Game Boy Evolution? Sounds pretty cool to me! I am already looking forward to a hand held system with sharper 3D graphics. Not sure if it is easy to follow on a tiny screen though.
If Nintendo is going to introduce tiny DVD’s for the Game Boy, maybe it will be possible for future Game Boys to play GameCube games. This is of course a smart move, because I think the possibility to support old Game Boy games will become harder and harder. With this in mind the Game Boy will be supported by many titles in the future even if old games won’t be compatible anymore.

As for the Cube, specs are nice, but games are more important in my opinion. People will get bored if they will only see the same games but with better graphics (Did I say I was looking forward to sharper 3D graphics??). I hope Nintendo will come up with new ideas, like they are trying to do with the Nintendo DS. That’s the reason why I still only play Nintendo.
Caiin – 04-21-04

If Nintendo's focus is gonna be improved, simplified gameplay elements, and not better graphics what will be the use of the GBE/G5? Two machines for the same goal? Since graphics aren't top priority any more?

Aside from that I wonder how Nintendo will deliver seperate gaming experiences with the NDS and the GBE. Personally I was hoping for a 2D focussed GBE and a "different" NDS. Looks like the GBE will just be a portable 'Cube. Though slightly less powerful. Shame....
Hidde – 04-21-04

Rumors are really confusing, but so is Nintendo. Nintendo did their most confusing thing yet by announcing the DS system, but then leaving out all the details :)

Now nobody is sure what it's supposed to be, which throws the intent of the Gameboy Advance's successor into the dark as well.

Each system has had rather small, important upgrades in the past. With the edition of the Advance SP's backlight, just about everything is covered now except for better graphics...

I wouldn't mind a basic 3D engine (to better support games like maybe a possible port of Final Fantasy Tactics, so you can simply rotate the battlefield) on the next one, maybe even a truly good 3D engine if they can pull that off. But I've got a bad feeling that the Gameboy Evolution just isn't going to be able to pull off good 3D games. I mean, take a hands-on look at Need For Speed Underground for the Gameboy Advance SP. Maybe I'm just terrible at the game, but I spent 30 minutes trying to play it when I was at my friend's house (he owns it), and I was having the hardest time seeing the track. Maybe it's just because the Advance SP wasn't meant to play 3D games that well. Either way, when you get to high speeds, it's just about impossible to tell when the turns are coming up. The screen isn't big enough to include enough detail. FPS's will probably suffer similarly. Maybe new hardware will help this along, but I still think that screen size is going to be a big factor in the outcome of 3D games. Playing Gamecube games on a Gameboy? MAYBE they can pull off that technology, but I'd have to be desperate to play a G3 game on a Gameboy's screen. You'd have so much less visibility that it would increase the difficulty of any game tenfold.

Also I'm a bit disappointed about the switch to discs. Sure, I know, I know, they can hold more, but I like the durability of cartridges. Maybe I'm just a klutz, but it's so much easier to accidentally screw up your CD compared to an SNES or N64 game.

I guess I'm just being a skeptic about this stuff, but I think Nintendo is doing good so far with the "slow but steady" approach to upgrading the Gameboy line. I think the DS may actually be the real future of Nintendo's portable gaming line. In several years, the Gameboy may just slowly die off...
Robrain – 04-21-04

i can understand that nintendo wants a power console. When all parts are adda[pted to eachother you can get the max out of everything thus not only making better grafix but they can also make more interactive map designs, something that i missed on the gamecube. but they can also use the power to finaly add all the idea's they wanted to add but couldn't just like wind waker the idea of putting wind in a game wasn't ment for the n64 simply becose it wasn't powerfull enuf.

I also am someone who likes to see more games but i also want games with something new and that are chalenging and sometimes thatwould require a lot of procesing a lot of random processing can be added in a game so not everything will be the same if you do something over.

In other word with this power they can finaly make use of all the good idea's that people like shiggy has and the silicon knight have, not only will the grafix improve (not that i care so much about that) but also the gameplay can become much deeper and more intense.....i hope nintendo will make propper use of this power if this rummor is treu.
link _alchemist – 04-21-04

Huh, anyone heard of the Game Boy Enhanced, a rumour made by some guy and said it was the Game Boy succesor.

Game Boy Evolution sounds pretty much the same. And this GCNext also sounds like a speculative guess.

