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Remember the first artist’s impressions of the GameBoy Advance?
The screen had pictures of Mario 64 on it. How long will it be before we get games like Mario 64 onto a reasonably sized handheld games console?
Down the years there simply hasn’t been enough decent competition to give the handheld market the major push it needs.
The GameBoy has always been the best seller, even when faced against more powerful handhelds like the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and the Neo Geo Pocket. (Not forgetting the easily forgettable SuperVision!) Eventually, all these consoles died off due to being more expensive than the GameBoy and the lack of any decent software and large battery consumption.
Nintendo have the entire handheld market to themselves, but for how long?
Where will the competition come from?
Rumours have been flying around the games industry for many years now that Sony have been developing a handheld, and I’m willing to bet that if the Microsoft XBOX is a success, then they will look into the possibilities of entering the handheld market.
Not forgetting Nintendo of course, they’re busy in their R & D departments right now....
How powerful could these handhelds be?
The original GameBoy Color/Colour was the equivalent of the NES, the current crop of GameBoy Advance games are SNES standard or slightly better, could the next step be PSOne style games?
GameBoy Advance carts are tiny, so could carts twice the size mean games become bigger and better?
Or maybe disks could be used, but how durable are they?
Could we have portable cd player size consoles that fit in your pocket, connected by a wire to the handheld screen and buttons? (Like a new portable dvd player that is coming out soon.)
How big would the screen need to be to fully enjoy a game, and what is the ideal size for a handheld? It can’t be too big or it would go against the gaming in your pocket ethos.
Backlit screens are a necessity, seeing how much flak Nintendo has had because of the GBA’s slightly dark screen, but this might greatly affect the all important battery life.
More buttons, and maybe an analogue stick for more sophisticated games would be useful, because I still feel that some GBA games suffer as a result of not having enough buttons.
The GameCube is so small it could almost be considered a handheld, so if a handheld was half the size of the GC could it, in theory, produce N64 style games or better?
What are other people’s opinions on where the handheld games market is going?
The screen had pictures of Mario 64 on it. How long will it be before we get games like Mario 64 onto a reasonably sized handheld games console?
Down the years there simply hasn’t been enough decent competition to give the handheld market the major push it needs.
The GameBoy has always been the best seller, even when faced against more powerful handhelds like the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and the Neo Geo Pocket. (Not forgetting the easily forgettable SuperVision!) Eventually, all these consoles died off due to being more expensive than the GameBoy and the lack of any decent software and large battery consumption.
Nintendo have the entire handheld market to themselves, but for how long?
Where will the competition come from?
Rumours have been flying around the games industry for many years now that Sony have been developing a handheld, and I’m willing to bet that if the Microsoft XBOX is a success, then they will look into the possibilities of entering the handheld market.
Not forgetting Nintendo of course, they’re busy in their R & D departments right now....
How powerful could these handhelds be?
The original GameBoy Color/Colour was the equivalent of the NES, the current crop of GameBoy Advance games are SNES standard or slightly better, could the next step be PSOne style games?
GameBoy Advance carts are tiny, so could carts twice the size mean games become bigger and better?
Or maybe disks could be used, but how durable are they?
Could we have portable cd player size consoles that fit in your pocket, connected by a wire to the handheld screen and buttons? (Like a new portable dvd player that is coming out soon.)
How big would the screen need to be to fully enjoy a game, and what is the ideal size for a handheld? It can’t be too big or it would go against the gaming in your pocket ethos.
Backlit screens are a necessity, seeing how much flak Nintendo has had because of the GBA’s slightly dark screen, but this might greatly affect the all important battery life.
More buttons, and maybe an analogue stick for more sophisticated games would be useful, because I still feel that some GBA games suffer as a result of not having enough buttons.
The GameCube is so small it could almost be considered a handheld, so if a handheld was half the size of the GC could it, in theory, produce N64 style games or better?
What are other people’s opinions on where the handheld games market is going?
Sméagol wrote:
> Apart from rather warm laser-radiated hands, people
> dont want to spend day after day all their money on
> batteries( Think Gamegear).
Good point, but I do have a portable MD player / recorder with a battery in it that lasts about 16 hours or soemthing, then you just recharge it. If you have 2 batteries and keep one on standby charged up, happy days innit?
> It'll happen one day, but now isn't the right time.
Yeah, Sony and Nokia have to wait for GBA fever to subside I think.
> Apart from rather warm laser-radiated hands, people
> dont want to spend day after day all their money on
> batteries( Think Gamegear).
Good point, but I do have a portable MD player / recorder with a battery in it that lasts about 16 hours or soemthing, then you just recharge it. If you have 2 batteries and keep one on standby charged up, happy days innit?
> It'll happen one day, but now isn't the right time.
Yeah, Sony and Nokia have to wait for GBA fever to subside I think.
Don't discount competition from *gasp* Nokia!
This company is making major advances in mobile technology, it is only a matter of time before they begin to creep into the traditional Nintendo hand-held market.
