The 3 Pillars of Nintendo

[Antares]

Home Console (Wii), Nintendo DS and Gameboy.

A few years ago, Nintendo referred to the DS as Nintendo's "3rd Pillar." So, we have the Wii and the DS. Where's the new Gameboy? Yes, the Gameboy Advance is still being sold and there are still plenty of games being developed for it. But how many years do you think it will be until Nintendo releases another Gameboy?

Do you think the success of the DS has caused Nintendo to push back their plans to release another Gameboy successor? (i.e. the potential need is not as great since the DS took off and they're making tons of money from it?) Do you think Nintendo will now wait until the DS is much older to put out the new Gameboy...instead of having them both exist concurrently?

This is just something I'm really curious about. From a business standpoint, I don't see a new Gameboy happening for a long time. But I'm also wondering if Nintendo's philosophy will change. The Wii and the DS are both motion/touch based. The Gameboy is a "traditional" control handheld. Will Nintendo go back to traditional controls now that they have wholly embraced "touch and motion?" Same goes for Nintendo's next home console....

What do you all think?

[Dagless]

Death of the Gameboy? I doubt it. The name is iconic. I can imagine a new Gameboy with a higher resolution and single screen, purely for Virtual Console games.

[gloss]

Frankly, I always considered the DS to be the 'next Gameboy'.

[QuarterSwede]

Frankly, I always considered the DS to be the 'next Gameboy'.
So did I ... and I think everyone else. I mean, who still buys a Gameboy Advance?

[barr08]

Frankly, I always considered the DS to be the 'next Gameboy'.

Im going to third this opinion, even though nintendo has expressed that the DS is not a gameboy. I don't know why...

[applekid]

Unless they want to go more PSP-like, I don't know what the next GameBoy will be like. Considering how Nintendo's systems use more than just buttons for their control schemes, I don't know what a GameBoy would need to do differently from the DS besides better graphics.

[zelmo]

I think that even within Nintendo, they didn't realize how huge the DS would become so they were thinking they'd be releasing new hardware under the banner of Gameboy at some point. Even though I agree with jimmi that the name can't/shouldn't be cast aside, I wonder what niche a new GB would fill that the DS simply cannot handle?

[MacRumorUser]

Does anyone else remember before the DS was announced and the specualtion was that they had managed to make a portable based on GC hardware, that was even capable of playing the GC discs.

Now that would have been a sweet GB - however due to the similarities between Wii and GC hardware I doubt now we will see a GC based handheld for a long time.

[Dagless]

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/images/cba1.JPG

After the Wii, please give me something like this Nintendo :D

[Vidd]

I believe the old "3 pillar" idea was something to fall back on if the DS "failed" and became more of a niche gaming device. They could have released another GameBoy claiming it was the true successor now.

The term "GameBoy" used to be so familiar but I believe the name "DS" carries enough weight now. It even avoids the problem of generalising as no other recent handheld has dual-screens.

[MacRumorUser]

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/images/cba1.JPG

After the Wii, please give me something like this Nintendo :D


I WANT IT NOW!!! That's a threat by the way ;):p

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/images/cba2.JPG

[mkrishnan]

The term "GameBoy" used to be so familiar but I believe the name "DS" carries enough weight now. It even avoids the problem of generalising as no other recent handheld has dual-screens.

They could certainly also streamline the two, so that the DS' eventual successor has features of the DS but is called a Gameboy again.

[Vidd]

They could certainly also streamline the two, so that the DS' eventual successor has features of the DS but is called a Gameboy again.

Would that not be confusing for some consumers and negate the strength of the DS's name?
I think it's reached more people than the GameBoy line did (e.g. the Nintendog effect).

It is possible, though. DS2 mightn't fly as a name.

[seenew]

QS, Quad Screen.

Don't ask. :D It just came to mind.

[Vidd]

QS, Quad Screen.

Don't ask. :D It just came to mind.

Sometimes I wonder if the DS would have been better as one, larger touch-screen.
Ultimately, I think Nintendo made the right choice. Some games make great use of having two screens.

[2nyRiggz]

Frankly, I always considered the DS to be the 'next Gameboy'.

Indeed, I don't see a need to put out another handheld when the DS is making a killing at the moment. I think they only tell us that so if the DS failed they would still had the GB rep sparkling and then they would of brought out the GBA 3 or 4.



Bless

[Vidd]

Indeed, I don't see a need to put out another handheld when the DS is making a killing at the moment. I think they only tell us that so if the DS failed they would still had the GB rep sparkling and then they would of brought out the GBA 3 or 4.



