The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
DS: Third Pillar still?
Sterica
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
So...I've been giving this some thought lately. Wii is out, and that's great, but whatever happened to the whole "third pillar" reasoning behind the DS?
While the GBA still gets some titles in, we've heard nothing about a successor to it. Besides that there will be one...eventually. Most assume the DS has taken the GBA's place, but Nintendo was fairly adamant about the DS because it's own thing and the Game Boy brand continuing on.
I honestly don't think the DS deviates away enough from the GBA to be its own unique hardware. It's basically a handheld with an extra screen. I love it to death, but what would the new Game Boy offer that the DS wouldn't besides the obvious hardware upgrades?
While the GBA still gets some titles in, we've heard nothing about a successor to it. Besides that there will be one...eventually. Most assume the DS has taken the GBA's place, but Nintendo was fairly adamant about the DS because it's own thing and the Game Boy brand continuing on.
I honestly don't think the DS deviates away enough from the GBA to be its own unique hardware. It's basically a handheld with an extra screen. I love it to death, but what would the new Game Boy offer that the DS wouldn't besides the obvious hardware upgrades?
Sterica on
0
Posts
I mean, as it stands now, the DS is tricky to find and I imagine software attach rates are pretty nice too.
If anything, I could see a Nintendo DS2 coming out, making the Gameboy brand this "third pillar."
I think, to the average consumer, the DS is just the new iteration of the Gameboy.
Now that it is as common as air in Japan, and the best selling thing ever... It's the new gameboy.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
However, given the overwhelming success of the DS, I don't think it's really considered a "third pillar" anymore. I think the next handheld from Nintendo will build upon the features of the DS.
I wonder if they will try to incorporate the name Gameboy back in, though. Both "Gameboy" and "DS" have pretty mainstream appeal now.
That would be the most awesome handheld ever.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
The Game Boy is dead. Long live the DS.
猿も木から落ちる
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
It's still hard, even after years of the DS, not to call it a GameBoy.
Wii is the funky new concept console with a traditional console inside of it (GC)
DS is the funky semi-new concept handheld
GBA is the traditional 2-button button handheld
Now that it has proven to be an overwhelming success, I think it's safe to say that it is the 'unofficial' replacement of the GBA.
I think naming it the DS and seperating it from the "Gameboy" was part of their plan to sort of seperate it conceptually from the traditional gameplaying handheld so as to allow it to appeal to more people and nongamers. I don't think it really worked in the USA, at least. It's still the new Gameboy to most people, I would guess. But that doesn't seem to matter. It's managing to make plenty of sales to all kinds of markets now, especially with Brain Age.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
What, shoulder buttons don't count?
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
That said, while there probably won't be a new Game Boy for a while, Nintendo is NEVER gonna give up that trademark. Ever. They will fight tooth and nail to keep it.
... I am, however, interested in knowing what the DS backup plan was. I mean, the Game Boy Pocket/Color was the backup/emergency plan for the Virtual Boy. While hastily put together, it did save Nintendo in my opinion (aided by Pokemon), and it still has my favorite version of Tetris.
Somewhere, deep in the bowels of Iwata's mind, there had to be a new Game Boy on the drawing board. Perhaps a portable 3D device? Or would that have been too risky?
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
The DS was a huge risk, which is why it didn't get the Gameboy brand. Also, it isn't like Nintendo wanted us to stop buying GBAs. Thirdly, how receptive would we have been buying a new Gameboy, after we had all just purchased our GBA SPs? Nintendo made a smart move by releasing the Gameboy Micro, making it appear as though they were sticking to their "third pillar" story.
Had the DS failed, Nintendo would have had the very successful GBA to fall back on. They didn't need it. We may never see another Gameboy branded system. Then again, we might see a new Gameboy branded system, followed by a new DS branded system, and so on.
I am not lying here: I don't think adoption and acceptance of the DS would've been as quick if it weren't for the GBA backwards computability.
What I'm really interested in is if Nintendo does decide to use the Gameboy brand for the next handheld, if they'll change the branding of the DS to Gameboy DS just to revitalize some of the GB brand awareness.
I once heard a guy come in and ask, "Do you sell the new Gameboy here?"
The clerk immediately showed him to the GBA section, but I thought to myself -- what if he really meant to ask for the Nintendo DS? How could he have known better? What if he was buying it for a son or nephew or friend or something, who wanted a DSLite because they already had a GBA?
