20 years ago, Nintendo had a plan to bring email, Internet, and live streaming to the Game Boy Color – LLODO

Game Boy Color was released in 1998, several years before the first generation of smartphones. At that time, the Internet was still a new thing, and a mobile device capable of emailing, searching the web, sending photos, and streaming video was still a long way off. However, if a Game Boy Color accessory, the Page Boy, hasn’t been canceled, you can do it on the same machine you used to play Mario.

The Page Boy was discovered by journalist Liam Robertson, who has revealed all the details and images of the device.

This strange device uses radio transmission technology to allow Game Boy Color users to search for information and read international news, game magazines, weather reports, sports scores and even watch videos. Directly on the news of Nintendo.

The technology will also allow users to contact and message other Page Boy owners. Radio transmission technology at the time was used a lot by pagers (pagers), which is also why it was called Page Boy. Its interface is based on Nintendo’s iconic character Mario.

Roberston spoke with some of the people working on the Page Boy project about the device and how it came to be and why it was scrapped. According to those involved, after a meeting with Nintendo of America in 1999, the company was excited about the potential of the Page Boy, and for the next three years, Nintendo worked with Wizard – a group created to help manage the Page Boy. equipment management – to see if the accessory is viable and profitable.

Although Nintendo was impressed by many of the Page Boy’s features, including the ability to send images using the Game Boy Camera and even the ability to send video directly to Page Boy owners via wireless transmission technology , it encountered a major setback.

Page Boy relies on wireless networks that only exist in certain parts of the world, such as the United States, which, while feasible, greatly limits customer access. Robertson was told that Nintendo believed the key to the Game Boy’s success was the popularity of the hardware, allowing users around the world to play the same game with the same features.

As a result, Nintendo announced the cancellation of the project in July 2002. However, many of the ideas proposed by the Wizard for PageBoy would eventually become a reality in later years on higher-end consoles and as the Internet came to has become familiar. The Page Boy was so far ahead of its time that it could not be produced.

Reference: Kotaku