Nintendo hints at end of Game Boy name, possible WiiWare in 2007

While it would have been virtually unthinkable just a few years ago, Nintendo is apparently now contemplating the possibility of a world without Game Boys. That's according to Nintendo marketing exec George Harrison, who recently told GameDaily.biz that we may have seen the last of the name, specifically saying that "it's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark." In other, less heartbreaking news, Nintendo's homebrew-happy WiiWare service appears to be progressing nicely, with Harrison also letting out word that "it may not take until 2008" for it to make its public debut. A firmer date will apparently depend on how quickly developers can get their act together.

[Via Joystiq]

[Richard Cartwright @ Jul 17th 2007 4:14PM]

Its been a bad day and I can not resist this....will they call it a WeeWii?

[Brian @ Jul 17th 2007 4:39PM]

no more gameboy? I know its kinda been dead since the DS came out, but officially? I think I just felt a bit of my childhood die inside...just a little.

[Tis---strange @ Jul 17th 2007 4:46PM]

Mine died when the Gameboy turned Color...

[trancer @ Jul 17th 2007 4:59PM]

same here.

[dglaz @ Jul 17th 2007 5:10PM]

The Game Boy turned color?

[Sam @ Jul 17th 2007 6:46PM]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo comes up with an updated version of the DS (DS2?)with built-in storage and a GB and GBC games download service similar to the Wii's Virtual Console service charging a dollar for each game.....

[Miguel @ Jul 17th 2007 4:53PM]

The discontinuation the GameBoy trademark is a sad day indeed...

So will they make a DS that can play GB/GBC cartridges? All the good games are pre-Advance...

[Timerider @ Jul 17th 2007 5:30PM]

A DS plus, maybe?

[roc ingersol @ Jul 17th 2007 5:01PM]

When was WiiWare ever announced to be homebrew-happy?

Last I heard it was just an XBLA-style setup for Wii-games.
i.e. lower barrier to entry for smaller devs, but no freely available dev tools for the rest of us.

[Jason @ Jul 17th 2007 5:11PM]

man, I loved my original GameBoy. I found it at my parents' house back around Christmas, popped some new batteries in it, and the thing started up! Woo! Talk about a nostalgic rush. It seemed like a huge heavy brick compared to my DS lite though, haha.

What surprised me was that the DS wasn't under the GameBoy name. The DS just seemed like the natural progression of the GBA product, and it even plays GBA games. So why wasn't it called the GameBoy DS?

[AwesomeEvs @ Jul 17th 2007 5:25PM]

I think Ninty wanted a huge rebrand with the DS.

They wanted to invite more gamers in and break free of the 'Game Boy' market.

It'll be no suprise to me if they never mention the 'old name' again.

Sad as it is :(

[wassim @ Jul 17th 2007 6:16PM]

because they wanted to market it to "big kids" and differentiate it from the "kiddish" gameboy brand. i think both kids and adults love it.

[tiuk @ Jul 17th 2007 5:26PM]

Maybe they've been wanting to phase out the Gameboy name for a while (for whatever reason).

[J. Evans Turner @ Jul 18th 2007 9:55AM]

The reason why Nintendo did not use the "Game Boy" name with the Nintendo DS is because it wasn't compatible with games for the original Game Boy or Game Boy Color. Of course, this reasoning is no longer valid after the Game Boy Micro, which does not play GB or GBC games, was released.

Also, all Game Boy platforms were wildly successful (especially in Japan), and the DS was a big risk. Nintendo didn't want to risk having the new dual-screen portable tarnish the "Game Boy" name. Even as a Nintendo collector and devotee, I had serious doubts about the direction Nintendo chose when releasing the DS, and I continued to doubt for some time after the DS' release. Nintendo made statements before the "megaton announcement" that the secret new hardware was "neither a successor to the Gamecube nor the Game Boy". No one knew what to expect until it was revealed. The dual-screen feature was initially met with much criticism and mocked by gamers. Countless Photoshop-ed pictures flooded gaming messageboards and blogs. The criticism would have almost certainly caused a negative impact if it had been associated with the "Game Boy" name. The GBA was still selling like mad, so it also would not make sense to release a successor at the prime of the GBA's retail life.

