A new handheld console ? ...

[Bysby]

This is taken from a site is usually vistit , sounds interesting . Nintendo should start shaking lol

A new US-based company called Tapwave have announced plans to release a new handheld gaming device for "Game Boy graduates" - 18 to 30-year old gamers who have been weaned on the Nintendo handhelds, but who are now looking for something with a bit more power and flexibility.

The Tapwave Helix was designed after asking Game Boy Advance gamers for their wish-lists of features for a portable gaming device, and also after speaking to developers about the kind of performance and features they'd expect from a new handheld.

Besides offering much more power than the GBA - early reports suggest that the Helix can easily pump out PSone-quality 3D environments - the Helix will also be capable of playing MP3s, displaying photos and pictures and even play certain video formats.

The Helix proudly sports an analogue stick, four face buttons and shoulder buttons. Running on a Motorola MX1 ARM9 processor and built around the Palm OS, the handheld also features graphics powered by an ATI chip and new audio chips from Yamaha. Other hardware features include Bluetooth and USB support, dual SD card slots, built in stereo speakers, built-in rumble, rechargable batteries and a headphone port. The unit will also feature a 64,000 colour screen that is slightly shy of 7 square inches in size.

Topwave already have support from a variety of software companies - including Activision, Infogrames (or should we now be calling them Atari?) and Midway. No pricing has been announced just yet, but the with the Helix expected to be released in the US before the end of the year, expect plenty more announcements soon.

[Jacob Marley]

My take on the handheld gaming scene is that is will eventually fade away. Replacing dedicated gaming devices like the GBA will be PDA's (which already play more sophisticated games), cell phones, and other handheld devices that do more than just play games.

Sega, Capcom and other companies have already seen the shifting trend and have already set up development divisions that do nothing but develop games for mobile devices.

Tapwave sounds like a good idea, but it will have a hard time competing against the GBA brand and the fact that it itself seems to resemble a scaled-down Pocket PC.

[-DARKSIDE-]

PS-1 graphics would rock on a hendheld,to bad sony holds the rights to Twisted Metal. But a portable FFVII would rock!

[shinneri]

HA! Why do these companies even try? Everyone knows that the GBA has a strangle hold on the handheld market. Motorola's trying to get gamers with their N-Gage, and this little company wants to try too? Like it or not, the Game Boy is and will remain the dominant handheld console.

These N-Gage and Helix aren't focusing on what they should, the GAMES. They've got a bunch of fancy bells and whistles, but they will never gain the support that the GBA has. Also, all these extra features don't come cheap.

[Vyse Hazuky]

well.. so was Sega very strong some time ago wasn't it? and Atari in the 80's... now they're a bit roughed up, eh? don't know if that'll happen with nintendo.. but who knows? the big corporations with the money like sony and ms and nokia can take over everything... we'll have to wait and see..

[My Best Day is Gone]

HA! Why do these companies even try? Everyone knows that the GBA has a strangle hold on the handheld market. Motorola's trying to get gamers with their N-Gage, and this little company wants to try too? Like it or not, the Game Boy is and will remain the dominant handheld console.

These N-Gage and Helix aren't focusing on what they should, the GAMES. They've got a bunch of fancy bells and whistles, but they will never gain the support that the GBA has. Also, all these extra features don't come cheap.

Those exact words were said when PSX and Xbox released... yet now it seems that Nintendo is getting left behind in the home console market... another RICH company could easily come in and takes grasp of the handheld market by simply having more money than Nintendo.

[shinneri]

But that was a different case, Marcel. SNES didn't have 100% of the market like Game Boy Advance has (approx). SNES didn't control the market and neither did the N64. Game Boy has beaten many competitors like Sega, Neo Geo, Lynx. These little companies just don't have the power to gain support. And Nokia just isn't focusing on games and the console will be WAY to expensive.

I'll admit that a company like Microsoft or Sony could gain some support if they made a handheld console, and they could probably do quite well. But they would have a hard time surpassing the GBA.

[Cpt. Ultimate K Prime]

Yeah, any one else who tries a handheld console will be unsuceessful no matter what. Look what GBA did to the Wonderswan and the Neo-Geo Pocket Color.

[goaliefrk]

Yea, I sure hope we only have one handheld console, I don't want there to be exclusives for each, then I'd have to buy both, or be stuck with one.

[ChaiOgawa]

I hate the hand held market, the gameboy okay revolutionary. TO be able to bring video games where ever you wanted. It had some okay game but come on. The handheld buisness now is no good. Because back then graphics didnt mean shit to people, people didnt go in depth of really studying the art of video games at that time but now. In an age where most people usually stay inside there whole lives a handheld system just doesnt need to be bought, for one it eats up batteries quickly which arent cheap by any means, and they dont have as good as graphics or gameplay than the consoles so why get one. I never liked these handheld things, The gameboy I owned and had billions of games but for the new age handheld just lay them to die..

[goaliefrk]

I actually can't find games for the GBA, I've got Adavance Wars, NHL2002, and Pokemon Ruby...all it has is RPGs.

[ChaiOgawa]

They have bucnhes of them at my toys r us but Im never really looking for games for GBA maybe this summer but I doubt it..

[goaliefrk]

I wouldn't recomend buying one.

[ChaiOgawa]

I have a GBA but I only have 3 games for it.

[goaliefrk]

Same here, what games?