Microsoft to Introduce GBA-competitor?

An anonymous reader writes "It seems that Nintendo will have a competition in the handheld market soon. ZDnet has an article that says Microsoft's plan to introduce a 'Media Pad' which includes among other things 'serve as a portable game player in conjunction with Microsoft's Xbox video game console.' So I guess the news I heard regarding their interest in the portable industry will soon come true, the question is, can they take the crown from Nintendo?"

Comments

StrongARM is Intel

[johnjones]

Intel got exclusive rights to StrongARM

since GBA is just a ARM7 + custom sound off the APB then it would not be hard to do the same sort of thing

differant enough that nitendo cant sue and developers have to recompile

but easy enought that you could have a compiler switch do all the work (except the sound and that could be redone easy enough)

really its just a way for intel to push StrongARM and StronARM2 aka Xscale

regards

john jones

Unhappy developers

[damieng]

While Nintendo currently have the hand-held crown it stopped accepting developers for the GBA a long time ago claiming that 400 was enough. From the handful of decent titles I'd guess it isn't.

Microsoft will at least get those developers wanting to do handheld games but blocked-out by Nintendo.

Like the GBA it would almost certainly use an ARM chip as that's the only supported processor for Windows 'CE' 2002.

Size?

[b1t r0t]

Given the size of the X-Box controller, will this be another controller that only works for people with hands the size of Andre the Giant's hands?

Nintendo has one shot at life. Nintendo read this!

[Odinson]

I believe Nintendo is about to recieve an ass wooping. Goodbye Mario, it was fun. Assuming that the there is only room for two consoles, Xbox will get the slot. Xbox has two things that Game cube dosn't. DVD playback capability, and an easy, low effort revenue stream for successful Win PC game makers. So how can Nintendo win? By making it a draw. Nintendo has a superior brand name recognition in this relm, which always wins in a draw.

What could Microsofts weakness be? What do SONY and Microsoft have in common that Nintendo does not?

Their first priority is to DRM and content control. Microsoft is betting on BIG deals with the RIAA and MPAA member companies. Put simply they can't piss them off.

So what should Nintendo do? Simple. Modify the gamecube to play DVDs from any region. Make sure the DVD decoding is totally controled by one EASILY removable chip that is accessable by simply lifting a simple panel.

Won't the MPAA sue? You bet they will and it will be great for Nintendo. When the MPAA sues Nintendo they should convert to region based chips to signify cooperation.

This is a quadrupal win for Nintendo.

• They get free advertising as the "hackers" console
• They have an easily upgradable (to region free) chip
• They have a referance chip to reverse engineer. If Nintendo does it right there will be a half dozen aftermarket upgrades in a month.
• They have plausable deniability.

Now the DVD argument is moot. And the vaster game base from Xbox is countered by a hassle free, region free, dvd player built into Game Cube. Kick in the name recognition and Nintendo can relax and watch Microsoft DRM itself out of existance.

I'd buy a GameCube DVD, wouldn't you?

Nintendo IS selling them

[alexhmit01]

I dropped my $30 or so for Super Mario Advanced, which is a graphically improved Mario Brothers (yeah, the OLD arcade game that got rereleased on the NES later), and a slightly tweaked Super Mario Brothers 2.

Super Mario Advanced is the same Mario Brothers game for multiplayer, with Super Mario World as the mario game.

Mario Kart Advanced is a rerelease of the SNES Super Mario Kart.

I bought Dragon Warrior I & II for the Game Boy Color (to play on my GBA), rereleases of the old NES games.

The NES/SNES games are being rereleased for the GBC/GBA. Some GB (pre-color) are still on the market. I almost grabbed my first generation ones when visiting my folks, but figured I'd rather not sour their memory by replaying them. (Some NES/SNES games have had their memory ruinned for me by emulation)...

Unlike other companys, Nintendo doesn't truly abandon software... they rerelease it for handhelds later on. I'm sure that the Game Boy Super Advanced will be 3D and have N64 ports, and the Game Boy Super Duper Advanced will have some Game Cube ports.

Regardless, as another post set, the GBA is a great handheld for older gamers. It has 2D side-scrollers, RPGs, etc. All the games (and STYLE of games) that you loved on a NES/SNES are being released here, while the gaming market has moved on.

My parents loved the Atari, and would play my NES while I was asleep and found it frustrating. They couldn't handle the finger twitching of the NES.

I find that my Gamecube pushes my reflexes, and I doubt that I'll be able to keep up for much longer. When my kids are playing their systems 2 generations from now, I'm going to feel over the hill, while I did really well on my NES/SNES/SMS/S-Genny... N64 I was average, and now I'm over the hill.

Oh well,
Alex

P.S. If you live in a city and commute on a subway... GBA is great.

Robber Barons and Anti-trust Laws

[Alien54]

I am ever so reminded of the "Robber Barons" of the late 1800s. They were not brought under control until the Anti-trust legislation introduced during the 1910 - 1920 period.

At this rate, we'll need another dozen years or so before appropriate legislation is forthcoming. Bill Gates as the Rockerfeller of the Desktop is not a pleasant a picture as some would like. And yet there are many who are sentimental and nostalgic for those times, which were not bad if you were upperclass.

Re:Nintendo has one shot at life. Nintendo read th

[Ewan]

Nintendo has already sold several million gamecubes both in the USA and Asia, the launch sales alone have ensures that Nintendo will do well from the cube.

Why on earth would nintendo redo the cube from the start to include DVD playback (everything from a new box up), bringing with it the rampant piracy problems the ps1 did suffer from the and ps2 is starting to have.

Nintendo need only one thing to carry on doing well for years to come - games, and they make great ones at nice profit margins for them.

Microsoft are spending $500Million at marketing the X-Box? Sony are still out-selling them today with the 18month old PS2 selling at the same pricepoint as X-box, and the Gamecube is outselling it worldwide too im sure since Nintendo successfully carried out a launch in both Asia and the USA when Microsoft obviously hasn't heard of other continents yet.

People forget the largest computer games market in the world is Japan, and there the X-box hasn't made a scratch yet. It will be 2 years or more before anyone knows the real winners in this round of the console wars, but right now the winner is Sony - profitable with PS2, everything from this point onwards is just extra cash for them. Whether Microsoft managed to scrape back the initial outlay they have done is probable, but not a certainty.

Why would it be a surprise?

[mikethegeek]

Though this device appears to be more of a PDA than a game machine, it makes sense from MS's pov to come out with sich a thing.

I'm betting a version of this, configured more as a game handheld will follow.

Microsoft's domination of the software industry depends on their being able to cut off the "air supply" of compeditors. Leaving the handheld market to Nintendo gives them revenue that they can use to fund their competition (game cube) to the MS X Box.

It's just an application of MS's playbook in the PC industry. This is why MS makes Mac apps, since people DO use Macs, they MUST have them using MS Office, not another app that might end up ported to `Doze and compete.

This is why MS is fighting Linux tooth and nail. They can't afford it getting too large, so that it's a big enough market to fund non-MS app software development.