Here's an interesting tidbit of information courtesy of IGN Cube's mailbag.

If this is true it will make for a very interesting portable. Maybe there was a reason Nintendo opted to use 8cm discs for GameCube apart for piracy reasons.

Also interesting to note that DS existed in some shape or form during the PS1 era.

Also another rumour I've come across is that while there are no plans to connect the DS and the Revolution the GB Evolution is a different story.

If that's true then all I can say to the people who said the next gameboy was the DS is: :upyours:


But yeah, if true, that would be fucking awesome. :P

As much as I like the DS, The Gamecubeboy ( :P ) will rock harder than anything that ever rocked.

I think it's a little too soon to take anything seriously, really. One console/handheld release at a time please, gents. :P

I dont think it's to soon, something to look forward to in late 2006/early 2007. :P

Wait... the GCN has 8cm discs???!

I think its totally possible the Evolution is the next GameBoy. But launching it too soon would hurt the DS don't you think? :huh:

I am not interested thank you, bring me the PSP. :P

It would hurt Nintendo economically, yes, but I doubt they would let it. :P

Keep in mind though that if ideas for the DS were thrown around well back in the PSOne era, we might not been seeing the Nintendo Evolution evolve into a commercial product for quite some time (if it even exists, a lot of "sources" I've seen for news recently have been far too questionable).

This is pretty stupid, the DS hasn't even come out yet and there is already discussion on the next Nintendo handheld :rolleyes:. The DS has gone off to a good start in both Japan and the US, and is now set to be released in Australia and Europe, if the machine is a much a success in these regions as with the US and Japan, then I can't realisticlly see another handheld anytime soon. Furthermore merely a portable GameCube is hardly innovative (more like a PSP copy), which contradicts Nintendo's philosophy on innovation, hence I can't see anything of the sort happening.

You have to remember most of this is rumour and speculation so if there was a portable Cube in the works its not going to happen anytime soon.

Remember Nintendo likes to maximize profits which is why it is using PS1 era hardware in its latest portable. Also Nintendo can't afford to 'innovate' forever if it doesn't pay off. While DS has got off to a good start in US and Japan, sales of the PSP have started to pickup in Japan (It actually outsold the DS this last week ending 16th if only by a couple thousand).

The following is speculation on my part so don't take it as fact. I think Nintendo failed to miniaturize the Cube hardware into something cost effective and knowing that Sony was coming out with a handheld they had to do something to counteract this so they took project Nitro, added an extra screen and touch capabilities and called it DS. I think this is also why they purposely didn't call the DS the next GameBoy.

Who knows, the GB Evolution may actually merge the two 'pillars' into one again with a unit that can play both DS and GCN games.

We could be seeing this launch with the same Revolution or after. I wouldn't expect seeing it earlier though.
Still, Nintendo might want to keep this Third Pillar stuff, meaning the Gameboy Evolution would replace the advance. Yet continue to sell DS units.

That's sounds all fine and dandy but how in the hell is Nintendo going to sell both DS and Gameboy Evolution units together? Despite what Nintendo says about a "third pillar" consumers will not look at the situation like this, a new gameboy with GCN quality graphics will be believed to be a replacement to the DS, hence sales of DS will fall, developers will stop making DS games and go to GBEvo games and hence the DS would ultimatly be a failure, Nintendo would be shooting themselves in the foot, considiring the inital success of the platform.

I dont buy this third pillar stuff, because originally it meant that the DS was not going to replace the GBA, but what happened, it did! Developers have stopped making GBA games and have now shifted to DS and PSP production. The third pillar comment has already not surfaced since whether Nintendo likes it or not, the DS is replacing the GBA.

My sentiments exactly. The general public doesn't tend to be open-minded enough to see things this way. Most people will instantly see that one handheld is somewhat superior to the other (whether or not one actually is) and the other will fall as a result.

As far as I'm concerned, I'd love to see less effort placed on crazy marketing and development strategies and quite simply, more focus on creating top-quality games. :)

I'm hoping this is merely a rumour because I don't like this idea at all, and I can see where it's going. They will produce and market this as the competitor to the PSP and no doubt GCN ports will be on the agenda. Instead of pursuing innovation in the DS, this new machine will get a lot of development time and money poured into. Keep the handheld genre sacred for heavens sake!

I dunno about that, the SP is still enjoying pretty good sales.

It's my understanding that the unit would be able to play actual GCN games, and thus there would be hardly any ports, as you could just pop-in the originals.

Maybe this is why Nintendo are going to keep on supporting the GCN? The plot thickens.. :P

Ooooh, didn't think of that. :P

Well I think this, the Evolution is direct competition to the PStwo.
If, its not that, then its gonna be one huge Tamagotchi.

How could it possibly be competition to the PStwo if Nintendo first started developing it just after the GCN had launched?

The screen would still have to be really big for half the gamecube games to be enjoyable.

