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NintendoPosted: March 8th, 2003.
INFAMOUS BOUNTY HUNTER SAMUS RETURNS!
METROID PRIME launches on NINTENDO GAMECUBE in a 5 Million European MarketingCampaign
Nintendo and Retro Studios have combined their creative genius to bring thevideo game event of the year, the long awaited release of Metroid Prime,exclusive to NINTENDO GAMECUBE. The launch will have the support of a 5million marketing campaign which includes a high profile MTV sponsorship dealand TV and print advertising, in addition to a limited edition Metroid Pak.
21st March marks the European launch of this blockbuster title, and the returnof Samus Aran, the ice-cool bounty hunter who’ll once again lock horns withthe evil Space Pirates. Early reviews of Metroid Prime indicate it is set totake Europe by storm and live up to its billing as one of the best games ofall time. A tall order indeed, but with the legendary status of itspredecessors, each one somehow building on and bettering the last, there isevery reason to believe that Metroid Prime will do exactly that!
Nintendo will be partnering with MTV Europe as a continued commitment toextreme sports and music through gaming. The highly popular MTV Winterjam 2003held in Davos Switzerland in March, will be sponsored by Metroid Prime. Thesponsorship will see MTV’s annual winter music event take on the sci-fi themeof the hit title, featuring the bounty hunter heroine of the game Samus, plusa giant gaming competition with contenders fighting it out on a grand scale asthe game-play is projected on to a huge ‘ice wall’. There will also be greatopportunities for Winterjam attendees to sample the game first hand.
TV advertising will appear on terrestrial and satellite channels includingChannel 4, MTV, Sky One and E4, and over a two month period a heavy-weightprint campaign will run in titles including FHM, Front, Loaded, Stuff and BoysToys. The print campaign will be the biggest ever UK campaign for a NINTENDOGAMECUBE title and features a tease and reveal execution. It will coincidewith the broadcast activity along with an additional 8 week cinematic styleonline 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 Primewebsite. 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 limitededition 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 (thedisk that fits in the top of the lid of the cube). The Metroid Pak promisesgamers an explosive introduction to the world of Nintendo and the NINTENDOGAMECUBE.
David Gosen, Managing Director of Nintendo of Europe says:
“This high impact marketing campaign will bring all the Metroid Primeaction and the female bounty hunter, Samus, to life across Europe.
Metroid Prime sold a staggering 250,000 copies within one week of its releasein the US and as the positive reviews keep coming in, European gamers aregearing up for the arrival of the classic gaming franchise on to the NINTENDOGAMECUBE for the first time.”
Click ontoNintendo Europe.comfor all of the most up to date official information on Nintendo.
News page content input by Dominic Robinson, 2003.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.