Nintendo's Press Conference

[Great Rumbler]

I don't think the Gameboy is doomed, I just think there's a good chance that Sony will take the number one spot away from Nintendo in the handheld market.

And I still don't think that's going to happen. I'll try to explain my posistion a bit here: The PSX took the number 1 spot because a lot of the major third parties left Nintendo [some of them completely], on top of that Nintendo stuck with cartridges which certaintly didn't help, and they had a horrible launch. Here's why I don't think that's going to happen again: [1.] I don't think the developers are going to leave the GBA like they did with the N64, [2.] I don't think medium is going to matter as much with handhelds as did for the consoles and Nintendo has said they're looking into to using DVDs with their handheld, and [3.] I don't think the GBA's succesor is going to have the same kind of launch that the N64 had.

Also the N64 couldn't use its predecessor as a springboard to boost sales as the PS2 did and the GBA's successor possibly can. You also need to take into account that "Game Boy" has been a very strong name for 14 years and int that time I'm sure it has developed a large and very loyal fanbase.

The PSX didn't start becoming extremely popular until they started to get all of the big games.

Right, and I don't see the big developers leaving Nintendo behind [at least completely] for the PSP.

If the PSP launches with the rumored FF VII-2 then it's a sure bet that it'll become a huge hit.

Maybe.

Another reason why the PSP could become more successful than the Gameboy is because the PSP will most likely attract a whole new crowd to the handheld market, something that they did with the PlayStation. That is Sony's greatest ally: the casual gamer.

I think the Gameboy has already brought in a lot of casual gamers. The Gameboy is very popular amoung ALL different kinds of people, its even a fashion symbol in some countries!!