Nintendo Shows New GameCube Bundle, DS Marketing

Following Nintendo Europe's announcement of a similar bundle earlier in the month, Nintendo of America has also announced an upcoming GameCube hardware bundle targeted at holiday season console buyers. The Mario Kart: Double Dash!! bundle will be available throughout North America on November 14th, 2004, and will feature the GameCube hardware, plus popular Shigeru Miyamoto-overseen racing game Mario Kart: Double Dash!! for an MSRP of $99.99 USD. Since its release late last year, Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has sold more than 1.6 million copies worldwide, and many more copies are likely to be shipped as part of this bundle. This new hardware bundle is scheduled to arrive on the same day as the highly anticipated Retro Studios-developed GameCube title, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Other prominent GameCube titles scheduled to ship between now and Christmas include Mario Power Tennis, Namco's Baten Kaitos, and the microphone-enabled Mario Party 6. In other Nintendo news, with the U.S. debut of the Nintendo DS just three weeks away, Nintendo of America today also took the time to announced details of its multi-million dollar 'Touching Is Good' ad campaign. Kicking off today with three pre-launch advertisements showing a static-filled screen with a female voice-over, one encouraging viewers to touch two blue boxes on screen, the campaign will highlight the Nintendo DS' touch-screen capabilities in a markedly more adult way than some previous Nintendo press. "The campaign for Nintendo DS marks a different, bolder approach for Nintendo," said George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "We think such a radically different and creative device like Nintendo DS deserves the backing of an equally innovative and provocative marketing campaign." The campaign doesn't simply include television, though, also including the print medium, theaters and tours, with Nintendo launching advertisements aimed at the male demographic in Maxim, Blender and Stuff magazines. This comes alongside a series of ads that will run in more than 5,000 movie screens across the U.S. starting in December, as well as the Nintendo DS' sponsoring of the multi-city Nintendo Fusion Tour. The Nintendo DS will launch throughout North America on November 21st, 2004, for an MSRP of $149.99. The system will come with both a demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, as well as the PictoChat wireless messenging software. From launch through the end of the year, the system will have around a dozen titles released in North America, with more than 120 in development around the world.