Nintendo DS Looks to the Future After a Powerful Holiday Season
The video game industry closed 2004 with a rush to portable game systems, and
especially a rush to Nintendo DS(TM). The new year starts much the same way, with
the 1.3 million new Nintendo DS owners in North America experiencing games and
interacting with one another in ways never before possible. From the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nintendo announces that new games planned for the
first quarter of 2005 will expand this community even more by demonstrating that
there’s more to hand-held video games than pretty pictures.
“Publishers and game players have only just begun to tap the potential
of Nintendo DS,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice
president of marketing and corporate communications. “2005 will continue
the excitement we’ve experienced in 2004.”
The trend in consumer electronics is for music players, telephones and all
manner of organizers to become portable, and video games are no exception. The
future of video games will be characterized by innovation – by which games and
systems can give players the best adventures and the newest ways to play. The
dual-screened Nintendo DS defines this trend with a touch screen, wireless communication
and voice recognition.
Nintendo DS represents a third, distinct product line for Nintendo, and it’s
the cornerstone of Nintendo’s approach to the future.
Publishers have more than 120 games planned for Nintendo DS. Key titles due
in 2005 include Need for Speed Underground(TM) 2 from Electronic Arts, WarioWare(TM):
Touched!, Pokemon(R) Dash and Yoshi Touch & Go(TM) from Nintendo and Retro
Atari Classics(TM) from Atari. Thanks to backward compatibility with Game Boy(R)
Advance SP titles, Nintendo DS already boasts a library of more than 500 games.
But Nintendo DS is just one element of Nintendo’s strong holiday season. 2005
will herald new games for Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo GameCube(TM).
Game Boy Advance continued its dominance by selling more than 8 million units
in North America in 2004, making it the year’s best-selling video game system.
Key upcoming titles include WarioWare(TM): Twisted!, The Legend of Zelda(R):
The Minish Cap, Mario Party(R) Advance, Fire Emblem(TM): The Sacred Stones and
Pokemon(R) Emerald from Nintendo, Ace Combat Advance(TM) and Klonoa(R) 2 from
Namco and Banjo Pilot(TM) from THQ(R). More than 125 games are expected this
year for Game Boy Advance SP.
Nintendo GameCube heads into 2005 with strong momentum after solid sales during
the holidays. In the coming months, the graphical powers of Nintendo GameCube
will shine again as Star Fox(R): Assault, Geist(TM), Donkey Konga(TM) 2 and
Donkey Kong(R) Jungle Beat from Nintendo join top titles like Resident Evil(R)
4 and Killer 7(TM) from Capcom, NBA Street V3 from Electronic Arts, Tom Clancy’s
Splinter Cell(R) Chaos Theory from Ubisoft and Mortal Kombat(R): Deception(TM)
from Midway. And a new adventure for The Legend of Zelda(R) series remains in
development. More than 60 games are expected this year for Nintendo GameCube.
The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment,
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software
for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of
all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy(R) Advance SP, Nintendo DS(TM)
and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems extend Nintendo’s vast game library and continue
the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players
of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983,
Nintendo has sold more than 1.9 billion video games and more than 336 million
hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario(TM)
and Donkey Kong(R) and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as
Metroid(R), Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of
America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s
operations in the Western Hemisphere.
For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at http://www.nintendo.com.
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