New Gameboy in 2006... say what? with Gamecube graphics?

Next Game Boy in 2005?
Nintendo comments on an industry analyst's prediction.
by Craig Harris
February 28, 2005 - Though we've already gone on the record with rumblings of a next-generation Game Boy system surfacing sometime this year, respected industry analyst P.J. McNealy has made the bold step with an official analyst report predicting that Nintendo's follow-up to the Game Boy line will appear by the end of 2005.


According to McNealy: "We believe it is likely that the next version of the Game Boy Advance SP will ship as early as this holiday, ahead of most expectations of calendar year 2006." The report proclaims four reasons why it expects the system to show up by year end: one, Nintendo averages a new version of a Game Boy nearly every two years. Two, the introduction of third pillar DS has not greatly affected sales of GBA software. Three, it's extremely easy to pirate GBA cartridges, and it's time to move onto a new medium that's less susceptible to copying. And four, the most wonky reason: "A new GBA SP provides Nintendo with a fun, new device while Sony focuses on the PSP and the expected launch of the Xbox 2."
McNealy expects the pricing structure to remain similar to how the Game Boy market has operated, with the next generation handheld debuting at the key 99.99 pricepoint, inevitably driving the GBA SP platform down to a budget $49.99 until phased out completely. The analyst does not expect that the system's debut will affect the Nintendo DS' $149.99 pricepoint.

We contacted Nintendo for comment regarding this report. "Game Boy continues to be a shining star in the video game industry with more than 176 million units sold worldwide," stated Beth Llewelyn, senior director, public relations, Nintendo of America. "In 2004 alone we sold 10 million Game Boy Advance SPs in North America and sales were up 9% in January. Our newest hand-held game system, the Nintendo DS, has done extremely well and is on target to ship 6 million worldwide by March 31. There is always speculation on what the next Game Boy will be, however, at this time there are no announcements about a new Game Boy SP product."

IGN has heard similar rumblings regarding the next-generation Game Boy system. With the PSP's hardware prowess set to take center stage in the US this year, it's just not smart business for Nintendo to let Sony into the market that Nintendo has owned for more than a decade without a powerful response of its own.

Where this leaves the Nintendo DS as the next platform sets up to duke it out with Sony's PSP remains to be seen. Ever since the DS system's debut, Nintendo has stood by the claim that the dual-screen handheld is the company's third-pillar and that the company is indeed working on the follow-up to the Game Boy platform.

We can certainly understand the need to advance the Game Boy platform at this point in time -- the PSP is too strong a competitor to ignore. However, releasing the system so soon after the successful launch of the Nintendo DS may confuse the market and consumers who have already invested in the dual-screen handheld. Unless, of course, Nintendo has a clear-cut strategy to find a place for each of the company's three unique gaming platforms: Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and the future Revolution console.

We'll have more on the future of the Game Boy as the story breaks.

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Grindspine said:

That article didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know really.

Where did you get the thing about the Gamecube graphics?  The article said nothing of the sort.

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Though we've already gone on the record with rumblings of a next-generation Game Boy system surfacing sometime this year, respected industry analyst P.J. McNealy has made the bold step with an official analyst report predicting that Nintendo's follow-up to the Game Boy line will appear by the end of 2005.

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Mai Valentine said:

For those that don't know, Spong is the online video game equivalent to those trashy tabloids that have articles about aliens and Elvis being alive.   :

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creepindeth04 said:

"I just thought of something... those Gamecube discs are small... wouldn't it be AWESOME to have a portable that could play carts, AS WELL AS the Gamecube disc?"

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trkorecky said:

And you guys laugh at the battery life of the PSP... Doubt you'd even get this thing booted to the main menu of a game before it died :lol

I just don't know how they'd put all the buttons from a GC controller onto a small handheld.

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