The Game Boy products tend to be viewed as a very separate market from the set-top boxes. A lot of the loyalty is to specific games or characters, not the platform. IDC analyst Schelley Olhava agreed. I think Game Boy does help create loyalty to Nintendo. That may change, however, with the next generations of Nintendo's game consoles.
Players can transfer games between the two products and use the Game Boy as a control pad.
It's kind of a whole new way to have digital entertainment. The two systems are likely to benefit Nintendo's lagging fortune in the more lucrative set-top market. Competition growing Meanwhile, there are signs Nintendo may not have an open field with the Game Boy for long, with competition among makers of set-top game players likely to spill over to handhelds. A representative for Sega, maker of the Dreamcast set-top console, said the company will announce details over the next few months on plans to develop games for cell phones, handheld computers and other portable devices. Sony, meanwhile, has said the closest it plans to get to a portable game player is the PSone .