January 5^th, 2005 (1:37pm) - The videogame industry closed 2004 with a rush to portable game systems, and especially a rush to Nintendo DS. The new year starts much the same way, with the 1.3 million new Nintendo DS owners in North America experiencing games and interacting with one another in ways never before possible. From the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nintendo announces that new games planned for the first quarter of 2005 will expand this community even more by demonstrating that there’s more to hand-held video games than pretty pictures.

"Publishers and game players have only just begun to tap the potential of Nintendo DS," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "2005 will continue the excitement we’ve experienced in 2004."
The trend in consumer electronics is for music players, telephones and all manner of organizers to become portable, and videogames are no exception. The future of videogames will be characterized by innovation – by which games and systems can give players the best adventures and the newest ways to play.

Publishers have more than 120 games planned for Nintendo DS. Key titles due in 2005 include Need for Speed Underground 2 from Electronic Arts, WarioWare: Touched!, Pokémon Dash and Yoshi Touch & Go from Nintendo and Retro Atari Classics from Atari. Thanks to backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance SP titles, Nintendo DS already boasts a library of more than 500 games.

But Nintendo DS is just one element of Nintendo’s strong holiday season. 2005 will herald new games for Game Boy Advance SP and Nintendo GameCube.

Game Boy Advance continued its dominance by selling more than 8 million units in North America in 2004, making it the year’s best-selling videogame system. Key upcoming titles include WarioWare: Twisted!, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Mario Party Advance, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and Pokémon Emerald from Nintendo, Ace Combat Advance and Klonoa 2 from Namco and Banjo Pilot from THQ. More than 125 games are expected this year for Game Boy Advance SP.

The GameCube plans on shining in 2005 with with games as Star Fox: Assault, Geist, Donkey Konga 2 and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat from Nintendo join top titles like Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7 from Capcom, NBA Street V3 from Electronic Arts, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory from Ubisoft and Mortal Kombat: Deception from Midway. And a new adventure for The Legend of Zelda series remains in development. More than 60 games are expected this year for Nintendo GameCube.