REDMOND, WASHINGTON, U.S.A., 1996 FEB 2 (NB) -- Nintendo has announced it will delay the launch of its Nintendo 64 video game player almost five months, citing a lack of available software as well as manufacturing problems.

Nintendo 64 is a 64-bit game player that was scheduled to ship in April. That launch date would have provided Nintendo with a significant lead over competitors like Sony and Sega. Nintendo now says the player won't reach the US market until September 30, 1996.

Delay of the Nintendo 64 launch and the subsequent loss of competitive advantage could significantly shift the balance of power in the $5 billion US video game market, unless Nintendo's competitors have the same problems. However the company denies that is a concern.

Nintendo 64 was unveiled in Japan in November 1995. It was displayed at the 7th annual Shoskinkai Software Exhibition in Makuhari, Japan with Super Mario 64, a three-dimensional Mario game prepared specifically for Nintendo 64.

When Nintendo first announced what was then called the Ultra 64, Nintendo of America Chairman Howard Lincoln said more than 30 software titles were under development. However a Nintendo public relations representative told Newsbytes today there would be 8-12 titles ready by the end of September. The spokesperson said there are also a number of third-party titles in development.

Obviously Nintendo learned from the mistake of its competitor Sega, which launched a game system without enough software available to meet demand. "It's better to have a number of quality games than to rush to market and leave everyone unhappy," said the spokesperson.

When the game system does ship it will come with a three-grip game controller equipped with buttons that change the player's game perspective and a trigger for use with shooting-type games. The controller will have a special memory card to save game information so players can take their game play data with them when they move to another Nintendo 64 system.

Nintendo is also developing a mass volume memory device, a writable disk drive unit that will let players write or customize games. The drive will be attached to the bottom of the N64 console, with the magnetic disks front-loadable. The writable disk drive will be bundled with a one or two megabyte expansion RAM (random access memory) pack which the player can insert into the N64's memory expansion slot. The 3.75-inch disks will hold 64 megabytes of data or about 16 times the data contained on the Donkey Kong Country game. Nintendo said the average seek time for the N64 disk drive unit will be about 150 microseconds.

The company said Nintendo 64 will ship with one controller and a dedicated AC adapter. Controllers, memory cards and stereo cables will be sold separately.

The US price for Nintendo 64 is expected to be under $250.

(Jim Mallory/19960202/Press contact: Golin/Harris for Nintendo, 213-623-4200/NINTENDO960202/PHOTO)

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