Nintendo Creates New Console For China

Nintendo’s promised entry into the Chinese market is to begin in mid-October, according to a company spokesman. The company has developed a special console with a flash memory card that allows users to download game software titles at shop stores – an important move in combating the rampant software piracy endemic to the country. It is not clear whether the new machine will be based on the GameCube or an older machine but it will be marketed by a local affiliate and sold for around 498 yuan ($60), initially only in larger cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The company hopes to make the console available countrywide by the end of spring 2004 and to eventually “see this market grow bigger than Japan, the United States or Europe”.