Dragon Quest IX is School Holidays Hit

Dragon Quest IX is School Holidays Hit

LONDON, August 25, 2010--     Dragon Quest, the gaming sensation that became a phenomenon in Japan, has
been the summer holidays hit for school children in the UK.

    The Nintendo DS role playing game was launched at the start of the school
holidays with a major fanfare at London's Westfield shopping centre featuring
Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity.

    Since then it has sold more than 50,000 copies with some retailers
selling out.

    Gaming experts are attributing the success of the game to its involving
story.

    Dragon Quest IX: 'Sentinels of the Starry Skies' allows players to put
themselves in the role of the game's hero or heroine - a guardian angel
fallen to Earth who must embark on an epic adventure in the mortal world,
protecting mortals, battling foes and ultimately completing a Quest which
will return them to the Kingdom of Angels.

    James Honeywell from Nintendo UK said: "We've seen a lot of research
which suggests keeping children entertained on long car journeys or on rainy
days is a real challenge for parents. Dragon Quest IX is a real epic game
that provides more than enough entertainment for the long summer holidays.

    "And we're sure the game will be the talk of the playgrounds when the
first wave of players return to school having mastered Dragon Quest IX," he
said.

    About the Dragon Quest phenomenon:

    Queues a mile long formed for the launch of Dragon Quest IX in Tokyo with
sales of 2.4 million in the first weekend - a world record launch in a single
country.

    Such is the impact of Dragon Quest in its native Japan, the latest launch
was even held on a Saturday morning, when games previously always launched on
a Wednesday, in order to stop mass truancy by children and adults missing
work in the race to get their hands on this immersive role-playing game.

    In one district of Tokyo the local authorities have roped off special
zones for Dragon Quest players so they don't wander off the pavements or
collide with other pedestrians while immersed in the handheld game on their
Nintendo DS.

    The nine games in the Dragon Quest series have sold a total of 53 million
games in Japan alone, beaten only by gaming icons Mario and Pokemon for
sales. And in Tokyo there is even a restaurant devoted to Dragon Quest where
diners eat off screens showing the game. The first eight games were aimed
almost exclusively at a domestic audience, but with Dragon Quest IX it has
been aimed at a more global audience.

    About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive
entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets
hardware and software for its Wii(TM) home console and Nintendo DS(TM) family
of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment
System(TM), Nintendo has sold more than 3.4 billion video games and more than
565 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii,
Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi(TM) and Nintendo DSi XL(TM), as well as the Game
Boy(TM), Game Boy Advance, Super NES(TM), Nintendo 64(TM) and Nintendo
GameCube(TM) systems. It has also created industry icons that have become
well-known, household names such as Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(TM), Metroid(TM),
Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(TM). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe,
based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as
headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.

Source: Nintendo

For more information, please contact the Nintendo Press Office on: +44(0)20-7861-2868 or Nintendo@bell-pottinger.co.uk