If you ask me this is sounding pretty fake ...
Tim_the_Wiz – 04-21-04

Although I do not believe Nintendo will make a new Game Boy backwards compatable while it is making a swich to 'cube-like disks. Better graphics than DC sounds great; considering the DC had a more suitable graphics chip than the PS2. I wonder if this is true, because when will they anounce all of these systems? Nintendo is already presenting 3 systems (NGC,NDS,GBA) lots of DS titles and a very good 'cube line-up for E3. Perhaps a Game Boy NEXT announcement would fit.
I do not think Sony and/or Nintendo will announce PS3 and/or GC Next. Maybe later this year (TGS/Spaceworld anyone??). First of all I expect a handheld show and nothing is more impressing than 128-bitlike graphics on handhelds. I think the companies will focus on handhelds. Next to that, wouldn't be a system with the specs mentioned above be to expensive? Next to that do we need a new gamesystem already?? (Due there's pretty much only photorealism left like Siren and Shenmue try...)
Thymon AW – 04-21-04

There are still enough titels for Gamecube to be published left. Nintendo (Gamecube) is about gamin', we do not need systems with even beter specs for that. A new GB.. A new GB!! But what about the DS?
Thymon AW – 04-21-04

i think nintendo will be able to make 3D games good on a handheld, it's not because the n-gage sucked at 3D that the new GB will also,besides look at the first game for the psp, it looks very nice and nintendo will try to do better
romsman – 04-22-04

Yes, like most people I don't really care about graphics. They are one thing, but a little thing called Gameplay (does it ring a bell to you, MicroSoft?) is waaaay more important. You can have the most realistic looking game ever, but it can still play terribly unrealistic.

And Nintendo understands that, just see Wind Waker if you know what I mean. Not realistic, but oh-so good when you play it.
Thomper – 04-22-04

exacly and if the rumors are treu sll this power can be used for better more interactive city's and random movements for the towns poeple instead of the premade walkling secuences. this will spice up city life ;)
link_alchemist – 04-22-04

I don't believe a word of it, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
Boersma2000 – 04-22-04

The specs of the GCN are bothering me to, because as with the current Cube, Nintendo is trying to sell it for a low price. This price will go up if there is a hard drive onboard. And why do they need a hard drive? To download patches, music or movies? To save your games? Nintendo isn’t really pushing the online possibilities and saving games on a memory card doesn’t bother me at all.

So I don’t think this will happen. They can better place more internal memory onboard than make use of a hard drive. But as mentioned before, Nintendo can be surprisingly.

Caiin – 04-22-04

Alright, time for my two cents.

Firstly, the hard drive in the revolution is an excellent idea. Disks are read-only media, therefore you need a write-able media to save game data. (Which is why we have memory cards) but think, instead of buying a dozen memory cards for basic saving through-out your game system’s life, why not include a hard drive that has virtually infinite saves on it? 1 grey memory card is 2 megabits of data. The hard drive they are planning will be 15 gigabytes, meaning it’s 120 gigabits, or 120,000 megabits. You will be able to keep every single game save you put on it, and never lose your memory card, or have to delete files to make space, or corrupt your data, since hard drives are so robust.

Secondly, a hard drive can be used for virtual ram. Virtual ram is very, very useful for graphic-heavy games (like Metroid Prime). It simply loads the whole game to the hard drive, so you never have loading times mid-game (this technology was used on the gamecube, only it loaded the whole game to memory, not to a hard drive, and it only did it on select games which were usually n64 ports like animal crossing or Ocarina of Time. In fact, once the game loads up, you can even take the disk out on either of these games, and it will still run fine.)

Anyway, as for the gameboy, those rumors are fake. Nintendo is sharply against the use of disks, especially for handhelds, and since they came up with this awesome new semiconductor memory for the DS, (which holds 1 gigabit, and will only develop more by the time the next GB comes out) there is no way they would switch to disks. (Disks are actually horrible technology, the only reason Sony uses them is because they are a very cheap medium, and Sony only cares about money in their pockets, not how long something will last, or how well it will work.)

Anyway, to finish up. I am looking forward to a new gameboy, but not for a good 2-3 years.

Kaeruyaki – 08-10-04

It sounds interesting. I hope for the GBE that they'll will make a few games using 3D graphics but 2D gameplay. It would be sad to see 2D gameplay die out completely. Let's hope Nintendo is working on the successor of the GBA. As for the Nintendo DS, I'll have to do more research on the system to see if it is a buy or not.
PC – 10-20-04