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CNN Sunday Morning
Nintendo Releases E-Reader
Aired September 22, 2002 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: For Gameboy fans, it sounds like the next big thing. Nintendo's just released the E-reader, which plugs into the Gameboy Advanced handheld device, and with it, players can swipe trading cards to load classic Nintendo games like Donkeykong and Pokemon.
Our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is joining us this morning to tell us about this. I know consumers already thinking about Christmas...
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right.
CALLAWAY: Things for their kids and more things for us to spend the money on.
SIEBERG: Absolutely, more things for kids to want now.
CALLAWAY: This is the E-reader here, right?
SIEBERG: That's the actual E-reader there. It's a separate add on for the Gameboy Advanced. People are maybe familiar with Nintendo's line of portable game products...
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: ...like the Gameboy and the Gameboy Advanced. Once you've attached it to the actual Gameboy Advanced, and we've got one right here, it slides in the back of it. And you'll see there's a slot here at the top, where you would slide something. I'm going to just go ahead and slide something through.
CALLAWAY: That's one of the cards there.
SIEBERG: This is one of the cards here. The idea behind this technology is it's called Dot code technology. And if you look on the back of this card, if you look really closely, you can see some -- a line of dots along this stripe here. And the idea is to slide those dots through the reader. It takes that information and loads the game onto the Gameboy Advanced.
You get about five cards. And you have to swipe each one through. This is actually the last part.
CALLAWAY: So wait a minute, to play one game, you have to swipe all five through? SIEBERG: Right, you have to swipe all five through. You would literally swipe it through, just like you would with a credit card. You just swipe it through like that. And it loads the entire game into the Gameboy Advanced.
CALLAWAY: That's a lot of work, Daniel, to have to load five of these in, just to play one game?
SIEBERG: Well, certainly for -- you know, for kids who have a little more patients, perhaps, than some of us.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: Or not, you know, you would have to consider that when you're loading the games in, but it's -- and of course, if you've got kids, you don't want to bend or fold the actual part because...
CALLAWAY: Not little kids.
SIEBERG: ...that's now the game that you're going to be bending.
CALLAWAY: Right. So the idea here basically is to give kids something to trade, like we saw with the Pokemon cards.
SIEBERG: Sure.
CALLAWAY: I know the cards aren't very expensive. They're like $4.00.
SIEBERG: No, the cards range in price from about $2.00 to $5.00. You get a pack of five cards, as I say...
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: To load them through. These are classic Nintendo games that Nintendo is releasing, like DonkeyKong. Mario should be coming out later. Tennis, Excitebyte. All these games of people were familiar with maybe with 15 or 17 years ago, they're now able to release them on this paper card technology. And you swipe them through.
The E-reader itself is $40.
CALLAWAY: I know, but...
SIEBERG: But I'd have to buy that first book.
CALLAWAY: $40 may not seem like a lot, but you add that on top of what is a Gameboy Advanced going for now, like $100?
SIEBERG: Gameboy Advanced, yes, about $100.
CALLAWAY: So we talk about $140.
SIEBERG: Right. CALLAWAY: For this game, which you know, you got to load five cards. So really, it's just another gimmick to try to get kids out there and get involved in this, right?
SIEBERG: Sure. You know, and kids are always wanting the next big thing. And you know, potentially this is something that kids are going to want.
CALLAWAY: You know my kids love their Gameboy, but I have problems with the back of them falling off, and the batteries becoming exposed.
I keep thinking there's got to be a better way for these things to be made, but the problem is, there's no competition out there.
SIEBERG: There really isn't.
CALLAWAY: This is it.
SIEBERG: Nintendo certainly has, in a sense, cornered the market on the portable gaming products with their Gameboy. And then they've got their Gameboy Advanced which just came out recently. And they really have, in a sense, cornered that market. We were talking about this earlier, why they've done that is perhaps they've got that younger crowd. They put games like Mario, Zelda, these games that kids are familiar with. And so, they've kind of taken those kids in, and you know, kids love to sit the back seat, for example, and play games.
CALLAWAY: That's right.
