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Game Boy Micro: Too Tight a Fit?
-By Adam Pearson-
-Presented by DMG Ice.com-
-Available with face plates?-
-Presented 05/21/2005-
It's not even that often that I take out my Game Boy in public. I love playing in bed with a fluffed up pillow. I get eye strain really quick playing on cars, trains and planes. There are a select few I would show it off to if I did get one, but with the PSP out, I doubt many will be as impressed as I am. As for myself, I don't need my Game Boy to be any smaller, especially when...
There's NOOOO support for classic Game Boy and Color! I still play Pokemon Puzzle Challenge diligently, and until a version comes out for GBA, I've got to keep some way to play it! You might say, why not just keep your SP? Well, I think it's pretty redundant that I would need to own two of the same system, plus I'm an avid Gamestop trade-in kind of person: if I want something new, I trade in the old to save money. As for the Game Boy Micro, when it can't share the functionality of my past Game Boys, it's a definitive step backwards.
At the very least, it now supports your standard headphone jack. The need for an adapter for the SP was highly regarded as a bad move. As the Nintendo DS made apparent, stereo sound isn't just a great feature, it's almost necessary to get full enjoyment out of the game. Just look at the kind of experience you get from the Metroid GBA games with headphones on. It's vital that everyone be able to plug in their headphones without some intermediary little cable.
From Reggie's speech at the Nintendo convention, it seems to be appealing to the same target audience as the Ipod. The faceplates are interesting but gimmicky. I doubt I would want anything besides a solid color. What would be interesting, though, is adding small booths at malls to let people make their own faceplates for a nominal fee. If not nationwide, even just something at the Nintendo store in New York would be interesting. I also think Nintendo should kind of loosen up on third parties with the faceplates. Philip mentioned kids going into a Hot Topic and seeing, say, Grateful Dead as a Game Boy Micro faceplate. This is a genius idea, and would sell so many systems.
Is the thing simply too small? This is what a lot of naysayers thought at Nintendo's booth at E3. Mostly 30 somethings were saying stuff like that. Luckily I confirmed that what one of those naysayers was telling me was false... Game Boy Micro certainly can link up to other Game Boys still, it just needs it's own adapter if you're going to older versions of Game Boy. The press seems to have kind of affirmed it's predictions that Nintendo puts out another Game Boy every couple of years to maximize profit. As far as them being criticized for that, I can definitely understand it. It's not fair to those people like me who actually are Game Boy fans, and feel the need to upgrade to each version.
The functionality factor of this system is that it is small (as some said, too small) and that's it. I don't think that's enough. This system should have had the functionality of Nintendo's japanese "Play-Yan" built in. Then it could even compete with Mp3 players, because for as small as this thing is, it certainly could do some reputable damage to the competition as people's one stop device for portable music, movies, and gaming. That being said, Play-Yan is coming out here (as the "SD Card Adapter") and when it does, it will be a dynamic duo with the Game Boy Micro. I saw some video running on the Game Boy Micro, and it looked fabulous. Heck, if Game Boy Micro had a pack-in with the adapter, I might actually justify that purchase.
However, as it stands, I can certainly wait on the Micro. My SP and DS will hold me over just fine until Nintendo's next handheld wave. (I'll still get one eventually!)
-Editorial by Adam Pearson-
-Property of dmgice.com-