Should video game consoles be short term or long term?

[NightDragon83]

RolStoppable said:

NightDragon83 said:

Well that's been Nintendo's thing over the last few generations... dropping support for existing systems as soon as new hardware comes out.

This is most apparent in the handheld department.  The dropped support for the N64 and GC were understandable because they were basically dead in the water at the end of their respective generations, but on the handheld side it's an entirely different story.  The original GB and its many variations lasted an astounding 10 years, but as soon as the GBA was released, software for the original GB/GBC was non existent.  Same thing when the DS came out... the GBA SP was a HUGE seller from 2003-early '05, but Nintendo deliberately starved it of software in favor of the DS, despite claiming at E3 '04 that the DS was going to be the "third pillar" of their hardware lineup going forward.  But we all knew that was bull.

And now we have the 3DS, which has been out for barely a year, and what does Nintendo have in store for the existing DS?  Nada.  Despite the DS's huge install base worldwide, there's nothing significant on the release calendar for it.  It's all about the 3DS now.

You have very selective memory.

Yes, the GBC was cut short, but by that time the GB had been out for 12 years already. The system went out with a bang, the two Zelda: Oracle games were released after the GBA launched (March 2001). *EDIT: Pokémon Crystal also came out after the GBA launch.* Nothing new in 2002 anymore though.

In 2005, GBA releases included Zelda: The Minish Cap, Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, WarioWare Twisted, Yoshi's Universal Gravitation, Mario Party Advance, Mario Tennis: Power Tour and Donkey Kong: King of Swing. That's comparable to, if not better than the DS lineup in the same year. Third pillar was real, because Nintendo didn't shift fully to the DS.

And then you top it off by claiming that Pokémon Black & White 2 qualifies as "nada". You should be ashamed of yourself.

Well first off I honestly thought B&W 2 was for 3DS, not the original DS (haven't kept up on Pokemon games in over a decade), so my bad on that one.  I'm honestly surprised Nintendo is putting the sequel on the DS, when the 3DS is begging for a proper Pokemon installment.

But the GBA was still selling like hotcakes well into the end of 2005/2006, when all the major series started seeing installments on the DS like Mario Kart DS and NSMB.  It was at that point that the GBA was essentially killed off by Nintendo, despite still not even making it to its 5th b-day yet.  And as for the DS... what major games have been released for it since the original Black and White over a year ago?  Maybe a Professor Layton game, and that's it?