How Nintendo can manage to somehow be marketing geniuses and simultaneously make gamers groan with resentment is a trick that should be worthy of only David Blaine, but they keep on doing it. After their E3 press conference, I thought I'd had the ultimate experience when it comes to understanding that they no longer care about my demographic, but this really deals an even harsher blow.

From Bags To Riches is a fairly clever little website that allows women to rent designer bags. Rather than pay thousands for a bag (and believe it or not, a lot of women do without flinching), you can pay a fraction to have the bag to yourself for a month. Understandable for the fashion-conscious, but here's where it gets odd -- Nintendo has struck a deal with From Bags To Riches to package a DS along with select bags, which you get as a part of your rental period. Nintendo's calling it the "hot tech-cessory for fashion conscious women".

I don't know who exactly these fashion-conscious women are whose interests happen to encompass paying $300 to rent a designer bag and portable gaming, but I can tell you that none of Miami's elite females would be caught dead whipping a DS out of their Prada bag. It'd be the equivalent of spraying oneself in skunk urine in the eyes of the opposite sex -- infinitely uncool.

At any rate, Nintendo obviously hopes to capture yet another demographic here, and as people who champion their NES days slink further back into their shells, we can expect to see that fashionista you could never hope to get a date with playing her DS while waiting to get into a club very, very soon.  I have no doubt this marketing scheme will be a success for Nintendo, but something about it kind of makes me want to barf.

Nintendo DS Becomes the Hot Tech-Cessory for Fashion-Conscious Women

'From Bags to Riches' Includes DS Systems with Fashion Handbag Rentals

NOTE:  Multimedia available below

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Women who prefer the hottest designer handbags draped over their arms will now be able to have the hottest portable video game system at their fingertips as well. Nintendo has partnered with From Bags to Riches, a popular online handbag-rental service, to include stylish and colorful Nintendo DS^™ systems and games with some rentals through the end of 2008.

From Bags to Riches subscribers will have the chance to borrow a Nintendo DS and games, free of charge, with a 30-day rental of one of From Bags to Riches' featured handbags from such coveted designers as Prada, Tory Burch, Gucci and Juicy Couture. Consumers can choose the handbag and Nintendo DS that best suit their taste on FromBagstoRiches.com. After the conclusion of the rental period, consumers simply return the Nintendo DS along with the bag.

The designer handbags will be accompanied by a variety of chic Nintendo DS colors, including Metallic Silver, Metallic Rose, Onyx, Crimson/Black or Cobalt/Black. Subscribers will also be able to select from a collection of popular games such as Mystery Case Files^™: MillionHeir^™, Brain Age^™: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day and Nintendogs^™.

"In today's fashion world, carrying customized accessories means everything," said Kara Richter, CEO and founder of From Bags to Riches. "With the addition of the stylish Nintendo DS, Nintendo brings to fashion accessories what Prada brought to stylish messenger bags."

"Almost half the Nintendo DS systems sold in the United States last year belong to women," said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "With From Bags to Riches, we can help the growing population of female gamers test drive some great Nintendo DS games – and look good while they're doing it."

More information about the promotion can be found at www.frombagstoriches.com. For more information about Nintendo DS, visit www.NintendoDS.com.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii^™ and Nintendo DS^™ systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System^™, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.7 billion video games and more than 470 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii and Nintendo DS, as well as the Game Boy^™, Game Boy Advance, Super NES^™, Nintendo 64^™ and Nintendo GameCube^™. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario^™, Donkey Kong^™, Metroid^™, Zelda^™ and Pokémon^™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company's Web site at www.nintendo.com.

About From Bags to Riches: Since launching in 2004, the company has seen tremendous success and expects the future to continue to skyrocket. With offices located in St. Paul, Minnesota, the retailer is run by founders Kara Richter and Samuel Mangiere. More information about renting luxury designer handbags and the partnership with Nintendo can be accessed at www.frombagstoriches.com.