nintendo, bndcy mention in release
Friday November 21, 7:33 am Eastern Time
Nintendo says U.S. to get Pocket Monster next year
TOKYO, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The president of Japanese game maker Nintendo Co Ltd (OTC
BB:NTDOY - news; 7974.OS) said on Friday it would launch a version of its ''Pocket Monster''
software in the United States next year.
''We plan to launch a version of the Pocket Monster, which has been modified for U.S. users, next
year,'' Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi told a conference at the Nintendo Space World '97
exhibition.
Pocket Monster was released in Japan for the company's Gameboy handset in February 1996. The
game, which in Japan goes by the nickname ''pokemon,'' allows players to search for monsters and
then to capture and train them.
Nintendo has sold about seven million units and its popularity led the firm to raise its sales forecasts
for its Gameboy players to 9.5 million units from an initial estimate of 8.5 million units for the full
year.
Yamauchi said the company intends to incorporate some of the functions of the Pocket Monster
software when it releases a CD version of its Nintendo 64-bit game console next June.
''We will have a game called Pocket Monster Stadium available when the Nintendo 64 DD (disc
drive) game goes on the market,'' Yamauchi said.
The software will allow users to play the same game on both the Nintendo 64 and Gameboy
consoles.
Yamauchi also said a version of the horse racing game Derby Stallion would be available for
Nintendo 64 after the new game console is released.
He said games such as Pocket Monster and the virtual pet toy Tamagotchi from toymaker Bandai
Co Ltd (OTC BB:BNDCY - news; 7967.T) represent the future of software for the home video
game market.
The Nintendo chief said people are looking for software that allow users to modify their games,
adapt and nurture game characters and exchange them with other users.
The company's next generation of software will be rewritable. It calls for installing vending machines
at retail outlets that will allow users to update their games.
The Nintendo 64's launch was delayed three months in order to perfect the rewritable function for
software, Yamauchi said.
He said the home video game market is facing a crisis as a glut of titles for games that are too
complicated is turning away consumers.
''We cannot build our hopes of a successful market in the future with the current crop of games,'' he
said.
Nintendo reported earlier this month booming sales of its game machines pushed up its interim
profits, with parent company profits jumping 63.5 percent to 49 billion yen ($388 million) in the six
months to September.
($1 equals 126 yen) |
