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The Nintendo Show Press Conference

by Karlie Yeung - September 2, 2001, 4:30 am EDT

Not a transcript, but here's a description of what went on inside.

After an hour and a half of the event start, the doors opened for the conference. The room was slightly smoky and this filled it with the purple light.

After the obligatory "No smoking, no filming, etc." announcement, a gospel choir came through the curtains and burst into song.

"Lift me higher" was sung for a while, and the Nintendo logo which was previously lying on the stage lit up and started rising. Once it reached the rather strange shaped screen, the edge of it lit up and the Nintendo logo could be seen. The logo continued to rise until it no longer obscured the screen.

The presentation began with Satoru Shibata, NOE's president introducing. We were reminded of the great sales Nintendo products have enjoyed and how the company has always been "dedicated to gameplay".

David Gosen went on to quote impressive sales figures across Europe. Nintendo has well over half the market share in France, Spain and Germany, this figure has topped 70% previously.

One thing to note is that "The Nintendo Difference" is not used in Europe, the slogan is "Gaming 24:7". That's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as Mr Gosen told us.

Pokemon sales have also been, and remain to be, great. 30,000 units are sold each week, even today. This information was a lead up to the exclusive announcement. More sales figures followed, as the Game Boy Advance was mentioned. One of those leaves a retailers' shelves every five seconds and Nintendo are half way to their target of 3 million sold by Christmas.

Speaking of the Game Boy Color, we were assured that it was complementary to the Game Boy Advance and that the consoles were not competing. GBC sales have actually increased by 4% since the launch of the GBA. Software has had a 3% increase. This is more than Nintendo originally hoped for. Marketing for each console has been aimed at different audiences. The target demographic for GBC remains to be young children, while teen and older gamers choose the GBA. Surveys by Nintendo have found that the average age GBA user is 18, and over 35% of gamers are over 20. Coming up for the GBA in Europe is Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Sales on one million are expected by Christmas.

Assurance stories that Nintendo were not abandoning the N64 and Game Boy Color followed. Pokemon is expected to keep the consoles alive, with Stadium 2 and Crystal released soon.

More Pokemon next, the phenomenal sales carry on even today. The Card Reader was given a Spring 2002 launch date for Europe and shown on the screen. Nintendo explained their philosophy not just to expand the Pokemon range, but to have new ideas that would keep interest in the franchise. Storing a small game program on the a barcode will allow distribution of video games in a new way, cheaply too. Pokemon Mini came next, this has been well covered in news.

The GameCube was mentioned, but all that was given regarding a release date was Spring 2002. The actual date will be announced after the Japanese and US launches.

Next was the video address by Shigeru Miyamoto. He spoke in Japanese, and there were subtitles. He first explained why he couldn't be at the show, finishing games for launch took priority. He talked a little and then presented the Mario and Zelda footage we saw at Spaceworld.

Next, the GameCube/GBA connectivity was demonstrated using Kirby. While there was nothing new since Spaceworld, the demo showed quite nicely the "totally seamless gameplay" that using the GBA as a controller could bring.

Gaming 24:7 is about redefining gaming and maintaining the Nintendo brand name and enhancing it. The show ended with the reel of footage of various games shown at Spaceworld, accompanied by the singing of the gospel choir.

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