SIEBERG: So that's where they've gone with this...
CALLAWAY: But there are other companies who get in this market, in this handheld...
SIEBERG: Certainly there are other companies who get into this market. And of course, there are other companies who make the consoles.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: That we've got over here, where -- you know, where the competition is certainly heating up...
CALLAWAY: Yes, Playstation...
SIEBERG: ...with the console measures. That's right, we've got the Sony Playstation II right here. We've got Nintendo's Game Cube, which you can actually use with this E-reader as well. And we've got Microsoft's X-box. And there's a lot of competition heating up in this market in particular.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: Especially with online gaming, the idea of being able to play games over the Internet with your console. Already Playstation II has released its adaptor so you can play games on line. Microsoft's X-box live service, which is a similar type of service, being able to play games online, it goes live November 15. Nintendo, now this is interesting, because although Nintendo's sort of ahead of the game here with the portable ones...
CALLAWAY: Handheld devices, yes.
SIEBERG: ...they're not as into the idea of playing games online. So we'll have to see where they go with that.
CALLAWAY: Well, we could use some more competition in the handheld device for those...
SIEBERG: Competition. I always (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CALLAWAY: I know, always yield to the consumer.
SIEBERG: Yes, absolutely.
CALLAWAY: And for those of us who have kids who are tired of spending $140. Daniel, thank you very much...
SIEBERG: All right.
CALLAWAY: ...for showing this to us. I know parents now will understand when they're kids say they -- what they want. They want the pinball and the tennis and the Donkeykong trading cards.
SIEBERG: Game (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CALLAWAY: And what we've been talking about, that's right.
SIEBERG: Right. Miles, back to you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Sort of bridges the generation gap. Hey Daniel, I got to ask you a question.
SIEBERG: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Do you consider yourself a geek?
SIEBERG: Absolutely.
CALLAWAY: He's a gamer.
SIEBERG: In the most flattering, best sense of the word, I would take that.
O'BRIEN: I'm a geek and I'm proud.
SIEBERG: Absolutely, there you go.
O'BRIEN: You're my brother, man. All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 22, 2002 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: For Gameboy fans, it sounds like the next big thing. Nintendo's just released the E-reader, which plugs into the Gameboy Advanced handheld device, and with it, players can swipe trading cards to load classic Nintendo games like Donkeykong and Pokemon.
Our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg is joining us this morning to tell us about this. I know consumers already thinking about Christmas...
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right.
CALLAWAY: Things for their kids and more things for us to spend the money on.
SIEBERG: Absolutely, more things for kids to want now.
CALLAWAY: This is the E-reader here, right?
SIEBERG: That's the actual E-reader there. It's a separate add on for the Gameboy Advanced. People are maybe familiar with Nintendo's line of portable game products...
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: ...like the Gameboy and the Gameboy Advanced. Once you've attached it to the actual Gameboy Advanced, and we've got one right here, it slides in the back of it. And you'll see there's a slot here at the top, where you would slide something. I'm going to just go ahead and slide something through.
CALLAWAY: That's one of the cards there.
SIEBERG: This is one of the cards here. The idea behind this technology is it's called Dot code technology. And if you look on the back of this card, if you look really closely, you can see some -- a line of dots along this stripe here. And the idea is to slide those dots through the reader. It takes that information and loads the game onto the Gameboy Advanced.
You get about five cards. And you have to swipe each one through. This is actually the last part.
CALLAWAY: So wait a minute, to play one game, you have to swipe all five through? SIEBERG: Right, you have to swipe all five through. You would literally swipe it through, just like you would with a credit card. You just swipe it through like that. And it loads the entire game into the Gameboy Advanced.
CALLAWAY: That's a lot of work, Daniel, to have to load five of these in, just to play one game?
SIEBERG: Well, certainly for -- you know, for kids who have a little more patients, perhaps, than some of us.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: Or not, you know, you would have to consider that when you're loading the games in, but it's -- and of course, if you've got kids, you don't want to bend or fold the actual part because...
CALLAWAY: Not little kids.
SIEBERG: ...that's now the game that you're going to be bending.