When the DS ("Phat") was finally released, I bought 2 on launch (for me and my twin brother). Not having any good games, I watched with disbelief at news stories labeling it as the "hot item this holiday season". Comments like "sold out EVERYWHERE" conflicted with what I saw, where the DS had remained in-stock at Circuit City (Newnan, GA 30263, USA) until sometime in the middle of Black Friday!

It's relieving to see that Nintendo still knew what they were doing against my judgment. Going for an alternate demographic was absolutely the correct decision. If I were at the helm, I probably would have released another "Game Boy ___" with price/performance closer to that of the PSP. Such a platform would have almost certainly lost market share to the PSP.

[Josh Halvorson @ Jul 17th 2007 5:31PM]

I am so confused as to why WiiWare would put an end to the Gameboy name??? Isn't WiiWare just like XNA? It's not a handheld device is it? Someone explain why this would lead to the end of the gameboy name?

[kaminix @ Jul 18th 2007 4:26AM]

It's a 2-in-1 news article, WiiWare and the GameBoy trademark thingie are not related.

[Jeff @ Jul 17th 2007 5:31PM]

ahhh, the nostalgia

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 17th 2007 5:38PM]

This will be a day long remembered.

Like a very wise man once said, it's better to burn out than it is to rust.

Hey hey,
my my.

[Shadow @ Jul 17th 2007 5:49PM]

oh well, i still have most of the gameboys somewhere, but i will never sell them, even in like 10 years when they're worth $200

[Dale @ Jul 17th 2007 6:46PM]

Nintendo didn't want to rebrand - they went to great lengths to describe the Nintendo DS as the "third pillar" of what they were doing. I'm sure that was more because in marking it out as a separate concern, they could ditch it easily if no one took to it.

Happily, it's doing very well, so they can oust the Game Boy brand.

[awsomedude @ Jul 17th 2007 7:35PM]

Hey... That red gameboy box says "play it loud". Wasn't that the iPod slogan for a while??

[Michael @ Jul 17th 2007 8:35PM]

Nintendo is trying to market to gamegirls and gamewomen as well. So rebranding as a DS is a smart thing to do. I never thought it made sense to have a gameboy and a DS on the market together. I guess they were just waiting for the right time to transition.

With that said I think it's time to go watch The Wizard and soak in a little old times.

[Donald @ Jul 17th 2007 8:58PM]

Who's the nerd with NINE different Game Boys?

[Kyle @ Jul 17th 2007 9:22PM]

I remember in 89 getting the original Game Boy with Tetris (in the pic above). My parents put it in the bottom of a huge box filled with newspaper and stuck it under the tree on December 1st. It was one of the best gifts I ever got. Sad to see the name go after all these years

[Aaron @ Jul 17th 2007 10:55PM]

Like everyone else, this is sad for me.

The first GameBoy I had was a blue GameBoy Pocket. I remember going to Toys R Us with my mom, and she bought it for me so I'd have it for a long trip we were going on. Man, I loved that thing. I played the crap out of it. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I wish I still had it. I still have my green GameBoy Color. Then came my GBA, which I was dumb enough to sell after I got the GBA SP... Yeah, lots of memories, and countless hours of Pokémon, heh. I kept holding out for the new GameBoy that was supposedly coming after the DS, and was so disappointed when they canned it. This is definitely sad if it turns out to be true.

[Amit Pandey @ Jul 17th 2007 11:03PM]

Playing Street Fighter on my original gameboy kept me going as a kid, then for my 11th Bday i got the Advnace with Lord of the Rings.
Best gaming system i have ever owned.

Looking back at the original now it looks huge, i still have my somewhere.

[Discosis @ Jul 17th 2007 11:18PM]

Isn't Mission Impossible supposed to be WiiWare?

And isn't it practically ready for release...?

[Dragod @ Jul 18th 2007 12:56AM]

I say wee need a DS with media storage capabilities + GB/GBC cartridge support.

[Dragod @ Jul 18th 2007 1:01AM]

Though the gameboy did seem to be starting to die when there were 3 "GamBoy Advance" systems and 1 capable of playing Gameboy advance games and it's own special games.

[Megan @ Jul 18th 2007 1:39AM]

If gameboy goes bye bye that will be the end of an era. I've had every kinda of gameboy except DS. In fact I have an orange GBA SP sitting on my bed charging. The one thing I really don't like about DS is I heard they don't play the older games.And every new gameboy, to my knowledge, has played the old games.