Portable gaming has always been about power, mobility, and size. Since the dawn of mobile gaming systems, Nintendo has always taken the title of innovated and amazing handheld consoles. With their first Game Boy all the way up to the Nintendo DS, Nintendo has been well known to reign over all in the handheld market. Following Sony’s release of the Playstation Portable, Nintendo released its new Game Boy Micro. This new portable system provides the functions of a Game Boy Advanced at an impossibly small size. Nintendo’s most successful gaming platform ever has constantly been revised and improved in various ways. With this new, much smaller rendition, gaming can be taken literally anywhere, anytime.


The new Nintendo Game Boy Micro’s most evident new characteristic is its size.Coming in at 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall, and 0.7 inches in depth, the handheld is roughly the size of a small cell phone or iPod mini. The micro weighs 2.8 ounces and has a 2 inch screen.< It has the standard direction pad, ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons, ‘Start’ and ‘Select’ buttons, and right/left shoulder buttons. In addition, the micro comes in silver or black with replaceable colored faceplates. The shoulder and start/select buttons come in a reflective silver finish and the D-pad and A/B buttons come in black. The Game Boy Micro is fitted with a rechargeable Lithium ion battery (capable of 10 hours worth of gameplay), a small speaker, and a standard headphone jack. Included with the package is 2 additional colored faceplates, a charger, a tool to change the faceplates, and a small cloth bag to carry the system in. By purchasing the silver handheld, you receive camo and flame-like faceplates and with the black Game Boy, you get a pink flower faceplate and one with a blue abstract-like solar looking design.

Nintendo has aimed their new product towards gadget freaks who love technology at small sizes. "We're making the gorgeous Game Boy Micro for image-conscious folks who love video games, the ones who want the look of their system to be as cool as the games they play on it," reports George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "Because of its diminutive size and industrial-hip look, Game Boy Micro immediately identifies the person playing it as a trendsetter with discriminating style." The new Game Boy has been produced to be visually stunning and it definitely succeeds. To add to this trendy new product aimed at keeping style at its best, Nintendo has also released a wireless adapter kit for the micro which allows multiplayer gaming between up to five friends. This wireless capability applies only to games designed to use this technology so look out for them. Taking wireless multiplayer gameplay to the next step, some games even allow gaming through only one shared game cartridge. Another great feature of the Game Boy Micro is the ability to play video. Cartridges with 30-90 minutes or cartoon or animated movies are available.

One disadvantage of the Game Boy Micro is it’s incompatibility with older Game Boy games. The micro can only play Game Boy Advanced games which range between over 700 titles. Although this makes the $20 cheaper Game Boy SP more practical, something Nintendo has looked into fixing is the screen. Users of their older Game Boys have complained about the brightness of the screen. The Game Boy Micro features an adjustable backlit screen with variable brightness. Another great thing about the micro is the price. Coming in at $99, the Game Boy Micro is less than half the price of Sony’s Playstation Portable. Nintendo has provided us with their latest in portable gaming which strives for small size, great looks, and a more effective screen solution. For all you portable gamers who love their handheld platforms stylish and compact, the new Nintendo Game Boy Micro is definitely for you but for those of you who want the most console-like gaming at a handheld level, look into a Sony PSP ($150 more) or Nintendo DS (only $30 more).

Sources

• http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/615/615160p1.html
• http://www.wired.com/news/e3/0,2879,67561,00.html
• http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000520043660/
• http://www.nintendo.com/overviewgba
• http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review3212_intro16067.html