Game Boy Advance 2 set to stun E3 – DS to evolve into PDA

I really don't know what to say. On one side, I'm excited, on the other, I'm worried.

I bought my DS in January when I was in the U.S., and so far I only own Mario 64 DS, since no other available game was worth the money, in my humble opinion. Now Warioware Touched has been released, I'm considering not even buying it because I've heard it's way too short. So, basically, my DS is looking rather silly. The PDA functionality may bring it back to life though; but had that been the point of the DS from the start, I would have bought an iPaq.

The GBA2 sounds promising indeed, but unless ass-kickin'-Regie can make the whole world understand the DS is not the successor to the GBA, there will be many unsatisfied customers. I personally think there should have been a MAJOR announcement by Nintendo that the DS is not what most people think it is, because it's just about to hit European soil and I doubt people would be willing to shell out another 150€ in a years time.

before the DS was launched they said it was not the successor to the GBA, and that a true GameBoy follow-up would appear in the future (although I'm sure it wouldnt have been this soon if it wasnt for PSP).

I still want to get a DS, I didn't think much of the launch line up (nor the PSPs), but I'm still counting on Animal Crossing DS, Advance wars and other forthcoming titles, and being able to browse the web on it could be pretty cool.

As for the new GB?, well if it plays GC games on top of everything... WOW!!!

Wow, I never saw this coming (not so soon anyway). I hope that this will not alienate the current DS owners. But there was no way that Nintendo could hope to hold onto it's current market share with such an aggresive battle from Sony. Nintendo knows that it needs to to succeed if it is to hold it's crown as handheld king. With regards to it playing gamecube games, I severely doubt it unless they invent a new battery. All we need now is for Micro$oft to announce a new handheld, and then the war will surely commence.

I don't see how this new Gameboy would be a PSP with a Nintendo badge. Nintendo has been making handhelds before Sony knew what videogames were.

I think once the Gameboy Evolution (as it is commonly referred to) is revealed to publishers, the DS might get ignored. It would be easier to develop for and it will probably sell more as well since it has the Gameboy branding.

Well ladies and gents, this is without a doubt the news of the week.

Thing about this is that Nintendo clearly stated that a E3 2003 that DS was the GBA2 but many heard that sound bite while oggling the PSP, in this respect it went over the heads of many.

Also back about two years ago e also heard whispers of "GBA2 would run GC games" , but again many thought we wouldn't see it for ages maybe years. But to be honest Nintendo did say that if the DS didn't sell that they had a back up plan and this is clearly it in action now. If GBA2 appears next to the Revolution at E3 2005 I think that news will blow the whole show wide open in Nintendo's favour.

Another interesting thing I've been asking myself for ages is the Zelda question and why Nintendo planned to release the GC Zelda game still when GC is almost on it's last legs? Now we may possibly know why they have not come out and said that it's shifting to Revolution yet, because it might well be sold next to GBA2 instead of GC. I'm sure E3 wll reveal the truth despite my thoughts. Result, this year is the best for games yet. Not only do I get RE4 but the possibility of being able to use it away from home while only purchasing it once and use it on GBA2. Blinding news and I can hardly wait for E3.

As for the DS I'll still be buying one because there are a lot of games I want for it. With a Palm OS on it I think I'd use it possibly more sicne I don't have a PDA and they have always been pricey. RTS games are another reason for owning one. With the download service in progress in japan and things are looking good for it and it may well bring non-gamers onboard. One thing's for sure, my wallet is gonna be screaming in painful pleasure.

What next from Sony in reply I wonder? E3 is gonna be totally mad.

This news was posted late in the evening Februari 28...


You guys know it's still a month till april fools, right?

I can't believe this. If this is true, they better keep feeding the DS games with new gameplay, and keep the traditional and graphics-mind-boggling games for GBA2. But they CAN NOT afford to let the DS slide. Not under any circumstances. But with this week the demo-download for DS in Japan, over 150 games in development, with games down the pipe like Mario Kart, Animal Crossing DS, Band Brothers, etc... i'm fairly confident they won't just turn it into a pda and leave it at that.

Still, i'm very curious about how the new GBA, and as a Nintendo fan i hope it kicks PSP's butt (though in all fairness i do admit PSP seems like a very interesting piece of hardware as well). I just hope they don't kill the DS off themselves with this announcement (if true). I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of developers are gonna drop the DS and wait for GBA2 instead, which would be fatal for DS. And also customers might make the same decission.

