Earthly Garden

Looking for a great holiday gift for your kids? Check this out-and kudos to Nintendo!

REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Nintendo is on a mission to make some locations — both virtual and real — a little greener. In honor of the launch of Chibi-Robo(TM): Park Patrol for the portable Nintendo DS(TM), Nintendo is offering 500 tree seedlings to kids who want to help keep their environments clean and beautiful.

Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol is one of the first games based on the growing environmental movement, and it's a great way to get kids and their parents on a green path. In the game, players take on the persona of a cute little robot. They clean up a park by planting flowers, building park equipment and defeating toxic enemies called Smoglings.

Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol lets players use the Nintendo DS touch screen to control actions like watering plants, squirting enemies or riding a bike. Chibi's good deeds are converted into Happy Points that power him and the friendly toys he meets along the way. He even uses environmentally friendly modes of transportation to get around.

“From hybrid cars to energy-conserving light bulbs, everyone is going green,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol represents one of the first environmentally themed video game adventures.”

To get a tree seedling, register at http://www.Chibi-Robo.com between now and Nov. 9. Before America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, Nintendo will choose 500 people at random to receive a seedling that they can plant in their community.

But Nintendo’s environmental efforts are not limited to video games. In the real world, Nintendo has already undertaken multiple initiatives to help preserve the environment. Nintendo:

— recycles the paper it uses company-wide, limits the use of colored
paper (since it’s not easily recycled) and purchases recycled paper
towels, report covers, message pads and writing pads.
— recycles more than 70 percent of the waste generated at its
headquarters and promotes the recycling of aluminum cans and glass in
its corporate cafeterias. According to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, the United States as a whole recycles about 32
percent of its waste.
— requires manufacturers not use any banned substances (such as lead,
mercury, etc.) in components, nor use them in the manufacturing
process for any components used in its products.

Sounds like a great game, and three cheers to Nintendo for putting out a game that lets kids learn about the environment and growing things! I have a neice and two nephews and this sounds like the perfect Christmas gift!

gardening, trees, Nintendo, environment