The Gameboy Micro Reviewed

Advtg writes "Ars Technica has a great review of the Gameboy Micro, which is now shipping in North America. The thing is amazingly small, but it looks as though worries about the screen being too small and too dim aren't true. But will it sell? From the review: 'You'd think at this point the portable market would just be saturated with Nintendo products, and the Micro carries a price tag of US$99.99. For just US$30 more you can get a DS, and for US$20 less you can get an SP with the newly brightened screen. It occupies somewhat of an awkward place in terms of price point and features.'"

You can overanalyze it from a feature/function

[joeflies]

perspective, but as the iPod Mini made perfectly clear, people will pay for "small is cool". How many people on this very board says "but for only $100 you get 16G more storage". Yet it was the mini in different colors that sold.

How many people bought a Nano even though they had a perfectly fine player at home anyways?

People don't buy on need or feature/function alone.

Re:Why?

[Planesdragon]

Just... why?

Because a gameboy SP cannot be easily fit into a 20-something professional's work clothes.

Because a smaller gameboy can be carried around for casual gaming, like while waiting in line, without being a brick in your pocket.

Because some folk just buy everything that Nintendo sells.

Because Nintendo can do it at a profit.

Makes sense

[EdwinBoyd]

Although the main problem with the original GBA was the backlight, it was also very prone to getting marks or scratches on the screen. When the SP came out it cleverly removed this problem with the clamshell design.

The only real complaint with the SP was that the controls weren't as easily accessible as on the original. The shoulder buttons were very small and the thin square design wasn't the best for some hand sizes.

Now nintendo is releasing the micro, which keeps the form factor of the original GBA (more or less) but sidesteps the scratching issue with a better protective layer and most importantly removable faceplates.

Yes nintendo is a fan of releasing the same product over and over, but each iteration always has something new to offer and is rarely a step back. Nice to see the standard headphone jack return as well.

Re:Why?

[AaronCampbell]

They have a history of marketing "repackaged" old stuff with the new. They made the top load NES when they did SNES. They did the Newer gameboy style at the same time as the gameboy color. Etc, Etc. It seems to work for them.

Different products for different customers

[blonde rser]

For just US$30 more you can get a DS, and for US$20 less you can get an SP with the newly brightened screen. It occupies somewhat of an awkward place in terms of price point and features.

When talking about things like palms this sort of note makes sense since really everyone would rather have the most expensive palm for the cheapest price. Same story when it comes to the same line of mp3 player with different storage capacities. But here I don't think that is the case. It seems these 3 products have different values for different customers. If somebody wants something small there aren't going to go for a DS even if it is the same price as the micro. If someone really wants the DS features instead of the extra portability they'll get the DS. And for someone like me who doesn't want something as big as a DS but finds the SP more comfortable to play they will get an SP, even if again all 3 are at the same price.

Instead of having 3 compromises of price and features Nintendo actually has 3 different products, although clearly they are competing against each other. but at the same time prefers the size of the SP

Re:Why?

[Hnice]

Nah -- think ipod nano. nothing new but the form factor, and they're going to sell, by my calculations, on the order of one zillion of them this holiday.

let's not underestimate this sort of usability/aesthetic/convenience factor. i have 88 pockets for my various devices, but normal humans don't.

Re:Innovation!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Neither the rain nor the wind nor consumer opinion will stop Nintendo(TM) from trying to sell us ANOTHER copy of an already existing product it seems..."

Funny that you should mention consumer opinion. Consumers (more respectfully known as "customers," BTW) vote with their wallets. And they have voted for Nintendo's handhelds in their various forms time and time again.

Hoover updates their vacuum cleaner lines every once in a while. Sometimes prices change. Sometimes form factors change. Sometimes features change. Go pick the nits out of their hair. Because, just like vacuum cleaners, just maybe it's only in your silly little dreamland where you think people are expected to own EVERY SINGLE KIND. Besides, some might, and if they do, who are you to care?

After all, the PSP grew the market to include pseudo-hipsters. The GBM is targeted at that same market. And in the same way that PSP sales HAVE NOT dented the DS market (PSP sales are by all measures separate and/or complementary to DS and GB sales), the GBM is not intended to cannibalize DS and GBA SP sales. It is intended for those who, for whatever reason, have not purchased previous GameBoys. Nintendo has very explicitly pronounced as much in public. How much clearer do you need things to be amde for you?

Re:Why?

[justin12345]

The DS isn't really appealing to me, this is. When playing a portable system, simplicity is really the main thing for me. The stylus stuck me as something I would lose while jumping from the train after having almost missed my stop because I was too engrossed in the damn game.

Recently I had to choose between a PSP and an iPod nano (choose because I don't make enough damn money). I chose the Nano and I'm glad I did as now I can get a sexy little game system to match it. All for the same price as a PSP (less if you consider the price of a memory card big enough to use the PSP as an MP3 player). The games are cheeper too.

Re:ipod

[NidStyles]

note. gameboy pocket

Here is one reason "why"

[Stalin]

I have never really liked handheld gaming. The only reason I own a Gameboy is because my brother wanted one of the original Gameboy's for Christmas when they first came out and my father didn't want to get him one and not me. I think I played Tetris and one Raiden like game on the thing; I just never really liked it. To this day, the only portable game system I have owned is that original Gameboy. However, I now find myself wanting a Gameboy Micro. I want one to play all of the classic SNES games (e.g. Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, etc.) whenever I get bored somewhere away from home. But, I don't want to have to carry some huge, and I include the GBA SP in that statement, gaming machine around with me. The Micro is small enough that it won't get in the way and the screen has a decent enough resolution that I would be able to use it for while without straining my eyes.

So there is one reason for all the "whys" being posted. Classic gaming on a platform that is easy to carry around.

Re:Why?

[NanoGator]

"They have a history of marketing "repackaged" old stuff with the new. They made the top load NES when they did SNES. They did the Newer gameboy style at the same time as the gameboy color. Etc, Etc. It seems to work for them."

Well, to be fair, this is partly because of demand. Portable systems, for example, have differing requirements depending on the user's individual needs. The Game Boy Pocket, for example, was considerably smaller than the original Game Boy. (plus it had a better screen.) It was still B&W and it had a slightly higher price tag. If you wanted to save a few bucks, get the bigger one. If you wanted a more mobile one, pony up the extra $10. The Game Boy Color introduced 'color', and the games started to take advantage of it. If you were getting a new Game Boy (considering 100 million or so were sold over the last like 15 years, it was easy to find new customers...) then this was an attractive option. The Game Boy Advance was great because it had SuperNES like capabilities. The SP had a backlight and had a different form factor which was more appealing to some. (in my case, I bought the SP and then gave my sister the original GBA...) And, finally, the Micro. That thing is much smaller with a much better screen.

To answer the question of "why?", the answer is simple: Existing customers have a reason to buy it since it has a smaller size and a better screen. New customers have another choice that may better suit them. In the case of the Game Boy, choice is good. I don't want a Micro, but I don't play my GBA on the go. It doesn't appeal to me, but I can think of a handful of people off the top of my head that'd love it.

As for the top-loading Nintendo, there were two reasons that was launched: 1.) People were still buying NES's and this system was much cheaper to build. 2.) The top loading feature was less prone to 'blinking'.

I think what the gpp isn't considering is that these are mass-market products being sold to people with a wide variety of tastes. If I had to summarize my point down to one sentence, I'd just say "supply & demand."

Re:You'd think so...

[Urusai]

I would rather have my ENTIRE music collection at my fingertips, rather than some selected chunk of it. I can do that with a 40 GB player, but not a 4 GB player. And that, as they say, is that.