"Fast Forward" from Holiday Sales Dominance to Revolutionary Breakthroughs
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 1995--On the heels of a decisive, across-the-board victory during the holiday selling season, Nintendo of America Inc. today announced bold new initiatives which will bring super spy James Bond, telecommunications leader GTE and the first true 3-D video games exclusively to Nintendo. Nintendo is exhibiting at the four-day 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show (WCES) which opened today in Las Vegas.
"Over the last six weeks Donkey Kong Country has become the fastest selling video game in history, and it's only the first blast in a Nintendo blitz of new and affordable technical magic for video game consumers throughout 1995," promises Peter Main, Nintendo's vice president, marketing. "Our 1995 line-up includes more breakthrough games for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, big news for Game Boy and the introduction of not one, but two revolutionary new hardware systems, Virtual Boy and Nintendo Ultra 64."
The world's most famous secret agent will be working for a new global power in 1995. Nintendo signed an agreement with EON Productions Limited for the development and worldwide distribution rights for the creation of a Super Nintendo Entertainment System James Bond video game, based on the upcoming movie, "Goldeneye." U.K.-based Rare Ltd. will develop the first title using Advanced Computer Modeling, the graphics technology perfected in the smash hit Donkey Kong Country. The licensing agreement also includes the use of actor Pierce Brosnan's likeness, the new James Bond, as the game's main character.
In additional Show news, Nintendo is partnering with GTE Interactive Media, the leader in telecommunications and technology, to pool their resources in a wide range of areas including content development, marketing, publishing distribution and technology. This partnership is evidence of both companies' commitment to develop and market the most advanced technologies that will deliver the best in home entertainment. Planned as a long-term alliance, this agreement leverages Nintendo's and GTE's market leadership positions.
The first product co-developed by Nintendo and GTE, FX Fighter for the Super NES, is a fighting game utilizing the second generation Super FX graphics co-processor chip to produce fighting polygon characters -- a first for the 16-bit system.
Nintendo also is teaming up with NovaLogic, the successful maker and marketer of PC games, to bring the immensely popular Comanche, a helicopter simulation game, to the Super NES platform.
Other hot 16-bit titles being previewed in Nintendo's 50,000-square-foot booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center include two new adventures featuring the lovable character Kirby, Kirby's Avalanche and Kirby's Dream Course; StarFox 2, the Super FX sequel to the hugely successful 1993 space adventure game of the same name; and a new role-playing game, Earth Bound.
The undisputed holiday sales king, Donkey Kong Country, returns to the Show floor as Nintendo announced that sales of this blockbuster title will remain strong through first-half 1995. Nintendo will support Donkey Kong Country with new dedicated advertising and a $12 million promotion with Kellogg.
Game Boy is sporting a new look which is being unveiled at WCES. The world's leading hand-held video game system will now be available in five hot new color housings -- yellow, red, green and black -- as well as transparent. New games for Game Boy include Donkey Kong Land, the first completely computer-rendered video game for a hand-held platform which follows the antics of the stars of this year's current Number One video game, Donkey Kong Country. Other games include Kirby's Dream Land 2, a sequel to the earlier successful Game Boy adventure, and Mario's Picross, a unique picture-crossword puzzle game.
New technology is a primary focus for the 1995 WCES and Nintendo continues to take the lead. A prototype of its new exclusive, portable 3-D video game system, Virtual Boy, will be previewed on the Show floor for select media and guests. While this 32-bit system will not be officially unveiled until summer, the prototype will provide U.S. audiences with the first glimpse of what the future of video gaming will hold.
Nintendo Ultra 64 is on target and gearing up for a fall release. The "dream team," which includes Silicon Graphics, Alias Research, Rambus Inc., MultiGen Inc., and Rare Ltd., to name a few, are hard at work designing, testing and perfecting the hardware and software for Nintendo's breakthrough system. With cutting-edge software development tools that deliver real-time, three-dimensional software, the Nintendo Ultra 64 will surpass any current or future high-end video game system.
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the leader in the worldwide $15 billion retail video game industry. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 40 percent of American homes own a Nintendo system.