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Nintendo Buys Bandai Shares, Prompts Merger Speculation

Posted by simoniker on from the bantendo-and-nindai dept.

Thanks to Reuters for their story that Nintendo have purchased over 1 million Bandai shares, making them one of Gundam creator and toy/game/film company Bandai's top 10 shareholders. A spokesman "...said Nintendo, the maker of GameCube home video consoles, which did not own any shares in Bandai as of March, has no intention of acquiring the toymaker", but GamesAreFun relay Japanese tabloid rumors that "a full-on merger between the two groups could take place sometime in the future." But it may be more likely, Video-Fenky points out, that "it's a move on Nintendo's part to win Bandai closer to their side and get them to release Gundam and Super Robot Taisen games... on their machine."

27 comments

  1. Nintendo rules!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a hugh nintendo fan because their games are *FUN* and not just "cool" like on other "video game consoles".

  2. God bless fenegi- by Gunsmithy · · Score: 1

    Heh, I remember when this news first broke last night.

    One true industry insider said it was a step towards Nintendo taking over Bandai. But...we had to wait for fenegi-. Fenegi-, of course, is the owner of Video-Fenky. Also great is the fact that the same fenegi- goodness seen in Video-Fenky is dripping over to 1up.com like juice off of a rotissered ham. So visit both, guys, and support good gaming journalism.

    Okay, fenegi-, I want my ten dollars now.

    --
    Kids these days. They don't know the difference between classic, and just plain old.
  3. Super Cool... by Bai+jie · · Score: 1

    as long as neither company messes up the great work they are already doing individually.
    I would love it if my favorite game maker and my favorite model kit producer came together.

  4. If they do merge by Mupp252 · · Score: 1

    Can we expect the long awaited sequel to Dick Tracy?

  5. .Hack//Empire by phlyingpenguin · · Score: 1

    But Bandai also does .Hack which is currently PS2 material. I'd wonder what contracts lurk underneath that that could make Bandai switch consoles, I doubt Sony will let them switch over .Hack now after four games are released. .Hack is going over pretty big, and understandably so. I'd immagine Sony wants to keep .Hack so that they can create 'The World' online someday on their machine.

    1. Re:.Hack//Empire by falcon5768 · · Score: 1
      since the game ends at number 4 which has already been coded for the PS2 and released in Japan (the US release is next month I believe) It is highly unlikely that .hack will switch over to the GameCube.

      Now, from what I have read there wont be a sequal videogame wise, the whole deal was for it to be a anime (.Hack/sign) then the next part video game (.hack for PS2) then finalizing the story in a manga (.Hack key of the twilight) but then again bandi just relesed a card game using the characters but that has no bearing on the 10 year storyline so who knows.

      The only thing we do know is .hack will never be a mmorpg, the creator said so himself that there are enough of them out there and he refuses to let the characters be used in that way, he would rather simulate it so users without broadband can get the feel of it without paying out huge gobs of money rather than make a online version of "The World"

      Besides who wants to play in a game where you can get put into a coma :-D

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    2. Re:.Hack//Empire by phlyingpenguin · · Score: 1

      Well that's fairly good news, I hadn't heard about the creators wishes in the past. Being any commercial company I wouldn't set any limits on what Bandai will do, even if it isn't a mmorpg. There are plenty of other things I could immagine they could do to warp it into another video game should they decide that .Hack will profit for them.

    3. Re:.Hack//Empire by YomikoReadman · · Score: 1
      Since I am an anime slut, and know a great deal more about .Hack than you, I am going to be a .Hack nazi.

      1. .Hack//Sign was also a manga first. Many great anime series start like this.

      2. The manga that follows the .Hack games is not key of the twilight, it's Legend of Dusk's Bracelet.

      3. The anime has already been licensed, and we should be seeing that next year. It parallels the manga that is being released by TokyoPop.

      /end .hack nazi rant.