This is something that doesn't just bother me about the Gameboy/DS. It bothers me when people refer to all MP3 players as "Ipods" for example.
"Hey I got a new MP3 player fo Christmas!"
"What's that?"
"It's a little handheld player that I can put my music on. Holds 20,000 songs."
"oooh, you mean an Ipod."
No, I mean my new Dell DJ, genius.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
It's like Kleenex.
Steam | Live
Oh sorry, I mean adhesive strips.
Well, occasionally you'll hear "retro" gamers bring up the Lynx.
God that thing was so huge, needed to be stored in half a backpack when I was in Elementary school.
But yeah. Handheld gaming machines (sans cell phones) are called Game Boys because outside of the Game Gear (which also had the word Game), Nintendo has pretty much crushed the competition. Sort of like Sony with Playstation.
No, The brand as a whole hasn't vanished just yet.
Nintendo would have to work to fuck up marketing with whatever portable they put out next.
And yet, you can't find it anywhere, here (U.S.) or Japan! DS is such a success it's no longer a third pillar. As others have said, 'third pillar' seems to have been more of an escape plan than a true plan for the future. Game Boy is still such a strong name, that I have no idea how they'll market the next handheld, which will likely be more in line with the DS philosophy. It'll probably still be at least a couple of years before we hear anything from Nintendo about a DS successor, though.
It is completely dead in Japan.
Dunno about Europe.
That's the thing; there will be three pillars as long as they keep selling and/or they keep making games for the thing. According to GameFAQs, the next few months will see Final Fantasy VI, TMNT, a futuristic racing game called Trick Star and some shovelware.
Nintendo is basically supporting two of those pillars as far as I can tell.
Mario Kart DS: 3320 6595 7026 5000
If by Nintendo you mean third parties.
unless the next gameboy can manage 3d graphics, and has an analog stick, it would be inferior to the ds, or whatever they have planned for the ds2. just my opinion, though, and i havent looked up any sales figures on the gba micro.
360 Gamertag: Baronskatenbass Steam: BaronVonSnakPak HgL: AnsonLuap
Ok I don't mean to be pick on you in particular, Zek, but anyone else who feels the need to say "third pillar was just a backup plan" either cite something or don't please don't bother hitting reply. Nearly half of the posts in this thread have been just that and while, yes, that theory makes sense I also seem to recall Nintendo saying way back when that they were already working on the next installment in the Gameboy line which also makes a lot of sense.
Looking at the history of Nintendo consoles/handhelds they all seem to have long R&D periods and it wouldn't make sense to throw years of work on the next Gameboy installment out the window just because the DS turned out to be gold in handheld form, right? Especially not in light of the continued success of the GBA. If anything I'd say that the third pillar theory is at this point in time far more plausable than it was back when it was first presented. In fact I find it almost hysterical that people are calling bullshit on the third pillar theory now of all times when it would have made much more sense to do so before we knew that the DS would do as well as it has. But now? Now they have two handhelds that are doing excellent at the same time. Why would they stop development on a successor to the GBA at this point? By all indications there's defiantely a market for both the Gameboy and the DS line.
I'm not trying to say that it's a guarentee at this point, but rather that writing off the idea of another installment in the Gameboy line entirely is at the very least pretty premature.
As for what a next Gameboy would entail (assuming that it's correct in thinking that there is indeed going to be another gameboy) I can only guess and really, after the Wii? I don't know that I'm even comfortable doing that
It would be crazy for nintendo to throw out plans for a future gameboy, sure, but it would also be crazy for them to support two competing handhelds.
The smart thing to do would be to adapt those future plans to support a merging of the two lines.
Three pillars is dead. The closest that we may come to it is some kind of "budget" price lesser version of whatever handheld comes next, but that is doubtful, due to Nintendo's emphasis on affordability to begin with
Hence the DS, the SP and the Micro.
The DS would be for the gamer who wants it all. A higher priced system that can play all the games. The Micro would carry on the Gameboy legacy and offer that small, stylish system. Only the Micro tanked and the three pillar thing didn't work out as a result.
It was a good idea for them to release the DS under a new name. It gave them a chance to take a risk that paid off big time. But this has all been said before in this topic.
I never asked for this!