The firm revealed last Thursday plans to market in China a cheaper version of its Game Cube console, with a flash memory card instead of the optical disc reader found on models sold elsewhere.
Game Cube software is normally stored on proprietary 1.5GB optical discs. But optical discs, such as DVDs and music CDs, are routinely counterfeited in China.
There, users will have to bring the Game Cube card to a shop and pay for the download. The data cannot be extracted or cloned from one card to other cards, nor can a card for one console be used on other consoles.
"We plan to offer an affordable price so that the general public across China can play our games. This will eventually help foster the software industry in China," Nintendo spokesman Ken Toyoda said in a report in the Daily Times of Pakistan.
The game device--dubbed iQue Player--is said to be capable of playing both SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and Nintendo 64 titles, and will sell for 498 yuan (US$60), including the memory card, according to games web site Total Video Games.
It will be sold from mid-October in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
Software can be downloaded onto the 64MB card at 48 yuan (US$5.80) per title at selected licensed shops, and 10 titles will be offered at the launch of the console, including Mandarin versions of the firm's trademark software title Super Mario series.
Nintendo's local subsidiary, iQue, is responsible for planning and manufacturing game machines and Chinese language software titles in China, said the AP report.
Toyoda said that the sales network will be expanded to all over China by spring next year, and eventually match the size of Nintendo's market in Japan, the US or Europe, and the scheme should enable efficient distribution of goods, protection of copyright and smooth collection of revenue in China, said the Daily Times report.
The Chinese games market has developed around online games due to the absence of major console-based firms in China. The market is expected to be worth US$250 million this year, said Duncan Clark, a partner with consultancy firm BDA China, in the BBC News report.
This is part of Nintendo's global strategy to compete with rivals Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox.
iQue is a registered trademark of Garmin International USA:
http://www.garmin.com/products/iQue3600/