Rupert Goodwins' Diary

Tuesday 29/1/2002

If you haven't seen a Game Boy Advance by now, you clearly have no contact with anyone under 35. The handheld video game unit has been a stonking success, shifting over three million units in Europe alone -- and the gamers are still gagging at the bit for more, with over 200 new games planned for 2002.

So why is Nintendo dropping the price by twenty quid? Trouble afoot? Quite the opposite; it's a display of sure-footed marketing prowess that should give Microsoft and Sony something to think about. Nintendo reckon that every GBA owner is a potential GameCube purchaser -- the new (and tiny) games console that with the Xbox and the PS2 will complete the troika of next-generation boxes when its launched in May That's a reasonable assumption, given that many games have compatibility across the platforms -- you can do stuff on the GameCube with your GBA, and vice-versa. As the 'Cube is also by far the smallest, cheapest and cutest of the three devices, that's a lot of advantages going into the ring.

It looks like it's going to be a good fight.