Touch Me Here: Nintendo DS Hits The Road

Nintendo | 01 February 2005 - The Nintendo DS is taking to the road from 04 February in a massive consumer and trade sampling campaign. It will give everyone across the UK the chance to discover what nearly three million gamers in the US and Japan have already discovered - the Nintendo DS is a great new way to play video games.

Kicking off with a national shopping mall tour throughout February, March and into April and taking in amongst the 40 day tour; Bluewater, Brent Cross, The Mall (Cribs Causeway) in the South and The Bullring, Trafford Centre and Meadow Hall in the North. Sampling will also take place at 24 'Lock In' invite only nights at Topman stores nationwide including London, Manchester and Birmingham flagship stores.

Gamers across the country will also be able to get their hands on the Nintendo DS at all 42 of the UK's VUE cinemas between 11 and 12 March, 19 and 20 March and 26 and 27 March in addition to further nationwide sampling activity at Mega Bowl Bowling Alleys, Laser Quest Arenas and All Sports retail stores up to and beyond the launch period. Gamers can find out where and when the tour will arrive at a location near them by logging onto www.touchmehere.co.uk

Games on show will include Nintendo first party titles 'Super Mario 64 DS', 'Wario Ware: Touched!' puzzle game 'Polarium' and 'Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt'. Third party titles include 'Project Rub' from Sega, 'Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 2005' from EA, 'Asphalt Urban GT' from Ubisoft and 'Spiderman 2' from Activision.

Dawn Paine, Head of Marketing, Nintendo UK, said: "All our research has shown that sampling will be key in getting people to understand and really enjoy Nintendo DS - once people get their hands on it they can't put it down."

In addition to this fully comprehensive consumer sampling campaign, Nintendo will also ensure trade and retail get their DS fix courtesy of the 'DS - Dual Squads' with over 25,000 in-store sampling hits between now and the launch for store staff. Retailer GAME will be hosting 15 regional superstore evenings where top loyalty card holders will be invited in-store to try out the DS and its great games.

Andy Yates, Head of Retail Development, Nintendo UK, said: "Whenever you make a quantum leap in technology like Nintendo have done with the DS, people inevitably ask lots of questions, however, getting the console into people's hands immediately changes their perception and opens up their minds to a new way of playing games through touch. For this reason sampling will be pivotal to the success of our trade strategy."

Nintendo is also placing a record number of free standing interactive Nintendo DS pods into trade from 01 February. The new striking and eye-catching design will ensure good in-store standout. Nintendo estimate that over 500,000 people will have played the Nintendo DS by the time of launch.

The Nintendo DS will launch in the UK on 11 March 2005 at the estimated retail price of around £99. Nintendo DS software will launch in the UK on 11 March 2005 at the estimated retail price of around £29 and £19 depending on the title.

The Nintendo DS is the new touch screen, dual-screened handheld video game system that redefines how people play videogames. In addition to the touch screen, the system includes both voice input and multiplayer wireless communication. The sleek silver and black system will be a welcome addition to any game collection.

Click onto www.touchmehere.co.uk for all of the most up to date official information on Nintendo DS sampling.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact the Nintendo Press Office at Cake on

0207 307 3103 or log onto the Nintendo extranet www.nintendo-europe-media.com

Notes to Editors:

Full Nintendo DS Sampling Dates are as follows:

Mall Sampling Tour:

12 - 13 February: Queensgate Centre Peterborough

13 - 14 February: West Quay Southampton

16 - 20 February: Bluewater Kent

16 - 20 February: The Bullring Birmingham

04 - 06 March: Brent Cross Hendon

05 - 06 March: Meadowhall Sheffield

11 - 13 March: The Oracle Reading

11 - 13 March: St. Stephens Green Dublin

19 - 20 March: The Centre: MK Milton Keynes

19 - 21 March: Trafford Centre Manchester

25 - 27 March: The Mall Cribbs Causeway, Bristol

26 - 27 March: Metro Centre Gateshead

01 - 03 March: Buchanan Galleries Glasgow

Top Man 'Lock In' (6pm - 9pm Invite Only):

22 February: Top Man Coventry

22 February: Top Man Swansea

23 February: Top Man Leicester

23 February: Top Man Plymouth

23 February: Top Man Galway (Eire)

24 February: Top Man York

01 March: Top Man Bangor

01 March: Top Man Cambridge

01 March: Top Man Lancaster

02 March: Top Man Exeter

02 March: Top Man Bradford

02 March: Top Man Reading

03 March: Top Man Derby

08 March: Top Man Aberdeen

08 March: Top Man Huddersfield

08 March: Top Man Bournemouth

09 March: Top Man Guildford

09 March: Top Man Ballymena (N.I)

10 March: Top Man Dundee

10 March: Top Man Brighton

10 March Top Man Southend

London, Birmingham, Manchester flagship store sampling dates tbc - please check with store for details

VUE Cinemas:

11 - 12 March

19 -20 March

26 - 27 March

Birmingham, Cheshire Oaks, Edinburgh, Acton, Basingstoke, Bolton, Bristol Cribbs Causeway, Bristol Longwell Green, Bury, Croydon grants, Dagenham, North Finchley, Finchley Road, Hamilton, Islington, Leeds, Leicester, Livingston, Plymouth, Sheffield, Shepherds Bush, Southport, Staines, Thurrock, Watford, West End, York, Doncaster, Northampton, Portsmouth, Aberdeen, Cambridge, Croydon Purley Way, Fulham, Harrow, Hartlepool, Inverness, Preston, Reading, Scunthorpe, Worcester, Accrington.

GAME Superstore Events:

Cribbs Causeway on Feb 14th

Reading on Feb 15th

Basingstoke on Feb 16th

Bluewater on Feb 17th

Lakeside on Feb 18th

Oxford St on Feb 19th

Milton Keynes on Feb 14th

Bullring on Feb 15th

Nottingham on Feb 16th

Cheshire Oaks on Feb 17th

Stockport on Feb 18th

Gateshead on Feb 19th (am)

Cardiff - 18th February

Plymouth - 18th February

Braehead - 18th February

Nintendo Co., Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 1.9 billion video games worldwide, created such industry icons as Mario^® and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of Zelda^® and Pokémon*. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, Game Boy Advance and Game Boy - the world's best-selling video game system which has sold over 170 million units. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim. Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.