Is Nintendo Planning an Online Innovation?
Nintendo, seemingly the company that wants to stay the furthest offline, may actually be planning a new, major push into the world of online gaming.
Earlier this week, Nintendo revealed a new accessory for the GameCube. That accessory, is a device which plugs into the underside High Speed Port of the Nintendo GameCube, and allows you to play Game Boy Advance games on your television. This device, which will cost about US$50, and is expected to release in North America in May 2003, is going to be backwards compatible, just like the Game Boy Advance, so Game Boy Color and Game Boy Pocket games will run on it. This device is officially titled the “Game Boy Player.”
But the true beauty of this new device is that it could open the door to online gaming with Game Boy Advance titles. The way this device is made, it will still allow you to connect your modem or network adapter to the GameCube console. What this means is that the two devices could be used in conjunction, allowing you to play Game Boy Advance titles online.
Of course, the drawback to this is that it would require you to own the Game Boy Player, the modem or network adapter, and the GameCube. It would not allow any Game Boy Advance owner to go online.
Now, the question comes up, is this what Nintendo’s big announcement will be? Or, have they already made thier big announcement by revealing the Game Boy Player device? It is not known either way, but one thing is sure – many new possibilities have just been opened up.
A piece of evidence that makes me belive that Game Boy Advance games are somehow going to go online is an advertisement seen a while back. In this advertisement, a Pokéball was featured, with the words “The greatest opponent you will ever face is the whole world.” Oh, and it also said “Only on Nintendo GameCube.” Add to these facts that Nintendo’s announcement mentioned Pokémon Ruby and Saphire, and well, it seems as if Nintendo is planning to bring us an online Pokémon RPG, in which your opponents would be people all around the world, playing the Game Boy Advance title on thier GameCube’s Game Boy Player.
Furthermore, Nintendo knows that gamers want certain things. Quite often, they will seemingly ignore these wants, but then give the fans what they want at a later date. Ever since the GameCube was revealed, gamers have been talking about how a 3D Online Pokémon RPG would be on thier “most wanted” lists. Well, rather than create a separate 3D Online Pokémon RPG for the GameCube, they might create a 2D Pokémon RPG for the Game Boy Advance, which, with a GameCube and the Game Boy Player, can be a 2D Online Pokémon RPG.
Its not known what Nintendo will decide to do with the Game Boy Player. It could simply be a device to allow gamers to play Game Boy games on their TV’s. Then again, it could be the bridge the Game Boy Advance needs in order to get into the world of online gaming.
Although so much is unknown right now, and much will be known in the future, what is known at this time is an obvious fact – if Nintendo does take the Game Boy Advance online in this method, many gamers will be very pleased.
Sources Referenced: Nintendo of America, IGN GameCube.