Pokemon Trades Span the Globe

Pokemon Trading Heats Up, Spreads Worldwide with Global Trade Station


REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- They invaded. They evolved. And
now they'll be traded -- across oceans, and without regard for national
borders or native tongue.

Nintendo today announces the Pokemon(R) GTS (Global Trade Station) Web
site goes online worldwide Sept. 15 and will be a great resource for Pokemon
fans interested in learning more about trading their favorite characters.

The Global Trade Station already allows the trade of millions of Pokemon
between trainers worldwide. Pokemon(R) Diamond and Pokemon(R) Pearl are the
fastest-selling games in the history of the series, with worldwide sales in
excess of 10 million games. Players use their Nintendo DS(TM) portable game
systems to link wirelessly to Nintendo(R) Wi-Fi Connection, allowing them to
scan which Pokemon are available from different nations and offer to trade
with other players.

The new Pokemon Global Trade Station Web site, http://www.pokemon-gts.net/,
can be reached via any Internet-connected computer. The site will let users
see which Pokemon are the most popular to trade, provide statistics about the
number of trades completed and allow them to bookmark their favorite Pokemon.
The site will operate in seven different languages and inform users about the
nation they're "visiting" electronically. Visitors can even listen to audio
files to learn how to say "hello" and "thank you" in select countries
languages.

"Pokemon is now truly global in nature," says George Harrison, Nintendo of
America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "A
Pokemon Trainer from Chicago can be traveling in Sydney and trade one of their
Pokemon with another owner in Helsinki."

Pokemon USA, Inc., a subsidiary of The Pokemon Company in Japan, manages
the property outside of Asia which includes licensing, marketing, the Pokemon
Trading Card Game, an animated TV series, home entertainment, the official
Pokemon Web site and an online retail center http://www.pokemoncenter.com/.
Pokemon was launched in Japan in 1996 for play on Nintendo's Game Boy(R) and
has since evolved into a global cultural phenomenon. Pokemon was introduced in
North America in September 1998 and today is one of the most popular toy and
entertainment properties in the world. For more information, visit
http://www.pokemon.com/.

The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment,
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and
software for its Wii(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy(R) Advance and Nintendo
GameCube(TM) systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.4 billion video
games and more than 420 million hardware units globally, and has created
industry icons like Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(R), Metroid(R), Zelda(TM) and
Pokemon(R). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in
Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the
Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's
Web site at http://www.nintendo.com/.

Labels: Nintendo, Pokemon