Nintendo's new cellphone-sized handheld game unit opens strong in Japan; how will it do in the U.S. next week?
Nintendo’s new Game Boy Micro, a new handheld gaming unit roughly the size of a cell phone, has made a strong debut in Japan, garnering more orders than expected in a video game market which has actually shrunk in the last five years, although the new device hasn’t moved as many units as Nintendo’s earlier Game Boy Advance SP. Nintendo accounts for over 90 percent of the video game market in Japan.
The Game Boy Micro is scheduled for release in the U.S. September 19 for $99, and in Europe on November 4 for €99. In the U.S., the units will be available in black and silver with removable faceplates; in Europe, Game Boy Micros will ship in silver, pink, green, and blue. So far, the favorite color in Japan is "Famicon", a special color scheme harking back to an old game system from the 1980s.
The Game Boy Micro is 4 inches wide, 2 inches tall, and .7 inches deep (102 by 51 by 18 mm), weighs just 2.8 ounces (80 grams), and is fully compatible with more than 700 existing Game Boy Advance games. It doesn’t offer any new features compared to the Game Boy Advance, but Nintendo is hoping the small size, low cost, and compatibility will appeal to new and returning gamers who don’t have much time to play video games, or who are a generation or two removed from the gadget-savvy youth demographic. Nintendo hopes to sell 4 million Game Boy Micros worldwide by March of 2006.