      --
      I have no regrets, this is the only path.
      My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
    4. Re:.Hack//Empire by falcon5768 · · Score: 1

      ahhh might be true about Legend of dusks bracelet (though the copy of the tokyopop manga i have next to me says legend of the twilight bracelet) but .hack//sign was never a manga first, it was always a anime and there is no complete translation of the anime to a manga in japan or the us. You ARE right about the other anime though.and its set to be on cartoon network along with the purchased rights to Z gundam (which will both be a adult swim and a edited toonami version)

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    5. Re:.Hack//Empire by YomikoReadman · · Score: 1

      I've already seen the anime, legend of twilights bracelet, as for the tokyopop translation of the title, well, densetsu no udewa translates quite literally as legend of dusk's bracelet. I can't remeber remeber the full japanese title, but look around and you'll find it. as far as there not being a translation of the anime to the manga, I've seen scanslations of that here and there. As far as their being a toonami/adult swim version, I could care less. I still have my fansubs, and will replace them with dvds. CN edits suck. Reference Kenshin for that.

      --
      I have no regrets, this is the only path.
      My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
    6. Re:.Hack//Empire by falcon5768 · · Score: 1
      eh .hack/sign other than dropping the images (though still keeping the next week title in japanese?!?! whatever) has actually been uncut.

      Trust me my girlfriend lives and breaths .Hack and actually cosplayed as Lady Subaru at the anime next festival. If you dont beleive me go to the .hack comunity on www.go-gaia.com (which actually has some of the guys working on the US distribution on it.)

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    7. Re:.Hack//Empire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      .Hack//Sign was also a manga first. Many great anime series start like this.
      And many shitty ones as well, i.e. .Hack.
    8. Re:.Hack//Empire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The empire as it is

      .Hack//sign = first part, anime only

      .Hack the games = continuation of the storyline of the anime with a new group of characters as the leads with the anime ones showing up occasionally

      .Hack legend of the twilight, manga by tokyopop = 4 years later deals with two kids who win the special advatars of Kite and Black Rose, was turned into a anime called .hack//dusk not related .hack//Enemy (cardgame by the same guys who make Young Jedi Knights etc.)

  6. Re:Grammar by dk4 · · Score: 1

    The Grammar is proper for English English, just not American English. In England, companies are plural, not singular as in the US. Get a clue.

  7. Re:Grammar by Mogomra · · Score: 1

    Spelling errors usually bother me more than grammatical errors.

    BTW, it's "usage".

  8. Re:Grammar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That doesn't make sense, why would a single company be treated as a plural noun?

  9. Re:Grammar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because they're made up of a bunch of people.

  10. Bandai has more than games. . . by M3wThr33 · · Score: 1

    Bandai also makes the Mega Man Snap-kits that I love(Along with the Gundam ones, of course) and a lot of other products. I wonder if they will continue to make them IF this is a merger? Capcom DOES like Nintendo, but who knows?

  11. the biggest Japanese toy franchises by L-Train8 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bandai makes toys for most of the biggest Japanese licenses. Not just Gundam, but Ultraman, Power Rangers, Digimon, Ultimate Muscle, Hello Kitty, and a lot more. They make DVD's of tons of popular anime, including various Gundam series and Cowboy Bebop. While most of this stuff isn't so big in the US, outside of the otaku community, it is giant in Japan. If Nintendo is able to leverage their ownership into more licensed games for the Japanese market, it could help them sell a lot of consoles and gain back some market share from Sony. I don't think it will have much effect in the US, however.

    --

    Don't forget that Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
  12. Wonderswan!! by dq5+studios · · Score: 1

    Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan
    Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan Wonderswan

    Maybe this means I'll finally get to play some American games on my Wonderswan! Gunpei-san's finest machine, if only he were still alive.

    1. Re:Wonderswan!! by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      Hate to tell you this, but the WonderSwan has officially gone the way of the NeoGeo Pocket Color, the Tiger.com, the Nomad, the Game Gear, the Turbo Express, the Lynx, and where the N-Gage is currently heading. You won't even be seeing new Japanese games for the system.

  13. Maybe its to eliminate the kiddy GC image by UltimaL337Star · · Score: 0

    beacause I know this isn't something I would want to know my kids' games were associated with:
    http://www.jlist.com/cgi-bin/disp.cgi?img=h ttp://i mages.jlist.com/c2/kittyvib5.gif&x=500&y=5 00

  14. Strange... it's only a couple percent of the co. by WoTG · · Score: 1

    2.6% of the company for $20-30 million USD (my math was a little rough, but I think I got within an order of magnitude).

    It seems a little too small a share to be a prelude to a purchase. My uneducated guess would be that Nintendo is sitting on a lot of cash that it's earned over the years, and this is nothing more than an investment of excess cash (rather than buying t-bills or gold or something).