What should the GBA2 be?

[GwymWeepa]

Let's assume the PSP is a run away success, what should Nintendo do with the GBA2 to try to reclaim its handheld crown?

 

[PC-Engine]

That's pretty easy.

1. Make it small about a SP and a half in size.
2. Bigger touchscreen about 4" with 3:2 aspect ratio.
3. New low power scaled down mobile chipset with similar architechture to GCN.
4. Hi Density Optical drive.

Now that SONY has bitten the bullet by pricing PSP at $200, Nintendo will wait and see how PSP sales go. If it's good then they'll have an idea of allowable GBA2 pricing window.

 

[Ty]

Now that SONY has bitten the bullet by pricing PSP at $200, Nintendo will wait and see how PSP sales go. If it's good then they'll have an idea of allowable GBA2 pricing window.

True but they may not have the vertical leveraging that Sony has with their parts. Also if Nintendo remains true to the video game market (that is, the GBA2 is not a convergence device) then a $200 portable game machine may still not sell.

 

[MfA]

PSP is a pretty poor convergence device too ... the only company I could see make a good portable in that respect is Microsoft, less conservative than nintendo and without the political infighting of sister companies ala Sony, but they dont seem willing.

Unless Sega wants to get back in the game

 

[PC-Engine]

Now that SONY has bitten the bullet by pricing PSP at $200, Nintendo will wait and see how PSP sales go. If it's good then they'll have an idea of allowable GBA2 pricing window.

True but they may not have the vertical leveraging that Sony has with their parts. Also if Nintendo remains true to the video game market (that is, the GBA2 is not a convergence device) then a $200 portable game machine may still not sell.

First PSP isn't a great convergence device either unless you're a fanboi that will buy loads of UMD movies to stuff up you @ss

Sh*t (pun intended) it can't even compete with little lighter sized flash MP3 players either.

Second the whole vertical leveraging argument is tired and old. How is Nintendo selling their systems at such low prices and not even lose tons of money from hardware???

The only ones losing tons of money on hardware at launch is SONY and MS.

It's tired get over it...

 

[cybamerc]

It doesn't matter that PSP isn't a great convergence device. What matters is how they advertise it. I think a lot of people will buy the PSP for it's movie and music capabilities but few will actually use them.

 

[Ty]

First PSP isn't a great convergence device either unless you're a fanboi that will buy loads of UMD movies to stuff up you @ss

Sh*t (pun intended) it can't even compete with little lighter sized flash MP3 players either.

You're completely free to define what is "great" and what "is not". Some will think it's the best thing since sliced bread, others will not. Either way it IS much more of a convergence device to the general public than the GBA2 (assuming Nintendo remains true to this market) which therefore adds to the perceived value of the PSP.

Second the whole vertical leveraging argument is tired and old. How is Nintendo selling their systems at such low prices and not even lose tons of money from hardware???

The only ones losing tons of money on hardware at launch is SONY and MS.

It's tired get over it...

Maybe it's finally paying off for them? Do you have a cost breakdown for us so we can see how much if any Sony is losing on the PSP?


Edit - yes cybermerc & thop gets this as well. If the public *thinks* it's valuable, then it is which makes it easier to pay the $200..

 

[thop]

I think a lot of people will buy the PSP for it's movie and music capabilities but few will actually use them.

That sounds about right.

Anyway i think the GBA2 should be exactly like the GBA SP just with more horsepower behind it (and 25% bigger screen and analog stick and 2 more buttons). The GBA SP is close to handheld perfection.

 

[Leto]

Inflatable 23" OLED screen, eyesensor input, fuel cells.

 

[GwymWeepa]

I'm afraid that the GBA2 will simply be the guts on the NDS in a GBA SP shell, so you get psone graphics on an SP, good battery life and low price, but that wouldn't be enough to combat the psp.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

I'm afraid that the GBA2 will simply be the guts on the NDS in a GBA SP shell, so you get psone graphics on an SP, good battery life and low price, but that wouldn't be enough to combat the psp.

And why would they do that? NDS already surpasses PSOne graphics. :/

 

[GwymWeepa]

I'm afraid that the GBA2 will simply be the guts on the NDS in a GBA SP shell, so you get psone graphics on an SP, good battery life and low price, but that wouldn't be enough to combat the psp.

And why would they do that? NDS already surpasses PSOne graphics. :/

Most of the NDS games I've seen are last generation psone quality at best, maybe in the future I'll see things that will look better, but I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as say, n64 in its prime considering that its running at a lower resolution and has no texture filtering.

 

[Goldni]

Most of the NDS games I've seen are last generation psone quality at best, maybe in the future I'll see things that will look better, but I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as say, n64 in its prime considering that its running at a lower resolution and has no texture filtering.

Hmmm last gen PsOne quality? I don't recall ever seeing a PSOne game that looked as good as Mario 64. And the DS Mario is running at twice the framerate 60fps with higher poly counts. And the resolution is higher on the DS when you take into account the 3" screen. It's gonna look sweet in the palm of my hands.

 

[GwymWeepa]

Most of the NDS games I've seen are last generation psone quality at best, maybe in the future I'll see things that will look better, but I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as say, n64 in its prime considering that its running at a lower resolution and has no texture filtering.