Maybe Nintendo should start with slashing the developers fees they ask for DS games, in order to ensure big support by developers, and thus, customers. GBA2 will have no difficulty surviving as the most powerfull handheld, so...

Well, everybody knew it was coming... but we never thought it' be so soon. I'd also be very surprised if it was released come the end of the year. They can not afford to rush this launch too.

*cries the cry of the last unicorn*

They did ? (you mean e3 2004 right ?) I've never heard them say that tho. They alway's as far as I remember, said the GBA2 would be further down the line, and DS was not a GameBoy, hence the lack of full backward compatibility.



I've been thinking about the new Zelda too, I mean, it's the only real major release left in this console generation, and it's still probably a year away for Europe at least, so surely making it a launch title for Revolution (alongside Mario128, please please please), would make sense, but I cant see them doing it. In the past, many superb titles from the big N have been released when the platforms days are well and truly over and they end up getting overlooked.

Having said that, Nintendo seem to be willing to take risks at the moment, and a move like releasing a new handheld so soon after DS shows they want to aggresively take on Sony to retain their dominance when it comes to handhelds, and not let it slip away like the home console market did. Who knows what their next move will be.

If the GBA2 literally does play GC disks, rather than GC quality games from a solid state media, then will it have a GBA game slot? I would say not likely, this would explain why they DS has the GBA slot as much as anything else, the DS is the more powerful machine that also plays your GBA games. The GBA2 will be the next gen handheld that eschews backwards compatibility.

gamespot are reporting this news a bit more cautiously, saying that nintendo are releasing a new upgraded version of the GBA SP at the end of the year rather than the actual next GameBoy.

Would they really preview a totally new handheld alongside Revolution this May ? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

To say that the next Zelda should be on the Revolution is silly. For one, the cube is not dead, despite what some Europeans might have you believe. Secondly, noone knows what the hell the Revolution even is, so how do we know if could even play a traditional Zelda game?

Now, Mario 128 on the Cube...that's another thing altogether. But again, Miyamoto himself stated not too long ago that Mario 128 was, in fact, a Cube title. So...a major Mario and a major Zelda in one year isn't bad considering we're talking about Nintendo here.

MMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

I've been predicting this for a while. Miyamoto's comments that a high-powered Gameboy was the future kind of confirmed it several months ago.

Joji: The DS was always positioned as a "third pillar" with a new GBA in development. Never, officially, was the the DS refered to as the GBA2. Nintendo always stated that that was a future plan.

Personally I think that this will benefit Nintendo. The DS launch line-up was very poor, and the GBA2 will allow Nintendo to compete on an eual footing with the PSP.

Whether or not I make the purchase of a DS will depend on how quickly this evolution happens. Some of the planned games on the DS, and the PDA/Mediaplayer functionality ins very attractive,m and it looks like all of this will make it to Europe now. The launch line-up in the future is very solid too.

For me the success of this new console depends on how well-established the DS has become and whether or not Ninty can differentiate between the two systems and segment their market correctly and effectively. They also need to ensure that they have an excellent launch line-up and plenty of third party support. A lot of adult games, allowing the GBA2 to compete directly with the PSP would do a lot of good too.

This is an exciting bit of news from Nintendo, and I can only hope they get their marketing strategy right this time around. Another mistake would be fatal.

With regard to the GC Mario and Zelda games, this decision could cause them to see a release on both the Cube and in modified form on the GBA2. It wouldn't surprise me to see Mario 128 on the GBA2/Revolution rather than the Cube.Considering the new Zelda has been nearly dated, I just can't see that missing Cube and going to another system. As many people have said, the Cube is far from dead. I just hope the GBA2 doesn't get swarms of GC releases - it just won't sell with those. With good-value collection packs ("Mario Mega GC Collection") and use of some of the abilities the new GBA will obviously have, Ninty could still squeeze cash out of the old titles. The adult games, however, must make an appearence!

I will eat my perveriable hat if the gba2 isnt gcube compatible and plays gcube games without modification.

Which'd explain why they're still planning on new mario/zelda games this late into the cubes life.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. With a large buffer, this would be perfectly posssible. The GC discs are perfect - and developers laready have kits. It might even boost Cube.