From...

November 1, 1999
Web posted at: 9:34 a.m. EST (1434 GMT)

by David Needle

(IDG) -- Pokémon fever is everywhere, from TVs and movie theaters to video game consoles and the Web. So where will Pokémon appear next? In PC creativity software from The Learning Company, due out by the end of November.

If you haven't heard of Charizard, Hitmonchan, or the rest of the Pokémon gang, you must not spend time with many 6-to-14-year-olds. In Japan, where the Pokémon craze originated with the Game Boy video game, it's become a $4.5 billion industry, according to a recent article in Newsweek. More than 50 million Pokémon trading cards have been sold, says Newsweek.

"This isn't a quick fad like Beanie Babies -- Pokémon has legs," says Scott Kelly, chief executive of M&A West, an investment firm and Internet incubator that has registered a dozen Pokémon-related Web sites.

There are thousands of Pokémon-related Web sites -- some created by professional Internet purveyors, many started as labors of love by computer-savvy kids.

Nintendo has its own Web site, and there are several portals claiming to be the best source of Pokémon news and information. M&A West also has a Pokémon auction site due to go live in the next few weeks.

Pokémon peeks into Windows

The Learning Company, known for its line of educational and creativity software titles, will be releasing Pokémon Project Studio Blue and Pokémon Project Studio Red in late November.

"These are programs that parents who don't understand what Pokémon is all about can enjoy with their kids," says Susan Salminen, public relations manager for the Learning Company.

The Studio packages will sell for $29.95 each and include 250 projects -- from creating Pokémon necklaces and tattoos to greeting cards, stickers, T-shirts, and photo frames. Each title contains more than 600 different Pokémon graphics.

Studio Blue and Studio Red each include only about half the total 151 Pokémon characters, just like the Game Boy Blue and Red versions of Pokémon. If you "gotta catch 'em all" (as the Pokémon slogan goes), you need to buy both programs. The top ten most popular characters are among the 80 included in each package. Also included is a starter kit of card and paper stock for printing out the various projects.

Studio Blue and Studio Red both feature simple point and click icons to help children work through the programs easily. Minimum system requirements include a 100-MHz Pentium PC or faster running Windows 95 or 98, 16MB of memory (32MB recommended), 90MB of hard disk space available, and a 2X CD-ROM drive.

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Having garnered the coveted Pokémon license from Nintendo for educational software, Salminen says more curriculum-related software is in the works for next fall. "We might do a Pokémon Math program, for example," she says.