel texture correction was really needed for the DS screen I can't see them going overboard like this.

I think the GB Evo might be loosely based on the GameCube's Flipper (similar to how DS uses some tech from N64's RSP) but it'll likely be a new ATi chip combined with a fast ARM CPU solution. GB/GBC/GBA legacy compatibility, single high quality backlit touchscreen, 10-12 hour battery estimations, 80211b wireless and likely 3DM media cards (maybe even a HDD for downloads). Probably a late 2006, early 2007 release (following Revolution).
 
A portable GC is only an incremental improvement over the PSP. That's so stupid and shortsighted, it's kinda insulting to think Nintendo would be that dumb...again. If they're gonna come out with something that'll kill the DS's sales the way the DS just killed the GBA's, then it sure as hell better be a much bigger improvement than the PSP-> GC. Otherwise, why even bother? The DS would fair better than that IMO. This portable GC crap is scuttlebutt that shouldn't even be considered. The GC was a flop. Both the XB and GC have sold less than 20M units, and neither will break 25M. That's a failure IMO, especially considering how big the market currently is (120M users?). The library for the GC is irrelevant already. Think of how completely worthless it will be in another year when the only thing worth speaking about from this gen is the PS2, and the Xbox2 is rolling out with a more interesting lineup than the whole GC library combined?

Don't get me wrong, I think Wind Waker is f'ing incredible, and games like FZero GX and the like deserve some attention. But I have no delusions about why I bought a GC...b/c it was cheap. Had the Xbox been $30 cheaper, I would be talking about Halo2 right now. The GC's library wasn't enough to move hardware with an $80 price advantage. It ain't gonna do shit for yet another handheld being released. The DS is the next Gameboy...let's just accept it for what it clearly is. Nintendo may have fooled their loyal fans, but not the rest of the gaming community. The only way I see a portable GC meaning anything is if Nintendo somehow leverages their 2005 lineup *crickets* and rides the non-Celda Zelda momentum with a TRUE Pokemon game for the Cube. That would be awesome, and would give them a perfect transition game to make it worthwhile to get a GCP. Otherwise, I think this is yet another fanboy dream. Nintendo just fucked up by releasing the DS in its current state. If it was closer to the PSP in performance to begin with, we might not be having this conversation. But I think it's pretty telling that the Nintendo faithful have already started all this defeatist GBA2 talk in earnest before the PSP has even seen a full worldwide release. PEACE.
 
Pimpwerx said:
A portable GC is only an incremental improvement over the PSP. .
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But it would instantly have better games and a much larger library. Isn't that what one wants out of any piece of hardware?
 
Speevy said:
But it would instantly have better games and a much larger library. Isn't that what one wants out of any piece of hardware?
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Better games? You mean the better games no one bought a GC over a PS2 for? Come on...the PSP will have the better library b/c it will have the library people actually chose a PS2 for over a GC. I like my GC, I don't want to play its games on the next Nintendo handheld. At least...it wouldn't interest me that much. What would interest me is if the GC actually had a respectable game library with *gasp* choice....selection....games. The PSP will have GTA and Madden and all that stuff. And won't have problems trying to get the controls to work. I don't think the GC library is a particularly hot selling point. I mean...look what it did for the GC. This is just so silly a notion, it's not worth considering until Nintendo does something worthwhile with the GC. PEACE.
 
I don't exactly understand why a GC portable would be a flop.Is it because of the name?Or maybe the purple color that ring a bell when you hear Gamecube?I don't see why it would be a bad idea to play old GC games when your system is in fact not GC,but just use the chipset and got the GB name on it.Highlight me here.And you could still play Madden,ohh.But not GTA,too bad.

I'll admit that now that the PSP is out,nintendo will need to do more than GC portable if they release in 1-2 years,for sure.But not exactly in a power pov.They need to work more on design and features than graphic if they were to use those chipset.

The chipset are good enough for now and for the near future.Really depends what life cycle Sony are aiming for with the PSP.
 
Hmm.. Its also possible that nintendo is going for a solid state version of the gc discs. I mean 1.5g cards isnt too unlikely in 2 years time.
 
