Find out what to expect from Nintendo's interactive GameCube "clubs", soon to appear all over the country.
Marketing tours have become pretty standard in the gaming industry. You may remember the "Team GBA" tour that gave fans all over America a chance to play Game Boy Advance just a few months ago.
However, Nintendo is taking a very different approach with GameCube, setting up large, interactive areas much like dance clubs. These "cubistically correct" Cube Clubs will house thirty-two playable GameCubes, each running on 32" Panasonic HDTVs! There will also be a big dance floor (complete with disco lighting and a DJ) and some sort of VIP room. If all that weren't enough, visitors to the Cube Clubs can enter to win a total "cubistically correct" redesigning of their living room...and you can bet that would include all sorts of gaming gear.
Look for the Cube Clubs at these dates and locations:
Sponsors for the event include Stuff, Yahoo!, DC Comics, and MTV. Here's the full press release, with further details:
Interactive Clubs Break New Ground in Video Game Marketing
REDMOND, Wash.--Sept. 10, 2001--Nintendo of America announces the opening of "cubistically correct" Nintendo Cube Clubs that offer consumers an innovative hands-on opportunity to play NINTENDO
GAMECUBE(TM) in a hip setting before the system launches in the U.S. on Nov. 18.
In cities nationwide, Nintendo Cube Clubs will transform loft areas and vacant retail space with 32 game play interactives (eachequipped with a Panasonic 32" HDTV Monitor), surround sound audio systems, special club lighting, VIP "cube" rooms and a dance floorwith DJs spinning music. Inside the Nintendo Cube Club guests will experience the world's best video games -- and have a chance to win a redesign of their own living room into a "cubistically correct" Nintendo gaming environment.
"A traditional truck tour is too pedestrian for the unparalleled
entertainment of NINTENDO GAMECUBE and for the players who want to play it," says Peter Main, executive vice resident, sales and
marketing, Nintendo of America. "Our clubs will immerse people in a multi-sensory experience, with sights and music pumping out of high-end digital audio and video equipment and, of course, the best games on the planet available only for Nintendo."
Nintendo Cube Clubs will invade 12 major cities over a seven-week period, from the end of September through the middle of November. Three tours will run concurrently and each club will be in a market for approximately 10 days. Each club location will feature hands-on game play and the latest equipment from exclusive electronics partner Panasonic, highlighting the graphical prowess of NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
MTV will be the exclusive sponsor of the Nintendo Cube Club launch preview party in Los Angeles and the launch countdown party in New York City. The Nintendo Cube Club tour will be co-sponsored by Stuff, Yahoo! and DC Comics, among others.
Ten exclusive NINTENDO GAMECUBE titles will be available to play, including highly anticipated launch games like Luigi's Mansion(TM), Wave Race(R): Blue Storm, Pikmin(TM), Super Smash Bros.(TM) Melee, Star Wars(R) Rogue Squadron(R)II: Rogue Leader(TM) and others.
The Nintendo Cube Club tour schedule is:
- September 28 - October 6 Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles
- October 11 - October 20 Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix
- October 25 - November 3 Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco
- November 8 - November 17 New York, Dallas, Seattle
Specific dates, times and locations will be available online for interested "cube" goers at www.nintendogamecube.com. While there, folks can sign up for Nintendo Cube Club tickets. This is one party people won't want to miss.
In addition to the Nintendo Cube Clubs, NINTENDO GAMECUBE "human interactives" will be dispatched in each of the club markets. Each team member will wear specially equipped outfits with portable flat-screen monitors attached to the front of their bodies and a NINTENDO GAMECUBE, giving consumers an early chance to sample games on the spot. The NINTENDO GAMECUBE teams will visit local malls, movie theaters and other popular hangouts to pique consumer interest in NINTENDO GAMECUBE and the Nintendo Cube Clubs and to distribute tickets for the nightly events.
At the clubs, guests can enter the "Play It on Panasonic" sweepstakes for a chance to win a "cubistically correct" gaming
experience for their own home. It will feature a Panasonic Tau PureFlat(TM) HDTV Monitor and Home Theater Sound System creating the perfect setting to play NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
Cubistic Counselors from Panasonic will be on site with additional information on several Panasonic digital products that enhance the NINTENDO GAMECUBE playing experience. These Cubistic Counselors will
be handing out information on how consumers can become completely "cubistically correct."
Game fans will also have a shot at exciting prizes and notoriety at www.nintendogamecube.com where they will be challenged to answer the question "What Would You Do for a NINTENDO GAMECUBE?" Check out the contest, running from September through October; it promises to be completely unpredictable.
The entire marketing strategy is designed to communicate the "Nintendo Difference," and showcase Nintendo's commitment to quality game play, innovation, franchise characters and most importantly ...having fun.