I wasn't refering to sales, I was refering to the development of new games. Obviously the SP will continue to sell for now, since the DS hasnt been released worldwide yet, the sales wont vanish instantly.

When I said the DS replaced the GBA, I meant that in terms of the development of new software, as I said in my previous post the arrival of the DS has resulted in the fall in development in GBA software, there isn't much on the horizon for the GBA in 2005.


If this supposed new machine plays actual GCN games, then doesn't it essentially translate into smaller designed GCN (i.e. PSTwo, with the exception of it apparantly having its own screen), if so then it is hardly a new system.

Craig from IGN DS has a slightly different answer to Matt:

So basically it will turn out to be a Nintendo version of the PSP?


What happened to the DS "changing our industry" to quote Reggie from Nintendo? Put simply, this machine doesnt fit in with Nintendo's comments. All they said was that the DS is a third pillar to co-exist besides the exisiting GameCube and Gameboy Advance. This doesnt mean a new gameboy will arrive. If another Gameboy is released, the DS will die a very quick death.

Hell, I'm up for Smash Bros. Melee DX :lol:
Nobody says they're going to make port after port with no new games though.
I for one, love the idea of the power of the cube in my hands. :P

Nevertheless, the GB Evolution doesnt make sense when you consider that the DS was just released and Nintendo's philosohpy on changing the way games are played. A Super Smash Bros game could easily be developed for the DS anyway.

Perhaps the GBE will incorparate DS funtions?

Say Developers tell Nintendo that the microphone was shit, but they really liked the touch screen idea. So Nintendo incorparate a touch screen into the GBE, and leave the Mic behind with the DS. :)

I just couldn't see Nintendo removing a poplular feature, and if the touch screen turns out to be a hit, Nintendo should really keep it.

I think the Evolution shouldn't incorporate the touch-screen, I mean, Gameboys aren't supposed to have touch screens, it's not right.

That is like saying the N64 control pad was not right simply because Nintendo decided to scrap the directional buttons and revolutionise the way games were played.

Maybe, but I still can't believe that another Nintendo handheld is already being talked about when the DS hasnt even come out yet, it's this sort of thing that starts to worry me since it will shorten the life of the previous consoles, it's just too soon to be discussing another handheld. Was anyone discussing the Revolution a few weeks before the GCN launch, of course not, we were all excited about the arrival of a new console, not the generation after.

Well the thing is, the Revo was in development quite a while ago, and by the looks of things, I'd say it would have been anounced at E3-2k5.
Now that would have given the GBA at least another year of free riegn, but the PSP came along at a really bad time, so the DS was slapped together to defend te portable market, thus fucking up Nintendo's master plan.

Though it's not like the DS is a total flop (yet), so Nintendo shouldn't be too annoyed.

Although I guess if Nintendo wait till say...06 to announce/release the GBE, they could make it alot cheaper, and the gab between handhelds would be alot smaller, so the blow of another handheld would be softened a tad.

*sigh* :(

Damn you Sony! I hope you make a loss on every PSP sold! :angry:

Well Nintendo assumed from day one that DS would stand alone as a 'third tier' and would not replace the GameBoy. So either they are deluded, or it really was the pressure from Sony (to force Nintendo to release the DS). The PSP isn't doing all that spectacularly in Japan though. It might come down to how many units Sony shipped, but the DS thomped it during the Christmas period.

The PSP isn't bothering me... yet.

Yeah, but the PSP is catching up overall, and has overtaken the DS in recent weeks.

It'll be a while till we find out who'll come out on top on this race methinks.

I dont really like to think of the DS as something that was put together merely to temporarly combat the PSP, until it's true competition (the GB Evolution) is released, kind of puts you off wanting to buy a DS you know.

*Post edited because it was to similar to a later post of mine* >_>

Camera huh? I don't think its that good an idea. A phone with a 1 megapixel camera costs over $700, but a 3 megapixel camera costs less than $400. You can use your left over money to buy a decent phone that doesn't have a built in camera. I'm just not into all-in-one devices. Too many of the devices just seem shite compared to the stand alone stuff. Can't remember the last time I was playing gameboy and had the urge to take a photo of something.

Wouldn't it be cool if the Gameboy Evolution had an inbuilt Camera, sort of like the Gameboy Camera.

Cool, but probably wouldn't be too practical to have it inbuilt. There probably aren't too many uses for such a camera.

Hey, maybe the Gameboy Evo is the Nintendo 21?! :o

:P

Kami, have you played the Gameboy Camera? It's hella fun. ^_^
And you see these in-built cameras in tiny mobile phones, so It wouldn't take much space in that respect.

Have seen how shit the photos come out though?
Unless you buy a really good phone, the cameras are as bad as 1st generation web-cams.

So Nintendo would have to put a damn good camera in the console for it to be worth it, and if that's the case, the price would probably go up.