This could work out very well for Nintendo, imo, if it's released in Summer '06 in Japan and Holiday '06 in N/A. Gameboy Evolution would be backwards compatible with GC games (many of the quality GC titles will become "Player's Choice" titles by then for the affordable price of $19.99 or less). *If* Nintendo can engineer a way to provide for good battery life and a nice screen at the same time, then they've got a great shot at keeping their handheld thrown. As someone suggested, this GBE can also be juiced up to be even more powerful and allow for GBE-only games as well. This way, Nintendo will give a boost to its GC and handheld platforms at the same time for developers (wider audience to develop for).

Or, the other option could allow for developers to release one version of a game that works on both platforms, but intelligently detects which platform it's currently being played on and adjusting the rez/layout/camera accordingly. Could be very evolutionary ;)
 
I think its a good idea. If the new Gameboy was far more powerful than gamecube but also far less powerful than revolution developers would have a hard time porting games & engines etc. I would double the RAM in it and maybe increase the graphics chip speed for some future proofing.
 
open_mouth_ said:
This could work out very well for Nintendo, imo, if it's released in Summer '06 in Japan and Holiday '06 in N/A. Gameboy Evolution would be backwards compatible with GC games (many of the quality GC titles will become "Player's Choice" titles by then for the affordable price of $19.99 or less). *If* Nintendo can engineer a way to provide for good battery life and a nice screen at the same time, then they've got a great shot at keeping their handheld thrown. As someone suggested, this GBE can also be juiced up to be even more powerful and allow for GBE-only games as well. This way, Nintendo will give a boost to its GC and handheld platforms at the same time for developers (wider audience to develop for).

Or, the other option could allow for developers to release one version of a game that works on both platforms, but intelligently detects which platform it's currently being played on and adjusting the rez/layout/camera accordingly. Could be very evolutionary ;)
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It's a very nice idea, but even the minidisc's GC uses are quite large for a handheld. I am sure they can come up with a solution though. They need to fit it perfectly so it takes minimum space.
 
IGN Matt got this notion from N-Sider's source on the Revolution & GameBoy Evolution. Thing is though, GB Evolution wasn't said to be backwords compatible with GCN at all.

Let's look at this from a Nintendo perspective. GBA tech. was obviously old, but they released it anyways 'cos the system was cheap, the games didn't cost much to develope and there were room for instant cash money ports. Same thing with Nintendo DS...hardware & software was cheap and the opportunity for easy instant profit N64 ports was there too! So the next system to take advantage of this would be GCN...do you think Nintendo would release a handheld that allowed GCN BC out of the box? I mean, it might be nice...but that's a missed opportunity there to make money off of rehashes. Another thing to think about is if they did do it, by the time they released it GCN would be pretty dead...there's no putting life back into it, it would be like Sega's Nomad almost...developers didn't rush back to Genisis when Nomad came out. Plus what about actual compatibility issues? How would they convert the code for mulitplayer games to work on the next GameBoy using the existing GCN discs? What about peripherals? Connectivity? It just wouldn't be worth it IMO. Plus, what about touch screen stuff (that's the main distinction/advantage when comparing PSP to NDS)...they can't suddenly impliment that in half-assedly on GCN games that wouldn't use it!

Believe me, when the idea came along of a hybrid GCN/GB I went crazy with speculation...but in the end I couldn't see it working 'cos of the reasons I listed above. I *love* the idea of buying ONE game disc that I could play in my home system & portable (ala Turbo Graffix cards). It seems that Nintendo liked the idea too if they started work on a handheld GCN after the original GCN launched. And I think developers would like the idea of selling ONE game to TWO markets (giving it more selling power), but I don't think it could be done in this way, and surely not with existing GCN games.

