Nintendo to release new system next month.

well..........in China.........

Nintendo announces that it has developed a new game console specifically for the Chinese market.

Nintendo has today announced that it will release a new game console in China in mid-October. The iQue Player, which has been developed specifically for the piracy-plagued Chinese market, will sell for around 498 yuan (US$60) and will allow players to download games priced at just 48 yuan (US$6) to a 64-megabyte flash-memory card at stores.

"We have targeted people in developed countries such as Japan, the US and Europe with sophisticated machines," said Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president. "To reach a wide range of people in China, especially those inland who are not as rich as those in coastal areas, we thought we needed to deliver a cheaper console."

The iQue player will be capable of running games designed for Nintendo's SNES and Nintendo 64 consoles and, although no specific titles have been announced for the new platform at this time, Nintendo has confirmed that a Chinese language version of one of the Mario games will be amongst the 10 available at launch. We'll bring you more information on Nintendo's iQue Player as soon as it becomes available.

Hum I will have to keep an eye out for those when I am in China this coming January.

I hate to say it... but that is a smart idea... sounds like a cool system.

$6 games... not bad!

†B†V†

Wow, sounds like a very good idea. I'd like to see one of these. I'd snap one of these up if it ever came here..

too bad you'd never be able to D/L the games... lol

unless they provided a website.. and the website could be understood... and they would allow international payments.

†B†V†

Or you have cool chinese friends that have downloaded pirated copies of games to get around the 6 dollar fee.

Thats gonna be about as successful as this was:



http://pokemoncenter.com/store/product.asp?catalog_name=PokemonBaseCat&category_name=&product_id=279

I think that this is the smartest thing that I have seen a major company do. Wow Kudos BigN

Baseley09 said:

The iQue Player, which has been developed specifically for the piracy-plagued Chinese market...

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HA!!! Piracy can never be resolved, IMO...

I give a few months until someone figures out a way to download those games for free and then make a pirated version of the hardware to play it on.

the roker said:

I give a few months until someone figures out a way to download those games for free and then make a pirated version of the hardware to play it on.

Click to expand...

Sad, but probably true...

Piracy is RAMPANT in that part of the world.

I'm surprised they release anything there with as much bootlegging that goes on.

So basically this machine is a SNES/N64 emu, and you pay to download teh romz.

SamuraiShodownSensei said:

So basically this machine is a SNES/N64 emu, and you pay to download teh romz.

Click to expand...

Yep, thats what it sounds like, heh.

I'm actually much more curious about the hardware. For $60, if it has a color screen, is back/front lit, etc, it sounds pretty cool. Think of a GP32, but MUCH cheaper. Even with a memory card slot. Lots more could be done with a system like that.

D-Lite said:

I'm actually much more curious about the hardware. For $60, if it has a color screen, is back/front lit, etc, it sounds pretty cool. Think of a GP32, but MUCH cheaper. Even with a memory card slot. Lots more could be done with a system like that.

Click to expand...

Am I wrong in picturing this as a console not a handheld?

Tenshokyaku said:

Sad, but probably true...

Piracy is RAMPANT in that part of the world.

Click to expand...

The Chinese tend not to see it as piracy. To the Chinese, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Imitating someone's product is the greatest honor you can get (to them at least.) Well, this is what we were told when we opened a plant in Shenzhen anyway; whether it's the truth or not, I don't know.

lithy said:

Am I wrong in picturing this as a console not a handheld?

Click to expand...

Hmm, perhaps, but who the hell would buy a "new" console that only plays SNES and N64 games? I figure the memory card seems perfect for a handheld. And since the GBA SP is $99 and has a lit screen and whatnot, this $60 "console" seemed to make sense as a portable to me.

That or I'm just an idiot.

Er, yes its an handheld.



Picture from Magicbox