Why trust kids on craigslist to work on your $200 PSP? Bring it to a professional! Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社, Nintendō Kabushiki gaisha?) is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889[1] by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards.[4] By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.[5] Eventually, Nintendo developed into a video game company, becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most valuable listed company, with a market value of over US$85 billion.[6] Nintendo is the fifth largest software company in the world.[7] Besides video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington.[8] According to Nintendo's Touch! Generations website, the name "Nintendo" translated from Japanese to English means "Leave luck to Heaven".[9] As of October 2, 2008, Nintendo has sold over 470 million hardware units and 2.7 billion software units.[10] Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 As a card company (since 1889) 1.2 New ventures (19561975) 1.3 Electronic era (since 1975) 1.3.1 Handheld console history 2 Offices and locations 3 Policy 3.1 Emulation 3.2 Content guidelines 3.3 License guidelines 3.4 Seal of Quality 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links [edit] History Main article: History of Nintendo Former headquarters plate, from when Nintendo was solely a playing card company[edit] As a card company (since 1889) Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889, originally named "Nintendo Koppai". Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan[11] and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".[12] [edit] New ventures (19561975) In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (the grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer in that country. He found that the world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point, where Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales. The Nintendo Love TesterIn 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company, Limited. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using the newly injected capital. During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network and a food company (trying to sell instant rice, similar to instant noodles). All these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, leaving Nintendo with 60 yen in stocks. In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extending arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required of the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy. In 1973, the focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market. [edit] Electronic era (since 1975) The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)In 1974, Nintendo secured the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey home video game console in Japan. In 1977, Nintendo began producing its own Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each playing variations on a single game (for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis). A student product developer named Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo at this time. He worked for Yokoi, and one of his first tasks was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. Miyamoto went on to create some of Nintendo's most famous video games and become one of the most recognizable faces in the video game industry. In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda [13], and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit. In 1980, Nintendo launched Game & Watch, a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi, to worldwide success. In 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer (commonly called by its shortened name "Famicom") home video game console in Japan alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. In 1985, the console launched in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros.. In 1989, Yokoi developed the Game Boy handheld video game console. Nintendo is the longest-surviving video game console manufacturer to date. The Nintendo Entertainment System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This was Nintendo's console of the 16-bit 4th generation, and its main rival was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A fierce console war[14] ensued, where the SNES was victorious. The SNES eventually sold 49.10 million consoles[15], around 20 million more than the Mega Drive. The Nintendo 64, most notable for its 3D graphics capabilities, introduced the analog stick and built-in multiplayer for up to four players, instead of two. It also introduced the Rumble Pak, an enhancement that produced force feedback, which was the first such device in the history of home console gaming, and has become an industry standard.[16] The Nintendo GameCube followed, and was the first Nintendo console to use optical disc storage instead of cartridges.[17] The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers [18] and has online functionality (although the GameCube did also have some basic online capabilities), used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Virtual Console and WiiWare[19]. [edit] Handheld console history After the Game & Watch, the handheld development continued with the Game Boy, the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color, each differing in minor aspects. The Game Boy, the best-selling handheld and second best-selling console of all time, continued for more than a decade until the release of the Game Boy Advance, featuring technical specifications similar to the SNES. The Game Boy Advance SP, a frontlit, flip-screen version, introduced a rechargeable, built-in battery, instead of using AA batteries like its predecessors. The Game Boy Micro was released in 2005, after the Nintendo DS's release, but did not sell as well as its predecessors. The most recent Nintendo handheld console is the Nintendo DS, using two screens, the bottom of which is a touchscreen, with online capability and technical power similar to that of the Nintendo 64. The Nintendo DS Lite, a remake of the DS, improved several features of the original model, including the battery life and screen brightness. It was designed to be sleeker, more beautiful, and more aesthetically pleasing than the original, in order to appeal to a broader audience.[20] On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released, in Japan, the Nintendo DSi, an improved version featuring larger screens, improved sound quality, an AAC music player and two camerasone on the outside and one facing the user.[21]. It was released in the USA, Europe, and Australia at the start of April, 2009. [edit] Offices and locations The exterior of Nintendo's main headquarters in Kyoto, Japan The Nintendo of America headquarters in Redmond, WashingtonNintendo Company, Limited (NCL) is based in Minami-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′11.89″N 135°45′22.33″E / 34.9699694°N 135.7562028°E / 34.9699694; 135.7562028). Its pre-2000 office, now its research and development building, is located in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan (34°58′29.00″N 135°46′10.48″E / 34.97472°N 135.7695778°E / 34.97472; 135.7695778). Its original Kyoto headquarters can still be found at (34°59′30.03″N 135°45′58.66″E / 34.991675°N 135.7662944°E / 34.991675; 135.7662944). Nintendo of America, Incorporated (NOA), its American division, is based in Redmond, Washington. It has distribution centers in Atlanta, Georgia (Nintendo Atlanta) and North Bend, Washington (Nintendo North Bend). Nintendo of Canada, Limited (NOCL) is based in the Richmond, BC, with its distribution center in Toronto, Ontario. Nintendo Australia Pty Ltd (NAL) is based in Melbourne, Victoria. It handles the distribution, sales and marketing of Nintendo products in Australia and New Zealand. It also manufactures some of the Wii games locally. Nintendo of Europe is based in Großostheim (established in 1990),[22] Germany and holds a subsidiary company in South Africa and trades as Core Gaming Systems which serves as a distribution and sales company for NOE. iQue, Ltd., a Chinese joint venture between its founder, Doctor Wei Yen, and Nintendo, manufactures and distributes official Nintendo consoles and games for the mainland Chinese market, under the iQue brand. Nintendo also established Nintendo of Korea (NoK) on July 7, 2006.
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PSP MOD's * & * UNBRICKING** NOW MODDING PSP 3000's**** (Sacramento) $20
Posted: November 13th, 2009, 9:52am PST