Play your Game Boy on a TV screen
Published: 19 Nov 2002 12:30 GMT
At a Japanese press conference on Tuesday, Nintendo announced a new peripheral for the Nintendo GameCube. The new device will connect to the bottom of the GameCube and allows Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges to be connected via a cartridge slot on the unit. Players can then play the portable games on their TV screen, using a GameCube controller. It will also feature some form of link cable support for multiplayer gaming. The product will also come with a disc, presumably used to boot up the GameCube and prepare it for use with the peripheral.
The unit will not have full compatibility with the entire back catalogue of Nintendo portable software, but no specific incompatibility problems have been announced at this time. The unit is scheduled to hit stores worldwide in early-to-mid 2003 and is currently scheduled to sell for around 5000 yen, or approximately £26.
The price tags for non-Japanese markets have not yet been decided, a company spokesman said, adding that Nintendo expects gamers will load up on hardware ahead of the new product's release.
"We wanted to send a message to game lovers about what they will be able to do with the GameCube console in the future," he said.
"In that way, we aim to shore up sales of GameCube hardware during the upcoming Christmas shopping season."
He said there is big demand for a device that allows Game Boy users to play the games on their home TVs, pointing to the sales of 6.9 million units of a similar device in the past.
In 1994, Nintendo released a product that enabled Game Boy games to be played on TVs via the Super Family Computer.
"Given technological advancements and the number of Game Boy games, we expect the sales of the new device to exceed the past record," the spokesman said.
But some analysts see little chance that the new product will accelerate GameCube's sales.
"The device would provide existing Game Boy holders with more options and a comfortable environment to play games, but it would not boost GameCube sales dramatically nor snatch players from Sony's PlayStation2," said Takeshi Tajima, analyst at BNP Paribas.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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