Country: JPN
Comments: Nintendo is an international company originally founded in Japan on November 6, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company. Over the years, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team in Seattle, Washington. Nintendo has also purchased majority ownership of Gyration, a company specializing in gyros and motion sensors, for assistance in designing the controller of the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo's main competitors on the gaming front are Sony and Microsoft.