ten41

NEW GBA IS MAJOR UPGRADE
www.computerandvideogames.com

It's got four facing buttons, a flip-top and back-lit screen and a brand new battery according to British sources. In. Here. Right. Now

According to senior British sources, the new, long-rumoured back-lit Game Boy Advance is likely to have a significantly different design over the current model and is likely to hit Japan before the end of the year for around 10,000 yen (55).
Sketches currently doing the rounds suggest the new machine has four facing buttons, two shoulder buttons and a flip-top reminiscent of the later Game & Watch consoles of the 80s.

As previously heavily rumoured, the hardware will be back-lit, although new information today tells that the battery for the machine will be a slim-line affair similar to that used in mobile phones, providing around 10 hours of play time. Further, the new GBA is said to include a new, more powerful processor. An increase in onboard RAM is also possible.

Nintendo refused to comment on the issue today.

The news arrives on the back of reports that Nintendo is to make a large announcement in Japan sometime this month to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the company.

Senior insiders confirmed recently that Nintendo Europe is currently testing a new model of GBA, although the machine was thought to be simply a back-lit version of the current hardware until today. A European launch has been rumoured for next Easter.

zig

It doesn't really make sense to me that they'd basically screw over the millions who bought a GBA by releasing it's successor this soon. A back-lit one wouldn't surprise me though. Either way I haven't bought a GBA yet so I'm not too bothered

Aghama

No way.

Trigger

Hasn't the GBA been out for like 2 or 3 years? It's time for a new handheld I think. GBA came out shortly after Gameboy Color, didn't it? I don't think this is screwing anybody over. It'll probably play GBA games and since it's backlit - it might actually be worth a purchase for me. If this turns out to be true, that is.

zig

The GBA has only been out a bit over a year I'm pretty sure.

kvrdave

If it were true, I doubt it would be that cheap. I would expect double what they said.

Josh H

GBA came out in the U.S. in June of 2001. There's no way a successor comes out anytime soon.

I could see a backlit version of the GBA, but that's it.

jeffdsmith

Releasing this would go against every Nintendo buisness practice seen to this point, and fly in the face of Nintendo's gaming philosphy. I doubt it.

Trigger

How so? It's just a GBA with a backlight and better batteries and extra buttons to be taken advantage of in new games down the line. I don't even see why you people are so upset about it? I think it would be cool cuz there's no way I'd plunk down for a GBA unless or until it had a backlight. The price thing is a little fishy and the second time I read the article it looked even more fake, but it would still be cool I think.

Aghama

Extra buttons and a better processor would mean the new games wouldn't work in the GBA.

No way.

zig

It'd be the same as if Sony released the PS3 earlier this year. It would alienate your current huge userbase, and probably end up in the failure of the new product(who wants to buy a console that will get replaced in a year, even if it is a handheld console) as well as the downfall of the original product.

joshd2012

Yeah, releasing a new system this soon would be a major killer. Sega learned that. I doubt Nintendo will make the same mistake.

khai

GBC was around for awhile.. And it wasn't as drastic as a change as this is over GBA.

Remember how it went? Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Color. The first two were pretty much the same. The Gameboy Color was the same, but with color in game and in design.

I'm just confused on the extra buttons of this new model. Will only newer games take advantage? I'd love to use those buttons on fighting games and Mario Kart.

And how accurate is http://www.computerandvideogames.com on rumors?

ten41

I don't know. I got the link to the site from gamers.com which is electronic gaming monthly and a few other mags site.

Groucho

There was three years between GBC and GBA. It's been only a year and a half since GBA came out.

jeffdsmith

First I'm not upset.

To address your question: The backlight is fine. I believe that one is in the works and will be released. The part that goes against Nintendo's buisness practices is the releasing of a new product with the current one already selling like mad. It would slice their user base, making the old GBA obsolete for games that utilized the new buttons. This is is very un-nintendo who historically supports and sucks every cent out of a platform before upgrading. This is the major issue.

Part of their gaming philosphy I'm refering to is how they have always demanded that the GBA have high portability and ease of use. Moving to a rechargable battery doesn't make sense. While I think it would be nice it keeps gamers from simpley picking up a pack of batteries wherever. Now a conscious act of remembering to charge the unit would be required. Perhaps Nintendo sees this as less of a problem now since many people have accustomed to being a slave to charging their cell phones. I'm just saying it goes against their past actions.

It could happen, but again, I doubt it.

I think the GBA should have had two more buttons, that was a screw up. A backlight will be nice when it's available. Rechargable battery makes little sense to me now.

darkside

I think the backlight is the only true part of this story, but we will see.

lordzeppelin

I think it's all true. It's just a redesign, not an upgrade.

Think of it this way...the GBA already has 4 buttons...so say nintendo just moved them to the face instead of the split shoulder-face design.

As far as the backlighting is concerned, that's nothing new, it's been in the works for a year now.

Trigger

You're right - Nintendo isn't prone to making mistakes...





Anyway - I don't see this being a major upgrade for the GBA - the backlight is great. Solid rechargable battery is super. Extra buttons - I guess as long as they don't ever get used by any games, everyone will still be happy... it could just mean that new games might say "Super GBA Enhanced" and may have extra features that use the other buttons, but the games will still work on the GBA. Faster processor means nothing. Flip top cover means nothing as well.

I mean nothing here except for the extra buttons is anything more than a facelift and it's not like it would mean that the GBA is obsolite by any stretch. The GBA would still sell like hotcakes and this Super GBA would sell a ton as well (even I would by one probably) and new games that come out would work on both. I don't see how this could hurt Nintendo in any way. I don't know how long Game Boy Color was around before the GBA came out, but it wasn't very long. They seem like the same thing to me, but a different shape... I'm sure the GBA games have much better graphics, but alot of people here will attest to the fact that they don't care about graphics.

spainlinx0

I bought the GBA and pretty much only use it for Animal Crossing because of a lack of backlighting. I would buy it, even though I bought the GBA the day it was released.

Mattalos

I have a backlit GBA already -- I guess I'm good for awhile.

Aghama

So extra buttons that are essentially useless? What would be the point in this?

Except that any game designed for a faster processor would not work with the old GBA. I suppose it's possible that it would soley be a clock speed increase, with no architecture changes whatsoever, but then you'd get games that would experience slowdown on the old GBA.

No way.

jeffdsmith

The "rumor" also includes more RAM as well. I was basically going to say what Aghama said.

goLUCKY

Mine backlit already, but like to see more classic super nes games released. NHL97

Trigger

Oh c'mon... "whine whine... the extra buttons will make my GBA useless, waaah..." "whine whine... the extra buttons ARE useless, waaah..." Make up your mind.

The point? Like I said - maybe some new games would have some enhanced features that might take advantage of the extra buttons like turbo or something. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Well, I was figuring the idea would be that it's just a clock speed increase - hence "faster processor"... I doubt they would change the architecture. I also doubt that they could make a game that would have "slowdown".