NINTENDO LAUNCHES GAME WITH LOTS OF HORSEPOWER
By Adnews Staff
Japanese-based Nintendo Co. Ltd. says it will launch a 64-bit video game system in Japan next month and in North America by the end of September. Nintendo will spend $6 million promoting the system in Canada. National print, radio and TV advertising is being created by the Leo Burnett Company of Chicago. Burnett's Toronto office will localize ads for Canada and do the media buy. GCI Communications of Toronto will do public relations. Called Nintendo64, the new system uses the same microprocessor that runs powerful Silicon Graphics work stations used to create animation for movies such as The Terminator and Jurassic Park. The new Nintendo system will continue to use game cartridges, which are faster than the CD-ROMs being adopted by other video game makers. Next month Nintendo 64 will be installed across Canada in some of the stores where it is to be sold, allowing customers to preview the machine. While competitors have launched 32-bit systems, until now Nintendo has stuck with 8-bit and 16-bit games. The higher the bit number of a machine, the faster it works and the better the graphics.