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Nintendo unveils Game Boy Micro

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

Yukari Iwatani Kane and Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES: Nintendo Co. Ltd. on Tuesday unveiled a cell phone-size Game Boy and said its new console will be able to download old favorites like the original Super Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong.



Nintendo is looking at a fall release for the new Game Boy Micro handheld, which measures four inches by two inches by 0.7 inches and can be customized.



Nintendo dominates the portable game industry with about 94 percent market share and aims to strengthen its grip with the Micro as it goes up against Sony's new PlayStation Portable.



The Micro handheld weighs about 2.8 ounces, about 20 percent less than Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod mini music device.



"It is not new technology, but it's a brand new look," said Reggie Fils-Amie, a Nintendo marketing executive.



"Micro represents yet another morphing of the Game Boy brand, this time to the image-conscious consumer," he said, speaking at a news conference before the opening of the E3 annual industry trade show.



The Micro, whose screen has adjustable brightness levels, will play all the same games as the current Game Boy Advance SP and will be compatible with an add-on digital music player. Nintendo did not set a price for the Micro.



CONSOLE "REVOLUTION"



The new console, code-named "Revolution," will launch in 2006 with access to more than 20 years of games from past Nintendo consoles. It will support a new disc format as well as discs from Nintendo's current console, the GameCube.



The console, roughly the size of three stacked DVD cases, will feature wireless controllers, two USB ports and built-in wireless Internet access, and an add-on for DVD playback.



"It's not about what you will be playing, but how you will play," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told reporters.



It was not clear how early in 2006 Nintendo planned to release the console, but, given the time it takes to develop games, analysts said it would probably be in the second half of the year. Nintendo said developers would get tool kits shortly.



Market leader Sony Corp. plans to release the PlayStation 3 in spring 2006, while Microsoft Corp. is to release the Xbox 360 later this year.



Some analysts said it was too early to compare the Revolution to other new consoles.



"It's supposed to be so revolutionary that no one's ever seen anything like it, but what we've seen today really isn't," said Hiroshi Kamide, an analyst at KBC Securities. "There are more questions than answers."



Those questions include the controller, which Nintendo did not unveil, and the final name of the box.



Other news from Nintendo includes a planned launch of a new Legend of Zelda game and four new Mario games.



SOLID EARNINGS?



The strong games line-up together with the Game Boy Micro, according to some analysts, could mean that Nintendo will forecast solid earnings for the current business year, when it reports on its earnings next week.



The market currently expects the company to forecast an operating profit of about 118.46 billion yen for this year, according to a survey of 17 analysts.



This is a 2.4 increase from the 115.68 billion yen they expect for the business year just ended.

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