Nintendo to discontinue Game Boy line?

Can't disagree. The DS has been a welcome hit, and ideas change. How could you not want more DS games over GBA games?

If this were Fark, there'd be an "Obvious" tag. :-)

uhm, he said he wouldn't make another GBA, but there might be another Game Boy in the series, like a next-gen PSP killer with a single screen.

It's safe to say the Game Boy Advance is at its life's end, though..

Looks like the GBA got replaced by the DS. That's fine, but I suspect they will continue to support the GameBoy in some way.

Well, what are you gonna do? The DS is that popular and has ignited a new philiosophy from Nintendo that is carrying into the hame market. Releasing a new GB would be hypocritical of them. Marketing ploy or not, it was a very smart decision to keep the GB line alive in case the DS fell on its face. GB is really no longer needed. Which is very, very weird for me to type.... Oh well, Nintendo will be getting plenty of more DS lovin from me over the next months and years.

Everyone knew this was coming.

I knew this would happen. Once the DS started getting hugely popular, I knew it would make zero sense for Nintendo to release a next-gen handheld that wasn't compatible with all of the awesome DS games available. Nintendo has had better first-party support for the DS than they've ever had for the Gameboy. It's clearly the future for their handhelds now that the big gamble has proven so successful.

nothing made by Nintendo is gone forever. Besides, there's still a market for GBAs and related software here in North America (and profit still to be had).

They just won't do anything *new* with the gameboy advanced line

NOOOOooooooooo!

I dunno. GBA was good. DS is going to succeed it. Gah. Nintendo spoils us.
actually I'm now a 'meh'. Because all the hit franchises will come to the DS from now on.

Gonna have to rebuy myself a Micro, and another SP and Micro in mint condition. just incase one of my Nintendo machines breaks. Would be a first for me!

He didn't say that a new Gameboy would never be developed. I think everyone is reading into this too much. There is no competiton for the GBA right now. The PSP is rivaled by the DS but the GBA is kinda in a class in it's own. I am still discovering games that I have missed on the GBA. I think we will see a GBA2 someday but it would crowd Nintendo's market right now.

I'll miss the Game Boy line, but I am looking forward to getting a DS Lite too.

if Microsoft is planning to enter the portable market. Nintendo should at least start planning/designing on the next widescreen, touchscreen portable game device. It's always good to have an answer and push back.

This is just an open invitation to redesign the DS Lite "now with GBA multiplayer functionality!" a year from now.

The DS was ALWAYS the next gameboy!!! That "3 pillars" bs was just so they have something to say in case the touchscreen / dual screen "gimmick" flopped. Do you really expect the next gameboy to go back to a single screen with only standard button input?

man what the HELL is wrong with joystiq? every nintendo related article has a negative tone! wtf, i used to actually like joystiq, but now i will never visit this site again in my life. you people are ridiculous. the difference between your intentions on ps3 and xbox360 are obvious to even a child. with nintendo you talk about what its lacking, what it doesnt do, and when its good you brush it off. with the others you LOOK for the good and regard the bad as something that has time to be fixed. man wtf joystiq is pissing a lot of people off. i am boycotting all your sites, this journalism is down right ridiculous and immature.

I always considered the DS a successor the Game Boy line, but Nintendo said what they had to say as a failsafe. The DS seems to innovative to top with something resembling the Game Boys.

Gameboy Micro was $50 on Amazon today.

I'll bet that the next iteration will be DSA (DS Advance) which will be an improved DS and not just a smaller/slimmer DS. Isn't it how the progression of the Gameboy came about?

Ever since it was showcased in a BBC made for public television sitcom, As Time Goes by episode it was kind of down hill from there.

there won't be a new gameboy until nintendo partners with apple to deliver a gameboy ipod hybrid. speaking of which, the day after i sent that idea in, a joystiq blogger posted that idea without attributing it to me. gotta love those guys. thanks.

I have a feeling that if Sony was in a similar situation, more people would be crying foul.

I want my portable GameCube already!!! Come on!

Its smart of Nintendo to no start a new Gameoy for quite some time. If anything, discontinuing the GBA, while making the SP amd Micro 50 each would just make then affordable cash sources that bask in their glory. The DS needs at least 3 more years before its time for a new counsole.

@#11
Wtf are you talking about? They're reporting what Iwata says, how is that biased?

You people, stop crying bias every time something is printed that you disagree with. I'm fully aware that I am Nintendo's bitch, and even I admit that the whole 'three-pillar' thing was probably a ploy, a just-in-case thing.

they just released gameboy micro last year?

The next gameboy = the next DS
They're merging to 2.

When you get a DS, you get a GB too.

The new 2 in 1 portable machine could be called Dwii or Gii :D

Seeing as the DS is so popular and successful (and plays GBA games anyway), the GameBoy is not really as marketable anymore. However, the GameBoy name is very powerful in gaming and I wonder if Nintendo should retire it forever. Perhaps when completely redesigning the next DS (not merely upgrading now), it should have GCN-level power, a "cart reader" allowing you to load any game from the old GameBoy library into memory (a sort of virtual console for old GameBoy games) and then name the machine GameBoy DS.

It sounds to me like Iwata said NOTHING about discontinuing the Game Boy Advance or the Game Boy line. He just said they wont make a new version of the GBA in the near future because of the success of the DS. The GBA SP still sells a ton of units every month and how much more can you improve upon perfection? Not much, the micro flopped.

Additionaly, just because the GBA wasnt on display doesnt mean its gone, developers are still making games for it and there are some announced titles in nintendo's E3 press packet. Nintendo chose to show off the newest, most innovative stuff instead of the GBA...so what?

Agree with most of the comments here, he may simply be talking about not releasing another iteration of the Game Boy Advance. Which is probably for the best, I'm not made of money.

So no new gameboy iteration just yet then. Nevermind, Mother 3 seems to be showing there is good life left in the GBA atm.

Yes i too can see DS-Advance being a new brand name in the future too

#5, everyone was actually insistent that a single screened non touch interface no mic version of another effin' gameboy was sure to be released by Nintendo. And everyone was retarded. I've been harping on this for a year, and it's nice to have finally heard it from the horses mouth, GAMEBOY IS DEAD FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! No one WANTS a portable gaming system with media functionality, as proven by Hollywood deciding to cut UMD releases. Need web surfing? DS will do it with Opera soon. If people want to be able to rip downloaded movies onto a portable gameboy, well, sorry, but studios don't get paid that way, and Nintendo has long been very gaming-centric, so Nintendo doesn't give a shit.

As for another version of the already out advance, Iwata spoke of a "next-generation version", i.e. a brand new system. GameBOY=children. Today's Nintendo=EVERYONE.

Actually, I think the "ploy" is the other way around. I think it was more a case of "Just in case DS succeeded" rather than "Just in case DS failed".

If you look back the last couple of years, Nintendo seemed unsure of DS's success as it was a very different hardware. It makes more sense to believe that Nintendo put out DS as an experiment, while sticking to GameBoy line as their main path. So if anything, DS was the ploy. Not GameBoy.

Now that DS ended up doing well, they may abandon GameBoy line.