I apologize to anyone offended.
1 Mar 05

First we have a quick correction. Or perhaps a clarification. I implied that Microsoft had held on to the Links and Topspin lines in the Ubisoft deal. Actually, Microsoft couldn't have sold them to Ubi since they had already sold those two plus Amped snowboarding (along with their development studio) to Take Two. So basically Microsoft is holding on to Project Gotham Racing and Forza Motorsports as their entire "sports" department.

I put up a news item earlier describing the upcoming changes to Total Gaming dot Net. The changes are interesting and make the service more viable for the long term. I guess I'm glad their adapting rather than crashing the whole thing, but it would have been cool if it had worked out as originally planned. The fact is that the idea is good. There are some great games out there that drop to the wayside because of poor publicity, bad release scheduling, early releases with too many bugs or even a prominent reviewer that just takes a disliking to the game. Total Gaming addressed that and provided a ready audience for those games.

I guess the revamp will do that to some extent, but many of those problems will still be problems under the new system. Now you'll have tokens that you'll use to "buy" the releases you want. That pretty much puts greater risk back into the system. Until you get to the use 'em or lose 'em stage, there's incentive not to take a chance on a game that you're only somewhat interested in.

Don't worry, I'll probably stick with Total Gaming since I like the easy web install, no copy protection and the ability to download again as needed. It's just now it's unlikely to be the boon for the overlooked game that I had hoped.

Today's Game Over column mentions the possibility of Nintendo releasing a new gameboy this year. There are rumors elsewhere that the purported $99 system will approach Gamecube quality visuals and perhaps even play Gamecube games. One school of thought holds that all this is just misinformation to try to raise doubts in consumers minds before they decide to buy a PSP. I've mentioned before that the fear that "something better is coming down the pike" is a powerful force in the console world. The problem with this way of thinking is that it runs contrary to Nintendo's modus operandi.

If it's not misinformation, it raises some interesting questions for Nintendo. Of course, this brought back up the Nintendo DS/Palm OS rumors. Will it become a PDA? How much external support will the DS get with the PSP and a new Gameboy on the market?

The processing power question I think is the most interesting. If Nintendo makes a system that's both cheaper and more powerful than the PSP but only plays games. I think they will have defended their territory and relegate the PSP to the niche level of cool toy. Sony might slash prices and licensing fees to compete, but developers are pretty comfortable with Nintendo on the handheld front so it will be a long uphill battle.

On the other hand, if Nintendo releases a cheaper gameboy that still falls short of the PSP in power and doesn't have a comparable screen, that would basically reek of arrogance. We're the best because we're Nintendo. To me that would be the beginning of the end of Nintendo's handheld dominance.

To sum up, I hope it's not a bluff by Nintendo. If they come out with a new Gameboy this year, it must be more powerful than the PSP. Regardless of when they come out with the next Gameboy, they'll have to move the DS in a new direction. To me, Palm PDA or Web browsing sounds as good as anything. Don't you just love all this rampant, vapid speculation before expected hardware announcements?

Jason