INFAMOUS BOUNTY HUNTER SAMUS RETURNS!

METROID PRIME launches on NINTENDO GAMECUBE in a €5 Million European Marketing Campaign

Nintendo and Retro Studios have combined their creative genius to bring the video game event of the year, the long awaited release of Metroid Prime, exclusive to NINTENDO GAMECUBE. The launch will have the support of a €5 million marketing campaign which includes a high profile MTV sponsorship deal and TV and print advertising, in addition to a limited edition Metroid Pak.

21st March marks the European launch of this blockbuster title, and the return of Samus Aran, the ice-cool bounty hunter who'll once again lock horns with the evil Space Pirates. Early reviews of Metroid Prime indicate it is set to take Europe by storm and live up to its billing as one of the best games of all time. A tall order indeed, but with the legendary status of its predecessors, each one somehow building on and bettering the last, there is every reason to believe that Metroid Prime will do exactly that!

Nintendo will be partnering with MTV Europe as a continued commitment to extreme sports and music through gaming. The highly popular MTV Winterjam 2003 held in Davos Switzerland in March, will be sponsored by Metroid Prime. The sponsorship will see MTV's annual winter music event take on the sci-fi theme of the hit title, featuring the bounty hunter heroine of the game Samus, plus a giant gaming competition with contenders fighting it out on a grand scale as the game-play is projected on to a huge 'ice wall'. There will also be great opportunities for Winterjam attendees to sample the game first hand.

TV advertising will appear on terrestrial and satellite channels including Channel 4, MTV, Sky One and E4, and over a two month period a heavy-weight print campaign will run in titles including FHM, Front, Loaded, Stuff and Boys Toys. The print campaign will be the biggest ever UK campaign for a NINTENDO GAMECUBE title and features a tease and reveal execution. It will coincide with the broadcast activity along with an additional 8 week cinematic style online advertising campaign specifically targeting gamers

In addition the Nintendo.co.uk website will be hosting an exclusive competition, offering gamers the opportunity to research and design their own Metroid Prime website. The designer of the best site will win exclusive 'money can't buy' Metroid Prime prizes.

To celebrate the return of gaming icon Samus, Nintendo will a launch a limited edition Metroid Pak priced 199 Euros, available from launch day on 21st March. The pak contains the Metroid Prime game, along with a black NINTENDO GAMECUBE (and controller) in addition to an exclusive Metroid Prime name-plate (the disk that fits in the top of the lid of the cube). The Metroid Pak promises gamers an explosive introduction to the world of Nintendo and the NINTENDO GAMECUBE.

David Gosen, Managing Director of Nintendo of Europe says:

"This high impact marketing campaign will bring all the Metroid Prime action and the female bounty hunter, Samus, to life across Europe.

Metroid Prime sold a staggering 250,000 copies within one week of its release in the US and as the positive reviews keep coming in, European gamers are gearing up for the arrival of the classic gaming franchise on to the NINTENDO GAMECUBE for the first time. "