"For instance...if the new PSP has more internal memory for running games...and thus newer games may ONLY run on the PSP2...does it make it a NEW console?"
I would think that would make it a new console. Most of the time, its because the software coding itself for the games is different from one console to the next. There's more to the DS vs GBA than just an additional touch screen that makes the software for a DS inoperable for a GBA. But to the end consumer, if one machine can play the game and the other can't, it is different.
"Looking back...would the GB Micro be a NEW console since it only plays advance games whereas the SP/Advance played color/mono games too....?"
No, the GB Micro was a redesign of the GB Advance as it continued be designed to play advance games and advance games were designed for that madel in mind. I think Joe is correct in that the key is the SPECIFIC software designed for it. For example, the new PS3s with crappier backwards compatibility are not a separate console from the older PS3s with hardware compatibility for the PS2. Ability to run PS2 software is just an extra feature. Both models are still designed to play PS3 games and PS3 software is designed around those models.
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I would think that would make it a new console. Most of the time, its because the software coding itself for the games is different from one console to the next. There's more to the DS vs GBA than just an additional touch screen that makes the software for a DS inoperable for a GBA. But to the end consumer, if one machine can play the game and the other can't, it is different.
"Looking back...would the GB Micro be a NEW console since it only plays advance games whereas the SP/Advance played color/mono games too....?"
No, the GB Micro was a redesign of the GB Advance as it continued be designed to play advance games and advance games were designed for that madel in mind. I think Joe is correct in that the key is the SPECIFIC software designed for it. For example, the new PS3s with crappier backwards compatibility are not a separate console from the older PS3s with hardware compatibility for the PS2. Ability to run PS2 software is just an extra feature. Both models are still designed to play PS3 games and PS3 software is designed around those models.