This is what I think they should do. the next GameBoy should have a HD that games could be downloaded to. NES, SNES, GB, N64, GBC, GBA & GCN game ROM's available to download at in store (iQue-esque) WiFi kiosks or...TADA...at home on your Nintendo Revolution. Developers could even put mini games, a lower res version of the same game, chapters or side quests onto their Revolution disc's that could be downloaded dirrectly to the next GameBoy for play on the go...basically selling ONE game that reaches TWO markets, again, giving it higher selling power. This would be best for the next GameBoy's battery life as well. New GameBoy games could still be released on GOD's, but people would see the better value in using the Revolution to get their GameBoy games (just like they're seeing PC's & MP3 players working in tandum for music). Nintendo is not closed to this way of doing business as making the NDS WiFi compatible, doing the iQue in piracy plagued China and even making their own MPEG/MP3 player for GBA proves. This would be great for handheld business too...handheld gaming is seen as a secondary form of gaming behind console gaming, therefore it's software attach rate will never be as high as consoles...unless...this new way of portable gaming business is done. Downloading a game for a small fee fits portables alot better than physically creating, packaging, distributing, shelving, etc. them would be. The money saved on that physical stuff could bring in higher profits or even make portable games cheaper. Risks would be alot easier to take 'cos you don't have to worry about investing all that time/money/energy into the "old way" of doing it and instead going straight for downloading. Publishers & developers could even track the habits of gamers and what they download and use that as research on what they should make. For instance...if gamers are downloading Punch Out! ROM's non stop, maybe Nintendo would get the idea that they should make a new damned Punch Out! game for Revolution!
 
SantaCruZer said:
It's a very nice idea, but even the minidisc's GC uses are quite large for a handheld. I am sure they can come up with a solution though. They need to fit it perfectly so it takes minimum space.
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Aren't the GC discs the same size as the PSP's UMD discs?
 
I really wish that this is true. Not only will it help Nintendo that much, but it will kick so much ass.

I really find it unbelievable that ten years ago, 3D graphics wrere a dream, now we have them on a handheld with great colour and a huge polygon count. In the next ten years, we are going to look back at all this and say how rubbish all of this is...
 
Nintendo has split its market share after launching the DS. It was a big mistake. I forsee that, besides losing in sales, "wow factor", third party support and popularity to the PSP, the DS will do a favor to Sony cannibalising the remaining profitability of the GBA.

PSP will be the next big thing, it is a fact. Simply put, the Sony console offers everything the maistream audience wants.
 
Won't happen IMO, that would kill software sales.

edit : And the hardware'd be outdated, because it had to compete with a PSP2, which could have upper PS2 graphics.
 
Assuming Nintendo will use Mini-BluRay next gen (matsushita is one of the main bluray groups), they could just use that media instead and still have the gbe backward compatible (some company has made bluray discs that can have a layer of regular DVD on them). You'd get about 5 gigs on single layer with m-BR.
 
Jacobi said:
Won't happen IMO, that would kill software sales.

edit : And the hardware'd be outdated, because it had to compete with a PSP2, which could have upper PS2 graphics.
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Sony aren't in the business of releasing new handhelds every couple of years if their PR men are to be believed. So it wouldn't have a PSP2 to compete with, it'd have a PSP to compete with.

It's entirely possible it would be the quality of a shrunk down Gamecube, I'm just not so sure they could pull off backwards compatability very well. It'd be great for the library, but what about multiplayer games and stuff? If the GBE is in advanced stages of production I hope ATI are involved. I hope we at least hear Nintendo's intention to create one at this years E3...

I don't see why people are so fucking against low end and high end Nintendo handhelds by the way. Especially when the low end one does things no other handheld does to differentiate itself (dual screen, touch screen, built in mic etc) as well as keeping up with modern standards ie. wifi. The DS will likely have applications on it that wouldn't be possible on a next gen Gameboy. Lots of them in fact. Why wouldn't you at least want the option of a new Gameboy? Makes fuck all sense to me.

They put out conservative expectations for the Nintendo DS, and have said time and again that it's part of a third pillar strategy. I think we'll see GBE details within the year. Call me on it if I'm wrong, but I think we will. And in spite of that I think the DS has a lot of potential, and many years of life left in it, and I can't wait to get one.
 
This is grade A bullcrap in my opinion. Every generation someone is saying there will be a portable version of console X that will be able to play the same games (ala Nomad) as the actual console. It's not happening folks, it doesn't make good business sense (money is made on software, or have we all forgotten that). You don't set out to take a hit in software sales during the creation of any games machine, and people gobbling up old $5 GC games to play on their new machine will do exactly that. It's not happening.
 
I'm beginning to think what GB Evo might be is a chipset equal to/slightly more powerful than the GCN, but it won't run discs.

It'll use higher capacity "cards" like the DS does. This will save battery life, hardware costs (no disc drive), and make the unit smaller.

The screen should be 16x9 widescreen, so developers will have to reconfigure their games that aspect ratio (most GCN games right now run at a 4:3 aspect ratio).