Bless

It would be the GBA 5 really. There was the original GBA, the SP, the Micro and the later, backlit GBA SP which was called something like Pearl.
That's not bad for what's essentially the one machine. I got the NES SP after having the original, Arctic GBA but gosh, the Micro was cool.

[2nyRiggz]

Dude you are forgetting GB Color, Super GB and GB Slim(I think it was)
More like GB9.


Bless

[Dagless]

GB
GBP
GBC
GBA
GBA SP
GB Micro

Spin-offs- Super GB, GBP with backlight, GB Player, GB player for car, naff 3rd party adapters for N64 and Cube.

[Shotgun OS]

http://www.gamingsteve.com/archives/images/cba1.JPG

After the Wii, please give me something like this Nintendo :D

I would be suprised if something like this was released. It sorta seems like a portable console. I had thought of something like this before, except the analog sticks would push down into the system, so it doesn't push/scratch the screen.

[Dagless]

The very reason I believe Nintendo hasn't gone with portable optical media yet is down to the drastic impact on battery life and load times.
Soon as they're addressed you can bet they'll come out with something like that, using mini DVDs again. Unless they go for the HDD option/downloadable content.

[SamIchi]

like others have said, I think the "third pillar" was a fall back term. Since Gameboy is such a well known name, and with the great success of the DS, I think they should just combine the two to make the successor, Gameboy DS. What I see is a wide dual screen, maybe both touch, as the next installment for portable gaming, with upped graphics and such. Who knows what Nintendo has in the works.

[Chone]

I believe the old "3 pillar" idea was something to fall back on if the DS "failed" and became more of a niche gaming device. They could have released another GameBoy claiming it was the true successor now.

The term "GameBoy" used to be so familiar but I believe the name "DS" carries enough weight now. It even avoids the problem of generalising as no other recent handheld has dual-screens.

We have a winner!

Really, it was just a term they used to cover their asses in case the DS failed.

And Vidd, I firmly believe the DS could have been a better system if it had one huge screen instead of two... I mean, there really aren't much games that make good use of the second screen and the added real estate would have been a godsend...

The DS's strength is not its dual screens... in fact thats just a gimmick, the real power of the DS lies in the fact its a Nintendo device and of course the touch screen.

[Vidd]

Dude you are forgetting GB Color, Super GB and GB Slim(I think it was)
More like GB9.


Bless

You said GBA, not GB. :) I didn't even count the original GameBoy.

Also, Crone, I believe some RPGs, Mario Kart, Yoshi and other games like Touch Memory and Hotel Dusk make great use of two screens. Obviously, it would have been different with more screen estate but if it only had one screen, it would look poor compared to the PSP.
I do often wonder if it would have been better with a bigger screen even with such games. Imagine New Super Mario Bros at the same resolution as an PSP.

[Sky Blue]

Three pillars of Nintendo:

Non-games
Non-games
Non-games

[Antares]

I strongly believe a new Gameboy will come later in the DS's life and incorporate "touch" technology from the DS but be a single screen (widescreen). Maybe it will also have accelerometers like the Wii Remote. I don't think, however, that new models of both will coexist. The old, DS and the new Gameboy, yes.....but not a DS2 and a new Gameboy.

[zap2]

I think the DS, kind of ate the GameBoy. The DS plays GBA games...not the type of feature you put in something, which are planning to stay 2 different things.


The 3 pillar idea was good for a while, but the DS has changed, and so will Nintendo's plans.



(When a system doesn't get any time on stage, its done.)

[djstarrock]

I think the handheld line kinda followed the console line in terms of graphics.
GameBoy/Color: Nes
GameBoy Advance/sp/Micro: Snes
DS: N64

[Macmadant]

I thought the DS was the new gameboy ?

[Dagless]

I think the handheld line kinda followed the console line in terms of graphics.
GameBoy/Color: Nes
GameBoy Advance/sp/Micro: Snes
DS: N64

Your bang on, the processing power of all related systems has been very close, the interface and display resolution being the only major differences.

Even if they don't bring out an actual "portable Gamecube", then at least we'll see handheld ports. Which I'm more fond of than big screen games.

[Antares]

Even if they don't bring out an actual "portable Gamecube", then at least we'll see handheld ports. Which I'm more fond of than big screen games.

Exactly, try reading the dialog and HUD of a tv-size game on a 2 or 3 inch screen. That wouldn't exactly be easy for <i>some</i> GameCube games. Some of them would really need to be proted to a smaller screen.