Nintendo, the Japanese video games company that brought us Donkey Kong and Mario the Plumber, is to announce a deal with the publisher HarperCollins today to make literary classics available to read on its DS portable games consoles.
The 100 Classic Book Collection ranges from Shakespeare and Dickens to Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. It will cost about $30 and will be available initially only in Britain.
Readers will turn the pages by brushing a finger across the screen. If the collection is a success, Nintendo may expand the range of books available.
Nintendo’s first entry into book publishing provides less choice than Sony and Amazon, but at about $150 the DS costs about half that of the Sony Reader. Latest industry figures from Chart Track show that two million Nintendo DS machines have been sold in Britain.
James Honeywell, a Nintendo executive, said: “When you go on holiday, or if you’re a commuter, lugging around a big paper book can be a bit of an inconvenience. Now you’ve got this whole library that you’re taking with you.
“We hope to encourage people to try books that they wouldn’t go out and purchase themselves.”
From The Times Online
No comments:
Post a Comment