But really devs and Nintendo could quickly cross-release their GCN games onto the GB Evo this way (ie: Legend of Zelda Reborn, Resident Evil 4, Madden NFL 2007).

Sony has put Nintendo in a weird position though. They can bring out the GB Evo, but the PSP will have like a 15-month headstart. In that case, the GB Evo better outclass the PSP by a huge margin, even then the PSP would likely have a 10-12 million unit headstart.
 
What if the next GB were forward compatable? Meaning the games could be played on the GC. The system could be less powerful but GC compatable. 1ST & 3RD partys could basically be selling to two userbases for the price of 1!
 
UltimateMarioMan said:
What if the next GB were forward compatable? Meaning the games could be played on the GC. The system could be less powerful but GC compatable. 1ST & 3RD partys could basically be selling to two userbases for the price of 1!
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If its less powerful than the GameCube, I don't see many people keeping their GameCube around in 2006/2007 just to play less graphic intensive games. Also 15-18 months after the PSP, if that's the best Nintendo can do ... ugh.
 
didn't really read the whole thread, but i got the point.

just wanted to mention for reference since i didn't see anyone else say this. anyways, back at the Space World where Gamecube was unveiled, Nintendo said they planned to use (or atleast believed that) Optical Discs as the media for their next GameBoy (or portable system for that matter).
 
Johnny Nighttrain said:
didn't really read the whole thread, but i got the point.

just wanted to mention for reference since i didn't see anyone else say this. anyways, back at the Space World where Gamecube was unveiled, Nintendo said they planned to use (or atleast believed that) Optical Discs as the media for their next GameBoy (or portable system for that matter).
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Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers this.
 
border said:
I guess it didn't occur to me in the last 2 years that the portable Cube has been discussed and theorized, but I just thought of another significant hitch that I don't believe has been mentioned anywhere else.

Publishers of "new" games would be facing off against a huge back catalog of ultra-cheap games. By 2006 or 2007, all the Cube titles will probably be twenty bucks or less, and even cheaper if "Preowned". Right now all these companies are talking about launching portable titles at $40 or even $50! What hope do they have if their new platformer is forty bucks, and facing off against a value-priced edition of Super Mario Sunshine? The entire situation completely favors companies that can re-issue old games at dirt cheap prices because their development costs have been re-couped. Their only cost is producing new discs, meanwhile people that make new games will have to deal will have to price their products very conservatively. If the portable CubeBoy is meant to pick up a lot of casuals that turned their noses up at GameCube, then it won't matter that the cheap games are "old", because they will not have played them anyway. It is probably a win-win situation for Nintendo since they can either make new stuff or re-issue old titles, but for third parties it might be very dodgy.
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That's like saying publishers of PS2 games would be facing competition against a back catalog of PS1 games. Or that GBA publishers would compete with GBC and GB software

Sure some of that goes on at the margin, but that's not where most of the sales are. if i'm a publisher, I'd be more interested in installed base of this unit and my ability to sell software 'in the future' than worry about an existing catalog.

Besides, conventional wisdom would tend to support the idea that having a large catalog of games, be it GC or GBA or both would actually make a platform more viable from a publishing standpoint because those platforms tend to attract more consumers.
 
Anyone ever consider that maybe the Revolution and GB Evolution are one system? Maybe the GB Evolution doubles as a wireless controller for the revolution, that includes a expansion slot for games on the Matrix semiconductor solid state solutions?

It makes some sense that the Revolution is coming in 2006, and the GBA Evo is most likely coming in 2006. Nintendo always talked about consolidation, but what if they weren't just talking about companies and were hinting at their hardware?
 
I just want to say that GBE or whatever MUST...MUST...MUST have a HIGH-QUALITY 16:9 screen! Something like the PSPs screen should be pretty cheap by the time it's supposed to come out, so either match that or exceed it....spec-wise, we're looking at something that's probably guranteed to be GameCube level at the minimum, or a smidgeon above that, so I mean for me personally, a GC minimum is just fine with me as far as rawhorsepower goes(i'm not the sluttiest of graphic whores). Anything above that, hey, great!

WiFi a must, built in mic too...touchscreen is something i wouldn't mind if it stayed the exclusive domain of the DS. Oh, and it would seem that it would have some kind of audio/video output right? Maybe wirelessly to the Revolution.

