NEWS - Thursday, November 13, 2003
Nintendo To Debut New Hardware
Nintendo Co., the world’s biggest maker of hand-held game players, plans to introduce a new video- game machine in Japan next year to stem losses and defend its share of an $8 billion market for hardware and software. The device will be unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Exposition next May in Los Angeles, Senior Managing Director Yoshihiro Mori told reporters in Osaka. He didn’t say whether it will be a new GameBoy hand-held or a version of the Kyoto-based company’s GameCube home-use console. Nintendo revealed the plan as it posted a 2.89 billion yen ($27 million) first-half net loss, its first since going public in 1962, partly because of competition with Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox. Takashi Okatani and other investors said Nintendo could gain an advantage by being first with a machine outfitted with the latest graphics chips. ``Nintendo has to launch its next-generation console ahead of Sony and Microsoft, and it has to succeed,’’ said Okatani, who helps manage the equivalent of $4.2 billion at Shinko Investment Trust Management Co., which holds Nintendo’s shares. ``The key is attracting software makers and being the first to launch new hardware is a plus.’’ Nintendo signed an agreement in March to develop products with computer graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc. NEC Electronics Corp. and Sharp Corp., both of Japan, meanwhile, are developing new semiconductors for the gamemaker. Mori said he hoped the machine could go on sale simultaneously in some markets outside Japan. My guess.. a new handheld device to replace Gameboy Advance as the GBA technology is old and dated. You can read the rest of the info from the report right here.Source: http://www.bloomberg.com
