With the news that Nintendo’s new 3DS model will come with an upgraded CPU, making games specifically made for the system unplayable on older systems, comes the understandable concern from some fans that they’ll be locked out of purchasing certain games until they upgrade. As much as this announcement will have come as a shock to many gamers, we should probably have seen something like this coming.
Many of you will recall that Nintendo have done this before, most recently with the Nintendo DSi, which had a slightly bumped up spec sheet compared to the original DS, as well as a new camera for developers to work into their games. Not many physical games were actually released solely for the DSi platform (five, to be precise), but the potential for developers to make games exclusively for it was still there. It didn’t cause too much controversy at the time, in part because the DSi was released a full five years after the original handheld and because developers almost universally released their DSi games on the DS as well, and those that did not opted for digital distribution.
Another, perhaps more prescient example, is that of the Game Boy Color. At the time of its release, many believed the Game Boy Color was just a new version of a handheld they already owned (the original Game Boy), not a completely new console. However, most games that were released for the GBC were not backwards compatible and could not be played on the original Game Boy. Fortunately, the gap between the two handhelds was a full nine years; more than enough in most cases to prevent consumer frustration.
This is an excerpt from the full story which was originally featured on gamrReview, read the full version here – The New 3DS: Nintendo’s Challenges Going Forward – Article
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