In the hand held market....

[buffgod]

I personally Have a gameboy advance sp. I heard things about other handheld product in the close future that could over throw the maket that is the gamboy and thus start the demise of it. My question is ther anything better in the market out ther or anything in the close future that could effectively compete with the Gameboy Advance SP?

[Prophet Hero]

At the moment there is nothing to rival the GBA. The Wonderswan and the Neo Geo Pocket are still popular, but they are no longer in competition with Nintendo.

Of course the GBA does have an upcoming rival in the form of the PSP. Sony's machine will probably be the biggest and most serious contender Nintendo will have faced in the handheld market to date. Whether or not the PSP will be successful enough to dislodge the GBA from the top is another matter.

There is also the N-Gage 2, but I don't think Sony or Nintendo are concerned about this product.

Apart from those two the only other handheld products approaching in the near future will be from Nintendo itself. The double-screen, touch-panel Nintendo DS and the eventual successor to the GBA, which hasn't been announced yet, but I'm sure it's on the way.

[Schultz]

Originally posted by Prophet Hero
There is also the N-Gage 2, but I don't think Sony or Nintendo are concerned about this product.

Btw just so you know the N-Gage 2 won't be any more powerful then the N-Gage 1.. its just going to be a redesign so you don't have to talk on the side of teh phone to use it.. and you won't have to take the battery pack out to change games.. this is all they are doing with the N-Gage 2 from what i have read..

[Prophet Hero]

Originally posted by Schultz
Btw just so you know the N-Gage 2 won't be any more powerful then the N-Gage 1.. its just going to be a redesign so you don't have to talk on the side of teh phone to use it.. and you won't have to take the battery pack out to change games.. this is all they are doing with the N-Gage 2 from what i have read..

Is that so? I posted a link to a picture of it in the "First PSP screens!" thread, but, I'm ashamed to say, didn't bother reading the accompanying blurb. It looks pretty much the same although it has been redesigned.

[buffgod]

Is the game boy advanve going to fall into obscurity once a new system comes out. Is it worth it to even have a game boy advance?

[Prophet Hero]

Originally posted by buffgod
Is the game boy advanve going to fall into obscurity once a new system comes out. Is it worth it to even have a game boy advance?

I think it unlikely.

Take a moment to consider how long the Gameboy has been around - it's outlasted every machine both handheld and console. The GBA might face stronger than normal competition from Sony's PSP, but it won't "fall into obscurity". Even if things hot up a little there are still plenty of Nintendo-only titles that will keep the GBA in the running.

The Nintendo DS isn't the GBA's successor, but I've got the feeling that if it doesn't go to plan and the PSP starts shifting a competitive number of units then a new Gameboy will be announced.

Not sure what you mean by "Is it worth it to even have a game boy advance?"

It's still the number one handheld with plenty of excellent games across most genres; it's the only way to play classic SNES games outside the house; Advance Wars. Enough said in my view.

Even if the system dies I'll still hold onto my GBA because of the games - that's what it always boils down to for me. It's the reason I still have my Dreamcast ready to hand.

However, if you're not happy with the machine and don't enjoy the games available then it probably isn't worth having a GBA at all.

There's little point having a fear of your current machine being superceded by the next model - it's always going to happen so there's no point worrying.

Even with the promise of backwards compatibility most people will still get rid of their current machine, but keep the games. Sony has been extraordinarily successful at keeping the Playstation alive in the form of the PSOne (and it might repeat the success if PSTwo becomes a reality). However, a bit of forward thinking will tell you that it makes more sense to buy a PS3 with it's built-in PS2 rather than a PSTwo. Even with a massive back catalogue the PSTwo would be in a vegetative state (as opposed to being dead) - there will the games to keep it going, but it won't receive the attention and innovation of the top developers who will put their effort and resources into the PS3.

[rav96]

Originally posted by buffgod
Is the game boy advanve going to fall into obscurity once a new system comes out. Is it worth it to even have a game boy advance?

the GBA is unlikely to go obscure esp withits huge catalogue of games and backward compatibilty

[SirChico]

Originally posted by buffgod
Is the game boy advanve going to fall into obscurity once a new system comes out. Is it worth it to even have a game boy advance?

Nintendo probably won't continue development on it once it's predecessor (next GB) and Nintendo DS are out. But, I think the GBA is worth keeping for it's library of games it has.. both original and remakes alike are awesome! I am very contempt with the GBA's progress. And I feel I've got my money's worth out of it and then some... I didn't bother with the SP though.. Hopefully, the next GB will have a rechargable battery, I wanted that feature more than the back-light cabability.

[Prophet Hero]

Originally posted by SirChico
Hopefully, the next GB will have a rechargable battery, I wanted that feature more than the back-light cabability.

But the SP has both - a back-light and a rechargable lithium-ion battery. :confused:

[SirChico]

I know... that's why I said I would've wanted rechargable more if it was between the two. The next-gen GB probably will have a rechargable battery though.

The SP has both, but I didn't buy it because I was hoping those features would be incorporated in a new GB (that also plays new GB format). So I waited. All I was saying was I wanted that rechargable more, if I were to get a SP (even though it has a back-lite).

Oh... I see now. My post was a little confusing! Sorry.

[morgorath]

Well the thing I noticed about nintendo is when thew set a standor they set it pretty high. Battery companys have been living of the sale of toys that require batteries for years. And if there was a way to check I can bet that the number of batteries sold before the GB and since it hit the market have increased 5 fold. But now that Nintendo has put a lithum battery into there handheld every handheld that comes out must follow suit. And that isn't a cheap deal to beholding to.

I don't think anybody has a chance of taking away the handheld market from "N" hell backward compatablity keep sony alive for the first year of the PS2. They didn't have any ground breaking or new games for that whole year.

[Robojack]

Actually the SP isn't BACK-lit, it's FRONT-lit, which isn't as good as BACKlit. If you want a real backlit GBA, you'd have to get the Afterburner kit for the regular GBA, which really makes your games shine.

[morgorath]

well I have the afterburner kit and it is a front lit system as well... the lights go around the side of the screen giving the screen shine. But none of the lights are behind the screen... I do like the way GBA feels in my hands over the SP though

[DARK OSAMU]

That's why I don't own an SP. It is too small.

[Ramonk]

The only thing I really don't like about the SP is that it only has 2 buttons on the face. Nintendo would have been wiser to have used a 4 button face like the snes since many of the games for the SP are revisions of snes games. However, I do like the case design since the screen is protected when not in use unlike any other handheld.