Bottomline...I don't mind if they go "conservative" spec wise and it's around GC level, but I don't want them to HALF-ASS the screen! Cuz if you do Nintendo...*shakes fist*
 
When you think about it though ...

GameCube system - $100
InterAct Mobile Battery Pack - $35
Sony PSOne LCD Monitor - $50

You can "rig" a portable GameCube for under $200 right now, one a screen that's bigger than the PSP one.

It's not pretty, and battery life is only about 1 1/2 hours, and of course its bulky as hell, but I wouldn't say its entirely out of the question.

The InterAct battery pack is like 2 years old too, there's probably better battery tech availible today.

Price wise though, I think Nintendo could make a portable GC for $199.99 next year and still turn a decent profit off it.
 
soundwave05 said:
When you think about it though ...

GameCube system - $100
InterAct Mobile Battery Pack - $35
Sony PSOne LCD Monitor - $50

You can "rig" a portable GameCube for under $200 right now, one a screen that's bigger than the PSP one.

It's not pretty, and battery life is only about 1 1/2 hours, and of course its bulky as hell, but I wouldn't say its entirely out of the question.

The InterAct battery pack is like 2 years old too, there's probably better battery tech availible today.

Price wise though, I think Nintendo could make a portable GC for $199.99 next year and still turn a decent profit off it.
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I think one problem all you guys are discounting maybe... its a tie/push/pull situation but if GBA evolution is really BC.. who's going to buying games and there will be a lot of confusion in the market because consumers will have to grasp the concept of this BC. Some can be REALLY stupid.

BC also means cheaper budget titles will cannibalise sales of LAUNCH GBA evolution games sales. Who's going to pay $40-50 if they can pay sub $20 for a GC greatest hit. (again... probably already owned by some gamers). All up.. if GBA evo had come out say earlier this gen (instead of DS) it might have worked. I think there's too many inherent problems for Nintendo if its a straight GC disc solution.

NON OF THE GC multiplayer discs will work and some stupid consumers will bitch and sue..etc al... Mario Kart Multiplayer mode will still be there but you won't be able to play it via split screen and there's no code in place to allow network/linked play.

They should do another proprietary format and get the gamers to buy A NEW DISC with the same game... say SUPERMARIOSUNSHINE GBAEVO.. that'd make them more money than a $20 title.

The GAMECUBE/GBA EVOLUTION is a flawed idea ... especially now. They need to develop a new format; maybe using GC as a base but definitely bypassing the Gamecube gamediscs.
 
so all you guys who think BC is a no no, does that mean you never buy new release game boy games now? i mean from what you say there should be some old ones that are cheaper so there is no reason to buy new releases and all. :lol :lol

the ps2 did well because anyone who bought it already had a library of games they could buy for it but people still bought new ps2 games.

same concept is all anyone is saying but for some reason alot of ya are not grasping that.
 
StRaNgE said:
so all you guys who think BC is a no no, does that mean you never buy new release game boy games now? i mean from what you say there should be some old ones that are cheaper so there is no reason to buy new releases and all. :lol :lol

the ps2 did well because anyone who bought it already had a library of games they could buy for it but people still bought new ps2 games.

same concept is all anyone is saying but for some reason alot of ya are not grasping that.
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I bet they are all playing Tetris for GB on GBA SP right now
 
Deku said:
That's like saying publishers of PS2 games would be facing competition against a back catalog of PS1 games. Or that GBA publishers would compete with GBC and GB software
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The thing is that PS2 games looked a lot better than PS1 games and they have features PS1 games don't have. If Nintendo releases a portable GameCube soon, the graphics of the handheld would not be a lot better than GC graphics if at all. So the new games would look and maybe even play the same as the older GameCube games.

Anyway, I just don't see Nintendo bringing a GC portable anytime soon.
 
If DS beats PSP sales-wise, I think the transition to Game Boy Evolution will be MUCH easier. Nintendo needs to focus on marketing the DS properly (so far, I think it has) and making sure that Sony doesn't steal the handheld industry from it.
 
