Nintendo unveils Game Boy upgrade

Nintendo has unveiled the update of its decade-old bestseller, the Game Boy

In this story: New upgrade, new features More software titles RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Staff and wire reports

TOKYO, Japan -- Nintendo has unveiled the successor to its best-selling Game Boy , whetting gamers' appetites for the next generation hand-held player.

The new Game Boy Advance -- faster than its predecessor, with higher resolution and Internet access -- will be launched March 21 in Japan, and analysts expect it to cement Nintendo's dominance in the handheld sector.

With its update of the decade-old device, Nintendo continues to target a younger audience - a niche market that is largely overlooked by Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2.

"We finally have a nice update," Zachary Liggett, games software analysts at West LB Securities, told CNN.com

"I've sampled some of the games. They look sharp on even a larger screen and the processing is very smooth. I was very impressed."

New upgrade, new features

The Game Boy Advance is equipped with a 32-bit central processing unit and a large screen.

It also enables four people to play the same game at once, while allowing data to be exchanged using a cellular phone adapter.

Nintendo has joined forces with camera maker Olympus Optical to develop a card-swipe system enabling players to download their favorite characters to do battle on the pocket-sized machine.

With help from Olympus, Nintendo aims to launch the "card-e" system worldwide later this year, aiming to win over younger players with the promise of a wide variety of characters that can be downloaded using special cards.

The paper cards will carry sounds and visual data from a range of characters, including those from the phenomenally popular Pokemon series.

Game Boy shipments are expected to hit a record 23 million units this fiscal year, riding on the popularity of the Pokemon series.

More software titles

QUOTE "Because of the hardware, third parties want to develop for this machine." - Zachary Liggett, West LB Securities

The game maker plans to release 25 software titles when it launches the Game Boy upgrade, up from the previously planned 10 in a move to spur sales, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.

"Because of the hardware, third parties want to develop for this machine," says Liggett.

21 of the titles will be from 12 major game software manufacturers including Sega, Konami and Namco.

Although Nintendo has no serious competition in the handheld gaming sector, it is gearing up for a titanic struggle against Microsoft and Sony in the home console market.

The year will see the release of Microsoft's Xbox as well as Nintendo's own GameCube. Sony currently dominates the market with its PlayStation2 advanced game machine.

Despite the competition, Nintendo will continue to tough it out in the home console market.

"They will continue to fight with the Game Cube coming out this summer. They've made a large investment remaining in the console game," says Liggett.

Analysts say with its focus on a younger audience, Nintendo is insulated from the front line of the home gaming machine war.

"Sony and Microsoft are going after the late teen to early adult demographic. Nintendo is on the younger side."

Nintendo hopes to ship 24 million units of the Game Boy Advance worldwide by the end of March 2002.

"Nintendo is not in the business at selling hardware at a big loss," says Liggett.

"My guess is that it will be profitable soon in terms of the hardware. With the software, that should be profitable right off the bat."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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