Cool, now when do we get the nifty game vending machines?

In Japan, Nintendo has announced that they are buying a three percent stake (at a cost of $231.8 million) in the popular convenience store chain called Lawson. The stores are similar to 7-11 (who Sony has recently invested in in Japan) and sell a wide variety of products, including video games. Unlike in the U.S., consumers can purchase new video games at convenience store chains, or use the in-store kiosks to download older software at a bargain price. Nintendo has partnered with Lawson for years on other occasions, including the download of games to NES and SNES cartridges. Lawson has 7,000 stores nationwide.

The new deal will allow the companies to offer customers all of Nintendo's products at the locations, including the distribution of products ordered online. In other Nintendo dealings, the company has announced in Japan that they have formed a new company by partnering with the advertising company, Dentsu, Inc. The new company, ND Cube Ltd., will create game software for all of Nintendo's systems, and will also develop software using new mobile communications and gaming devices (the Game Boy Advance, possibly, or new cellular Internet systems). It is reported that the newly created company will not have any products available until the year 2002. (Frankly, we're not really sure what kind of game making talents an advertising company has, except for the marketing of the games once completed, but perhaps there is more to advertising in Japan than meets the eye.)