Sophisticated Nintendo 64 Enters Heated 3-D Video-Game War

After braving the crowds in the electronics district, Nozomu Miyake couldn’t wait to get home and play with his new toy - the Nintendo 64, a three-dimensional video-game machine that went on sale Sunday in Japan.

“I know this is going to be fun,” said Miyake, a 22-year-old student, squeezing through throngs of computer fans as he hurried toward Akihabara train station. “The game is different, and the screen image is beautiful.”

The new machine is Nintendo’s entry into the heated 3-D video-game war between Sony and Sega. Nintendo is betting Japan’s video-game addicts are willing to pay more yen for more dazzle and sophisticated technology.

Nintendo has set sales targets of 3.5 million worldwide for its Nintendo 64 systems by year-end, and 3.6 million in Japan alone by next March. And industry watchers believe sales in Japan may forecast its sales potential in the United States, where it hits store shelves Sept. 30.

The machine sells for 25,000 yen ($230) in Japan; it will go for $250 in the United States.

For fans like Miyake, the wait has been tantalizing. The sale date for the Nintendo 64 had been put off twice because of delays in developing games for the system. Sunday’s launch came more than a year after its competitors took their products to the market.

Sony Computer Entertainment’s Playstation and Sega Enterprises’ Saturn video-game machines together have sold 5.7 million games in Japan and 8 million worldwide in the last year.

Playstation and Saturn, which both sell for about $185, use 32-bit technology, which provides higher sound quality, three-dimensional movement and more detailed, textured graphics than the old 16-bit machines.

Until Sunday, Nintendo only had 8-bit and 16-bit machines on the market. The new machine’s 64-bit technology outdoes them all.

Nintendo is also banking on its new games to lure in consumers.

In the new Mario game, the moustached, chubby signature character doesn’t just jump up and down across a flat screen. He zips through three-dimensional green fields, plunges through cracks and swims in bubbly ocean depths.