April 4, 2002 – A Colorado company this week announced that it has developed a Bluetooth solution for turning Ninetendo's GameBoy devices into wireless "edutainment" consoles

The product, from X-traFun, Inc., is a plug-and-play cartridge that slides into the GameBoy handheld allowing interactive game playing as well as email and chat-messaging functions.

The cartridge is scheduled for release this summer in North America markets. Pre-orders are being taken now through the X-tra Fun Web site (www.x-trafun.com).

"The beauty of this device is that it is a plug-and-play cartridge similar to what consumers are familiar with," said the company's President and CEO, Mark Kramer.

The Bluetooth cartridge, compatible with both GameBoy Color and GameBoy Advance, will allow seven simultaneous gamers to compete within a local wireless peer-to-peer network.

The Bluetooth technology also enables the console to be wirelessly networked to upcoming Bluetooth-enabled products, such as PCs and printers.

X-traFun, located in Castle Rock, Colo., also produces a Bluetooth 10/100 BaseT Ethernet Communicator for use in "hot spot" areas equipped with broadband wireless networking and a Bluetooth Dial-up (RJ11) Communicator embedded wireless access point/appliance for connecting to the Internet over existing telephone lines.

In a company release, X-tra Fun said it "hopes to receive a favorable endorsement" from the Nintendo Corp., which develops and licenses the popular GameBoy brand products.

X-tra Fun is also offering cartridge-users access to its wireless Web portal where they can download content information and have "real time game interaction" with other gamers. Also offered by X-tra Fun: ISP, ASP and email services.