Nintendo: the Game Boy has one more holiday left in it

There is a future, if they keep right on maintaining backwards compatibility and an easily achievable price point. I think they've done a good job of both.

I don't think that the Game Boy brand will end, because i think the next DS will be called somthing like the 'Game Boy DS', and will merge the product lines

I think the DS killed the Game Boy.

Funny isn't it? Despite how many companies in the past (SEGA, NEC/Hudson, SNK, Bandai, etc.) tried to "kill" the Game Boy line, one finally succeeded... And it was Nintendo themselves.

Granted, the DS has yet to outsell the GBA (including all models of each system, it's 27M DS vs. 76.79M GBA), but this is probably due to the GBA being several years older than DS.

Don't get me wrong. GBA has great games. But most developers (well, the GOOD ones anyways; not the guys who make cruddy cartoon-based games and whatnot) have abandonned it in favor of DS.

A successor to the GBA would be a TERRIBLE business move. Doing so would unnecessarily spread Nintendo's focus on their products too thinly. We haven't heard about Nintendo's "3rd pillar" strategy in while so I'm sure they already know this.

My conclusion: Focus on a successor for the DS lite instead.

While my kids (6 & 9) are both nuts about the DS, my eldest son still wishes there would be a Gameboy replacement -- although he does not play any of his Gameboy games any more. When I point this out to him and ask why he would want a follow-on Gameboy, his main comment is that the DS (even the lite) is to big to be stuffed in a pocket (or at least too big to be stuffed in a kid' pocket and not be bugged by it).

He was spoiled by how small the SP was. Perhaps nintendo needs to make a DS micro! I am sure if nintendo had not spoiled us all with the SP (one of my fav industrial designs of all time) there would be zero interest (versus 'a bit more than zero' interest) in any further Gameboys

It would be smart for them to just merge gba and ds (they basically did) cause then gba players would move on to the ds since it would be the new game boy.

I only recently traded in my New Screen GBA SP, Micro, and about a ton and a half of old games for a DS Lite (Onyx).
(They wouldn't take my GBC because the rear label wore off.)
I felt a small twinge at first, as the GB platform is the only one I've really stayed loyal to over the years.

That all went away after I started playing my new DS Lite.

I'm glad I kept about a half-dozen of my favorite GBA carts. Aside from that I'm not regretting a thing.
The DS Lite is a more-than-worthy successor to the Game Boy dynasty.

That being said, I think they are spot-on about keeping the GBA SP around.

There are probably millions of used GBA SPs out there, not to mention the craptacular original GBAs.
There are also TONS of really great (and gigatons of not-so-great) GB,GBC, and GBA games out there to be had as well!
If I hadn't already lived it I'd almost be ready to delve back into it again! (steady)

Not to mention the fact that it's a great way to teach good care habits to the new gamers.
(If ya don't charge it, it's gonna die in the car!)

So let the DS Lite step up and take the lead.
The GBA platform has earned it's cred.
For it, the war is over.

Ya'know Don.
That's the same reason I don't use my DS or PSP on my commute. The GBA Micro can fit COMFORTABLY in my pocket and with the gba movie player (I'll have to get the M3 eventually since the gbamp is discontinued; did that have something to do with lik-sang being killed)I don't have to carry around a book and mp3 player too. With the 1gig card in it, I have plenty of games, music, books, pics, and movies (what I use it the least for) that I couldn't get through all of it (not even counting the books) in 3 full charges. And that thing is good on power too.

Like you said. I hope they keep improving the gba. But if not, they got to come out with a much smaller DS. Even smaller than the lite.