I think an MD-based portable system would be great, I was trying to figure out why MD doesn't start challenging Zip drives, after all, it's just a baby CD, the footprint of an MD reader / writer is far smaller than the Zip drive footprint.
This company is making major advances in mobile technology, it is only a matter of time before they begin to creep into the traditional Nintendo hand-held market.
I think an MD-based portable system would be great, I was trying to figure out why MD doesn't start challenging Zip drives, after all, it's just a baby CD, the footprint of an MD reader / writer is far smaller than the Zip drive footprint.
Dont you think that bringing out the gameboy advance is c**&
because the graphics are basically the same cause my sisters got one and ive played on it.
because the graphics are basically the same cause my sisters got one and ive played on it.
I can remember the days back when the N64 was announced of a certain 'Project Atlantis'.
Supposedly it was the start of gaming marvels with high powered circuitry that you could fit into the palms of your hands.
In the end that particular project was the Gameboy Advance, technically it can do anything that the Super Nes could have done and better, but in a compact handheld way.
Just look at the technology of the Gameboy Advance, look at its size, look at what it has and what it can do- all under the power of just 2 AA batteries!! Unbelievable I say!
Nintendo's System would take a lot of beating to better it let me tell you, not only is it a technical powerhouse for the small size of the thing, but years of planning and implementation actually went into the dinky sized unit.
Nintendo have to be congratulated atleast for what they have achieved with it.
But as for reading the comments here about Sony entering the race with their own version- I think they will too. Although it will more than likely be a question of when, also an important of all question of 'how'.
How on earth can Nintendo be bettered?
Many times we have saw contenders to the Gameboy original and time after time Nintendo's contender's stepped away from the market and let the Kyoto genuises master the market on their own.
Not only have Nintendo cornered the market in their popularity with the handhelds but the back catalogue of games spanning two versions of consoles-That has to be beaten too, Sony attempted it with the home console PS2, but yet the TV console market is really open to any contender as long as they have sufficient third party backing, so effectively Sony's dominace in the Home console market can be decided in a short space of time.
Obviously Sony will be hard at work at ideas for their own handheld, they said it themselves once that the market isn't yet ready for them- I wonder why?
And as for ideas of Mini Disks being used as ive read below, that idea would be disatrous and I think Sony know that too with the current use of technology that is available to them.
Why you ask? Well consider the Battery power to be used for one!. Not only will a Rotating Disk spindle, Disk laser and of course the speaker(s) and screen suck batteries pretty quick and secondly- which would have to be taken into consideration- the actual 'housing' for all that equipment too and where it would all fit. Plus the fact you would have a rather warm console with all that sort of electrical innards beavering away at once.
Thats the problem with that idea, you can effectively throw it out the window.
Apart from rather warm laser-radiated hands, people dont want to spend day after day all their money on batteries( Think Gamegear).
Who knows, maybe Sony will wait to see what Nintendo have up their sleeves in ten years time for their new handheld; and as usual with Sony- pinch a few ideas and release their own version of that tecnology.
It'll happen one day, but now isn't the right time.
Supposedly it was the start of gaming marvels with high powered circuitry that you could fit into the palms of your hands.
In the end that particular project was the Gameboy Advance, technically it can do anything that the Super Nes could have done and better, but in a compact handheld way.
Just look at the technology of the Gameboy Advance, look at its size, look at what it has and what it can do- all under the power of just 2 AA batteries!! Unbelievable I say!
Nintendo's System would take a lot of beating to better it let me tell you, not only is it a technical powerhouse for the small size of the thing, but years of planning and implementation actually went into the dinky sized unit.
Nintendo have to be congratulated atleast for what they have achieved with it.
But as for reading the comments here about Sony entering the race with their own version- I think they will too. Although it will more than likely be a question of when, also an important of all question of 'how'.
How on earth can Nintendo be bettered?
Many times we have saw contenders to the Gameboy original and time after time Nintendo's contender's stepped away from the market and let the Kyoto genuises master the market on their own.
Not only have Nintendo cornered the market in their popularity with the handhelds but the back catalogue of games spanning two versions of consoles-That has to be beaten too, Sony attempted it with the home console PS2, but yet the TV console market is really open to any contender as long as they have sufficient third party backing, so effectively Sony's dominace in the Home console market can be decided in a short space of time.
Obviously Sony will be hard at work at ideas for their own handheld, they said it themselves once that the market isn't yet ready for them- I wonder why?
And as for ideas of Mini Disks being used as ive read below, that idea would be disatrous and I think Sony know that too with the current use of technology that is available to them.
Why you ask? Well consider the Battery power to be used for one!. Not only will a Rotating Disk spindle, Disk laser and of course the speaker(s) and screen suck batteries pretty quick and secondly- which would have to be taken into consideration- the actual 'housing' for all that equipment too and where it would all fit. Plus the fact you would have a rather warm console with all that sort of electrical innards beavering away at once.
Thats the problem with that idea, you can effectively throw it out the window.
Apart from rather warm laser-radiated hands, people dont want to spend day after day all their money on batteries( Think Gamegear).
