Nintendo Reveals Online Gaming Plans
By micheal egan
05.13.2002 @ 08:11 PM Nintendo of America Inc. unveiled plans for its online gaming initiative for the Nintendo Gamecube, slated to begin this fall.
"We've seen stories over the past week or two that said we would have a big announcement at E3, but we thought expectations were being set too high," said George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing for Nintendo of America. "So we thought we'd get the word out early."
The first announced product is Sega's Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II launching this fall in North America. Sega's game will be playable at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) starting May 22 in Los Angeles. Nintendo currently is making software development kits available to developers worldwide. It will begin selling both the Nintendo Gamecube v.90 Modem Adapter and the Nintendo Gamecube Broadband Adapter this fall at retail for an MSRP of $34.95 each.
"We don't plan to announce a price cut," said Harrison to CNN Money. "We're going to see how our product is received at E3 and then assess the market. We're pretty confident in our software library and plan to go forward with the $199 price."
Editor's thought: Don't say I'm biased. SEGA confirmed that Phantasy Star Online is also coming to the Xbox. And if Microsoft cut the Xbox price to $199 and considering the GC is $199 plus $35 of the broadband adapter, you've got $235. And you still have no HD, no Xbox Communicator, etc; well, you do the math ... 