CALLAWAY: Right. So the idea here basically is to give kids something to trade, like we saw with the Pokemon cards.
SIEBERG: Sure.
CALLAWAY: I know the cards aren't very expensive. They're like $4.00.
SIEBERG: No, the cards range in price from about $2.00 to $5.00. You get a pack of five cards, as I say...
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: To load them through. These are classic Nintendo games that Nintendo is releasing, like DonkeyKong. Mario should be coming out later. Tennis, Excitebyte. All these games of people were familiar with maybe with 15 or 17 years ago, they're now able to release them on this paper card technology. And you swipe them through.
The E-reader itself is $40.
CALLAWAY: I know, but...
SIEBERG: But I'd have to buy that first book.
CALLAWAY: $40 may not seem like a lot, but you add that on top of what is a Gameboy Advanced going for now, like $100?
SIEBERG: Gameboy Advanced, yes, about $100.
CALLAWAY: So we talk about $140.
SIEBERG: Right. CALLAWAY: For this game, which you know, you got to load five cards. So really, it's just another gimmick to try to get kids out there and get involved in this, right?
SIEBERG: Sure. You know, and kids are always wanting the next big thing. And you know, potentially this is something that kids are going to want.
CALLAWAY: You know my kids love their Gameboy, but I have problems with the back of them falling off, and the batteries becoming exposed.
I keep thinking there's got to be a better way for these things to be made, but the problem is, there's no competition out there.
SIEBERG: There really isn't.
CALLAWAY: This is it.
SIEBERG: Nintendo certainly has, in a sense, cornered the market on the portable gaming products with their Gameboy. And then they've got their Gameboy Advanced which just came out recently. And they really have, in a sense, cornered that market. We were talking about this earlier, why they've done that is perhaps they've got that younger crowd. They put games like Mario, Zelda, these games that kids are familiar with. And so, they've kind of taken those kids in, and you know, kids love to sit the back seat, for example, and play games.
CALLAWAY: That's right.
SIEBERG: So that's where they've gone with this...
CALLAWAY: But there are other companies who get in this market, in this handheld...
SIEBERG: Certainly there are other companies who get into this market. And of course, there are other companies who make the consoles.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: That we've got over here, where -- you know, where the competition is certainly heating up...
CALLAWAY: Yes, Playstation...
SIEBERG: ...with the console measures. That's right, we've got the Sony Playstation II right here. We've got Nintendo's Game Cube, which you can actually use with this E-reader as well. And we've got Microsoft's X-box. And there's a lot of competition heating up in this market in particular.
CALLAWAY: Right.
SIEBERG: Especially with online gaming, the idea of being able to play games over the Internet with your console. Already Playstation II has released its adaptor so you can play games on line. Microsoft's X-box live service, which is a similar type of service, being able to play games online, it goes live November 15. Nintendo, now this is interesting, because although Nintendo's sort of ahead of the game here with the portable ones...
CALLAWAY: Handheld devices, yes.
SIEBERG: ...they're not as into the idea of playing games online. So we'll have to see where they go with that.
CALLAWAY: Well, we could use some more competition in the handheld device for those...
SIEBERG: Competition. I always (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CALLAWAY: I know, always yield to the consumer.
SIEBERG: Yes, absolutely.
CALLAWAY: And for those of us who have kids who are tired of spending $140. Daniel, thank you very much...
SIEBERG: All right.
CALLAWAY: ...for showing this to us. I know parents now will understand when they're kids say they -- what they want. They want the pinball and the tennis and the Donkeykong trading cards.
SIEBERG: Game (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CALLAWAY: And what we've been talking about, that's right.
SIEBERG: Right. Miles, back to you.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Sort of bridges the generation gap. Hey Daniel, I got to ask you a question.
SIEBERG: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Do you consider yourself a geek?
SIEBERG: Absolutely.
CALLAWAY: He's a gamer.
SIEBERG: In the most flattering, best sense of the word, I would take that.
O'BRIEN: I'm a geek and I'm proud.
SIEBERG: Absolutely, there you go.
O'BRIEN: You're my brother, man. All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
