... And the Game Boy claims another victim...

[A Black Falcon]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/new...31,00.html

The Wonderswan is history... Bandai's giving up. So... the last "competitor" to teh GB is dead... all that's left are cell phone games and the upcoming Nokia N-Gage...

Its amazing how the GB and its successors have crushed all the opposition... with the exception of the GBA vs the Wonderswan, every single one of the others has had technical advantages of some kind... even the Tiger Game.com, with its internet connection... but GB wins every time.

I wonder when (or if...) a successful competitor in the handheld market will show up... I doubt the N-Gage will be that.

[The Former DMiller]

I think Sony or Microsoft would be the only ones capable of dethroning the Game Boy, but even they would have a lot of trouble. As long as Nintendo doesn't totally screw up they should dominate the handheld market for quite some time.

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah, Nintendo dominates handhelds to an even larger degree than Sony dominates consoles. In fact much larger since at least Sony's competition is surviving and even thriving well enough (the sales look bad in comparison, but alone they are pretty good). You know though, didn't Nintendo release a small test device that linked the GB and GBC to cell phones for online play? I never did hear how that turned out, just that it was used for Pokemon Crystal. That's the closest Nintendo has got to online play. Anyway, I wonder if in the future Nintendo might just do with some cell phone company what they did with Panasonic and strike a deal so they can put GBA hardware into a cell phone. Not likely but it would be interesting.

[Darunia]

The day someone makes a handheld that runs on mini gamecube-like DVDs and offers crisp LQD graphics is the day the market is truly won.

[A Black Falcon]

I disagree. A handheld like that would only be the next Nomad -- a good idea killed by terrible battery life... CD drives take a LOT of power... unless there's some phenominal revolution in batteries really soon... and that's not going to happen. No, CD drives aren't going to get systems with 10+ hours of battery life any time soon... solidstate is needed for any long-lasting portable.

[Dark Jaguar]

And that's a fact. Why do you think Nintendo has avoided internal lighting until now? Until this point, internal lights have been huge power consumers. Sorry, but as much as we would all like high capacity and cheap format for portable games, it won't happen if it means moving parts. Aside from that, there's also the wear and tear. Moving parts are more susceptible to damage than non-moving parts, and on a portable, that means the system will wear out more quickly. Then there's orientation. Currently, even drives that claim to be able to do a vertical can't do so for long without some sort of alignment problem or other break down (*cough* PS2), so how do you expect a drive to be able to take being held in all sorts of directions, from straight horizontal and straight vertical, to everthing in between and other stuff like being hung upsidedown. It's just something that won't last long.

[OB1]

The SP has an external light, actually.

And here is another interesting part of this whole Wonderswan death thing:

Nintendo/Bandai Relations Grow
Bandai, the largest toy maker in Japan, has recently announced plans to limit Swan Crystal production and shift their focus to GBA development.

“We decided to make a change at our hand-held game business after WonderSwan sales failed to meet our expectations,” Takasu said.
Last year, Bandai made the announcement that they were making games for Nintendo's home console. Now, after testing waters with the release of their first game on the GBA, they are working on three to four others to be released by Fall 03.
Bandai has also reported their highest earnings in over a year, resulting in investor enthusiam. Due largely to the sales of DBZ: Budokai which has hit 1.9 million units sold worldwide. The game will be arriving for GC at the end of August. (jr)

Source: Bloomberg

Haha! So first they destroy the Wonderswan and then they get the makers of the system to make GBA games! They're like an evil empire, Nintendo.

[Great Rumbler]

Even Square wasn't enough to save the Wonderswan.

Square should port over the Wonderswan ports of the FF games to the GBA.

[Dark Jaguar]

OB1, you MEANT to make the correction that the SP has a front light instead of a backlight. THAT'S the superior intellect claim you WANTED to make. Instead, I only said internal, and you goofed and made the wrong claim that it's external. No biggy. I'm sure at some point the correction kinda becomes a reflex. Anyway, it most assuredly is internal because the light is inside the system.

As for the Wonderswan remakes of FF1 and FF2, those are already getting ported to PS1. However, FF3, which I now see why it was cancelled for WSC, is still on it's way to GBA.

[OB1]

This is the proclamation of superior intellect from me?

The SP has an external light, actually.

You've got one mighty inferiority complex, DJ. :p

It's a common misconception and I've responded to things like that so many times that it's become a reflex, as you suggested.

[Great Rumbler]

I believe what DJ is trying to say is that the light is inside the console and not like an external attachement, while OB1 is trying to say that the the GBA-SP is not backlit, the light is shown of the front of the screen. That's what I got out of it anyway...

[Dark Jaguar]

It's called humor :D.

[Great Rumbler]

I think it's your style of writing, DJ, that makes it impossible to tell when you're joking and when you aren't. Or is it that you are always joking? I forget which...

[Dark Jaguar]

Oh oh, sorry GR, I meant that as a response to OB1, who thought my whole psychological thing was serious I think.

Anyway, I'm sure OB1 is fully aware of what I meant, and I am certainly aware of what HE meant (as my post indicated).

[OB1]

Two can play your game, boyee.