It is (not that I own a Gamecube, but just playing on the GBA itself
reminds me of playing games on the SNES. Boy, I loved that machine!

Not much I would think. Like you say, the DS is now going to be taking
over. The GBA is all set to become another retro icon like the SNES (in
my opinion).

Pete

It's not clear that the Nintendo DS will actually replace the Game Boy
Advance.  Nintendo's plan has been for the DS to complement the GBA,
not replace it.  The DS was essentially a defensive move against Sony's
PSP and was supposed to steal some of it's market share, not canabalize
the existing GBA market.  Ideally, the DS and the PSP would be
competing in a new high-end handheld market of mainly older gamers,
while the GBA would retain the lower-end market of mainly younger
gamers. That strategy has been more successful in North America than in
Japan.  While DS hardware has been outselling GBA hardware in both
markets, software sales are where Nintendo makes it money.  According
to Nintendo's latest annual report, GBA software outsold the DS
software in "the Americas" by a 2:1 ratio in unit sales.  In Japan it's
DS software that's been outselling GBA software by almost a 3:1 ratio.
World-wide GBA software sales had a slight edge over the DS.

In the next fiscal year Nindendo expects DS software to outsell GBA
software world-wide by over a 2:1 ratio.  In the North American market
I expect that the DS and GBA will be about even, while in Japan GBA
software sales might actually drop to a critical level.  That means the
two-tier market Nintendo had planned for would still exist in North
America, but in Japan the DS will have effectively replaced the GBA.
That might throw a monkey wrench in what was Nindendo's ultimate plan
when the DS was first released, to replace the GBA with a new GameBoy
product, not the DS.

I see few possible different scenarios.  One is that Nintendo releases,
or at least announces, a new Game Boy to replace the GBA sometime
before the GBA becomes irrelevent in Japan.  It would be need to better
than the GBA, but not clearly better than the DS otherwise it will be
seen as a successor to the DS, not the GBA.  It could incorporate DS
features like WiFi, the touch screen, and 3D graphics, but should only
have one screen and be as small and almost as cheap as the GBA SP.  If
done quickly enough it could maintain and reinforce the two-tier market
that Nintendo has managed to create.

Another is that Nintendo waits until after the GBA becomes irrelevent
in Japan to release a new Game Boy.  By then there won't be an GBA to
replace, so unless it's clearly better than the DS it could be a very
hard sell to people who've already upgraded their GBAs to DSs.  But if
it's better than the DS then it could end up replacing the DS, and
Nintendo would be better off by releasing a new and better DS instead.
Releasing a new Game Boy this late in game could be disaster for
Nintendo, leaving both consumers and developers in Japan confused.

Finally, Nintendo may do nothing and abandon it's plans to release a
new Game Boy.  In that case the DS will replace the GBA, and there will
be a just single-tier handheld market where Nintendo competes directly
against Sony.  The Game Boy line will be effectively dead, and while
that trademark may be used on future products, any new handhelds will
be successors to the Nintendo DS, not the Game Boy Advance.

According to a recent interview with Satoru Iwata, the president of
Nintendo, the Game Boy line isn't dead, but they aren't planning on
release a new Game Boy any time soon because they're busy with the
upcoming release of the Nintendo Wii.  For Nintendo sake, I hope that's
not true.  If they don't at least announce a new Game Boy in the next
year or so, it will probably be too late.

                                       Ross Ridge

"I particularly enjoy playing GBA games vis-a-vis the Gamecube w/ the
Gameboy player. Since the games are 2D and kinda similer, its sort of
like the reincarnation of the Super NES.

Anyway, since the DS is now Nintendo's new handheld, how much life does
the GBA have left in it?"

________

GBA has life simply because there's over 100 million of 'em out there -
but how much life it has, is yet to be seen.

I'd expect GBA to be dead by the time Nintendo launches "GameBoy 3"  or
whatever.

the original b&w GB, the GB Pocket, and GB Color; I'd concider "GameBoy
1"

the GBA, GBA Player for Gamecube,  GBA SP, GBMicro is "GameBoy 2."

so "GameBoy 3" will be the next-generation of GameBoy, in all of its
incarnations.

I'd expect the first next-gen GameBoy in 2-3 years, sometime during the
timeframe that Microsoft launches its gaming handheld, which is deep
into development, and the next-gen Nvidia and mini CELL based PSP2 that
is clearly in development although unannounced.
(when i say PSP2  i'm *not* talking about the upcoming re-designed PSP1
which is being called "PSP2" everywhere).

GameBoy 3  will probably have comparable or somewhat better performance
than PSP, but won't be as powerful as the Microsoft handheld game
system or next-gen PSP2.

it's also *possible* that GameBoy 3 will be a next-generation DS, but I
doubt it - because  that would interfer with Nintendo's  stated "3rd
pillar" stategy where they have three seperate lines / families of game
machines;

1. Console
2. GameBoy
3. DS