Hmmm last gen PsOne quality? I don't recall ever seeing a PSOne game that looked as good as Mario 64. And the DS Mario is running at twice the framerate 60fps with higher poly counts. And the resolution is higher on the DS when you take into account the 3" screen. It's gonna look sweet in the palm of my hands.

I've seen the screens, no texture filtering, texture warping in some spots, its running at a very low resolution, IMO some of the spyro games looked as good, as did dew prism.

 

[Lazy8s]

The Game Boy line sells many tens of millions of units with each new iteration. The only kind of consumer electronic products that do this are those which meet the requirements of the mass market. If the PSP is to become a comparable success, it won't be doing it by stealing the bulk of Game Boy marketshare since its doubly expensive pricetag has it competing in a different sector. Nintendo will have no reason then to change the platform's focus for the next generation.

If the PSP successfully creates a profitable market for third-party friendly, higher-end portables, Nintendo should consider vying for a piece of that sector too with some kind of "Game Boy Pro" product line.

 

[Teasy]

I've seen the screens, no texture filtering, texture warping in some spots, its running at a very low resolution, IMO some of the spyro games looked as good, as did dew prism.

I've seen plenty of videos of Mario 64 DS and I've actually seen no texture warping in the game (lack of filtering isn't too noticable either). The resolution is a bit lower then the original (256x192 vs 320x240). But considering the screen size it ends up a lot higher comparatively. Also this version clearly has higher polygon counts and runs at twice the framerate of the original.

Even if it doesn't completely surpass PS1 levels Metroid: Hunters certainly does AFAICS. Not to mention these are pre first gen games (not even released yet). So I definitely think DS is beyond PS1 graphically.

BTW I don't think there's any chance of the GB2 just being a DS with a single screen. It will have better graphics capabilities then DS.

 

[GwymWeepa]

I've seen the screens, no texture filtering, texture warping in some spots, its running at a very low resolution, IMO some of the spyro games looked as good, as did dew prism.

I've seen plenty of videos of Mario 64 DS and I've actually seen no texture warping in the game (lack of filtering isn't too noticable either). The resolution is a bit lower then the original (256x192 vs 320x240). But considering the screen size it ends up a lot higher comparatively. Also this version clearly has higher polygon counts and runs at twice the framerate of the original.

Even if it doesn't completely surpass PS1 levels Metroid: Hunters certainly does AFAICS. Not to mention these are pre first gen games (not even released yet). So I definitely think DS is beyond PS1 graphically.

BTW I don't think there's any chance of the GB2 just being a DS with a single screen. It will have better graphics capabilities then DS.

Eventually it may surpass psone, but for now, especially with that ridge racer, most games will hover at around that level.

 

[Fox5]

Most of the NDS games I've seen are last generation psone quality at best, maybe in the future I'll see things that will look better, but I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as say, n64 in its prime considering that its running at a lower resolution and has no texture filtering.

Hmmm last gen PsOne quality? I don't recall ever seeing a PSOne game that looked as good as Mario 64. And the DS Mario is running at twice the framerate 60fps with higher poly counts. And the resolution is higher on the DS when you take into account the 3" screen. It's gonna look sweet in the palm of my hands.

The only way you can say mario 64 looked better than any psone game is if you take into account the bilinear filtering and special effects which I don't think ds has.(or the large environments, which the ds does have)

I think DS looks better than the average n64 game though, but hasn't quite reached the best...though at 60 fps ds games are likely to look better in motion.

BTW, unless gba 2 is launching in 2006 I think gamecube powered would be too weak in comparison to psp much earlier release date.

 

[Tysan]

NDS vs. PS1

+ Perspective correction
+ AntiAliasing
+ Better polygon management
+ More memory

NDS vs. N64

+ Better texture performance [not capped at 4kb]
+ Much better fillrate
+ Better polygon performance
- Doesnt Feature Texture Filtering

NDS is better than PS1 or N64, is sort of a cross between Ps1 and N64 strong points taking asided Texture filtering, and Texturre filtering is not that important with good resolution textures, I didnt miss texture filtering in Ps1 Tekken 3, Soul Edge, Soul Reaver for example...

And we are only talking about very early first gen NDS games...

Oh and GBA2 will be more powerful than PSP for sure...

 

[Fox5]

NDS vs. PS1

+ Perspective correction
+ AntiAliasing
+ Better polygon management
+ More memory

NDS vs. N64

+ Better texture performance [not capped at 4kb]
+ Much better fillrate
+ Better polygon performance
- Doesnt Feature Texture Filtering

NDS is better than PS1 or N64, is sort of a cross between Ps1 and N64 strong points taking asided Texture filtering, and Texturre filtering is not that important with good resolution textures, I didnt miss texture filtering in Ps1 Tekken 3, Soul Edge, Soul Reaver for example...

And we are only talking about very early first gen NDS games...

Oh and GBA2 will be more powerful than PSP for sure...

I'm sure, but will its graphics be a big enough step over it to convince people to switch?
Oh well, the existence of game gear certainly didn't hurt the future popularity of the gameboy color, but gameboy color hurt the popularity of the wonderswan color and the neogeo pocket color.