StRaNgE said:
so all you guys who think BC is a no no, does that mean you never buy new release game boy games now? i mean from what you say there should be some old ones that are cheaper so there is no reason to buy new releases and all. :lol :lol
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PS2 is backwards compatible. CubeBoy would just be compatible. I don't buy old PS1 games because they don't look very good -- they're also quite limited in availability. If I'm a casual who skipped the Cube home console, there's no reason for me not to buy old games. They look the same as the new ones, and would cost at least half as much.
 
Why would nintendo release something next year that will eat into DS sales? Guys, does that really make sense? Like it or not, DS was meant to be the next Gameboy. If it makes 1/10 of what nintendo hoped it will completely phase out GBA, and it was meant to fend off PSP. they wouldn't be so stupid as to release a new handheld every damn year. There is no "third-pillar". That was PR bullshit meant to make it seem like they're ready to make whatever you all want, but if PSP isn't successful, there is no reason to make another Gameboy.
 
I know this discussion is dreadfully old and all, but I thought that I may as well add fuel to the fire about the whole battery issue.

My girlfriend's father is a director of an engineering company in Singapore, with very close ties to many Japanese companies. They've created 5 new flashlights over the past few months that don't have any battery whatsoever. Two of those happen to be in their house and I am sitting right next to one.. the way it works is you press the button for a few seconds and it'll give you at least 2-3 mins of bright light. Press it for 1 minute, and there's around 15 mins of light.

Of course this isn't a huge thing or could stabilize a portable handheld that runs discs, but I thought it was worthwhile to say that there are certain things that people are creating that go beyond the battery life discussion,
 
The more I think about it, the more I think the Game Boy Next will be based off the GameCube chipset (redesigned to be smaller/more power efficent by ATi/IBM).

Probably higher capacity DS-like cards. This saves space and battery power.

But they won't use the disc format, so no direct compatibility. However if the chipset is more or less the same (hell, ATi could even tweak it to make it a bit more powerful), it would allow Nintendo and third-parties to quickly port games or engines from the GameCube to the GBN.

Legend of Zelda Reborn or Super Mario 128 could be brought to the Game Boy Next in this scenario easily.
 
Gameboy Evo won't be a portable gamecube. It will be a hybrid of DS tech, and new graphics hardware. one 3" screen (16x9) with touch screen capabilities. 2009 will probably be the time it launches...
 
f_elz said:
Gameboy Evo won't be a portable gamecube. It will be a hybrid of DS tech, and new graphics hardware. one 3" screen (16x9) with touch screen capabilities. 2009 will probably be the time it launches...
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Craig at IGN thinks its possible it could be announced at E3... either way I think it'll be sooner than 2009. Not that I'd mind it coming then.
 
I could see the next GB not having a touch screen or mic, so as to justify the DS. I don't think Nintendo wants to get a bad reputation like Sega got after the 32X.

Backward compatability would be awesome, but yeah, it doesn't really make sense financially. Forward compatability (new GB games playing on the Gamecube) is really what I would want, but unfortunately, it doesn't make alot of sense either. Nintendo wants people to buy the new GB hardware too.
 
The only way they could ever have Gamecube quality graphics without draining the battery is by using a hard drive. Yes highly unlikely, because of pirateability, but the XBOX and PS2 manage to sell systems when mod-chips and HDloader make game copying a cinch. I think if the Evolution had an optical drive docking station IE gamecube or a built in optical drive for reading the game and storing it on a Ipod-size 20/40 gb hd you could stream games at a significantly less hit on the battery. Otherwise N64 graphics are the best you can do.

But you would need a big screen because why bother having all this detail when you can't see it all. I'm thinking at least a 7-10" screen. Otherwise there is no sense in using the original material which is made for 480p on a large screen television. Pikmin on a GBA or PSP size screen would be unplayable. They have made LED projectors that are as small as a keychain that project 27" images as opposed to 100" images but then you would need a wall.

I think Nintendo will make new Evolution discs using the Cube source and changing them slighlty so that it will look good on a 5-7" screen and do not use as much streaming. Although a 5 gig hard drive would really help the Evolution in that department.
 
f_elz said:
Gameboy Evo won't be a portable gamecube. It will be a hybrid of DS tech, and new graphics hardware. one 3" screen (16x9) with touch screen capabilities. 2009 will probably be the time it launches...
Click to expand...

A 3 inch screen wouldn't be that much larger than one of the screens on DS.
 
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