Monday 5-Nov-2001 12:00 AM Nintendo owns the world's children. Pokémon is king. No one reaches young boys and girls like Pokémon; right? Nintendo has confirmed that the enormous Pokémon Center in New York, the first of its kind outside Japan, is to open the doors to 13,000 square feet dedicated solely to Pikachu and friends on November 16, oddly enough, the same day the Harry Potter movie and games launch globally. The resemblance of the Game Boy Color version of The Philosopher's Stone to Pokémon gameplay has not gone unnoticed. Funny old world, innit? As completely unrelated musical chap Spookey Rubin said on his 1995 debut album Modes of Transportation Vol. 1, "There's no such thing as coincidence." But we digress.
It's clear that two children's entertainment franchises are holding court for the grand crown of all things kiddie, and the race is on for the hearts and minds of the mini-masses. Nintendo has chosen to fight back at Potter's almost certain dominance of the games market this year by giving the children of New York an enormous area in Rockefeller Plaza on 48th Street in New York City with which to worship all things Pokémon.
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Young gamers in NYC will find a fog- and light-spewing pokéball, a giant screen holding details of all 251 of the little beasties and multiple gaming areas to try various games and swap characters.
Nintendo Europe has been planning something similar for London, although no details have ever been released of the project. The company remained unavailable for comment today, but we'll have every snippet of information for you in the coming months.
Potter and Pikachu go to war: isn't it all so exciting?