Who knows, maybe Sony will wait to see what Nintendo have up their sleeves in ten years time for their new handheld; and as usual with Sony- pinch a few ideas and release their own version of that tecnology.
It'll happen one day, but now isn't the right time.
The only real competition the gameboy advance has seen is from the wonderswan, but that was only released in japan.
monkey_man wrote:
"> I heard that Sony were making a handheld console using Minidiscs. Probably just
> a rumour, but it would be cool."
Are you sure you didn't just read my idea for a 'GameBoy MD', in the 'Retro Games and Game Ideas froum'?? That runs on Mini Discs, and since Sony produce MD's it wouldn't surprise me if they nicked my idea!!
"> I heard that Sony were making a handheld console using Minidiscs. Probably just
> a rumour, but it would be cool."
Are you sure you didn't just read my idea for a 'GameBoy MD', in the 'Retro Games and Game Ideas froum'?? That runs on Mini Discs, and since Sony produce MD's it wouldn't surprise me if they nicked my idea!!
I heard that Sony were making a handheld console using Minidiscs. Probably just a rumour, but it would be cool. As for small DVD players, my girlfriend's Dad has one that's smaller than a DVD case! He takes it to his work in his pocket.
Remember the first artist’s impressions of the GameBoy Advance?
The screen had pictures of Mario 64 on it. How long will it be before we get games like Mario 64 onto a reasonably sized handheld games console?
Down the years there simply hasn’t been enough decent competition to give the handheld market the major push it needs.
The GameBoy has always been the best seller, even when faced against more powerful handhelds like the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and the Neo Geo Pocket. (Not forgetting the easily forgettable SuperVision!) Eventually, all these consoles died off due to being more expensive than the GameBoy and the lack of any decent software and large battery consumption.
Nintendo have the entire handheld market to themselves, but for how long?
Where will the competition come from?
Rumours have been flying around the games industry for many years now that Sony have been developing a handheld, and I’m willing to bet that if the Microsoft XBOX is a success, then they will look into the possibilities of entering the handheld market.
Not forgetting Nintendo of course, they’re busy in their R & D departments right now....
How powerful could these handhelds be?
The original GameBoy Color/Colour was the equivalent of the NES, the current crop of GameBoy Advance games are SNES standard or slightly better, could the next step be PSOne style games?
GameBoy Advance carts are tiny, so could carts twice the size mean games become bigger and better?
Or maybe disks could be used, but how durable are they?
Could we have portable cd player size consoles that fit in your pocket, connected by a wire to the handheld screen and buttons? (Like a new portable dvd player that is coming out soon.)
How big would the screen need to be to fully enjoy a game, and what is the ideal size for a handheld? It can’t be too big or it would go against the gaming in your pocket ethos.
Backlit screens are a necessity, seeing how much flak Nintendo has had because of the GBA’s slightly dark screen, but this might greatly affect the all important battery life.
More buttons, and maybe an analogue stick for more sophisticated games would be useful, because I still feel that some GBA games suffer as a result of not having enough buttons.
The GameCube is so small it could almost be considered a handheld, so if a handheld was half the size of the GC could it, in theory, produce N64 style games or better?
What are other people’s opinions on where the handheld games market is going?
The screen had pictures of Mario 64 on it. How long will it be before we get games like Mario 64 onto a reasonably sized handheld games console?
Down the years there simply hasn’t been enough decent competition to give the handheld market the major push it needs.
The GameBoy has always been the best seller, even when faced against more powerful handhelds like the Atari Lynx, Sega Game Gear and the Neo Geo Pocket. (Not forgetting the easily forgettable SuperVision!) Eventually, all these consoles died off due to being more expensive than the GameBoy and the lack of any decent software and large battery consumption.
Nintendo have the entire handheld market to themselves, but for how long?
Where will the competition come from?
Rumours have been flying around the games industry for many years now that Sony have been developing a handheld, and I’m willing to bet that if the Microsoft XBOX is a success, then they will look into the possibilities of entering the handheld market.
Not forgetting Nintendo of course, they’re busy in their R & D departments right now....
How powerful could these handhelds be?
The original GameBoy Color/Colour was the equivalent of the NES, the current crop of GameBoy Advance games are SNES standard or slightly better, could the next step be PSOne style games?
GameBoy Advance carts are tiny, so could carts twice the size mean games become bigger and better?
Or maybe disks could be used, but how durable are they?
Could we have portable cd player size consoles that fit in your pocket, connected by a wire to the handheld screen and buttons? (Like a new portable dvd player that is coming out soon.)
How big would the screen need to be to fully enjoy a game, and what is the ideal size for a handheld? It can’t be too big or it would go against the gaming in your pocket ethos.
Backlit screens are a necessity, seeing how much flak Nintendo has had because of the GBA’s slightly dark screen, but this might greatly affect the all important battery life.
More buttons, and maybe an analogue stick for more sophisticated games would be useful, because I still feel that some GBA games suffer as a result of not having enough buttons.
The GameCube is so small it could almost be considered a handheld, so if a handheld was half the size of the GC could it, in theory, produce N64 style games or better?
What are other people’s opinions on where the handheld games market is going?