news43

Done on 11/23/97

Nintendo's New Peripherals

Nintendo recently announced astounding peripherals for their two hit game machines, the Game Boy and Nintendo 64. Actual display of these new add-ons has been done at the Nintendo64 SpaceWorld 97' at Makuhari Messe of Chiba, Japan on 11/22 - 23.

For the Gameboy, a new add-on which makes the machine into a digital camera has been announced. Named "Pocket Camera", this digicam can snapshot monochrome photos. The Digicam has different snapshot options such as "Timer" and "split screens". The display on the gameboy can be used to confirm the picture before it will be snapped, and basic graphics editing such as text input can be done via the Gameboy. Data of snapshots can be transferred with the use of the Gameboy's cable. In addition, the digicam package comes with 3 games where the captured graphics can be used as characters. There is also a printer for Pocket Camera, adequately named "Pocket Printer". The Pocket Camera has been priced at 5500Yen retail, and the Pocket Printer at 5800Yen. Neither one has been confirmed for sales in the US or other countries.

For the N64, Nintendo announced a new "Capture Cassette" (picture shown at top of this article). This capture cassette can snapshot TV screens and sounds. Scheduled for release as the "Mario Artist Series", games programmed for this capture card will be on the 64DD. Currently on the line-up are games with project names "Talent Maker", "Picture Maker" and "Polygon Maker". These are basically new versions of Super Nintendo's "Mario Paint". There is also a voice recognition system and a gameboy-N64 data converter underway, both of which will be used for the Japanese hit game "Pocket Monster". Both are scheduled for release in mid-1998. Together with the new Multi-media based N64 line-ups, a mouse for the N64 has been announced as well.