It's just not going to happen.

The most drastic possiblility would be a back lit GBA, with the L and R buttons moved to the face for easier access.

Adding 2 buttons (in addition to a, b and the triggers) would be pointless unless no games utilized all 6 buttons. And that would mean that the new games would be unplayable in the GBA.

Same for a faster processor, or more ram. They would be useless unless the new games took advantage of them, which would again mean that the new games would be unplayable in the GBA.

No way is Nintendo going to do that and split they handheld market.


Trigger, there was 3 years between the GBC and GBA, as posted above by Groucho. The GBA's only been out for a year and a half.

source: http://www.planetgamecube.com/rumors...=profile&id=25

possible specs:

- A new shape, to accommodate the following design changes

- FOUR buttons on the face of the unit, in addition to the two "shoulder" buttons

- Back-lit screen (though probably using some sort of front-lighting solution, rather than a true "backlight")

- Flip top over the screen, "reminiscent of the later Game & Watch"

- A proprietary slim-line battery (presumably rechargable Lithium-Ion) providing 10 hours of play

- Faster processor

- More RAM

- A vagina

- A sale price of 10,000 Yen in Japan ($81 in the US)


As long as I can see the screen better than now, I'll be happy.

"- A vagina"

Awesome!!!!!!!11!!!!1111

hmmm ... interesting ... does the vagina vibrate .. or just sit there? i guess either way not bad for $81 bux

Will it be backwards compatible with older GBA games?

I wasn't whining, I was politely saying the idea was silly. It has happened for controllers for consoles before (genesis, psx), but that's a far cry from having to buy an entirely new game system.

...huh? So if the games run the same on the old GBA as the new one, what exactly is the point of a faster processor?

I was just clownin'... I didn't mean anything by it.

As for the processor - it's probably just a selling point. Cheaper manufacturing processes meant that it was cheaper for them to go to a faster chip rather than keep getting the old chips from the old source. I don't know. A 600mhz PC will run the same games that an 800Mhz PC will.

Increasing the clock rate for no reason would only drain more power. If they somehow had these faster, cheaper chips, they would just underclock them anyway.

Oh, and since I forgot last time,

No way.
No way.

Not if they shrunk it.

Okay, but if they can shrink the "new" one, why not the old one extending battery life and maintaining 1 platform. What would the advantage be of going with the faster processor if games arn't going to utilize it? Loading of games is already non-exsistant for the GBA, it is a cart based system.

Increasing the clock rate for no reason would only drain more power.

Exactly, it's absolutely pointless to put in a faster processor if they're not going to take advantage of it. And they can't take advantage of it because that would mean screwing over the millions of people who bought the GBA.

It's not a selling point either. The typical GBA gamer isn't a tech geek that cares about clock speed. Namely because portable gaming's never been about having top of the line graphics. It's just about playing games on the go, or with the GBA, being able to play old school style games that aren't available on the consoles.

I mean you don't even hear much about the processors, "bits" or other tech stuff about the consoles anymore. It just doesn't really factor in any more in the console world. It's not like the 16 bit era when companies like sega were touting "blast processing." The games seem to be the selling point now.

If this is true, I am so there. My wife imported one of the special Pokemon GBAs from Japan last year and still plays it, but I haven't been much into gaming for a while (at least not since getting into DVDs). My main thing has always been the backlighting, one of the best features about the GameGear.

As for the possibily updating the processor/RAM I'm pretty sure that the GBC was slightly upgraded over the regular GB and after a while, companies started releasing GBC games only that would not play on the old black and green unit.

I would see this as Nintendo rectifying the mistakes of the first go around, the backlighting should have been there all along.

I want to put a Backlight in my GBA but im not very handy that way. Dont want to mess it up. I play at home so ill sit near a light :-)

capt

Guy at EB says they have heard some rumors and its just a backlight and the L and R buttons being moved near the A and B buttons and possibly a new and better control pad. He had not heard there would be a new processor added.

Rumors like this are so ridiculous.

It makes absolutely no business sense whatsoever for Nintendo. Why would they mess with the most profitable piece of hardware on the market right now? There are plenty of after market lighting solutions for the GBA and I sincerely doubt that there is a huge market of people that will only buy a GBA if Nintendo adds two buttons.

Really. Just because some people want to see it happen doesn't make it so.

Just because you don't want to see it happen doesn't mean it won't either.

Doubtful that they'll change their big money maker...at least yet. Backlight yes...more buttons, processor change no.

-Lucky

I never said I didn't want to see it happen. Please don't put words in my mouth.

I wish there was a backlit version available and if it is true that Nintendo would allow current users to upgrade for $16, I'd do that in a heartbeat.

How is it intelligent to release a new version of their most successful product in such a short time frame? From the "specs" it seems clear to me that this would be a different machine and that games developed for it would not work as well, if at all, on the original GBA or that developers would have to ignore the additional buttons, RAM, processor speed etc. thereby negating any benefits of a new unit.

Why would Nintendo intentionally split a thriving market? How has that worked out for video game companies in the past? How would it be financially feasible to replace millions of GBA units with newer and certainly more expensive machines for only $16 a piece?

All we have now is an unsubstantiated rumor and a Photoshop mock-up.

They are not going to split their market. I'm betting on an improved version of the original. Backlight and moving the buttons from the top to near the A and B would not really be a new GBA. Just a different version of the same system. The processor and other stuff we will have to wait on, but I'm betting that will prove false.

Guys - the GBA is like pokemon - they could release a new one every year with a new peekachew on it each time and parents would buy one for their kids every christmas. It's a cheap little device that plays games - it's like 60 or 70 bucks isn't it? I mean - I seriously don't see what the big deal is. It's been out a year and a half... They release new cars every year too... the '98 Jeep Grand CHerokee had a 5.9L V8 and then a year later, they totally redesigned the car... everyone who bought a 98 was screwed. please.

You may want to rethink that post. The people that bought the 98 were not "screwed". They may have lost out on some new features that the new vehicle had, but the car still ran on the same gas. The car still is/was able to do the task it was sold to do.

Also, the reason a new model comes out every year is because of competition. If Jeep had a 99% market dominiance of SUV's and no one was releasing any SUV's to compete with them I doubt you would see Jeep overhaul their vehicle.

I know for a fact that the resaon the Grand Cherokee was redesigned was because it was such an old platform that needed upgrading to compete.

Completley different scenarios.

The people that bought the original GBA are not "screwed". They may have lost out on some new features that the new GBA will have, but the original GBA still runs the same games it did before. The original GBA still is/was able to do the task it was sold to do.

So that makes me like one of those guys that installs all the aftermarket parts on a car, because I already installed the Afterburner on mine, and won't upgrade to a new one, if the only difference is a backlight.