The GBA's Next Step
So everyone has a GBA right? Well now what? We have seen some awesome games on the 32bit handheld such as Advance Wars and Golden Sun. But don’t underestimate the GBA. There is still more to be done. Yes it sounds crazy but what if your GBA can be used online!
How will this work? It’s sure is a revolutionary step for Nintendo. Everyone is looking forward to the GameCube to deliver the new breed of online play but everyone forgets the GBA. It’s not impossible. Think of it as an MP3 player. It hooks up to your computer and you share hundreds of songs. Instead of sharing music you will share mini games. What kind? Well that’s up to our brilliant developers. It could be the old Sonic games, Mario, or a start to a brand new adventure. Now, an MP3 player hooks up to your computer, and so will the GBA. All you need is a cable for that. But the GBA screen is to small for the Internet. So your computer is used as an alternative. All the files are stored on it. Just like with MP3s you need a program to such as WINMX or Morpheus. It will include a chat and a massive search engine to get the job done. After you have downloaded the games to your computer you need to transfer them to the GBA. This is done by loading them into a spare cartridge. It’s the same cartridge used in a regular game but empty. It may hold up to 20 games. Sound good right? But wait, there’s more.
The Alternative: This is not the only way it can be. There are many alternative ideas and similar ideas that have failed. The best one is probably using your GameCube instead of your computer. That way you could take you Internet play from your GC with you. Remember the DreamCast VMU. There were many mini games on it such as the Chao Advenure. But using your computer is so much easyer. Another alternative is just the GBA without a computer presence to back it up. Remember the hand held computer thingy cybako. You would check your email and play games. It was popular for about a year then everyone forgot about it. Then there is the Japanese cell phone. It’s still doing well. It must be great to go online, talk, and play games.
The Controversy: Don’t forget this won’t be free. Nintendo might not be ready yet for this kind of technology. The computer chips needed don’t just grow on trees. They will obviously cost a lot. Then you have the developers fighting over who will make the napster like program. All the softwear needed might cost up to $100. Are you willing to pay that? Then there is Nintendo’s inconsistancy. They have been hesitant to reveal their online plans this year. They might just take this idea and burn it or delay it like they always do. So at the end Nintendo might go bankrupt. Also there will be an abuse of the mini games. What I mean is that people might not use the mini games on the GBA. People will just download the games and play them on the computer. Just like with napster. The developers will get angry because someone will develop a program that plays the games for free. So it will end up just being a faster way to get ROMS. Nintendo will have a lot of antitrust cases on their hands.
Im just way in the future here. This will obviously never happen but if Nintendo somehow comes up with the same idea you’ll know who to vote for at jury duty.